Notes for: Balthazar (Baltis) Pickel
The following comes from pages 95 and 96 of the 1957 reprint of "Traditions of Hunterdon" by Lequear. It was originally published in 1869-70.
"Baltis Pickel, son of the first Baltis, was born in 1720 ten years after his father and mother came to America. He grew up amid the first experience of the colony and knew all of its sufferings. When he accumulated property, after his father's death he gave $100 to the church. He was an active member, and his handwriting appears in different places upon the old church record. It is a fair, bold hand, such as the best business man might be proud to imitate. The Lutherans have always been liberal educators, for education is a part of their religion. It was because the Roman church then refused the Bible to the people that Martin Luther cut loose from them and spread the gospel over the world. When Baltis Pickel died, he was buried at the foot of his father's grave, and his wife, 'Suffah,' was buried there beside him."
Based on the following message, there appear to be some errors in the information above.
From: Richard Richards [mattie14 at earthlink.net]
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Subject: Pickels & Muhlenberg
Dave:
These are edited quotations. I added the bracketed matter, except where I added a "sic."
September 11 [1768]. . . . A large congregation assembled in Zion Church, New German, and I baptized a number of children. After the sermon I examined and confirmed the following persons who renewed their baptismal covenant and pledged faithfulness: . . . (25) Gertraut, nee Pickel, wife of Gottfried Reinhard, (26) Anna, nee Pickel, wife of Christian Moelich. (27) Eva Pickel, daughter of Balthasar Pickel. . . .
[Note from Dave: So Gertrude, Anna, and Eva must all be the daughters of this Balthazar Pickel.]
Source: The Journals of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg in Three Volumes, translated by Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, Vol. II, p. 360 (Evangelical Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania and Adjacent States and The Muhlenberg Press, 1945).
As I recall the article you quote in your notes states that this Balthasar made a gift to the church in the amount of $100. This is incorrect in both respects.
June 25 [1770]. . . . Mr. Balathas[ar](sic)Pickel, a son of the donor of the legacy, promises to keep the principal of the legacy in his hands for another year and to take care of the interest; . . . {T}he interest had been paid regularly until June 1769; The interest from the first year [L]60, paid to Pastor Brycelius. . . .
Id. at 447-448.
I used the "L" for the symbol for pounds. It goes on to say the last payment was L70. If this was the yearly interest, the gift much have been much larger. Of course, there weren't dollars back then.
June 27 [1759]. . . . On the way we stopped at Potterstown to see his [Balthasar's] brother, Nicolaus Bickel.
Id. Vol. I, p. 396, 1942.
In early entries Muhlenberg sometimes gave the name as Bickel.
This book is three volumes, which I got through my library. If you have other names you would like me to check, let me know. It has a pretty good index.
I should add that my research involves the descendants of Rev. Johann Schaum through his second wife, Maria Dorothea Stumpf. If you should happen to have anything on her ancestry, I would be happy to hear it. One source has her father as Dietrich.
Richard