I don’t know her father so am unable to find her in early Census listings. I believe she first appears as the wife of John in the 1840 Census and it’s possible she had a first husband prior to marrying John, so I can’t account for her up until then either. I believe she is the younger wife with John in 1840 and she is definitely with John in 1850 and then with John’s son Benjamin in 1860 and 1870.

Notice in the Northumberland Republicaner of 7Nov 1817. “Married, John Kremer and Catharina Kehler daughter of John G Kehler of Mahantango”. This may be key or may be irrelevant.

I knew of Catherine as John Kramer’s wife long before I discovered the name of John’s first wife -- but I always had a suspicion that Catherine was wife number two. She was John Kramer’s wife in 1850 and lived with his son, Benjamin, in 1860 and 1870. But I believed she was John’s second wife and not the mother of Benjamin for several reasons:

1.) A review of the Census listings 1810-1840 shows that in the early decades John’s wife was the same age as he, then in 1840 his wife was younger -- 15 years younger in fact, usually a sign that a second wife has come on the scene.

2.) I found her grave in the same cemetery as Benjamin and Mary Ann but she was buried by herself, there was no sign of John. Her tombstone says: ”Catherine, wife of John Kramer, born 4 May 1792 died 17 Sep 1878.”

3.) The death record of Benjamin Kramer gave the name of his father but not the name of his mother. Whoever reported the information may have known it was not Catherine but did not know who it was.

And so, I was always on the lookout for some clue as to the name of John’s first wife and I finally found it when I found deeds executed by the heirs of Johannes Aumiller.

It is interesting, though, that both Jacob and Benjamin named a daughter Catherine.

I don’t know the names of his parents. I suspect, though, he was born in America. For one reason, he said so in the 1850 Census!

I don’t think John was the immigrant. Nor do I think he was born in what is now Snyder County. I suspect he was born somewhere in Eastern Pennsylvania.

However, I’m certain his first wife, Christina Aumiller, was already living in (now) Snyder County by 1787 so that has to be where she met and married John Kramer, probably in the very early 1800‘s.

So the question is when and why did John come to this area? Did he come with his parents, say, in the 1790’s? Did he, as was the case for some of our other ancestors, that his father died someplace else, left him some cash and land was cheaper here than where his father had lived? I just don’t know.

Census Listings 1790-1850. I don’t know his father so I cannot account for him in 1790 or 1800. He surfaces in 1810 and I believe I’ve found him then in every decade until he dies. The key question in those Censuses for me is whether the evidence supports or negates the idea that Catherine, his wife in 1850 but about 15 years younger than John, is the mother of Benjamin.

1800. There is no one named Kramer/Cramer living in Penns Township. John’s future father-in-law is in Penns. So I assume that John Kramer moved to the area in the 1800-1805 time period or so, met and married Christina Aumiller there.

1810. John Kramer, cooper, lives in Penns Twp. He has 4 very young male sons and his wife and he are both age 26-44. I think his son Benjamin is an infant. Catherine would only be about 18 at this time, not 26-44, and so I think this is a good indication Catherine is not his mother.

1820. John Kramer is age 26-45 and lives in Penns Twp with 5 males under 16. The oldest female, his presumed wife, is also 26-45. John is in fact 43, Catherine would be 28 so she could be the wife, but I think this is still John's first wife. Benjamin is 10.

1830. John Kramer age 50-60 lives in Penns Township and the oldest female is also 50-60. Catherine is about 38, so the wife here must still be his first wife. A neighbor is Jacob Kramer.

1840. John Kremer age 60-70 lives in Middlecreek Twp. Present in the household are 3 males 20-30, one of whom is no doubt Benjamin, not yet married. Also present are 3 females ages 15-20, 20-30 and the oldest 40-50. John is 63 and Catherine is 46, so I think his first wife has now died and he has remarried. The female 20-30 could be a wife of one of his sons still living at home. But John never before has had any daughters so the fermale 15-20 is either a young daughter-in-law or perhaps a grown daughter of Catherine.

1850. John Cramer lives in Middlecreek Twp with Catharine 56 and Benjamin 40, Mary A 25 and their four children including Catharine 4. The young Catherine is the only Catherine Kramer of approximately the right age I could find in the 1850 Census for Union/Snyder County. John’s next door neighbor is Jacob age 44. He is a cooper.

In addition to the two birth records in the right time period for a John Kramer, there are at least 4 marriages of a John Kramer cited in various sources I have studied but none seem right. Brides were Amanda Shafer in 1870, Mary Jane Brunner in 1879, Louise Kepler in 1856 and Catherine Griechbaum in 1854. This latter at first seemed interesting except wife Catherine is already present in 1850 Census.

The estate of a woman named Anna Martha Kremer of Greenwich Twp was administered by eldest son John 5 Apr 1797.

There simply were too many John Kramers perhaps to ever fully learn the full family history.

We know John Cramer (interesting it was spelled then like J O’s ancestors) as the (presumed) father of Benjamin and grandfather of Catherine from the 1850 Census. He was 73; the simple arithmetic suggests a birth year of 1777. The age field in Census is sometimes off by a year or two so he really might have been born in 1775 to 1779 or so.

But using only the 1777 date, I found several birth records of interest. Born 1 Apr 1777 Johannes Kramer, son of Jacob, baptism at Atolheo (Altalaha) Lutheran Church, Berks County. Born 11 Sep 1777 John Kramer, son of Bernhart, Lehigh County. Born abt 1777 John Kramer son of Andreas Kramer Jr. and Eva Margaretha Hain, Dauphin County. Who knows if any of these was the right John Kramer? And of course there were no doubt others.

So I know that John Kramer was our ancestor but I do not know where he was born, how he came to be in Snyder County or the names of his parents or where they died.