Tag Archives: Christina Manbeck

In the Kitchen of Christina Manbeck

When I wrote about Rudolph Manbeck’s will, I mentioned his bequests to his wife Christina and the detailed list of items that his son John was to be sure Christina Manbeck had each year after Rudolph passed on.  I also talked about the family’s reliance on flax–growing and making linen cloth–but I skipped over most of Rudolph’s itemization of kitchen items which gives us an opportunity to talk about the German immigrant’s kitchen. (Although aprons are not mentioned, Christina surely must have been protecting her clothes and doing a lot of cooking.)

Rudolph and Christina are my husband Ken Badertscher’s 4th great grand-parents, and the first North American arrivals of the Manbeck clan, along with their parents.

Christina Manbeck 1745-1824

I have not proven to my satisfaction that Christina’s family name was Ziegler, but the birth date above assumes that is correct. It also assumes that she was born in Freudenstadt, Germany, and arrived in Pennsylvania as a child in 1752.

Although she grew up as a resident of the new world, and lived through the American Revolution, she lived the somewhat enclosed life of a German immigrant in a thoroughly German community, attending a German church where sermons were in German. It stands to reason that her cooking, therefore, would derive from her German background. That is borne out by the foods that her husband thinks it is important for her to have in her kitchen.

Christina Ziegler Manbeck

Christina Manbeck and John Manbeck signatures as executors on Rudolph Manbeck’s will.

Christina never learned to read and write, signing as executrix of Rudolph’s will with an “x” (above), although her husband was literate–witness the TEN books in the inventory of his goods, listed with other guy stuff like razor , musket and knives (below).

Rudolph Manbeck books

Rudolph Manbeck owned books – Inventory- Probate Records, 1794

In addition to general living, and the business of growing and using flax, here’s what Rudolph believed Christina needed in the way of foodstuff each year:

  • 8 bushels of wheat (ground into flour)
  • 4 bushels of rye (ground into flour)
  • 1 fat hog, at least 70 pounds, butchered
  • 40 pounds of beef, twice a year
  • a dairy cow with feed
  • 1/2 of the calves produced by that cow
  • Hens enough for however many eggs she needs,
  • half a bushel of salt
  • 1/4 pound pepper
  • 1/4 pound allspice
  • 1/3 pound ginger
  • However many apples, peaches and other fruit she needs to eat and to dry
  • 1 barrel of cider
  • 4 gallons of vinegar
  • 1 gallon of apple brandy
  • 10 pounds of tallow (rendered lard used for cooking, making soap and making candles)
  • as much firewood as she needs
  • 6 bushels potatoes.

There are several things I noticed right away.  Some time ago, I talked about the foods brought to America by German immigrants.   In case you don’t have time to read the article, it is worthwhile to repeat the main points, and see how they match up with the food in Christina’s kitchen.

I did not realize until I delved into the subject, that Germans brought SO MANY food ideas to America.  And I had never focused on the importance of balancing sweet and savory (sour) in recipes–despite my love of hot potato salad with its sugar and vinegar, the fact that I use brown sugar in sauerkraut and my love of mouth-watering sauerbraten.

Without the German immigrants, we would not have sauerkraut, potato pancakes,  sticky buns, apple butter, knockwurst, bratwurst and liverwurst and 3-bean salad.  How about some strudel or Black Forest Cake for dessert? We wouldn’t even have cream cheese!  Although some other nationalities made a creamy cheese, the one we principally use today in America was invented in Philadelphia by German dairy farmers.

In addition to the foods supplied by her son, Christina Manbeck will be able to grow vegetables and herbs in the 1/3 of the kitchen garden which shall be set aside for her and fertilized with manure.  She shall have the use of the kitchen and the kitchen furniture and wooden tubs (presumably for laundry). She shall also have “bushels” (bushel baskets) and ironware for her use.

Her husband appreciates that Christina needs certain spaces in order to keep house. Besides the kitchen, she shall have free access to the garret (attic), cellar (for storage of preserved foods), spring house (for water and for storing foods that need to be cool, such as butter and the bake oven.  If she and her son cannot coexist in the old family farmhouse, he must build her rooms onto the spring house including a fireplace and a pipe stove. (This was indeed a modern family, as many at this time had only a fireplace for cooking!)

