I’m a visual person, I like having faces and images along with a narrative; so I really enjoy this feature that Ancestry.com provides me as a member.
This Blog Post includes information and illustrations from Ancestry.com Profile Pages of my Family Tree, Lifestory - Historical Insights. Supplemental information about what was going on “historically” during the time that the ancestor lived. This information often leads me to further research: how closely was my ancestor (and family members) affected, e.g. the location of the event in comparison to the place they lived. Did they participate?
People living in the city versus people living in the country (new settlements were often isolated from a village and and had no close neighbors). Some couldn’t read, period, or couldn’t read the English language publications.
History gives us knowledge of what was going on “globally” and in America (United States) during the time that our ancestors lived.
Blog Post: Hanger Family Story, arrival 1740. Begins with a Map of the 13 Colonies and my 6th GGF, Johann Melchior Hengerer b. 1700, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany *immigrated to America in 1740. He first lives in Lancaster Co, PA; later, moves to Greenbrier Co, WV.
5th GGF, (Johann) Peter Hanger Sr b. 1729, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany *immigrated to America in 1740 with his family; he moved to (Staunton) Augusta Co, Virginia; where he acquired 600 acres and became a wealthy landowner. His son, Peter Hanger II, married Catherine Link; he became a very wealthy, owned several plantations and slaves *he’s included because he is a good example of wealthy plantation owners of the time and place.
Historical Events: The European Powers [England, France, Spain] in the process of expanding their “Kingdoms” in America leads to the French and Indian War (1754-1763). The Stamp Act (1765) taxed most paper goods *Patrick Henry gave a protest oration in Williamsburg, VA. Newspaper, Protest Article, Philadelphia, PA. The Boston Tea Party (1773), Boston, MA. The Revolutionary War (1775-83)... abt 1775, Peter Sr and son, Peter II, serve in the Augusta County militia; during the War, Peter Sr provided provisions. In 1777 he used Hessian prisoners of war to build his house.
Jacob was 3 in 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was made; he was 8 when the Rev War ended.
4th GGF, Jacob Hanger b. 1773, Augusta Co, VA. 1809, “grew tired of Slavery” moved his family to Knox Co, Ohio.
3rd GGF, (Rev) Jacob S Hanger b. 1821, Knox Co, Ohio. 1856, moved his family to Ogle Co, Illinois *he first lives on a farm owned by Jacob D Piper -the two families possibly live together for a time before Jacob S Hanger purchases land of his own and they become close neighbors.
Historical Events: 15th Amendment, 1870, prohibited government at all levels from denying voting rights to men based on race. Southern states used poll taxes and literacy tests, threats from Ku Klux Klan to keep African Americans from voting. The Supreme Court ruled in 1876 that poll taxes and literacy tests were legal.
The American Civil War (1861-1865)...
1861, Confederates attack Fort Sumter, Charleston, South Carolina
Jacob S Hanger is 40 years old; I find no record of military service.
Jacob W Piper is 17 years old; I find no record of military service.
2nd GGM, Tamma Rebecca Hanger b. 1846, Knox Co, Ohio; married Jacob W Piper; this marriage combines the Hanger Branch to the Piper Family Tree. 1884, they moved to (LeGrand) Marshall Co, Iowa.
Lifestory - Johann Melchior Hengerer was born on October 9, 1700, in Hessigheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the child of Hans Conrad and Eva Maria. He married Maria Elisabetha Majer on January 23, 1723. They had eight children in 14 years. He died in 1768 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia, at the age of 68.
Residence and Occupation in America (after arrival): 1744, Lancaster Co, PA. Served as a witness to a deed. 1746, Warrant for 146 acres in Hanover. (from Wikipedia): in 1745, a tract of land was purchased upon which the original town of Hanover [named after Hanover, Germany] was built; many of the settlers from Germany -including my ancestor. Located at the crossing of two well-traveled roads, one from the port of Baltimore and the other between Philadelphia and the Valley of Virginia. Note: this is the only Hanover (Borough in York Co), PA information whose timeline information fits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanover,_Pennsylvania 1751, (land) survey, 150 acres, Greenbrier Co, West Virginia. Note: I have found no information regarding his occupation.
Historical Insights -Supplemental information from Ancestry.com
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| 1775. Credit: Hulton Archive Photos/Getty Images |
Johann Melchior Hengerer lived in West Virginia in 1768 as American colonists created the foundation of a burgeoning new country.
bef 1775 [Revolutionary War]
Colonial Life before the American Revolution. In the years leading up to the Revolution, colonists in America enjoyed relative prosperity under the protection of the British Crown.
The vast majority lived in rural farming villages on their own property–less than 10 percent lived in cities. Family farms dominated the north. Large plantations that grew cash crops like tobacco and rice dominated the mid-Atlantic and southern landscape. Thousands of African slaves were imported each year for labor, and by 1750, outnumbered white settlers in some colonies (like South Carolina) by thousands. As the British Empire thrived, taxes and imperial interference in local politics were minimal, allowing provincials the space to create their own unique identity.
