Carl Christlieb's Marriage

Around the year 1781, Carl Christlieb married Catharina Umberger, a woman about seven years his senior. Her grandson, Benjamin Franklin Christlieb, described her as having a fair complexion with red hair. He also reported that she died on 30 October 1837, at about age 93. Of his grandfather, he wrote:

“About 1781 he married Catharine Umberger, daughter of John Leonard Umberger of Lebanon County, Pa. Soon after his marriage he settled near his half-brother, George Buck, within the present limits of Mifflin Township, Cumberland Co., Pa.: first on a piece of land adjoining the Megaw farm, where he resided till about 1794, when he sold this land and removed to a tract on the East Branch of Brandy Run latterly owned by Solomon Christlieb on which he resided the remainder of his life.”

“Though having purchased an adjoining farm at the enhanced prices of land existing then, the time of the War of 1812, he found himself on the verge of bankruptcy during the financial depression of 1819, from which difficulty he was extricated by the assiduous efforts of his two sons, Isaac and Solomon.” The Christlieb Family, pp. 16-18.

"In 1781 Chas. Christlieb married Catharine Umberger of Lebanon, supposed to be a daughter of John Leonard Umberger mentioned in I.D. Rupp’s Histories, and settled some time after on a tract of land a few miles southwest of his half-brother, Geo. Buck in what is now Mifflin Twp., Cumberland Co., Pa., where he cleared up a farm and carried on blacksmithing.” Benjamin Franklin Christlieb’s Handwritten Draft of The Christlieb Family, p. 8.

The above shows that Benjamin Franklin Christlieb had some doubt that Catharina Umberger was the daughter of Hans Leonard Umberger. The uncertainty stems from the fact that Hans Leonard’s daughters were not mentioned by name in his will. Instead, they are listed as “my oldest daughter, my second-oldest daughter, etc.”, in his will that was drafted on 22 May 1776. By the time of publication of his book, B.F. Christlieb seems to have erased any doubts he may have had over Catharina Umberger’s being the daughter of Hans Leonard. In the final analysis, nothing has ever been found to prove that Carl Christlieb’s wife, Catharina, was not the daughter of Hans Leonard Umberger.

After his marriage to Catharina Umberger, ca. 1781, Carl Christlieb settled his growing family near his half-brother, Georg Bock on property near the Megaw farm, according to B.F. Christlieb’s history The Christlieb Family. About 1794, Carl, who was also known as Charles, sold this land and purchased about 100 acres on the east branch of Brandy Run, where he would live the rest of his life. Over the years, he added two major additions to this farm. The 1798 tax records of Cumberland County indicate that Carl had a house and barn and a blacksmith shop on the land.

Carl would bequeath his homestead to his son, Solomon, in his 1833 will. Following Solomon’s death, this land was transferred to Solomon, Jr. in 1855. This deed reveals the chronology of the farm tract. It is recorded in the Register of Deeds Office of Cumberland County at Carlisle. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had issued a Land Patent, bearing the date of 13 April 1787, to John Morrow. This document, which is recorded in Patent Book No. 8, page 460, is housed in the Land Office of the State of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg. The land was part of a tract called “Mount Pleasant.” John Morrow conveyed the “Mount Pleasant” tract to Isaac Shannon who conveyed the same to Carl Christlieb.

In August 1794, Carl Christlieb obtained a mortgage from Jacob Esminger, in order to purchase twenty-four and a half acres of land. In part, the mortgage reads:

“Bearing the date the fourteenth day of August of the present year stands bound in the personal sum four hundred and fifty pounds current money of said State of Pennsylvania with condition annexed for the payment of two hundred and twenty-five pounds like money aforesaid. Viz. One obligation by Condition for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of May 1794; One other for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of may 1795; One other for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of May 1796. One other for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of May 1797; One other for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of May 1798. One other for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of May 1799; One other for twenty-five pounds payable the first day of May 1808 & one other for seventy-five pounds payable on the first day of May one thousand eight hundred and two with legal Interest and eight hundred; One other payable the first day of May one thousand eight hundred and two with legal Interest for each from the time they respectively become due.”

Written near Jacob Esminger’s signature at the end of the document is this statement:

Followed by: “Received the day of the date of the above Indenture of Charles Christlieb one hundred pounds being the consideration above mentioned.” The mortgage, which was to extend over a fifteen-year period, was received and recorded on the 14^th day of August 1794.

According to schedule, Carl Christlieb, age 58, made his final mortgage payment on 10 March 1809. Over the lifetime of the mortgage, the document, along with many others had become hardbound into a ledger. So, when Carl signed off on his mortgage, he did so in the margin of the ledger.

