Theodorus Eby (b. 1663) settles in Pennsylvania

Theodorus Eby is my 8x great-grandfather, a Swiss Mennonite settler who was one of the first Mennonites in Pennsylvania. He arrived in Lancaster in 1715, lured by William Penn's promise of religious tolerance to anyone who came to Pennsylvania. Theodorus (also referred to as "Durst") Eby left Switzerland as a result of religious persecution in Switzerland - he originally went to Germany, but faced similar persecution there and left for America.

From a family history written by Ezra Eby in 1889:

Dawn Eby Quast maintains a remarkable collection of descendants of Theodorus here, and the Eby Family Association's website is here. In 1727, Theodorus built a house with his sons which still stands in Lancaster, Pennsylvania:

Eby Family home, built in 1727.
(Originally found at the Eby Family website.)

(Until I started this family tree research, I had no idea of this connection to the Eby family. Two weeks ago, my grandmother mailed me some family tree research other relatives had done, and on one of those pages was my grandmother's great-grandmother, Sophronia Eby. Ancestry.com made tracking backwards from Sophronia pretty easy, and from there the connection to Theodorus became apparent.)

Richard Klau (b. 1848) comes to America

Richard Klau is my 2x great-grandfather, and came to the United States in 1859. The History of Milwaukee has a little about his arrival and background:

There are six men named Richard Klau in my family; for my son's first 7 years, four of the six of us were living. Here's a picture of all four generations, taken at my parents' house at Christmas in 2001:

More on my Grandfather (the third Richard Klau) is here in my blog post on the day of his death.

Matthias Stein headstone - Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee

While looking for the date that Matthias Stein died, I discovered that he's buried in the Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee, and that his gravestone is actually among the historic grave markers in the cemetery:

Matthias Stein, 1808 - 1896
Milwaukee's first gunsmith

I hadn't known that Matthias Stein was Milwaukee's first gunsmith. And according to Forest Home's notes for their historical tour, maybe Matthias's stories of his long walks with Andrew Jackson were true?

4. Matthias Stein, 1808 to 1896
Section 8, Block 11, Lot 8A mechanic by trade, Stein was Milwaukee’s first gunsmith. Prior to arrival here, he spent three years in Washington D.C. There, he regularly took morning walks, befriending an older gentleman who did the same. Eventually, Stein found out that his walking companion was President Andrew Jackson.

Looking forward to visiting his grave the next time we're in Milwaukee.

Matthias Stein

Matthias Stein is my 4x great-grandfather. I found this collection of anecdotes about him to be quite interesting - while I have my doubts about the veracity of his claims of hanging out with the President, Chief Justice and others, you have to hand it to the guy: he sure could tell a good story.

From the History of Milwaukee:

The full text follows, originally from Google Books: History of Milwaukee, City & County, Volume 3:

Family Tree blog

I'm going to use this blog to document additions/modifications to the family tree, and capture new/interesting information as I find it.

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