For a long time, I only knew about Henry’s second wfe Maria and simply had no idea he had actually been married previous to her.

Then, among the tombstones that were transcribed at New Hanover Lutheran, I found this: Catharina (Gilbert) Jorger born 6 Apr 1776 died 25 Oct 1802 married 13 Apr 1798 Heinrich Jorger, 2 sons.

I didn’t immediately accept that as relevant though since I knew there were other Henry Yergers at New Hanover -- but of the exact right age, with other biographical details that would not stand in contradiction of a theory that he first married Catharina and second Maria?

But now I do accept that Catharina was his first wife. For one thing, Henry had a sister who married a Gilbert, and siblings marrying siblings of course was a common occurence back then. But then a descendant of that Gilbert couple, Nancy Greger and I got to exchaninging information and she found presence of both families at Oley Hill Reformed Catharina was baptized there by her parents. Heinirch and Catharina had son Jacob there born 20 May 1798. And Heinrich’s sister Margaretha with husband Daniel Guldin baptized twins Maria and Jacob there both born 13 Oct 1798. The sponsors were Samuel Gilbert and wife and Michel Jorger and wife.

There is a death record for Henry Yerger, with dates matching his tombstone, saying he was born in Berks County and his father was Michael and his mother Margaret. He was a shoemaker, he died of dropsy. He died in Center Township and was buried in Centerville Burial Ground. The information was provided by Henry Yerger of Middlecreek.

Being able to connect Henry Yerger of Union (Snyder) County to Michael Yerger of Colebrookedale, Berks County who worshipped at New Hanover Lutheran Church in Montgomery County led to the identification of Michael’s ancestry.

On 24 Dec 1813, David Overmeyer of Center Township, Union County deeded to Henry Yerger, cordwainer of Berks County, for £870, 126 acres. Cordwainer was an early term meaning shoemaker.

1800. Henry Yerger lives in Douglass Township, Montgomery County age 16-25. The age is right. Douglass Township abuts Colebrookedale and I believe New Hanover Lutheran (where Michael of Colebrookdale worshipped) is in Douglass -- so it is very nearby his father. A neighbor is David Yerger 26-45, but I don’t know who he is.

1810. Henry Yerger lives in Colebrookdale where his father Michael and brother Jacob also live. He has a son 10-15 which is probably the son who was 0-9 in 1800, thus a son younger than Henry, born before 1800.

1820 and 1830. He is in Centre Township where we also find a man named Henry Yerger Jr.

1840 is a mystery. I can not find him.

1850. He lives with son John in Centre Twp. He is 74.

Henry Yerger -- a different one -- died 5 Nov 1888 and his death is listed in the records of New Hanover Lutheran and he was age 86y 6m 13d -- implying a birth date of 23 Apr 1802. So that is the problem, too many men named Henry Yerger. I have found the baptism of this Henry though and he was the son of George and Susanna. He may have been the same Henry who married Emma, as that couple baptized a number of kids at New Hanover over the years.

Another Henry Yerger was married to Mary Ann Ziegler. I do not think he was part of our family either.

Wagensellar’s Snyder County cemetery transcriptions list these Yergers at the Lutheran and Reformed Church, Centreville:

–Henry died 18 Dec 1852 age 77y 3m 26d — implies 23 Aug 1775
–Maria, wife of Henry, died 16 Jan 1845 age 59y 4m 18d — implies 29 Aug 1785
–Charles born July 1806 d.22 May 1884
–Mary, wife of Charles
–Hetty, wife of Israel
–Several children of Charles and Mary and one child of Israel and Hetty

I believe we can be fairly certain that Henry’s sons included Henry, Charles and Israel. An Ancestry.com family tree also lists Jacob and Ephraim among his sons. Ephraim is buried at Globe Mills (Middlecreek) 1812-1885.

On 31 Dec 1852, letters of administration were issued to Henry and Israel Yerger for estate of Henry Yerger of Centre Twp with sureties Fred P Baus and Michael Kleckner. I believe this is evidence that connects Henry who died in 1852 to Henry born 1804.

Henry Yerger, born 1775, is the pivotal person in this family. I can easily establish that Ella Yerger was the mother of Radie Diehl and that Ella was the daughter of Henry B Yerger and he the son of Henry Yerger born 1804.

But the death certificate I found provided all the evidence I needed by connecting the younger Henry to the older Henry and he to Michael and Margaretha of Berks County. Michael who worshipped at New Hanover Lutheran married Anna Margaretha Ehrhart there and they were the parents of son Henry whose baptism record gave his birth date matching his tombstone and death certificate. Everything fits neatly together.

In those church records, the name was spelled variously: Yerger, Yoerger, Yorgey, Jorger, Joerger, Jorgey and even, in one important case Ioerger. But I learned a lot from those records.

Henry’s birth and death dates and place of burial all are taken from a listing of tombstones for Snyder County. That his wife was Maria is taken from her tombstone next to his and that she and Henry were the parents of Henry Yerger (born 1804) is based on Census listings which list the younger one as Henry Jr. as well as a few other sources.

Henry Yerger served with the PA Militia in the War of 1812 as a private.

In a published County History of Snyder County which I found at the County Historical Society, I copied a section about the Yerger family. I also copied a section about the Kramer family which, while not totally inaccurate, was incomplete in several respects. What they wrote about the Yergers though makes no sense to me. It said:

”In or about 1770, as nearly as can be determined with insufficient records, the first Yerger’s (then named Yarger) settled in the Kreamer and Middlecreek Township area. They were Efram Yarger and his wife Betsy.....they had four sons named Daniel, Harvey, Emanuel and Wilson. They were the forefathers of all the descendants of Efram, who now reside in the Snyder, Union, Northumberland and surrounding counties.”

So what it says is that his sons were the forebears of all of his descendants — and so assuming that he had just four sons (and no daughters), that statement is of course true. And absurd. I think what the author was trying to say is that Efram was the forebear of all of the Yergers in the area. And that is equally absurd because clearly he was not the forbear of our Yergers.

• But I do find it curious that our Henry, born 1775, named a son Ephraim. Did the article simply get everything totally scrambled? Or, was there another Yerger/Yarger line they were talking about -- one having nothing to do with ours? Not my problem.

Henry’s death certificate said he was to be buried in the Centreville Burial Ground. Unfortunatlety there is no cemetery with that exact name. Centreville is the old name of Penns Creek and the best candidate Penns Creek cemetery that might have been what was being referred to is today called Union Cemetery Company of Penns Creek. Find-a-grave calls it Penns Creek Union Cemetery and Henry and Maria’s memorials are in that cemetery. They note that the cemetery has also been called Emanuel Union Cemetery, Emmanuel Cemetery and Union Cemetery of Penns Creek.

I have walked that cemetery, though, and couldn’t find any tombstones for them.

Their Family Search profiles say Henry and Maria are buried in the Centreville Burial Ground, Penns Creek.