One of the questions everyone wants to know about their family tree is: How far back does it go???
The answer to that depends on what you’ll count as actual history (as opposed to family lore or guesswork). For this post I’ve done my best to figure out the earliest known ancestors that we can trace back from each of our grandparents — for whom we currently have at least some actual evidence, anyway.
Part 1 includes ancestors from the Kidder, Taschwer, Eckert and McMahan surname lines; Part 2, in a separate post, includes ancestors from the Mitchell, Thompson, Chapman, and Longenecker surname lines.
Gary’s family
Richard Kidder, b. circa 1480 – d. 1549
Relevant to the Kidder family
Richard is Gary’s 13th great-grandfather, via:
Gary Kidder, grandpa
Melvin Louis Kidder, great-grandpa
David William Kidder, 2nd great-grandpa
Carolus Kidder, 3rd great-grandpa
David Franklin Kidder, 4th great-grandpa
Stephen Kidder, 5th great-grandpa
Ephraim Kidder, 6th great-grandpa
James Kidder [IV], 7th great-grandpa
James Kidder [III], 8th great-grandpa
James Kidder [II], 9th great-grandpa
James Kidder [I], 10th great-grandpa
John Kidder [II], 11th great-grandpa
John Kidder [I], 12th great-grandpa
Richard Kidder, 13th great-grandpa
Richard “of the Hole” Kidder was born, lived his entire life, and died in a region called The Weald in the Parish of Maresfield, Sussex, England; he is buried there at the St. Bartholomew Parish Church, which still stands. His byname refers to his family estate called “the Hole”, which was located deep in a woodland called Ashdown Forest — now popularly known as the Hundred Acre Wood of A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories. It is highly likely that Richard is a descendant of a “Simon at the Hole”, listed as a landowner in Sussex in the 1330’s, but the exact relationship is as yet undetermined.
Frank and Elizabeth (née Prock) Taschwer, b. mid-19th c.
Relevant to the Taschwer family
Frank and Elizabeth are Gary’s 3rd great-grandparents, via:
Karen Taschwer, grandma
William Benedict Taschwer, great-grandpa
Benedict Taschwer, 2nd great-grandpa
Frank and Elizabeth (née Prock) Taschwer, 3rd great-grandparents
Not much is currently known about Frank and Elizabeth “Bessie” Prock, other than their names and status as parents of Benedict Taschwer. Benedict was born in or near the village of Villach, Carinthia, Austria in the 1880’s, so it is highly likely that this area was also the birthplace of either or both of his parents.
Johann Hiestand, b. circa 1711 – d. 1788
Relevant to the Eckert family
Johann is Gary’s 6th great-grandfather, via:
Vincent Francis Eckert, grandpa
Earl Mahlon Eckert, great-grandpa
Catherine Culler, 2nd great-grandma
David Culler, 3rd great-grandpa
Anna Hiestand, 4th great-grandma
Isaac Hiestand, 5th great-grandpa
Johann Hiestand, 6th great-grandpa
Johann was born circa 1711 in the village of Ibersheim near the city of Worms in what is now the state of Rheinland-Pfalz in Germany; Ibersheim was actually an estate established after the Thirty Years’ War by Mennonites, so this ancestor was almost certainly a Mennonite. Johann immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1731.
Andreas and Elizabeth (née Faust) Lerch, b. circa 1686 – 1688
Relevant to the McMahan family
Andreas and Elizabeth are Gary’s 8th great-grandparents, via:
Carolyn Ann McMahan, grandma
Idella May Hartzell, great-grandma
Isaac Hartzell, 2nd great-grandpa
John Hartzell, 3rd great-grandpa
Isaac Hartzell, 4th great-grandpa
Jacob Hartzell, 5th great-grandpa
Christina Naulin, 6th great-grandma
Gertrude Lerch, 7th great-grandma
Andreas and Elizabeth (née Faust) Lerch, 8th great-grandparents
Andreas and Elizabeth were both born and were married in the region of Hessen, Germany; they arrived with their children in Pennsylvania aboard the ship Queen Elizabeth on September 16, 1738.
Some online sources list Andreas’s parents as Conrad or Johann Conrad Lerch and Gertraut or Maria Gertraut (née Bien) Lerch, but I have not yet found the originating evidence for this relationship so am hesitant to include them on this list.