I know that John Koch was born in 1718. I do not know for a fact where he was born. Was it America or, if not, Germany (I would assume)? Some of Radie Diehl’s German ancestors were born in America in 1700 or not long thereafter, but for the most part, most of the immigration from Germany to America took place starting in the late 1720’s. Several men named Johannes Koch were listed by Strassburger as immigrants at different times, any one of which could have been him. His name was simply too common.

The will of John Koch written 27 May 1777 proved 13 Dec 1782. He called himself a yeoman (farmer), named wife Maria Sarah (also Executor) and children: John George (eldest), Elizabeth (wife of Jacob Meyer), Barbara, Catherine, Christina and Daniel. Note that he wrote it before his daughter Barbara had married.

John Koch is the kind of name there is really no point in searching for in genealogy databases because it was not uncommon. Nonetheless, when searching eastern Pennsylvania records for other people, if I happened upon John’s name, I at least took notice. There were several mentions of men with his name in Berks County previous to his appearance in Northampton County and there is enough coincidence between the names associated with him in Berks County and the known names associated with our ancestor of that name, that I just have to wonder.

• John George Koch was born 20 Aug 1747 and baptized 14 Sep 1747 at Moselem Lutheran Church in Berks County. Moselem is in Windsor Township (it is where my Hummel ancestors worshipped). His parents were John and Maria Sarah (Dreher) Koch. This may be the source of the idea, said by others, that Maria Sarah’s maiden name was Dreher. It seems easy to leap to the conclusion these were our people, but since this was in a different place from where we know they later lived, I have been cautious.

• And there is the contradictory evidence of the tombstone of John George which says he was born 17 Jul 1744. A tombstone birth date can be wrong, of course, but often there is some correspondence in that case between what it says and the truth (same day, different month for example -- or same month and day, different year). In this case, there is no correspondence. Tombstones are sometimes mis-transcribed, too, especially old ones which may be hard to read. I can see 1747 and 1744 being confused, but again the month and day are off too.

• John and Mrs. Sara Koch also baptized daughter Anna Elisabeth at Trinity Lutheran in Reading in 1754. John had a known daughter Elisabeth, married at the time he wrote his will in 1777 -- so this could be record of our family -- but again, the question is: was it?

• Why were they bouncing from church to church? Mostly families stayed at one church back then unless, of course, they moved a great distance.

• In 1764, back at Moselem, Johannes of Maidencreek, wife not named, baptized daughter Catharina Rosina. Our John also had a daughter Catharina, not yet married when he wrote his will. All these pieces of the puzzle fit, but were any or all of them our John Koch? How can I be sure?

I think the convincing evidence that, at least some of the Berks County citations were our John Koch, is this:

• In 1769, John Koch and wife Sarah sold two tracts of land in Maidencreek Township for £750.

• And in 1771, John bought two tracts of land in Northampton and that seems to mark his first appearance in that county. Record of this land acquisition was not actually recorded until later when the land was sold, so no price was given, but it would be interesting to know. I would just guess it was in the range of £750.

It is my conclusion that John Koch settled first in Berks County upon his arrival in America, that his wife was Maria Sarah Dreher, that they baptized son John George at Moselem Church in 1747 and that they sold their land in Berks County in 1769 and moved to Northampton County by 1771. I am not sure if the baptism of Anna Elisabeth at Trinity Lutheran was also them or not.

One Internet tree says Maria Sarah Dreher was the wife of John Koch and mother of Anna Barbara while a different tree says her name was Maria Sarah Messinger. Neither says how that is known. Normally, just because an Internet Tree gives a woman’s surname, that would not be sufficient for me to identify her by that full name.

That her name was Maria Sarah -- that double name -- is certain as she was so named in both her husband’s and her own will. And since there was a woman married to a Johannes Koch named Maria Sarah Dreher and they were the parents of a son John George and both John and Maria Sarah referred in their wills to their eldest son John George, I do believe that Maria Sarah was indeed born Dreher.

The will of Maria Sarah Koch is quite informative. It was written 30 Mar 1791 and proved 31 Jan 1794. She was the widow of John. She named her children: John-George (Executor), Elizabeth (wife of Jacob Meyer), Barbara (wife of John Kleckner), Catherine (wife of Bastian Wolf), Christina (deceased, left daughter Sarah Nehlig) and Daniel. Jacob Meyer, her son-in-law, of Pittsburg, was named guardian of Sarah.

The 1788 marriage date which C A Fisher shows for daughter Barbara, though not proven is un-contradicted, and seems accurate given that Barbara was not married in 1777 when John wrote his will but was married by 1791 when Maria Sarah wrote her will.

And it is interesting that certain Internet Trees say Maria Sarah was buried in Westmoreland County. She made reference to her son Jacob Meyer of “Pittsburg” -- and in 1791, Pittsburgh was part of Westmoreland County. So that all fits together. Still, I don’t know exactly when she moved to Pittsburgh -- but it was probably about the time her daughter Barbara and her husband John Kleckner, moved to Mifflinburg.