I have been actively researching my family history since about the year 2000. It didn’t take long at all to get from Mertz to Hopewell to Young and learn that Sarah Catherine Young, wife of John U Hopewell, was the daughter of John C Young and Margaret C Philips. (She was John’s second wife, his first Mary E Young, Sarah’s older sister, died not long after she married John.)

J L Floyd’s book on Northumberland Genealogies in his profile of John U Hopewell and his wife Sarah says: ”John C Young, father of Sarah, was born 5 Aug 1789 died 11 Oct 1845. His wife Margaret C Philips born 5 Apr 1802 died 11 Sep 1878. They were farming people and ran a dairy farm in Union County before moving to Northumberland, but are buried in Riverview.” In the list of their eleven children, Floyd included: Mary E born 10 Oct 1832 and Sarah C born 7 Dec 1834.

Now J L Floyd said many things that were not true. My general assessment of his work as a source is that his profiles of local (i.e. Northumberland County) people who were alive (in 1913 when Floyd’s work was published) were fairly accurate and perhaps any profiles about the next earlier generation, if they also were local people, could well be accurate. But this source is not to be trusted when he purports to name the ancestors of local people, especially those who lived elsewhere.

In this case, though, what he says is generally verified. The death certificate of Sarah C (Young) Hopewell (1834-1916), says her parents were Jno C Younge and Margaret Philips. Sarah’s maiden name was also given on on her marriage record and in the 1850 Census, John had died and the widow Margaret Young lived with her children including the two who would later marry John U Hopewell and all ages are basically consistent with what Floyd said. But Floyd’s profile, while generally accurate, was not perfect.

On a visit to Riverview, I found the tombstones of John and Margaret and also their two daughters and their husband John U Hopewell all not far at all from each other. And while part of John’s tombstone was a little hard to read, the fact of a July birth was unmistakable. I believe John was born 5 July 1789, not 5 August. And a 1937 transcription of Riverview tombstones by Herbert Gearhart says the relevant dates are 5 Jul 1789 — 11 Oct 1845 age 56y 3m 6d. Since the arithmetic all checks out and all those dates were clearly easier to read then than when I visited Riverview, I have gone with that transcription.

Also, based on my work tracing them in Census, I’m not sure John C ever farmed in Union County, though his biography as given by J L Floyd says he did. After he died his wife is found living in Union County, a neighbor of her son. So it may be that it was John’s son who began the Union County farm.

Finally, Floyd’s statement is the only place I’ve ever seen with the middle initial “C” for Margaret so that fact is at best unverified.

The first Census in which I could find John Young and be sure it was him was 1840; he was in Point Township and the ages of the various members of his household conformed to what I believe true of John and his family. So the questions were: where did he live before that and who were his parents?

Even though I now think J L Floyd was wrong about John ever living in Union County, in trying to see if that was true I came across a lineage report submitted to the Union County Genweb site: “Descendants of George Young”. This lineage said that John C was the son of George (Jr.) and Elizabeth (Cramer) Young of New Jersey and George Jr. was the son of George Sr., an immigrant to New Jersey from Germany. There were a number of sources cited but the only one seeming to document those lineage statements was reference to a book by Theodore Frelinghuysen Chambers titled: Early Germans of New Jersey.

John died before the 1850 Census so never was asked the Census question: where were you born? But his children, starting in 1880, had to answer the question: where was your father born? The answer in many cases was Pennsylvania but for people living in Pennsylvania, that was almost the default (not really thinking about it) answer. But there were several occasions where the answer given was New Jersey. So I went and found the Chambers book.

Indeed that book says that John C Young -- including that specific middle initial -- born 5 July 1789 was the son of George and Elisabeth (Cramer) Young. John married Mary (sic, it was Margaret) Phillips; went to PA.

What an interesting citation. Chambers gives no source whatsoever to back up what he says including especially where did that exact birth date come from? But it certainly would seem that Chambers was working strictly with New Jersey source records and did not, for example, go find some John C Young who died in Pennsylvania in 1845 and picked up his birth date from his tombstone. He must have had a credible New Jersey source, it seemed to me.

But could I really believe this lineage?

Chambers listed several children for George and Elizabeth but one in particular caught my eye. He said there was a daughter Lanee born 11 Oct 1782 and she married Joseph Chamberlain and went to PA. (He also showed a daughter Mary born 26 Sep 1780 who, he said, married George Coleman.) Since trying to find some John Young prior to 1840, who could be living anywhere, and being sure if I found one that I had found the right one — there were many men named John Young — I wondered if a search for Joseph Chamberlain, presumably a less common name, might be productive.