So what did she make with wheat flour and rye flour and those spices? Certainly the good German rye bread.  I will use the spices in the Lebkucken coming up next week. Pepper, allspice, ginger, and vinegar all go into that German favorite Sauerbraten and the new German roast recipe I’ll be trying. Spices are so important that they get mentioned in the will, because as mentioned above, the Germans like sweet and sour and highly spiced foods.

Christina is going to use a LOT of allspice and ginger. She will have 4 oz every year. I have 1 to 2 ounces, and I don’t use nearly all that in a year. The Germans used other spices, like cloves, mustard seed, and anise, for instance, but perhaps they are too expensive to buy in such large quantities, and she would buy small amounts as needed.

But, Rudolph, did you forget sugar? Is that because the family used only honey?  There is a hive mentioned in the will which goes to a daughter. I hope that Catharine will share the honey with Christina!

And when I read the Inventory of goods, which is what will be sold– left over after Christina gets her share — I notice several things that surely she could have used. Why were these items not specified in the long, detailed list?

Candle molds and candle holders, pewter ware, utensils, earthenware pots and other earthenware surely would be useful. The Manbeck holdings include a quantity of corn, buckwheat and oats. Why is she not provided with those grains?

However, she does receive 50 shillings cash, presumably every year, so she can buy whatever she cannot share with son John.

I have really enjoyed visiting the 18th century kitchen of Christina Ziegler Manbeck. Rudolph appears to have thought about just about everything that his wife will need.

——————-

Here is my transcription of the whole section of the will devoted to Christina:

It is also my Will and I do Order that my Son John or his Heirs and Assigns, As a further Consideration for my Aforesaid Plantation or Tract of land, Shall give, deliver and make good yearly and every year unto my beloved Wife Christina, so long as she Lives and remains my Widow the following Articles that is to say—Eight Bushels of good Wheat four Bushels of good Rye and to the same from time to time as she Need go into the Mill and fetch these Meal and Bran Home into her dwelling, a fat Swine which shall weigh Seventy pounds and to Kill the same, forty pounds of good Beef, both in the fall or Killing time, to keep a Cow, Summer’s and Winter’s in provender like his own Cow’s and when said Cow gets dies or is old and unfit, then to find or give her a young one again from his Cows. But he shall have the old Cow and the one half parts of the Calfs her Cows always bring, from year to year twelve pounds Hatchled (?) Flax, twelve pounds Tow, four pounds good wool, So many New Shoes and to Mend the old ones as she has Need of, So many Hens of Fowls and Eggs for her to eat as she has Need for, half a Bushel good Salt, ¼ pepper,/1/4 Alspices, 1/3 Ginger. So many Apples and other Fruit for to Eat and make Dry Apples and Peaches, one Barrel good Cyder, four Gallons Vinegar, one gallon Apple Brandy, ten pounds Tallow, the one third part of the Garden were she pleases to have it and to Dung it when required, Six Bushels Potatoes, So much small Cut Fire wood fit for use to be delivered to her dwelling House as she has Need for, to have the Liberty to Live in the House as at Present Live in with with the use of the Kitchen, Garret, Cellar, Spring House, Bake-Oven, with Free Egress and Regress and in Case they cannot live peaceable together, then he is to make new Room on the Spring House in good order with a pipe stove and fireplace in it for her to live in; and keep it in good Repairs, fifty shillings Cash in specie, and when she should get Old and Infirm or Sick, to give or find her good Attendance.

I give and bequeath unto my beloved Wife Christina a Bed with Bedstead, Chest, all the linen and linen furniture, fifty pounds Flaxen yarn, thirty pounds Tow yarn, Spinning Wheel, Reel, and C___ to do her choice, one chair take her choice, to have the Liberty to take so much of the Kitchen furniture and Wooden Tubs. Bushels and Iron Ware for her use as she has Occasion for and that then all the same shall be in full for my beloved Wife’s one-third part of my personal Estate and to have no further demand against the same.