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| Credit: Newspapers.com |
New printing technologies in the colonies aided the war effort. Broadsides, pamphlets, and newspaper articles were devoted to further the British colonial cause to defeat the French.
October 2, 1755, Annapolis, Maryland
The Benefits that will accrue to this Nation by driving the French out of all the Continent in America, will be found as follow, viz.
As the Affair now stands upon the Continent, neither the Indians in the French Interest, nor those in ours, bring a Third Part of the Commodities to either the French or our Markets, because of the continual Wars, as they otherwise could do if they were all at Peace: Yet the Commodities brought now to our Markets, by the Indians in Alliance with us, amount to a large Sum yearly; altho’ they are not One Part in Seven of those in Alliance with the French; besides whom, there are a vast Number of Indian Nations that neither the French nor we dare open a Trade into their Country, because of the said War, and there is nothing we buy of them but what fetches above 1000 per Cent Profit. Therefore, if the French were drove out of that Country, we should soon bring all those different Nations to Peace, and consequently bring all the whole Trade of that Continent into this Kingdom, which would be many Millions a Year. |
| 1757. New York. Credit: Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images. |
abt 1757 - Global Influences - The European Powers in the process of expanding their “Kingdoms” in America -Tensions often boiled over as the English, French, and Spanish tried to divide the territory with Native Americans.
abt 1763 - the French and Indian War left the British deeply in debt. Taxes were raised to replenish the royal coffers and colonists were forced to house British soldiers still stationed in the New World, eventually prompting the outbreak of the American Revolution.
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| 1763, New Jersey. Credit: Kean Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images. |
In general, American colonists used the English system of currency: pounds, shillings, and pence. The US dollar didn’t come into being until 1785 when the Continental Congress made it the new country’s official money.
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| 1790. Credit: Universal Images Group/Getty Images. |
Roles in Colonial Times Colonial women mostly worked inside the home, preparing meals and raising children. During the period, many also participated in cottage industry, spinning yarn that would be woven into textiles.
Lifestory - (Johann) Peter Hanger Sr was born on February 15, 1729, in Eschelbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, his father, Johann, was 28 and his mother, Maria, was 26. He married Anna Sabina Hannah Gabbert in 1760 in Augusta County, Virginia. They had 10 children in 21 years. He died in 1801 at the age of 72.
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| 1770, Virginia. Credit: MPI/Archive Photos/Getty Images |
(Johann) Peter Hanger Sr., was a wealthy landowner but this illustration is more befitting of his son, Peter Hanger II who owned several plantations and slaves. And, according to book titled “The Link family: antecedents and descendants of John Jacob Link” by Paxon Link published 1951, he had an “anti-authority” personality.
Lifestory - Peter Hanger II - When Peter Hanger was born on January 29, 1761, in Augusta County, Virginia, his father, (Johann), was 31 and his mother, Anna, was 36. He married Catherine Link on April 8, 1785, in Augusta County, Virginia. They had 10 children in 23 years. He died on December 23, 1828, at the age of 67.
Europe quickly became addicted to tobacco. To keep up with booming demand, plantations in the 13 colonies expanded and replaced indentured servants with African slaves. Note: many of the first immigrants transported to America by England were indentured servants - as told in the story of my Merkley and Casselman Ancestors, from the Palatine region of Germany [1709]. |
| Boston, Mass. Credit: Fotosearch/Archive Photos/Getty Images |
Historical Insights - The Stamp Act
When people took to the streets to protest the Stamp Act in 1765, Peter Hanger II was probably living in Virginia, one of the colonies opposing British rule.
Fed up with the expectation to pay up, the North American colonies united in 1765 in protests that successfully convinced British Parliament to repeal an important law.
An effigy of the stamp collector Andrew Oliver was paraded through the streets of Boston, hung from a tree. Then the angry mob ransacked his home. Intimidation like this caused tax collectors to leave their jobs, ensuring the tax wasn’t ever collected effectively.
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| Williamsburg, VA. Credit: Fotosearch/Archive Photos/Getty Images 1765, Attorney, future revolutionary, and governor of Virginia, Patrick Henry argued against the Stamp Act. During his oration, a spectator called him a traitor and to that he responded, “If this be treason, make the most of it.” |
“If taxes are laid upon us in any shape without our having a legal Representation,” wrote Boston leader Samuel Adams, “are we not reduced…to the miserable state of…slaves?” In 1765, the Stamp Act put colonists over the edge, requiring a tax on most paper goods—everything from newspapers to playing cards. It felt like a violation of constitutional rights because the colonists had no representative in Parliament voting for laws that were impacting them directly. They responded by mobilizing. While leaders of the 13 colonies organized an assembly, the people took to the streets. In Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and South Carolina, hundreds of shopkeepers, printers, and other professionals intimidated tax collectors with tar-and-feather attacks that ultimately led to their resignations. In New York merchants boycotted British goods and other port cities soon joined. The combined efforts of the colonists convinced Parliament to repeal the Stamp Act in little over a year.