I wondered where in Pennsylvania Joseph Chamberlain might have gone. And I found a Joseph Chamberlain in Census in Shamokin Township, Northumberland County starting in 1810 and continuing there through 1860. His wife was named Mary in 1850 and 1860 and she reported an age in both those decades indicating a birth of about 1780. In 1850, both Joseph and Mary said they were born in Pennsylvania (again, the default answer) but then in 1860, both said they had been born in New Jersey. Could this be the right Joseph Chamberlain?

I wasn’t 100% certain but then I found both Mary and Joseph buried in Paxinos, Northumberland County and Mary’s tombstone says Mary, wife of Joseph Chamberlain, and her birth date is reasonably legible and says 20 Sep 1780. So Chambers seems to have confused Mary and Lanee and there is a slight discrepancy where he says she was born 26 Sep and her tombstone says 20 Sep — but the big takeaway here is Joseph Chamberlain, brother-in-law of John C Young, came to Shamokin Township, Northumberland County.

And then I realized that there was also a George and John Young in Shamokin Township in 1820 and John still there in 1830. 1820: John is age 26-44, George age 45+. 1830: we still find John in Shamokin Township but no sign of George (did he die? Chambers says he died in 1824. He didn’t say where or again how that fact was known.)

So could this be a different John and George Young? The name Young is pretty common, but I do think the George and John in 1820 and then John in 1830 in Shamokin Township are my ancestors. Everything about them feels right. The Shamokin connection came about after George’s daughter (John’s sister) and her husband moved there before 1810 and then the Youngs -- father and son -- followed in the 1810-1820 period. Later John seems to have moved to Point Township.

Of course, it may be a different John Young, completely unrelated to me or my ancestors of that name. But I think the story is told by the tick marks. In 1830, John, head of household, was listed as age 30-40; the 1830 Census was taken 1 Jun 1830 and so John was still 40 on that date (though about to turn 41). The only female in the household was age 20-30; Margaret was in fact 28.

Now consider the children: four male children were reported -- two under the age of 5 and two between 5 and 10. From what I know about John's children, based on the Young Family History on the Union County website, John C and Margaret had these children (with these birth dates): Philip (Nov 1820), George (Oct 1822), Hiram (Dec 1824), John (Jun 1827), David (Oct 1830), Mary E (Oct 1832), Sarah C (1834), Rebecca (Oct 1836), Peter (Sep 1838), William (Jun 1841) and Eliza J (Dec 1844).

It is a near perfect fit. The two sons under 5 must have been John and Hiram -- David was born after the Census was taken. Hiram was age 5, but to find him mis-reported as under 5 is the kind of tiny error we often find in Census. The two sons age 5-10 were Philip and George. All John’s other children were born after the 1830 Census including especially his daughters. This has to be my John.

Looking closer at 1840, John Young of Point Township seems to have the right combination of people by age group -- especially he 50-60 and wife 30-40 and lots of children -- to match what I think I know about my John and his family. His neighbor was Abel Gibbons. Abel, as I recall, was the father of someone who also marries into the Hopewell line.

So the key things Chambers said (ignoring that he mixed up Lanee and Mary who some people now call Mary Lanee but there is no evidence Lanee was ever part of her name), seem to check out and ring true. And I think DNA evidence (see DNA section of this profie) also is quite strong in support of what we learn from Chambers.

I will also note that many people in their family trees name this ancestor of mine John Cramer Young. That certainly makes sense. His middle initial was C per his tombstone and Cramer was the maiden name of his mother it would seem.

And then finally, in 2022, this all came perfectly together.

I found this in an Ancestry tree. “John was born 5 July 1789, and baptized as Johannes Kreamer Young at the Zion Lutheran Church of Long Valley, formerly German Valley, Hunterdon County, New Jersey. Parents are listed as George Young and Ann Elizabeth Cramer -- per Sara Butson, Dec. 2018.”

This is huge if it’s a real citation. In trying to determine if it was, I searched for the name Sara Butson and found that she is a professional genealogist giving this citation instant credibility.

This one citations proves:

John’s birth date. It is in agreement with his tombstone, J L Floyd was wrong. More importantly, it is in agreement with what Chambers says proving that he must too have found this source, though not citing it specifically.

