Some Internet Trees say her name was Anna Elisabeth Baer. Interesting. I have no idea where any suggestion that that was her name might have come from.

The Baer family and the Peter family were quite close -- three Peter sisters married three Baer brothers. The Peter family clearly has Swiss roots and it’s possible the Johannes Baer family does too (just not proven). But since I believe the other Baers in this part of Northampton County may not have been related to Johannes Baer, it follows that Elisabeth could have been a member of one of those families and therefore the fact that three of her daughters married Baer brothers would not be noteworthy.

However, if it turns out that Johannes was related to the other Baers of that area and that Anna Elisabeth was too, then her daughters married her nephews.

The will of Jacob Petter of Heydelberg Township, Northampton County written 20 May 1777 proved a few months later. He mentioned wife Elizabeth. He mentioned son John Ulrich who was a soldier and if he returned home again there was a bequest for him, otherwise it was to go to Ulrich’s daughter Elizabeth. He mentioned his four youngest sons Philip Jacob, Nicholas, John Jacob and Abraham. He mentioned two daughters of his deceased daughter Mary Magdalena. And he mentioned five sons-in-law: Jacob Baer, John Baer, John Adam Baer, Peter Schopp and Adam German. Finally, and quite interestingly really, he mentioned land he owned “over the Blue Mountain in Penn Township.”

It is my contention that Jacob, John and John Adam Baer, Jacob Peter’s sons-in-law, were brothers and further that I have been able to determine the names of their wives, Jacob’s daughters, from church baptism records.

There is one problem however. Jacob named his deceased daughter Mary Magdalena and she had married Masser but my analysis suggests that Johannes’ wife was named Magdalena. Did Jacob Peter have two daughters who had Magdalena as part of their name (stranger things happened back then -- in fact from his will, we know that Jacob had a son Philip Jacob and another John Jacob), did he get the name of his deceased daughter scrambled in his mind when he wrote his will -- or am I wrong in my analysis? I don’t know.

For now, I’m saying that Magdalena Peter married Johannes Baer and Mary Magdalena Peter married Masser.

The Swiss Emigrants book lists Hans Jacob as the son of Caspar Peter and Maria Zuppinger, notes that he was born in 1723, and says he came to America with his family including brothers Caspar and Rudolph. I have no evidence from American records to confirm that our Jacob was born on or about 1723 -- I wish I did just to lock everything up. But everything makes sense that this was our Jacob.

He died in 1777. The dates of the births of his known children were 1748 to perhaps 1762. He acquired land perhaps as early as 1743. So, he may have acquired his land at about age 20, married before age 25, raised his family and died in 1777 at age about 54. There are no alarm bells going off looking at that timetable.

What I believe about the Peter family -- that I have been able to trace their origins to Switzerland and that Jacob was one of three brothers who came to America (Rudolph and Caspar the others) -- stands in stark contradiction to my feelings about the Baer family. In the case of the Baer family, I just don’t see the connection between my specific ancestor and the others who shared his surname and were said to be his brothers. This is primarily because the Baers lived in somewhat different places. In contrast, all these supposedly related members of the Peter family lived near each other, attended the same church and there is evidence in examining the baptism records that they stood up for each other as sponsors at a child’s baptism.

There is a very confusing Internet Family Tree quoting the “History of Lehigh and Carbon County” saying that Jacob Peter, supposed to be a brother of Rudolph and Caspar Peter patented 31 acres in 1752 and mentioning other known Peter family members of that place.

The tree is clearly suggesting that all of these people were descendants of Ulrich Peter born about 1630 in Zurich and states the lineage. The tree has too few facts and too many vague sources to be taken as fact. However, I know from the will of the Jacob Peter of interest to me that he had a son named John Ulrich so the whole idea that Jacob’s ancestry traces to Ulrich of Switzerland may have merit.

IMMIGRANT. There was a ship Jamaica, arrived Philadelphia 7 Feb 1738/39. The only person named Peter listed was Hendrick Beter (Peter?). The Ulrich Peter tree does show a brother of Casper named Henry. According to the ship’s list, Hendrick was age 26.

But I believe Jacob and his younger brothers were also on-board, none yet age 16. Jacob was born in 1723, I suspect that date is given New Style, so let’s say it was March 1722/1723. The ship arrived Feb 1738/39. Jacob, the oldest of the three brothers, would have been 15. He was close to 16 but technically just under the cut-off. Thus he would not have been listed by the captain nor subject to taking the oath of allegiance.

Among the early land patentees of Heidelberg Township, (then) Northampton County were Jacob Peter who patented 31 acres on 12 Mar 1752 and Rudolph Peter who patented 74 acres 28 Jan 1754. On the 1781 assessment list for Heidelberg Township, we find Casper and Casper Jr., Jacob, John, William and the widow Peter all listed. Some (most?) of them would have been the second generation of the family in America.

This from “The History of Lehigh and Carbon County” published in 1884. “Of the family of Peters who early settled in Heidelberg township were three brothers -- Caspar, Rudolph, and Jacob. Caspar settled in what is now Washington Township where he built the present house in 1761, and placed in the wall a stone with the year marked upon it. Rudolph Peter settled in Heidelberg. He took out a warrant for seventy-four acres of land on the 28th of January, 1754.  Eve Elizabeth, a daughter, became the wife of Adam German, who settled at Germansville. It is not known who his other children were. He died in 1813, aged fifty-seven years, and is buried in Heidelberg churchyard. Jacob Peter, supposed to be a brother of Rudolph and Caspar, took out a warrant for thirty-one acres of land on the 12th of March, 1752; nothing is known of his descendants.” 

This same book gives the history of the Heidelberg Church and says among the first settlers of that area in 1735 were Casper Peter, Jacob Peter and Wilhelm Peter -- brothers.

Well, this is in the ballpark but I don’t think should be taken as absolute fact. For one thing, Adam German married Anna Elisabeth, daughter of Jacob Peter. For another thing, Rudolph who died in 1813 at the age of 57 would have been born in 1756 so he was not an immigrant, rather the son of one of the original brothers.