Obviously Johann Philip had a father. Including the man named “Father” Klingemann in my family tree, though, was nothing but a device to introduce several early men of this name. I know nothing about the true “Father” Klingemann and by no means am I suggesting any of the men I introduced were the father of Johann Philip.

The Klingemann family is one of the most confused families I have studied -- well they’re not confused, genealogists trying to understand today who was who are confused.

It is similar to the Mertz family. At least two (maybe up to four) entirely unrelated families who went by the name Mertz settled in Berks County in the 1730’s -- in different townships but not too far from each other -- and because certain names were used for sons in both families, modern day researchers have gotten them all mixed up. It took a lot of work for me to straighten the Mertzes out -- finding every will, deed, church record, tombstone, tax record and Census where one was named -- then sorting out the relationships that could be inferred from those records and putting everything together in a cohesive framework. And I do now claim to have substantially figured them out.

I do not claim, though, to have sorted out all the relationships among all the early Klingemanns of eastern Pennsylvania -- I think more work needs to be done. I do believe no one else has yet figured it out, I believe there are errors in everything I have found that purports to document who was who and I will point out what I think is wrong with things that have been previously “published” to provide a basis for future research for anyone wishing to take things further. But basically I have started from scratch, took nothing for granted, and tried to ascertain the correct relationships -- especially of the Klingemanns we are related to.

Let’s start with the immigrants. I consider Ralph Beaver Strassburger the authoritative source on the ships’ passenger lists of Palatine Germans who arrived Philadelphia, starting in 1727. On the ship Samuel which arrived in 1732, there were five persons named Klingman -- two young men, two young women and a young boy.

Hans George Klingman age 24.
Georg (also transcribed Jorich) Klingman age 27.
Thoredea Klingman age 25. (Thorodea is equivalent to the name Dorothy.)
Kathrina Klingman age 24.
Petter Klingman age 8.

An early attempt to sort this family out was published by Arthur K Klingaman in 1973 titled The Klingaman Family. His work seems to be the accepted starting point of others researching this family. Even Annette Burgert, a researcher whose work I greatly admire and who was helpful to me especially on my Mertz and Hilbish lines, cites Arthur as a source though I think she reversed what he had in fact concluded.

Arthur grouped these five people into two families which he claimed were related but did not say in what way. He said Hans Georg and Kathrina were one married couple and the parents of Petter. And he said Jorich and Thorodea were the other married couple.

Now I have always wondered how he deduced that since there was absolutely no indication given in those passenger lists as to the relationships, if any, among people with the same name on any particular ship. One is left to using other methods to deduce any relationship, if one existed.

But I have studied Strassburger lists a lot and I believe that some insight can be gleaned from the order the many names were listed specifically on what is called the Captain’s list -- the one required of each captain to list his passengers. And I think Arthur was absolutely mistaken.

The image I have in my mind is of the captain walking the ship with a sheet of paper to list the adult men, a separate sheet for the women and a separate sheet for the children. As he encountered each family group, he wrote the names on the appropriate sheet.

If you look at the names of passengers just before and just after Hans George on the list of men, they are the same names just before and just after Thorodea (in a slightly different order) on the list of women. Now to be sure not every male on board was married so some names got skipped on the women’s list, but the order can still be perceived. So too the names just before and just after Jorich are the same names just before and just after Kathrina -- and those are also the names just before and just after Petter -- again taking account that not every male brought children with him.

So I think Yorich and Kathrina and Petter are related -- probably parents and a child (but I’m not sure we can even conclude that with certainty). And I think Hans George and Thorodea were the other couple. Now in a way it is moot since both men were really named George for all intents and purposes but since Arthur was so precise to differentiate Hans George from Jorich, and since he seems to be a widely quoted source, I think the record needs to be corrected.

Annette Burgert (in her work on emigrants from the Northern Kraichgau) found the marriage record in Germany of George Klingmann, son of Leonard, who married Anna Dorothea, daughter of George Schuhmann, on 23 Apr 1731. This would seem to rule them out as Petter’s parents. But then she also says that George (Dorothea’s husband) was 24 when he arrived (which I believe is correct) but she cites Arthur Klingaman -- who clearly was pointing to the 27-year-old Jurich as Dorothea’s husband. What a mess.