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| Philadelphia, PA. Credit: Ancestry.com |
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| Boston, MA. Credit: Stock Montage/Archive Photos/Getty Images. |
The Boston Tea Party. Under the cover of night, a large group of people, some dressed as Mohawk Indians, marched toward docked merchant ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 chests of tea into the icy waters below. The 90,000 pounds of tea (worth $1 million today) carried a tax that the colonists fervently opposed. This successful protest on December 16, 1773, sparked the other colonies. “This is the most magnificent movement of them all,” recorded future founding father John Adams. Inspired by the exploit, other colonies held their own tea parties and destroyed British merchant ships. But the Boston Tea Party wasn’t without controversy: many colonists believed that the destruction of private property (the tea) was illegal and needed to be repaid. British Parliament agreed. Enraged by its unruly colonies, England clamped down, closing the Port of Boston. With the city’s economy crippled and hundreds out of work, frosty colonial attitudes toward the British continued to harden.
As punishment, locals were forced to house British soldiers, giving rise to more tension and resentment. The practice was eventually outlawed by the 3rd Amendment to the US Constitution.
Lifestory - Jacob Hanger was born in 1773 in Augusta County, Virginia, his father, (Johann), was 44 and his mother, Anna, was 49. He married Nancy Robinson and they had 10 children together. He then married Rebecca Davis and they had 10 children together. He died in 1834 at the age of 61.
Note: Sometime after January 1809 Jacob Hanger joined a large group of kindred souls who traveled by covered wagon to a new settlement in Knox County, Ohio. His son, Jacob S. Hanger writes in his biography that his father “grew tired of slavery”. He freed the three slaves that belonged to his wife when he married her. Lifestory - Jacob S Hanger was born on February 12, 1821, his father, Jacob, was 48 and his mother, Rebecca, was 28. He married Rachel Smith on August 2, 1842, in Columbiana, Ohio. They had 11 children in 21 years. He died on February 26, 1898, in Leaf River, Illinois, having lived a long life of 77 years, and was buried in Chana, Illinois.
Historical Insights -Supplemental information from Ancestry.com
The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution -In 1872, Jacob S. Hanger (Rev) may have witnessed or experienced political discrimination while living in Illinois after ratification of the 15th Amendment It outlawed outlawed racial discrimination at election polls, but white leaders in the South ignored the Constitution.
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| Credit: A.R. Waud/Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain. 1867, This Image from the cover of Harper’s Weekly shows African Americans of several occupations lining up to cast their ballots. Titled, “The First Vote” |
When the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in early February 1870, celebrations erupted in African American communities and abolitionist societies disbanded thinking their work was done. The amendment prohibited government at all levels from denying voting rights to men based on race. The Republican Party gained an African American voting bloc in the North. However, African Americans who wanted to vote in the South were met with poll taxes they could not afford, literacy tests they could not pass, and threats of violence from the Ku Klux Klan they could not ignore. Voter registration among African American men in Mississippi decreased from 67 percent in 1867 to 4 percent in 1892. The Supreme Court ruled in 1876 that poll taxes and literacy tests were legal, effectively nullifying the intent of the 15th Amendment and leading to the entrenchment of Jim Crow laws for another 90 years.
1870, Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Credit: Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain. Thomas Mundy Peterson of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, was the first African American to vote after the amendment was ratified.
1870s, Southern United States. Credit: Stock Montage/Archive Photos/Getty Images.
When African Americans were allowed to go to the polls, they often faced intimidation by local Democrats.
May 19, 1870, Baltimore, Maryland. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Photos/UIG via Getty Images.
As African Americans celebrated their right to vote; many Republicans believed the 15th Amendment had made Congressional Reconstruction successful.
Lifestory - Tamma Rebecca Hanger on August 31, 1846, in Utica, Ohio, her father, Jacob S, was 25 and her mother, Rachel, was 21. She married Jacob W Piper on March 10, 1870, in Ogle County, Illinois. They had eight children in 21 years. She died on July 1, 1911, in Le Grand, Iowa, at the age of 64, and was buried there.
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Conclusion: The Hanger Family Story; Johann Melchoir Hengerer immigrated from Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany and settled in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. His son, (Johann) Peter Sr, moved to (Staunton) Augusta Co, Virginia *wealthy landowner, vestryman. His son, Jacob Hanger (“tired of slavery”), moved to Knox Co, Ohio *(owned farm, 1834, see, Jacob S -turtle ) Justice of the Peace. His son, (Rev) Jacob S Hanger moved to Ogle Co, Illinois *(Farmer, 1860, Ogle) Clergyman, Christian Church. His daugher, Tamma Rebecca Hanger married (Rev) Jacob W Piper, they moved to (LeGrand) Marshall Co, Iowa *(80-acre farm, 1884, Marshall) Clergyman, Christian Church, President and Trustee of Palmer College.
1st Generation born in America (1773), Jacob Hanger, a pioneer who took part in the Western expansion and settlement of new territory (1809); Book: History of Knox County, Ohio -a short, biographical sketch reads like an obituary. xxx