How Ken is Related

  • Kenneth Ross Badertscher is the son of
  • Agnes Bair Badertscher, who is the daughter of
  • Adam Daniel Bair, who is the son of
  • Daniel Manbeck Bair, who is the son of
  • Elizabeth Manbeck Bair, who is the daughter  of
  • Jacob Manbeck, who is the son of
  • Rudolph Manbeck and Catharina Ziegler Manbeck

Research Notes

Estate Files, 1752-1915; Author: Berks County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Berks, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993, Rudolph Manbeck, 1794. On line at Ancestry.com

A historical booklet of Altahala Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rehrersburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania : published for the 200th anniversary, Sunday, June 23, 1957, Rehresburg, PA: Brossman, Schuyler C.,Church Council, 1957.  From Ancestry.com

Genealogy! Just Ask!  I received help on unfamiliar terms in will from this Facebook Page. Principally from Marlys Pearson, but many others chimed in as well.

History of the Grim family of Pennsylvania and its associated families : including the following: Merkle, Greenawalt, Fertig, Zechman, Schaeffer, Smith, Felver, Conde, Garner, Robbins, Long, Kisling, Schartel, Manbeck, Giltner, Schreiner, Dreher, Kircher and Moyer families. Long, William Gabriel, “The Manbecks”, M.E.G. Grim, J.L.G. Long, H.H. Grim, 1934. On line at Ancestry.com images 134-136.

 

 

 

52 Ancestors – #46 Rudolph Manbeck. Where There’s a Will – Part II

Have you ever wanted to time travel and get to see how a particular ancestor lived? What he or she did for a living, or to help support the family? What kind of furniture did he/she have? What was most important to him/her?

Rudolph Manbeck 1740 or 1743 – 1794

Flax plant

Flax – vintage illustration, Linum usitatissimum L., Common flax or Linseed.

Well lucky me, I’ve just returned from a bit of time travel to the end of the 18th century where I visited my husband, Ken Badertscher’s 4th great-grandfather and  grandmother, Rudolph and Christina (Ziegler) Manbeck. My time travel vehicle is the will filed in the Tulpehocken Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania court by Rudolph Manbeck in January 1794 and probated in February 1794.

Unfortunately, my time travel machine would not take me all the way back to Germany where Rudolph and Christina were born, but I have more than enough information about their lives in Pennsylvania to keep Ken and his family busy for years.Rudolph arrived in America in 1765 with his father and his two sisters (and probably his mother). He settled in Berks County, Pennsylvania and attended the Altahala Evangelical Lutheran Church at Rehrersburg, Pennsylvania, a church founded in 1757 to serve German immigrants. In the 1950s Manbecks were still active members of the church.

What did I learn from the will and inventory of belongings?  I learned much about Rudolph and Christina’s life, but also got a lesson in vocabulary.

Rudolph was religious. His will starts with language that is familiar to readers of wills of the 17th through 19th centuries, in thanking God that he is still of sound mind although “at Present Sickly and Weakly in Body.” He admits to mortality “it is appointed for all Men once to die”. The first order of business is to “commend my Soul into the Hands of God who gave it, Hoping through the Merits of our Savior Jesus Christ to receive Remission of all my Sins and an Happy Admission into the Regions of Bliss and Immortality.”

Rudolph was a traditionalist.  I know that because he followed the assumed pattern of German primogeniture.  His land and accumulated buildings went to his oldest son, John, who was also tasked, along with Christina, Rudolph’s wife, of administering the will.  That does not mean that Rudolph six or seven (I’ll explain the “or” in a bit) other children were left with nothing.  In fact, John had to pay 300 pounds for the farm, doling it out to his siblings according to a formula spelled out by Rudolph. Which brings us to another trait.