Now it turns out there was probably a third immigrant named Klingemann who needs to be introduced.

On the ship Phoenix which arrived in 1743, a man named Jorg Philip Klingkann was listed Arthur Klingaman dismisses him based on the spelling of his name but I think he cannot be so easily dismissed. I can find no evidence that Klingkann was an actual name and even though one of the reasons I like Strassburger is he did the best job of deciphering the actual names of the immigrants, sometimes the writing was so smudged that it was a near impossible task.

The only list that survived for the Phoenix was one of the oaths and so even had the captain of that ship submitted a full list with women and children too -- which by 1743 most captains were not doing, instead only listing the adult males and not even giving their ages -- any such list was lost. Consequently, we do not know how old Philip was or whether he came alone or with family.

Another reason I think Jorg Philip may indeed have been Klingemann is that I have found an American church record citing that he (Jorg Philip exactly) and wife Elisabeth baptized daughter Elisabeth in 1749 at New Hanover Lutheran Church in Montgomery County.

Let’s move forward a couple of decades. Two men named Klingemann died in Berks County and the names of their children are known from estate/probate records associated with their deaths.

In 1761, George Klingemann of Albany Township died. His wife was Barbara and he named son Peter his Executor and then referred to and named his five children (so I assume he meant five other children): Mattelena Reyen, Ann Eve Gerhart, Cornelius, Anna Maria and Maria Elisabeth -- the latter two his unmarried daughters. Whether George was one of ship Samuel passengers I don’t know. I would think he was. The fact that Peter appears to be his oldest son seems like an important fact, but he clearly stated that Barbara was Peter’s mother.

In 1774, Philip Klingman of Robeson Township, an innholder (or inn keeper) died and his will named his wife Elizabeth, three children by his first wife -- Michael, Barbara and Elizabeth -- and six children by his second wife -- John, Rachel, Elizabeth, Jacob, Peter and Mary. There is no indication at all, from his will, whether this man might at times have been called Jorg Philip. (In fact, I think he was named John Philip.)

I have also studied every mention I can find of anyone named Klingaman in Pennsylvania church records of the 1700’s. There are 3 clusters of families in those records.

One cluster was named first in the records of Reverend Waldschmidt and later of Schwartzwald Reformed Church.

Reverend Waldschmidt is mostly thought of as a Lancaster County minister but he “rode the circuit” and he clearly served congregations in Robeson Township (when it was part of Lancaster County before Berks was created) and, up until about 1780 or a little before, his circuit still included Blainsport (”Michael Amweg’s”) that, even though it is in Lancaster County, is quite close to Robeson Township in Berks County.

Schwartzwald Reformed Church is located in Exeter Township, Berks County, which abuts Robeson Township.

The named adults in this cluster were John, Regina (I believe another name Rachel went by), Peter, Elisabeth and Jacob -- five of the six children named in his will by Philip Klingman who died in Robeson Township in 1774.

Later Regina, Elisabeth and Mary, I think, all moved to York County and they were named in several church records there.

This is the Robeson cluster.

A second cluster was named at Rosenthaal Church, Albany Township, Berks County including adults named George and Cornelius and their association with the Gerhart family there is apparent. This is the Albany Township cluster, the family of George who died in that place in 1761, with a daughter married to Gerhart. Peter, of this family, was also named at the Allemangel Church, also in Albany Township.

Finally a third cluster was named in the records of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church in York County including adult children named George, Frederick and Jacob -- one of whom named a daughter Dorothy. I suspect this cluster was descended from (Hans) George Klingemann whose wife was Thorodea.

So the whole point of introducing “Father” Klingemann was as a device to introduce all of the earliest men named Klingemann who were either known immigrants or who were no doubt of an age where it would seem likely they were. It is not to suggest that I know of any relationship between any two of them.

One of the men introduced was Philip who died in Robeson Township in 1774. I call him Robeson Philip so it is absolutely clear who I am talking about. He alone of these earliest men was our ancestor, for sure -- our earliest known ancestor of this family. Whether he was related to any of the immigrants named or in fact was one of them -- I just don’t know.

Our Philip most certainly had a father, but did he come to America? Was he one of the named immigrants? Did he come before 1727, thus before the listing of ships‘ passengers began? I just don’t know.