Zellhoefer, Johann Jacob-[197] ^{1 2 3 4 5 6}

   Other names for Johann were Selefer, John, Zellhoefer, Jacob, Zellhoefer, John Jacob, Zellhoffer, John, Zilhaver, Jacob and Zillhafer, John.

   Ancestral File Number: CN5D-S2. User ID: OAB 1497---.

  General Notes:

per the record of the royal bavarian rectory in Obernzenn dated 1 Feb 1846 and signed by Johann Schneider, parson, Johann Jacob was firstborn, born in Buchheim, and illigitimate. At last this explains why Jacob was so often missing from the list of this family! Thus Jacob's "true" father may always remain unknown, unless that might yet be learned from DNA testing in the future.

Birth Data from Karen on Ancestry message board. Date and burial information from Todd Moore on message board
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec?htx=message&r=an&p=surnames.zellhoefer&m=1.6
"John Jacob Zilhaver (Zellhoefer) died December 27, 1886. He is buried at Lutheran Cemetery in Drakes Mills, Pa. along with Margaret Elizibeth Kretsch. That is the info i have from my grandmother (dorothy Everett gray)."

about 5 miles east of Cambridge Springs, Jacob contracted malaria c.1848 from pond water while helping build the church

  Research Notes:

THIS MAN! Johann Jacob Zellhoefer, usually "Jacob", has been very difficult to track and to reconcile bits of data, but I'm finally satisfied with what is shown here. Johann Jacob Zellhoefer is without question the eldest of the 10 children of Johann Joseph Zellhoefer & Anna Margaretha Hoffmann back in Brachbach, a tiny farm hamlet a couple of kilometers from their Evangelishe church in Obernzenn. After arriving in America in 1838, he spent a couple of years in New York State, worked on the Erie canal, married Margaret Elizabeth KRETSCH. Next they settled in Crawford County PA and began the branch that used the spelling ZILHAVER.

Johann Jacob was born to Anna Margaretha Hofmann two months before her marriage to Johann Joseph Zellhoefer, that being the reason for Jacob being so often missing from so many family listings - even source OAB did not include Jacob as first-born of that family. We can believe but never know for certain that Johann Joseph is his father. There must have been some question about that amongst the family at the time of Johann Joseph's death, as Jacob did not inherit the family farm as was customary, which may have had much to do with his decision to leave (alone) for America, the first of the family to leave. It also again opens a question as to Jacob's "true" father.

Source GGZ told of him being the eldest son of George Jacob Zellhoefer, born on the family farm in "Ansbach in Rhine Bavaria", working as a teamster hauling grain to ports on the Rhein, and of migrating to the USA, spending a couple of years in New York where he married, and then homesteading their farm south of Erie, PA. GGZ is known to have gone to PA, surely spent time with his uncle Jacob, and probably gathered considerable information from Jacob at that time.

A bright spot in my research was a trip to Pennsylvania in Aug 2000 for a Zilhaver family reunion, where Rexford Wellmon was gracious enough to leave the gathering for a bit, returning with a copy of "Zilhaver Family History" and a printout of the Zilhaver pedigree.

There were many items of family data with slight differences - some have been saved, while others were eliminated by logical process. The main fact eliminated was that Jacob & Margaret had begun their family with their first 5 children being born in Cattaraugus County, NY State. That was disproven by the records of the 1850 census, but I mention it here "just in case" somehow the census entries were incorrect. Nonetheless, the NY location remains in IGI for several of the earliest of Jacob & Elizabeth's children, probably a misread of the 1850 census.

  Birth Notes:

based on 1880 census showing Frederick to be 72
Johann Jacob was the eldest and had to be born before him

  Burial Notes:

Drakes Mill Cemetery (A002 and tombstone).

  Noted events:

• Alt. Birth: Per GGZ auto, 1810, Ansbach, Ansbach. ⁵ GGZ was in error, the birth record being better source.

• Immigration: via Bremen on Ship Lalla Rook, Family ID 30026597, 21 Aug 1840, Port NewYork. ¹¹ NOTE! This record may belong instead to JOHANN JAKOB ZELLHOEFER OF ICKELHEIM, known to have migrated in 1840. However that JJZ had a family with him.

This Johann Jacob RIN#197 may have migrated 1838 or even earlier.

Index record from genealogy.com
Individual: J??? Zellhofer
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Country of Origin: Deutschland
Family Number: 30026597
Ship Name: Lolla Rook
Port of Departure: Bremen
Port of Arrival: New York
Arrival Date: Aug 21, 1840
Nat'l Archives Series No.: M237
Microfilm Number: 43

• Occupation: worker on the Erie Canal, 1840-1841, Rochester, Monroe, NY. It was probably about this time that Jacob & Margaret (or perhaps only Jacob?) lived in Cattaraugus County NY for a year or two before going thru Erie PA and settling on their farm in Crawford County. It seems THAT is the short period of their time in New York.

• Residence: on a farm, Abt Aug 1841, Cattaraugus NY.

• Immigration: from New York, Abt 1841, Rockdale Twp Crawford PA.

• Residence: on a farm, iving in a 1-1/2 story log cabin, where 5 more children were born,Apr 1842-1848, Cambridge Springs, Crawford, PA. Again, this is from Zilhaver Family History - I've changed their date of 1848/1857 to 1842/1848, which fits the scenario.

• Census: farmer with household, 1850, Rockdale Twp Crawford PA. ⁹ image 24 - not in index - census date 24 Sep 1850
surname spelled Sellhaffer / Sellheffer
John 43 & Elizabeth 41 both b.NY/NJ [???]
children - ALL b.Pennsylvania:
1 John 7
2 Dayton 7
3 Margaret 5
4 Frederich 4
5 Mary 3
6 Leonard 2
7 Henry 6m

• Residence: on the farm, in a new house built, 1857, Drakes Mills, Crawford, PA.

• Census: farmer, 1860, Rockdale Twp Crawford PA. ancestry.com image 3/41 (very faded image)
this census he is listed as John Zillhafer 53 b.Bavaria
now with wife "Hannah" (Johanna Keil)
One of his first-born twins is missing, the other listed.
then Margaret, Frederick, Mary, Leonard, [John Henry missing], Elizabeth, [no George, who died in infancy], Christina & William.

Johann married Margaret Elizabeth Kretsch-[405] [MRIN: 375] about 1842 in New York State.¹ (Margaret Elizabeth Kretsch-[405] was born on 22 Sep 1809 in Germany, died on 28 Dec 1859 and was buried in Lutheran Cemetery, Drakes Mills, Crawford, PA.)

  Marriage Notes:

Possibly they were married in Germany before migrating to New York, but that would make the marriage earlier and no children are known until 1843... They didn't have birth control in those days and it usually didn't take long for that first child to appear!

Johann next married Johanna Keil-[1017] [MRIN: 557], daughter of Unknown and Christine Keil-[1022], before Jul 1860 in Rockdale Twp Crawford PA.¹ (Johanna Keil-[1017] was born about 1826 in Germany.)

  Marriage Notes:

Johanna was with Jacob for census taken 28 Jun 1860