Rudolph was the decision-maker

–perhaps even a bit of a control freak.  Besides the specific formula by which John is to pay back his siblings for the farm, 1/3 of the will contains details about what his wife is to inherit and how John is to keep his mother after Rudolph dies. A long paragraph specifies a grocery list of food stuff that she must get yearly from major items like Eight Bushels of good Wheat  to “half a Bushel good Salt, 1/4 li (superscript – latin abbreviation for pound) pepper, 1/4 li Alspices, 1/3 li Ginger” and more.

As though he does not trust John to have good sense to proper care for his mother, he instructs on the care of the cow she is to have.  She is to “Keep a Cow, Summer and Winter’s in provender like his own Cow’s and when said Cow dies or is old and unfit, then to find or give her a young one again from his Cows.”

I could also herar his preachy voice saying “John, you need to give your mother grain, but you also need to take it to the Mill and have it ground and then take the meal back to her.” The wording in the will is, “Eight Bushels of good Wheat, four Bushels of good Rye and to the same from time to time as she Need go into the Mill and fetch these Meal and Bran Home into her dwelling.”

John gets more instructions about Christina’s dwelling place, again with lots of detail. He is to share the farm house and give her the use of “Kitchen, Garrett, Cellar, Spring House, Bake-Oven with Free Egress and Regress and in Case they cannot live peaceable together, then he is to make new Room on the Spring House in good order with a pipe stove and fireplace in it….” One hopes that they lived peaceable.

Rudolph Manbeck

Rudolph Manbeck signature on will 1794

You can see from Rupert’s signature, that he was in bad shape physically. Although he was only in his early fifties, he probably had suffered a stroke. What a terrible blow that would be to the tough old soldier (he was in the militia and served in the Revolutionary War) and a man who was used to giving orders.

Rudolph was a farmer

His major crop was flax, which is a change from the many dairy farmers I have been writing about.  he owned only six horned cows and 7 swine according to the inventory. Oh, yes, and a hive of bees that he gave to one of his daughters.

Out of 63 lines of inventory, many listing two or even three items, 11 lines contained one or more items having to do with flax, plus there were other items that might have been used in growing it (like rakes and scythes) or in making cloth (like spinning wheels, baskets, etc.). The picture below shows two items that are listed–a spinning wheel and reel.

Spinning Wheel and Reel

“Charlene Parker, spinner, at Knott’s Berry Farm” by DTParker1000 – Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 via Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Charlene_Parker,_spinner,_at_Knott%27s_Berry_Farm.JPG#/media

I am still learning more about raising flax and what you do with it after you raise it, but here are the terms that I was unfamiliar with in the inventory of his property.

Flax Brakes: Tool to crush the stems and release the fibers.

Hackles: Combs that straighten the fibers.

Hatchels: Another term for Hackle

Towlinen: Coarse cloth made from shorter fibers of flax.

Riddles:  Sieves for sifting seed–there were specific Flax Riddles, I am told.

Culling Box: Another device for separating seed. Not necessarily specific to Flax.

Flaxen Yarn:  The long-fiber thread that would be made into linen

Tow Yarn: The short fiber thread that would be made into the inferiorTow.

This paragraph from Mother Earth on line, explains many of the terms and the process.

Processing the bundles of stems to extract the fibers for spinning is a complex task that requires simple but special tools, a lot of hard physical work, and a sense of timing and judgment that comes only from long experience. The first step, called retting, involves soaking or wetting the stems for a period of days or weeks to promote bacterial action, which separates the different layers of stem tissues and loosens the fibers. After retting, the stems are dried again, then crushed between the wooden blades of a tool called a break or brake, which breaks the woody core into short bits that fall away from the mass of fibers. Finally, the bundles are combed through metal-tined combs called hackles. The result: a smooth bundle of long, straight fibers called line flax and a pile of fluffy, tangled, shorter fibers called tow. The line flax is used to make crisp, glossy fabrics, and the tow is used for everyday goods.

And this web site has a series of pictures showing the whole operatoin.

