Muschlitz / Mushlitz / Mushlit / Muschlet Genealogy

As near as I can tell, everyone with the surnames Muschlitz, Mushlitz, Mushlit, and Muschlet is related.

The common ancestor was Gottlieb (Gottfried) (Jacob) Muschlitz, who was born illegitimate in Pfaffenhofen , Wurttemberg, Germany on 18 June 1718. His full name at baptism was Johann Heinrich Gottfried Mushlit. His mother was Agnes Reuther, and according to his baptism record his father was "a nobleman from Silesia".

Agnes Reuther was born 2 August 1691 in Unterhausen, Wurttemberg, Germany to Hans Conrad Reueter and Anna Barbara Bertsch. She died 23 April 1763 in Pfaffenhofen.

Hans Conrad's parents were Hans Reueter and Anna Mutschler, his grandparents were Melchior Reuetter and Elisabetha, and Hans Mutschler and Margaretha Hueppen. Anna Barbara's parents were Hans Jacob Bertsch and Brgitha. They all appear to be from Unterhausen.

Gottfried married Maria Regina Schreiber on 17 September 1746. They had one child who died in birth, on 16 Aug 1746. His wife died 29 November 1754, at the time of her death she was listed as being abandoned (divorced?) by her husband.

According to the Pfaffenhofen church records, Gottfried is listed as receiving communion in 1749 and 1750, but no later. His wife is shown receiving communion in 1754, before she died. Both her name and Gottfried's are then crossed off the register. No death record for Gottfried has been found in Pfaffenhofen.

Gottfried arrived in Philadelphia on 3 October 1753, on the Ship Eastern Branch. Gottlieb served in the Pennsylvania militia in the late 1750s/early 1760s. He was at Ft. Bedford, PA in 1760.

It is believed he was in Frederick, MD circa 1762, there is a record from the Monacacy Lutheran Church in Frederick, MD from 23 May 1763, for the baptism of "a little son named Johann Adam", born 28 February 1762, parents Gottfried Muschlitz and his wife Friederica, sponsors Johann Adam Furcht and his wife Maria Christina. Johann Adam later went by the surname Mitchell.

There is also a baptism in Frederick on 19 August 1772 of an Elisabeth, daughter of Samuel and Christina Welsch; the sponsor was Friderica Muschlitz, widow.

Meanwhile, back in Northampton County... Gottfried appears on the 1762 tax list for the county in Towamensing Twp. By 7 October, 1765, Gottfried is now the wife of Katherine, the widow of Andreas Sholl/Strohl, whose children were having guardians appointed by the Orphans Court.

There is another court order regarding the sale of Andrew Strohl's property by Katherine and Gottfried.

And finally the court records regarding the valuation of Andrew Strohl's estate.

On 26 Mar 1770 his wife Catharina, widow of Andrew Sholl, stated that current husband bought in false charges and disbursements to the administration account.

Gottfried signed the Oaths of Allegiance on 18 August, 1777.

He died sometime before 12 June, 1778, when his will was exhibited. The only copy of the will I have seen is a very poor quality photocopy of a photocopy of a copy... Another researcher with such a copy told me the following: "I did get his will translated last night by a German translator as best as he could but apparently the will is written in very archaic language with words unique to the writer. However, we were able to identify the some important info from the will. The will was written April 1778 when Gottfried was on his deathbed. And it mentions his wife, "Cadarina," and his two sons, "Johann Martin and Jacob."

Gottfried is known to have had at least four children with Katherine:

Martin born 7 August 1764
Jacob (John) born about 1768
Elizabeth who married Lewis Encke
Margaret, about whom nothing is known

There is a 12 April 1797 petition by Lewis Encke, husband of Gottfried's daughter Elizabeth, requesting the partitioning of Gottfried's land, he had died about 14 years earlier according to the petition. And reappear before the court on 14 August 1797. This is followed by an entry in the court records stating that none of the children reappeared before the court and the matter would remain under advisement.

Other court records:
Index of Andreas Stroll Orphan's Court records, file #141
Index of Andreas Stroll estate records, file #451
Index of Godfried Muschlitz estate records, file #848

Commentary

The first question to ask is, of course, is this the correct Gottfried Muschlitz?

The timeline does work. This Gottfried was born in 1718, and our Gottfried arrived in Philadelphia in 1753 - he would have been 35 years old. He died about 1778, when he would have been 60. He disappears from Pfaffenhofen by 1751, leaving about two years to make it to Philadelphia.

Gottfried appears to have married at least three women, two of which were widows. It is uncertain whether Friederica from Frederick, MD was a widow prior to her marriage to Gottfried, but I would not be surprised if she was.

Finally, his life in Pfaffenhofen seems to match what we know about him in the New World - he was a scoundrel. He abandonded his wife in Germany, and left for America. While here, he was married to two women at the same time (at least two, we should say). His wife in Towamensing brought charges that he falsely spent money from her first husband's estate.

There are no actual records in America that state where Gottfried was from. The only mention is a single sentence in a turn of the century history of Lehigh County that states that he was from Switzerland. No documentation for this is presented. My belief is that this was family legend, 150 years after the fact.

All in all, I'm pretty convinced that this is the correct Gottfried. Now it gets really exciting - we have to find this mysterious nobleman from Silesia who was Gottfried's father!

Interestingly enough, there was a village in Silesia called Muschlitz, in Festenberg (now Twardog�ra), Gross-Wartenberg, Breslau, now in Poland with the present name of Moszyce. My next step is to start examining records from this region, to see what can be learned.

Ruebezahlider Schlesische Provinzialblaetter, Band 20 A German-language newspaper from Silesia, year 1794, contains an obituary of a woman named Sylvia Charlotte von Tschammer who was the daughter of Hans Ernst von Kessel und Zeutsch, Erbherzog (heritable duke) von Muschlitz und Weschulke. This nobleman lived about 1681 to 1737, according to the obituary.

The surname variations:

Muschlet

I first find this surname occuring with the sons of Jacob Muschlitz, born about 1830, who was a great-grandson of Gottfried. Jacob lived first in Towamensing Twp, PA. Then later in life in Philadelphia, where this surname seems more common. Jacob used Muschlitz early on, then appears as Jacob Muschlet in the 1900 census. His children were:

William Henry born 1856
Mary Elizabeth born 1857
Charles A. born 1859
George W. born 1861
Sallie P. born 1865
Thomas J. born 1870
Gertrude born 1873
Oliver born 1876

Mushlit

I first find this surname occuring with two of the sons of John Muschlitz, born about 1805, who was a grandson of Gottfried, a son of Jacob (John) Muschlitz. His children were:

Erwin Franklin Muschlitz born 1826
William Monroe Muschlitz born 1827
James Muschlitz born 1833
Charles H. Mushlit born 1836
Ley Muschlitz born 1841
Edwin Mushlit born 1842
Amanda Muschlitz born 1850

Both Charles and Ewdin moved to Brooklyn, NY.

Mushlitz

This variation is much more common, and started with several individuals.

Links:
My GEDCOM files are located here: RootsWeb WorldConnect Page

I greatly appreciate any comments, questions, or other information you may have! csmolinski@blackcatsystems.com

Last modified April 5, 2024