From the estate documents, I know for a fact that Regina was the name of Johannes’ wife when he died and it seems proven that she was Jacob’s mother as he named his daughter after her and she was a sponsor at her baptism.

Now, clearly, Regina could have been a second wife. But any suggestion that she was would be based on Burgert and various Internet trees documenting that Johannes had married (in 1719) and had many children back in Germany before emigrating. But what happened to all those children? Why weren’t they mentioned in the Orphan’s Court proceedings? And how could Johannes have been only 48 when he died in 1755?

My answer to those questions is that Johannes who died in 1755 at age 48 was not Johannes that Burgert says married Elisabetha Haberlig in 1719 and had children from 1719 to 1741 in Germany.

Jacob Baer, son of Johannes and Regina, was our ancestor. He married Elizabeth Peter. Elizabeth’s father made it clear in his will that he had six daughters, but he only named the one who was deceased. For the five others, he named their husbands, his sons-in-law. They were: Jacob, John and John Adam Baer as well as Adam German and Peter Schopp.

The names John and John Adam Baer are interesting in that they were the names of Jacob’s brothers. In the records of Lowhill Church, the names of Jacob, John and John Adam Baer, and their wives, appear many times. Often, when any one of these couples baptized a child, one of the other couples stood as sponsor. Even though Elizabeth’s father did not name his daughters, I am convinced that three Baer brothers married three Peter sisters -- and I have deduced the names of the sisters from the church records documenting these many baptisms.

So, there is a little bit of circular reasoning going on here -- but that is the way I work. I try to put a theory in place to fit the known facts -- and then look for more facts to either substantiate my reasoning or prove it wrong.