"Our Keystone Families"
by Schuyler C. Brossman
Column No. 272
24 December 1971
While there can be no doubt about it, names, dates and locations are important in
researching a family tree, but to most genealogists the learning of the circumstances of
an ancestors life is more interesting.
Finding a name among church records, or on a militia list, petition, or old papers,
which reveal something of the life of ones forefathers, is a thrill only a genealogist or
family historian can understand.
A "find" such as this was made, by Walter Josiah Yingst [Note 1],
a great-great-grandson of Johann Henrich Juengst, which will
cause most of the readers of this column to be envious of him. Many of us hope to find
something such as this, but seldom do.
The document he has discovered is known as a "Ausreiseschein". It has been
handed down from one generation to the next since it was issued on May 15, 1761 in
Herborn, Orange-Nassau, Germany, to Johann Henrich Juengst. It
is now in the possession of a great-great-great-grandson, Henry Yiengst [Note 2]
of Heilmandale Road, Lebanon.
Perhaps it should be explained at this time that an "Ausreiseschein" is
something like a combination of a passport and letter or recommendation. We have to
remember in those days people did not just pack up and leave if they intended to move from
one place to another.
Permission had to be granted by the authorities and papers given. In some instances,
people who were born on a certain estate or piece of land were bound to that land and
lived there from birth to death; even though they may have wanted to leave, permission was
often denied inasmuch every person was needed to perform the work and letting the workers
go was a financial loss the proprietors did not want to bear.
The more skilled a man was, the harder it was to get permission to leave. Thus a
carpenter glassblower, shoemaker was less likely to receive permission to leave than an
ordinary laborer. In some cases manumission fees had to be paid. These fees were figured
as to what the expected income that particular person might have earned for the lord of
the manor in his lifetime. If the amount could be paid, permission was granted to leave.
No wonder some of our ancestors left at night, without permission, as they had no money to
pay for permission to leave lawfully.
It is stated in this document that serfdom was unknown in the area from which Johann
Henrich Juengst came but, at any rate, he did get proper permission to leave his home for
another.
The document has the seal of the province imprinted in sealing wax. It is a circular
box covered by a lid. In the outer circle, next to a broken portion what appears to be
"TV" followed by "Herborn Sigil Des Gericht" and in the inner portion,
"Nassau". This is translated to mean. "Seal of the Court of Herborn,
Nassau".
The document was issued in the City Hall at Herborn, Germany. What a thrill it must
have been for Yingst when he visited the very same place his ancestor applied for and
received this document. He visited there on July 26, 1956 and as a guest of the city
signed the Golden Book of Visitors.
Next week I will describe the document, written in both German and English.
Column No 273
24 December 1971
This column presents the German text; however, it is not reproduced here.
Column No. 274
31 December 1971
Johann Henrich Juengst came to America in 1766 according to
evidence quoted as follows:
"At the Court House at Philadelphia, Tuesday, 23d day of September, 1766. Present: Samuel Mifflin, Esquire. (Johann) Henrich Juengst was imported on the Ship Chance, Charles Smith, Master, from Rotterdam but last from Cowes, and did this day take and subscribe the usual Qualifications."
Records indicate he was a member of, or attended, First (Tabor) Reformed Church, (now
Tabor United Church of Christ), Lebanon; and then Hill Church, north of Cleona, Lebanon
Co., Pa. No record of his death or place of burial has been found, although it is believed
he lived until in the early 1800s [Note 3].
One thing is known, he fathered at least ten children, two before he left Germany and eight in Pennsylvania; two girls and eight boys. He was married to Margrethe Katharina Rheinganss in Weisel-am-Rhein, Pfalz (Weisel-on-the Rhine, The Palatanate) Germany, 4 August 1761.
Children of Johann Henrich Juengst and his wife were: Johann
Wilhelm Juengst, b. 1763 [Note 4] and Conrad Peter Juengst, b. 1765 [Note
5], both in Weisel-on-the Rhine, The Palatinate, Germany. Conrad Peter married
Catharina Rohland. Other children of Johann Henrich Juengst were Elizabeth Juengst, b. 29
Sep 1767, Pennsylvania, married Friederich Steger, buried at Kimmerlings Cemetery,
Lebanon, Co., Pa.; Heinrich Juengst b. 6 Nov. 1769 in or near Lebanon, Pa.; Jacob Juengst,
b. 17 Aug. 1773, in or near Lebanon. He may be the Jacob Juengst who married Christina
Ellinger, daughter of Casper and Catherine Ellinger, the baptisms of whose children are in
the records of St. Pauls Reformed Church, Schaeferstown, Pa.
Other children were: Johannes Juengst, b. 17 Aug. 1773, in or near Lebanon, married
Anna C Ulrich and is buried at Hummelstown, Pa.; Abraham Juengst, b. 19 Dec. 1775 [Note6],
in or near Lebanon, married Maria Smith. He is buried in a small cemetery, at the old, no
longer used, United Brethren Church, Derry Church, Hershey, Pa.; Bernard, or Bernhard
Juengst, born August, 1773, in or near Lebanon, married Lydia ___, buried Kimmerlings
Cemetery; Ludwig Juengst, born 1780-1781, in or near Lebanon, married Magdalena Dinges,
buried in the old cemetery at Tabor Church, Lebanon. He was the great-grandfather of
Walter Josiah Yingst, the family historian; Maria Magdalena Juengst, b. 26 Mar. 1783, in
or near Lebanon, never married, buried in Hill Church Cemetery, north of Cleona, Pa.
Johann Henrich Juengst, as has been previously stated, came
to America in 1766. Sometime between 1766 and 1769, he settled in or near Lebanon, then
Lancaster Co., Pa. Whether or not he followed his shoemakers trade is not known [Note
7].
He served in the American Revolution. So did his son, Peter. and probably his son,
Wilhelm. Of the three, Peter was the most active in the service.
The Revolutionary War record of (Johann) Henrich Juengst --
(John) Henry Yingst, variously spelled Yeengst, Yungst, Yeangst, Juengst, was a private in
Captain David Krauses Company, Second Battalion, Lancaster County Militia, 1779-1782,
according to page 174, volume 7, Pennsylvania Archives [Note 8]. Johann
is enclosed in parentheses because he usually wrote his name merely as Henrich Jungst with
an umlaut above the "u".
Another reference to the same man appears on page 1109, volume 7, 5th series, Pa.
Archives in the receipts for service rendered in the War of the Revolution as follows:
"Received June the 29th of Adam Orth the Sum of Fifty Pounds in Part of two months
service as a militia man. I say received by me 50-0-0 Henrich Jungst"
In a paper "The Humberger School Association and its School", read before the
Lebanon County Historical Society, April 28, 1922, by Cyrus Boger, a great-grandson of Johann Henrich Juengst, and a former Superintendent of Lebanon
County Public Schools as well as the Lebanon City Schools, which paper can be found in the
Archives of the Lebanon County Historical Society is the statement, "Tradition has it
that Johann Henrich Juengst was the first teacher in North Annville Township, in the
Humberger School.
Anyone interested in any history of the Juengst Family is invited to contact Walter J.
Yingst, 1336 Kynlyn Drive, Kynlyn Apartments, Wilmington, Del. 19809. He will attempt to
trace the line of anyone who may be a descendant of this family.
NOTES:
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