Adam’s wife and mother of his children was most certainly Barbara Bickhardt. We know that from their marriage record given by Donna Irish and found in the Goshenhoppen Lutheran record. But when Adam died in 1824 in Union County, his wife’s name was Fanny (or Frana or Frena).

Adam always had a wife in every Census. So the question is whether Barbara and Frana were one and the same person or whether Barbara pre-deceased Adam and he re-married at some point. Barbara was last mentioned by name in the 1789 Old Goshenhoppen record on the baptism of Johannes, son of Peter Hollebusch and Susanna “witness Adam Hollebusch and wife Barbara.”

While Adam’s tombstone is in very bad shape, it was transcribed over 100 years ago by Wagenseller and there was no mention of Barbara or Frana at St. Peter’s Union Cemetery. A possible explanation is that Adam’s wife’s tombstone disintegrated over time.

But I think the logical conclusion of all of these facts is: Barbara died and Adam married second Frana. Sometimes, a woman who remarries is buried with her second husband and sometimes not. So my guess is that Frana was buried elsewhere -- though I have found no indication of where that may have been.

I also conclude that Barbara must have died in Montgomery County before Adam and Peter came west. There is a family cemetery in Montgomery County where the record of burials is incomplete. Barbara may well have been buried there. Whether Adam married Frana before or after his removal to Freeburg, I don’t know, but I suspect it was after.

But the main evidence for all of this is that Barbara was never called Frana in Montgomery County and Frana was never called Barbara in Union County. Barbara is mentioned only in Montgomery County records and Frana only in Union County.

Frena is a nickname for Veronica and so perhaps this woman was named Veronica but I have no idea of her maiden name or whether she too had been married before she married Adam.

When I began my research into this family, the earliest members of the family were well documented on the Internet, in the files of the Northumberland County Historical Society and elsewhere. Every source seemed to agree that Adam was the son of Christian Hollenbush. Even when I found the citation in a book by Donna Irish for Adam’s marriage to Barbara that said that Adam was the son of Peter, I was reluctant to accept this evidence which directly contradicted every other “source” especially since Donna Irish was citing the records of the Goshenhoppen Church and I had seen those records and found no such citation.

But then the evidence that Adam was indeed the son of Peter began to mount. I found the will of Christian and he clearly named ALL his children and not only was there no mention of Adam, there were no male children at all.

Most importantly, I found a book by Annette Burgert and she clearly identified Christian and Peter in European Church records and listed their children from baptismal records. We know from his tombstone that Adam was born in 1736 and Burgert showed that Christian didn’t marry until 1742. Moreover, Burgert listed as the second child of Johann Peter Hulpusch and Maria Christina sometimes called Maria Catharina "A son, baptized 30 March 1738 sponsored by the father's brother Adam Hulpusch. This son was probably the Adam Hollowbusch son of Peter Hollowbusch who married Barbara daughter of the late Johannes Bickhard in 1762.” Often a child is the namesake of the sponsor so this all made perfect sense.

Finally, in the records of the Goshenhoppen Lutheran Church, I found the citation given by Donna Irish. It had been the records of the Goshenhoppen Reformed Church that I had originally searched. I think it all adds up; Adam was the son of Peter.

And long after all of those other sources were found, I became aware of an 1809 land survey as follow-up to the issue of a land warrant filed by Adam Holdebush in right of his father Peter Holdebush.

IMMIGRANT. He immigrated to America in 1749 with his father Peter; he was about 11 years old. In 1802, he moved with his son Peter from Montgomery County to Freeburg. There, Peter bought the farm neighboring Philip Mertz. They joined St. Peter's Church where the Mertzes and Motzes belonged.

1790-1800. He is head of household in Frederic Township, Montgomery County. Peter is a neighbor.

1810-1820. He is head of household in Penns Township (which included Freeburg), Northumberland County in 1810 and then in Freeburg in 1820. Son Peter is nearby.

There was never a Census in which a wife was not present, but the question is: was that wife always Barbara or was there perhaps a second marriage? At the time of his death, his wife was named Frana. Our theory is that Barbara perhaps died in Montgomery County and Adam married again after he arrived in North’d Co and before the 1810 Census.

Letters were issued to John Hilbish on 8 Sep 1824 with sureties Henry Gross and Andrew Maurer on the estate of Adam Hilbish and then on 21 Jan 1825 to John Hilbish with the same sureties on the estate of Fanny Hilbish. My fifth cousin Alicia Hilbish pestered Union County until they finally found all the estate records relating to Adam and Frana. There was no will, there were quite a large number of petitions filed which are interesting but shed no further light on any key details of Adam’s life or who Frana really was.

Wagensellar’s Snyder County Cemetery Listings says: "Adam Hilbish, died 26 Jul 1824 age 88y [implies 1736]." His tombstone still exists, but is not as readable now.

Adam Hilbish and Philip Mertz have many things in common. They both moved with their families from a Philadelphia area county to Snyder County. They both were buried in Freeburg. Adam’s great-granddaughter Amelia Hummel married Philip’s grandson George Peter. But from my standpoint, the most important thing they have in common is that most of what is believed by many other people about Adam’s and Philip’s ancestry is wrong and over time I have brought many people around to my point of view.

Adam and his son, Peter, came to Freeburg around 1802, and bought the farm neighboring Philip Mertz. They joined St. Peter's Church where the Mertzes and Motzes belonged.