IMMIGRANT. He was old enough to have had children starting perhaps with Maria Barbara in about 1738. He was not listed on any passenger list which were virtually complete from 1727 on. I don’t think he was born in America, as I think in that case the Bickhardt name would be in some record pertaining to the very earliest residents of Pennsylvania. I conclude therefore he was an immigrant, what they call pre-list, so probably came to America in the earlier 1720’s.

We know that Adam Hollebusch, our ancestor, married Barbara Bickhardt. There is evidence of the Bickhardt family in Montgomery County in that time frame, but not much. One problem may be spelling — the name was variously Pickhart, Bickhart or Rickhart with the ”ck” sometimes just ”k” and once or twice a ”g” and the ”hardt” part sometimes ”hart”. But I know all that and have taken all that into consideration and still can only find scant mention.

Robert Bickhart, who now lives in Northumberland, has determined that he is a descendant of Conrad Bickhart baptized about 1777 at Old Goshenhoppen Church. He believes that Conrad’s father was also named Conrad and that the older Conrad may have been the son of Johannes and Maria Bickhardt. The younger Conrad moved to Snyder County about 1817.

The life of Johannes is thus very faintly etched in the annals of Montgomery County. He most certainly existed but he sure is elusive.

There is an Ancestry.com family tree that says that the second wife of Andreas Bayer was named Anna Mary Horberger but it seems to be based solely on a statement by someone else that she was Anna Elisabeth Horberger (widow of John Horberger).

It's hard to see how Anna Elisabeth (Nee ?) Horberger (probably Hornberger anyway) fits into this picture at all and that tree seems of no help at all in trying to determine the maiden name of Johannes' wife.

Anna Maria may have been the wife of Johannes and mother of Barbara. Robert Bickhart says that was her name but he may well have made the same logical deduction that I have as follows:

We also know that Susanna, first wife of Andreas Bayer, died in 1744. And that when he died in 1778 that his wife was named Anna Maria. The will of Andrew Boyer, Frederick Twp, Phila Co dated 9 Apr 1777 proved 6 Jul 1778 mentioned wife Anna Mary and his children but not his step-children.

Her first mention was at a 1756 baptism where she is said to be of the Reformed faith (as opposed Lutheran like Andreas).

I would never have known the name of the wife of Johannes Bickhardt -- there is no record naming them as a couple or in which he named his wife -- except that the records of Old Goshenhoppen Lutheran church list two instances where daughters of Johannes Bickhardt, deceased, were listed as sponsors at baptisms. The daughters were: Dorothea in 1754 and Maria Barbara (future wife of Adam Hilbish) in 1758. In both cases, the daughters were also identified as step-daughters of Andreas Bayer. And the evidence is that the name of Andreas’ wife from about 1754 to his death in 1777 was Anna Maria.

So, the conclusion is that Anna Maria, second wife of Andreas Bayer, had been first married to Johannes Bickhart. So, we know her given name using this process of logical deduction -- now it would be nice someday to learn her maiden name. But as of now, I have no idea. Nor do I know whether Johannes married Anna Maria back in Germany or if they met and married once Johannes had come to America.

From the records of Old Goshenhoppen Reformed. “29 Apr 1788 old Mrs. Boyer was buried age 78y 8m 17d [12 Aug 1709].” The assumption is this was Andreas' second wife Anna Maria.