Christina Spent a Lot of Time Spinning and Weaving

There were a total of 6 spinning wheels and a reel listed in the inventory. One was specified as a Woolwheel, so presumably the rest were used for flax. Christina must have woven the linen and the tow, also, because Rupert leaves her quantites of yarn–both the amount of flaxen yarn and the amount of tow yarn were increased from what was originally written. (The first amount scratched out or written over). Fifty pounds flaxen yarn and thirty pounds Tow yarn. Additionally, the inventor lists 54 pounds of flaxen yarn and 20 of Tow yarn. Although there is no loom mentioned in the will, she most certainly was going to weave that yarn.

If the family was not in the business of selling cloth, they surely must have used it in barter for other goods.

Rudolph was Frugal

When he made his will, Rudloph owed 37 pounds, 6 pence to others, but he had 110 pounds, 10 shillings and 10 pence in cash on hand, which is a healthy amount of money for the time.

In the roughly 32 years since he arrived in America, Rudolph had created a successful 70 acre farm, and with Christina raised 7 (or 8) children.

More Work to be Done

At the beginning of the will, Rudolph specifies a paltry ten pounds as the legacy in full of his “Son Leonard”, to be paid to him or his attorney two years after his decease, with interest.

I have no idea who Leonard is, when he was born, or why he does not get the equal share that “my six children–my four Sons, George, Nicholas, Jacob and Daniel and my two Daughters Christina and Catharine”–plus John, who gets the major portion, and is not counted in the list.

Was Leonard actually a son, or a step son? Or was he perhaps a god-son? Or was he the eldest who under the rule of primogenture had to get something no matter how estranged the father and son might be–so he gets a token. Or did he marry a rich woman, and Rudolph didn’t think he needed any more? And why did he have to wait two years? The most obvious reason would be that he was not yet “of age”.

I find records for John and for a Johannes Leonard.  The Johannes Leonard Manbeck had a son that he named John in September 1794–nearly nine months after Rudolph Manbeck died.The son John who inherited the farm, according to the history of the Grim family of Pennsylvania that includes some Manbecks, was born in 1766,  which is one year after Rudolph arrived in America.According to that same source, he married around 1790.

The other problem is that I cannot verify the information in the Grim family book. I have very little information on Christina.  Although the Grim Family book says that her maiden name is Ziegler, I have not been able to confirm that. I don’t know for sure if Christina and Rudolph married in Germany or in America.  There are hundreds of Christinas among the German immigrants, adding to the confusion.

So there is much work to be done. I probably will leave it to Ken’s sister to finish some day.

Meanwhile, I’ll follow this post next week with one on Rudolph’s father’s will. And I’ll talk a bit soon about Christina’s kitchen.

How Ken is Related

  • Kenneth R. Badertscher is the son of
  • Agnes Bair Badertscher, who is the daughter of
  • Adam Daniel Bair, who is the son of
  • Daniel Manbeck Bair, who is the son of
  • Elizabeth Manbeck Bair, who is the daughter  of
  • Jacob Manbeck, who is the son of
  • Rudolph Manbeck and Catharina Ziegler Manbeck

Notes on Research:

Estate Files, 1752-1915; Author: Berks County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Berks, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993, Rudolph Manbeck, 1794. On line at Ancestry.com

Pennsylvania, Revolutionary War Battalions and Militia Index, 1775-1783, Vol. 2, pg 260 Rudolph Manbeck, Corporal. From Ancestry.com

Pennsylvania, Tax and Exoneration, 1768-1801, Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission; Records of the Office of the Comptroller General, RG-4; Tax & Exoneration Lists, 1762-1794; Microfilm Roll: 316, Rudolph Manbeck, 1781. From Ancestry.com

A historical booklet of Altahala Evangelical Lutheran Church, Rehrersburg, Berks County, Pennsylvania : published for the 200th anniversary, Sunday, June 23, 1957, Rehresburg, PA: Brossman, Schuyler C.,Church Council, 1957.  From Ancestry.com

Genealogy! Just Ask!  I received help on unfamiliar terms in will from this Facebook Page. Principally from Marlys Pearson, but many others chimed in as well.

 Köhler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen or Medicinal Plants, Franz Eugen, 1887, Germany. This is the source of the beautiful vintage plant illustration of the flax plant. In the public domain. Found on the web site: Plant Curator.