His middle name. It’s curious that Johannes Kreamer came later to be known as John Cramer (sortt of the Americanized version) but it makes perfect sense.

The names of his parents. I had independently come to the same conclusion and had some degree of confidence in it, but this baptism record surely cements that conclusion.

One other interesting thing: John and Margaret named their first two sons Philip and George. I now believe that Margaret’s father was indeed named Philip and John’s father was George.

Ancestry.com employs certain algorithms to attempt to identify the common ancestor I might share with anyone who shares DNA with me, my cousins of some kind. The DNA in no way identifies who that common ancestor may be and only vaguely indicates how many generations back we might find that common ancestor. But they examine my tree and compare it to each of my cousins’ trees. If we both identify John C Young (1789-1845) as our ancestor, the comparison is pretty straightforward, he’s our common ancestor.

Continuing with the example where we share John C Young as our ancestor. If both of us are in fact descendants of his daughter Sarah Catherine (Young) Hopewell, then that is not all that helpful. But if I descend from Sarah Catherine and my “cousin” descends from another child of John C’s — then that is significant. That strongly suggests that John C truly is my ancestor, especially considering that I always carefully examine the trees of my cousin to rule out any other possible common ancestor.

And the more cousins I have who descend from different siblings of John C, again given no other possible common ancestor, the stronger and more convincing the evidence becomes.

So, based on DNA evidence, I submit not just that John C Young was my ancestor but George Young too was my ancestor and also confirms that Matthias Cramer (believed to be Elizabeth Cramers’ father using genealogical techniques) was indeed her father and my ancestor.

Here are some DNA findings:

I share DNA with three cousins who descend from Mary Young and Joseph Chamberlain, each from a different child of theirs. This is solid evidence I think that the George Young covered in the Chambers book who, according to Chambers, had a daughter who married Joseph Chamberlain and moved to Pennsylvania and a son John C who married a Philips and moved to Pennsylvania — was my ancestor. Especially since both the daughter and John C had birth dates on their Northumberland County tombstones that match the birth dates for them (again remembering Chambers mixed up Mary and Lanee) as given by Chambers, presumably from some New Jersey source.

I share DNA with someone who traces their ancestry to Nicholas Cramer who my cousin thinks was the son of Matthias and Anna Maria (Hann) Cramer. I think he is one generation off, that Nicholas I think was the brother of Matthias. But it is still evidence.

I share DNA with several persons who descend from a different daughter of Matthias Cramer. When Matthias died, only one of his daughters was married (Elizabeth married to George Young) so his will only indicates he had a daughter of a certain name but tells us nothing about who they married. But I have looked at the trees of these “cousins” and it appears their research is pretty solid so I think the fact of their sharing DNA with me and seeming to be descendants of Matthias and Anna Maria (Hann) Cramer is significant.

Then there are eight more cousins who descend from known sons of Matthias.

John was the earliest Young and Margaret the earliest Philips buried in Riverview.

The names of his oldest sons are perhaps significant. John presumably named his second son George after his own father. So where did the name Philip come from? Could it possibly have been the name of Margaret’s father?

Margaret Philips was a “dead-end” for me for 20 years but thanks to a trial subscription to Newspapers.com, I had a major breakthrough.

The first thing I found was a detailed summary of an 1880 Northumberland County Orphans Court petition and its disposition. The petition was filed by Reuben Johnson setting forth that John Philips of North’d Borough died in late 1845 or early 1846, intestate, and unmarried with no issue. That at the time of his death he owned eight contiguous town lots in the borough — all the lots in the whole block between 7th and 8th Streets and fronting on Queen and Duke Streets. The said John Philips left four collateral heirs — brother and sisters — namely Mary Philips, Eliza Philips, Margaret Philips intermarried to John C Young and Christian Philips.

It went on to say that Christian died at North’d 1 Apr 1854, Mary Philips died at North’d 23 Dec 1875, Margaret (Philips) Young died at North’d 11 Sep 1878 — and Eliza Philips survives. In each case, when the other three heirs died, their share in John Philips’ land was sold, typically to family but in the case of Mary Philips, first to John Hopewell and then from him to Reuben Johnson.

The next stop for me was the 1850 Census. John had died but his four siblings survived. In North’d, Mary Philips age 45 born NJ lived with Eliza Philips age 42 born NJ. Also in North’d, Christian Philips age 36 born PA lived, married with 3 children.