Carl Christlieb’s land, referred to as Charles Crislep’s [sic] Plantation, was mentioned in a petition to the Court of General Quarter Session held at Carlisle for Cumberland County, on 1 December 1800. In the petition, reference was made to a road running alongside Carl Christlieb’s land by Robert Lusk, an inhabitant of Mifflin Township, road that would be replaced by a recently surveyed one that would transect his property.

In the petition, which contains somewhat confusing punctuation, Lusk stated that he would be “much hurt by a road lately surveyed by Robert Sterret, &, if opened; that the said viewers quit an old road that run [sic] along the line between Jacob Failure and the petitioner, and make an off-sett of sixty perches or there abouts in the best of the petitioner’s land and left him a small strip between Charles Crislip’s plantation and the new road, whereas there can be no better ground for a road than that, along said Crislip’s line, where, the old road has been this sixteen years, or more; that the Petitioner’s plantation is but small, containing only 130 acres; that Paul Martin obtained a road which runs through the middle of the petitioner’s plantation, thirty-three feet wide, and if this newly surveyed road should be opened, it will run two hundred and twenty perches just across the said Martin’s road, along the plantation of the petitioner.” Collection: Cumberland County Historical Society, Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

Although the proposed road would not appreciably affect Carl Christlieb’s property, the document is of historical interest in that it demonstrates the importance of farm boundaries and the complications arising from a growing population of farmers on increasingly smaller farms in Mifflin Township. Carl’s blacksmithing shop would welcome additional business and his expanded reputation as a skilled worker would elevate his standing as a respected individual in his neighborhood.

Carl Christlieb was elected Constable of Mifflin Township in Cumberland County, in 1802, when he was 51 years of age. Signed by Judges James Nicholson and Samuel Fenton, the official record of the event reads as follows:

“At an Election held at the home of William Brown in the Township of Mifflin for Constable, Where Charles Crislip having twenty-six (26) votes & Andrew McElwain having nine votes (9), given under our names this 20^th day of March 1802.”

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A Lutheran Church Is Built in Mifflin Township

As the German population grew in Mifflin, those of German descent desired a place of worship for themselves.

Through the generosity of Jacob Ziegler, who donated the land, and the efforts of Carl Christlieb and his half-brother, Georg Bock, a house of worship was built ca. 1795.

"Jacob Ziegler gave a corner of ground near the present Council Bluff school house for church and graveyard purposes. Here, they built their church and stable for their minister’s horse. It was of logs, two stories high, with a gallery, well seated and very comfortable. The pulpit was quite unique and evidently copied after an old-country pattern. It was built against the side of the house, pretty high up, and in the form of a goblet. Upon the panels of the projecting sides were painted the portraits of the four evangelists.” History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

The interior art work was created by Georg Bock [George Buck], who is believed to have played a large part in the design of the church and pulpit.

Carl and his half-brother were actively involved in the worship services. Both often officiated as preachers in absence of a regular minister. As Clerk, it was Carl’s responsibility to lead the singing. Jacob’s Ladder, Vol. XVII, No. 1, Summer 2000, p. 12.

The old log church was located at Council Bluff in Lower Mifflin Township. Lutheran and Reformed congregations worshipped in the church on alternate Sundays. “For thirty years this congregation worshipped with the Reformed Church in the adjoining township. The Lutheran was the stronger organization and in the course of time the Reformed ceased to exist.” History of Newville, 1790-1940.

The Lutherans discontinued worship in the building in 1833, when they moved into the Village of Newville. Shown here is a portrait of the Rev. Frederick Sanno. Noted for his handsome appearance, and ability and popularity as a preacher, he served the congregation from 1814 to 1816. A close colleague of Carl Christlieb and Georg Bock, his residence was in Carlisle.

Only a few bits of information survive from the early records of Ziegler’s Church that mention Carl Christlieb. The first of two entries name Carl and wife, Catharine, as having been sponsors of the baptism of Joseph Realing on 8 April 1810. The second shows them as sponsors at the baptism of Rosina Meyer on 2 February 1817. (Rosina Meyer was born 9 October 1816). This baptism would have been by the Rev. Benjamin Keller who served the congregation from 1816-1820. Other entries cite Carl as having been a communicant on 6 September 1817 and 23 April 1820. Another mentions Carl as having received communion on 6 September 1827. In this case, the presiding pastor would have been The Rev. Nicholas J. Stroh, who served from 1826-1832. History of Zion Lutheran Congregation, Newville, Pennsylvania from 1795-1995.