https://vitter.org/familytree/histories/MennoniteBeginnings.php

Hi, my name is Sharon Weaver Vitter (email address sharon.weaver@gmail.com <sharon.vitter@gmail.com>). I wrote recently asking for info about my Weaver ancestors. I'm now writing to ask for info on my Kauffman ancestors (and any other ancestors for that matter!). I got a lot of useful information about my Kauffman line starting in Switzerland with Jacob Niklaus Kauffman in the late 1500s from Charles Fahs Kauffman's 1940 book, *A Genealogy and History of the Kauffman-Coffman Families.* (Note that you can access this very detailed book online with annotated corrections we made at https://www.vitter.org/Genealogy/Documents/A_genealogy_and_history_of_the_Kauffman.pdf.) Here's the line of Kauffman ancestors I have in my family tree all the way down to me: 1. Jacob Kauffman (1449– , m Augusta Sophia Kauffman) 2. Caspar Kauffman (1475–1550, m Augusta Sophia Wahlter) 3. Jacob Kauffman (Jan 1500–1565, m Barbara Meier) 4. Hans Jacob Kauffman (1 Jan 1530–1605 , m Elizabeth Albright) 5. Jacob Niklaus Kauffman (1554–1599, m Anna Bürcki) 6. Nicklaus Kauffman (1593–1624, m Elisbeth Blank) 7. Johann Mathias "Michael" Kauffman (1620–1711, m Anna Braendli) 8. Isaac Kauffman (1653–1741, the famous fugitive Tauferlehrer Mennonite religious leader, m Elsbeth Megerdt) 9. Isaac Kauffman (1684–1798, emigrated 1737 on ship Virtuous Grace, m Anna Maria Streit) 10. Stephen Kauffman (1725–1800, emigrated 1737 on ship Virtuous Grace, m Barbara Yoder) 11. Christian Kauffman (1760–1831, m Magdalena Gerber) 12. Benjamin Kauffman (circa 1796 Somerset, PA–1874, Holmes, Ohio, m Veronica "Frannie" Blough) 13. Catherine Kauffman (13 Nov 1820, Somerset, PA–18 Mar 1860, Holmes, OH, m Samuel P. Weaver) 14. Martin Samuel Weaver (13 Apr 1841–2 Jan 1927, Wagstaff, Miami, KS, m Sarah Maxwell) 15. Ora Franklin Weaver (17 Jul 1881–29 Nov 1929, m Jessie Bendorf) 16. Robert Oran Weaver (6 May 1928–19 Dec 1989, m Virginia Kohlenberg) 17. Me! (m Jeffrey Vitter) Here are some questions I hope you can help me with: - Did Tauferlehrer Isaac Kauffman in generation 8 die in Switzerland? Some genealogies have him buried in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, but I can't find any documentation that he emigrated (as did his son Isaac and grandchildren). - Did Isaac Kauffman in generation 9, who married Anna Streit, really live over 100 years old? Is there more accurate death date info? I can't find any info on FindaGrave.com <http://findagrave.com/>. - The info I have on Anna Maria Streit is that she died in 1730, well before the family emigrated to the U.S. in 1737 on the Virtuous Grace. Some online genealogies have her as being buried in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, but that couldn't be if she actually died in 1730. Does anyone have more accurate info on her actual death data and place? There is no FindaGrave.com <http://findagrave.com/> info on her or her husband Isaac. - Isaac's son Stephen (in generation 10) is listed as being born to Isaac Kauffman and Anna Maria Streit in Switzerland in 1725, but I can't find any birth record for him. (The birth records for several of his siblings are available on Geneanet.org <http://geneanet.org/>, as is the marriage record for Isaac Kauffman and Anna Maria Streit.) He is not listed as a child of Isaac and Anna Maria in Charles Fahs Kauffman's 1940 book, but then there are other documented children of Isaac and Anna Maria who are also not listed by Charles Fahs Kauffman. Charles Fahs Kauffman does have a section near the end of his book on page 725 with the descendants of Stephen Kauffman. - Isaac's son Hans (born 15 Sep 1710) is referenced in Charles Fahs Kauffman's book and has his birth record online at Geneanet.org <http://geneanet.org/>. However, it's not clear who his wife and children are. - There is a Mennonite bishop named Hans Jacob Kauffman (born circa 1700), who arrived in Philadelphia from Rotterdam on the ship Charming Nancy in October 1737. There is a reference to him in Unser Leit being married to Barbara Kauffman. He chronicled the bad conditions during the voyage and the death of several family members and friends. Apparently all his kids but Anna Maria died during the trip, and he and Barbara had a child named Jacob afterward. Who are his parents and children? Unser Leit says his son Jacob later married Anna Mast, but that doesn't seem to be the case. - It seems that my great great grandfather Samuel P. Weaver, who married Catherine Kauffman in generation 13, married again after Catherine died, namely, to Mary Nickey, who was Catherine's first cousin once removed. He apparently had eight kids from Catherine Kauffman and another 10 from Mary Nickey. I think that may be why there are so many Weavers around Holmes County, Ohio! My great grandfather Martin Samuel Weaver was the oldest child and was in fact older than his stepmother Mary Nickey! Martin Samuel Weaver was the Weaver who first landed in Kansas, where I was born. I'd be interested in info on the cousins in Ohio and Indiana that we don't already have in our tree. Our family tree is reachable via vitter.org <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vitter.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7CTroye.Kauffman%40amdocs.com%7C1e8add716ffb4022166808d7e7e61d18%7Cc8eca3ca127646d59d9da0f2a028920f%7C0%7C0%7C637232847848607467&sdata=CIoFtH4WlAa%2FPoER9k1yCJyuq10dvyDF1BUYAHe9%2BVs%3D&reserved=0> and has just over 53K people in it. It also resides on Ancestry.com <https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fancestry.com%2F&data=02%7C01%7CTroye.Kauffman%40amdocs.com%7C1e8add716ffb4022166808d7e7e61d18%7Cc8eca3ca127646d59d9da0f2a028920f%7C0%7C0%7C637232847848617462&sdata=3qDrrHZvmlKLOQxvyiwBGozJCV2heKK15oQMX5SodV8%3D&reserved=0> under my husband's (JeffreyVitter) account. The vitter.org site has lots of other information about our family, including a couple dozen histories, like this one about our Kauffman ancestors: https://vitter.org/familytree/histories/MennoniteBeginnings.php Besides info to the above questions, we would welcome info on people missing from the tree, whether distant cousins or those from younger generations. Thank you Sharon -- *Sharon Weaver Vitter*+1 (504) 810-7610 6953 General Diaz Street | NOLA 70124 sharon.vitter@gmail.com | www.vitter.org