Wow. I went from knowing nothing about Margaret or her family to knowing the names of her five siblings — though not yet her parents. The additional breakthrough was then the newspaper notice of the death of Eliza Philips — in 1883 at age 76 (in agreement with her age in the 1850 Census) — which also said she was a half-sister to: Mrs. Joseph McAlister and Hiram and Philip Philips.

Back to the 1850 Census. Hiram Philips age 13 and Philip Philips age 12 lived in North’d with their mother Nancy age 51 and sister Lydia age 18 and Daniel age 22.

Nancy was, obviously, the second (third?) wife of whoever Margaret’s father was. So then a little more research on these step-siblings, produced these findings:

The death certificate of Hiram Philips (1836-1909) said he was born in North’d, his parents were Philip Philips born NJ and Nancy Rockfellow (Rockefeller I suspect) born North’d County.

The death certificate of Lydia McAllister (1831-1925) said she was born in North’d, her father was (surname only) Philips born PA and her mother Rockefeller born PA. Lydia (Phillips) McAllister (1831-1925) is on find-a-grave buried at Riverview and linked to her husband Joseph.

The death certificate of Philip Phillips (1838-1915) said he too was born in North’d, his parents were Philip Philips (born Wales) and Nancy Rockefeller (born North’d County).

So there is no doubt that these three step-siblings were children of Philip and Nancy (Rockefeller) Philips, meaning there is no doubt that Margaret and her full siblings were also Philip’s children by a different wife. We also can sense the migration of the family from NJ to PA — Mary and Margaret born before 1810 in NJ, Christian born 1814 in PA and all the step-siblings born in Northumberland.



The last piece of the puzzle then was, who was Margaret’s mother? I think the answer can be known from two deeds: In 1808, Philip Philips bought a 179 acre tract in Shamokin Township (O 381) which he sold in 1827 with wife Elizabeth (W179). Maybe Elizabeth was a second wife but I think the more likely scenario is she was his first wife and mother of Margaret and her full siblings.

And note that it would seem the landing place for the family when it moved to Pennsylvania was Shamokin Township, exactly the landing place I believe of the Young family when they came from New Jersey.

Before I knew with some certainty that the name of Margaret’s father was Philip Philips, but that she was supposedly born in New Jersey as was supposedly her husband, I made the following observations.

Her husband and her father, I believe, move to Shamokin Township by 1820.  So I happened to spot in Shamokin a man named Philip Philips age 45+ with two daughters age 16-26.

So, I just decide he's my guy.  Just a wild guess (then) of course.

The name Philip Philips pops up in North'd by 1830.  By 1850, no old Philip Philips is living there but a Daniel Philips age 21 lives there with a younger brother named Philip age 12.  Living with them is a Nancy Philips (their mother I think) age 51 born New Jersey.

On a 1741 tax list of New Jersey, a man named Philip Philips is in Maidenhead (twp I assume), Hunterdon Co, NJ.

Guess where the Young/Jung's come from.  Hunterdon County supposedly.

Guess what John Young whose father was named George and Margaret Philips name their firstborn son -- you guessed it, Philip, and they named their second son George.

In 1850, that Daniel (+ Nancy) Philips household is on more or less the same page as some of the Eckerts (tied into Ulp you may recall) and the Ulps and Hopewells came from New Jersey and John Young's daughter married John Ulp Hopewell.

Everything I observed here now seems absolutely relevant and I believe John and Margaret did marry in New Jersey and the families (John’s family including his parents and Margaret’s family including her parents) came not long after to Shamokin Township and later some or all of them moved to Northumberland.

And this may be related.

http://search.ancestry.com/Browse/BookView.aspx?dbid=48382&iid=PAVitalRecordsI-000311-80&rc=659,1764,760,1797;899,1763,989,1796;632,1801,723,1834;731,1801,833,1834&zp=50

I’m not sure where she was before her marriage.

1820-1840. I think I have found her husband and he consistently has a younger wife.

1850. Margaret Young, widow, lives in Union Twp with 6 of her children including both Catherine and Elizabeth. A neighbor is her son Philip. This is clearly the right family, John C has died.

1860. Margaret Young of Northumberland Borough, 58, widow, born in New York (a typo I believe), lives with William H Young, 20 and Eliza, 16.

1870. William Young 27 is now the head of household in North’d Borough and also present is Margaret 68 (born in New Jersey). Also present is Eliza Young 24.