I know her father was Jan Jensen, he named daughter Anna Maria wife of Nicholas Rarick in his will. The question for me is when was she born and who was her mother: Elizabeth Papen or Anna Maria Rittenhouse?

Conventional wisdom about this family, which seems to rarely be backed by real documented factual evidence, says she was born in 1722 or so. There is an interesting marriage record at St. Michael’s/Zion Lutheran Church saying that on 5 May 1747, Anna Maria Johnson married Nicholas Rarick. I have seen that marriage record cited as if it also said she was born in 1723 and was the daughter of Jan Jensen and Elizabeth Papen.

But it doesn’t actually say those things. And it does say that Anna Maria was a Lutheran widow. If she was, then Johnson was her first married name. And if she lived in Salford Township, why would she have gone all the way to Germantown to marry? I am not sure what to believe here.

Wilhelmina Rittenhouse left “the upper bed with the cover” to Marya Jensen. She might have been referring to her daughter, Maria, but my view is that most of the girls named by Wilhelmina were her granddaughters. If she was naming a granddaughter, that is additional evidence that our Jan Jensen was her son-in-law since we know his oldest daughter was named Maria. If, on the other hand, she was referring to her daughter Maria, it doesn’t add much to the story.