Johan Jacob Detweiler III
1759–1786 · Upper Hanover, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
A short life, a young widow, and a houseful of little ones: one of the Detweilers of Red Hill
Meet Jacob
Johan Jacob Detweiler III lived only 26 years, but he packed a family into them. He was born in Upper Hanover Township, Pennsylvania, in 1759, married at age 20, and became the father of six children before his death in February 1786. He left behind a young widow, Eva Catharine, and small children who needed looking after. Lutheran church registers, a 1786 court petition, and a handful of Find a Grave memorials let us piece together a surprising amount of his story.
A quick word about names. You’ll see him called Jacob, Johan Jacob, and “Jacob Detweiler Jun’r.” The “Jr.” is a clue. The family group sheet explains that once the older Jacob Detweiler (the “Sr.”) had died, Jacob’s father (the “Jr.”) became “Senior” in the records, and our Jacob (the “III”) became “Junior.” So when a court clerk writes “Jun’r” in 1786, he means our Jacob.
Quick Facts
Full name | Johan Jacob Detweiler III (called “Jacob Detweiler Jun’r” in the 1786 court record) |
Born | 6 April 1759, Upper Hanover, Philadelphia County (now Montgomery County), Pennsylvania |
Baptized | 20 May 1759, Red Hill Lutheran church register; sponsors Martin and Gertraut Dorr |
Confirmed | Good Friday 1773, age 14; admitted to Holy Supper (communion) on Easter |
Parents | Jacob Detweiler Jr. (1728–1789) and Maria Margaretha Derr (1734–1792) |
Married | 27 July 1779, New Hanover, Pennsylvania, to Eva Catharine Breyer (23 Feb 1757 – 1841) |
Children | Six: Anna Barbara, Jacob, Samuel, Michael, Maria, and Elizabeth |
Died | February 1786, Upper Hanover, aged 26 |
Buried | Probably St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, Red Hill (grave unmarked, per Find a Grave) |
Find a Grave | Memorial #210928369 |
Roots: Parents and Family Background
Jacob was the son of Jacob Detweiler Jr. (1728–1789) and Maria Margaretha Derr (1734–1792). The Red Hill church register records the baby’s baptism this way: Jacob Detweiler and Margretha, son Johan Jacob, born 6 April 1759, baptized 20 May 1759, with Martin and Gertraut Dorr standing as sponsors (godparents).
Find a Grave lists Jacob’s brothers and sisters, with years only. Jacob was in the middle of the pack:
Sibling | Years | Notes |
Anna Margaret Detweiler Sell | 1755–1790 | Older sister |
John Jacob Detweiler | 1756–1758 | An earlier brother with the same name; lived only a couple of years |
Johan Jacob Detweiler III | 1759–1786 | The subject of this biography |
Barbara Detweiler Steier | 1763–1826 | Younger sister |
Johannes Detweiler | 1766–1816 | Younger brother |
📜 Which county was it? Upper Hanover was part of Philadelphia County when Jacob was born. Montgomery County was carved out of Philadelphia County in September 1784, so records from the last couple of years of his life say Montgomery. |
Growing Up in Upper Hanover
Jacob’s earliest records come from the Lutheran congregation at Red Hill. He was born on 6 April 1759 and baptized on 20 May 1759, just six weeks later. Church registers like this one are the backbone of his story. The congregation kept track of the baptisms, confirmations, marriages and burials of the families around it for generations.
In 1773, on Good Friday, a group of young people were publicly confirmed in the church and then admitted to the Holy Supper on Easter Day. The register lists “Jacob Detweiler, age 14, son of Jacob Detweiler” among them. That matches his 1759 birth exactly, and it marks the point where he stepped into adult membership in the congregation.
📜 The world Jacob was born into When Jacob was born, Pennsylvania was still a British colony, and the French and Indian War (1754–1763) was underway. He grew up in those colonial years and was 17 when the Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia in 1776. The Revolutionary War was still being fought when he married in 1779. |
Marrying Eva Catharine Breyer (1779)
On 27 July 1779, 20-year-old Jacob married Eva Catharine Breyer in New Hanover. Two records back this up: the Pennsylvania Compiled Marriage Records (1700–1821), and the New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran congregation’s own record in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records. Her name is spelled a few ways, as Breyer, Brayer, and Brey, which is typical for the period.
Eva Catharine was born 23 February 1757, so she was about 22 on her wedding day. The family group sheet gives her birthplace as Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Find a Grave names her parents as John George Brey (1713–1793) and Maria Catharine Brey (1714–unknown); the group sheet itself leaves her mother blank. Find a Grave also lists these Brey siblings:
Conrad Brey (1740–1827)
Jacob Brey (born 1742)
John Jacob Brey (born 1750)
Elizabeth Barbara Brey Nicholas (1752–1827)
John George Brey (1769–1853)
Raising a Family
Jacob and Eva Catharine didn’t waste any time. Their first child, Anna Barbara, was born 2 May 1780 (baptized 28 May 1780), about nine months after the wedding. Jacob followed on 20 August 1782, and Samuel on 2 January 1783. (Those two dates sit very close together; more on that in the Research Notes.) Michael was born 24 December 1783 and baptized 9 February 1784 at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, but the sheet notes that he died young. Maria arrived on 29 October 1784, and Elizabeth around 1785. Every birth is recorded at Upper Hanover.
📜 A family growing with a new nation Samuel and Michael were both born in 1783, the year the Treaty of Paris formally ended the Revolutionary War. Maria was born in October 1784, only weeks after Montgomery County was created. |
Jacob and Eva Catharine’s Children
Child | Born | Died | Spouse and notes |
Anna Barbara | 2 May 1780, Upper Hanover (baptized 28 May 1780) | Not recorded | No spouse or death information on the sheet |
Jacob | 20 Aug 1782, Upper Hanover | 31 Jan 1861 (place not recorded) | Find a Grave #41837635 |
Samuel | 2 Jan 1783, Upper Hanover | 24 Nov 1834 (place not recorded) | Wife Nancy (1786–1862); estate in Orphan’s Court, August Term 1835; Find a Grave #20202292 |
Michael | 24 Dec 1783, Upper Hanover (baptized 9 Feb 1784, St. Paul’s Lutheran) | Died young (no date recorded) | Find a Grave #210930690 |
Maria | 29 Oct 1784, Upper Hanover | 7 May 1870 per the sheet (Find a Grave says 7 Mar 1870) | Married Daniel Miller (1785–1873) on 14 Dec 1805, New Hanover; buried at St. Paul’s, Red Hill |
Elizabeth | About 1785 | Not recorded | No further information on the sheet |
The sheet records places for the births but not for the deaths, so death places are marked “not recorded” rather than guessed.
Where Jacob Lived
Every record in Jacob’s story points to the same neighborhood: Upper Hanover, New Hanover and the Red Hill church. The one record that places him on a particular date is the Pennsylvania Septennial Census (a head count taken every seven years), which lists a Jacob Detweiler in Upper Hanover in 1786, the same year he died.
The file doesn’t say what Jacob did for a living, and it doesn’t include a land record or tax list for him, so for now his occupation is an open question.
February 1786: A Family Loses Its Father
Jacob died at Upper Hanover in February 1786, at the age of 26. The file doesn’t record a cause of death. Find a Grave notes that his burial place is unmarked, but that he is probably buried at St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Red Hill, where his wife is buried and where several of his children were baptized. Eva Catharine was still in her twenties, with little children at home.
The Guardianship Petition
Not long after Jacob’s death, a relative stepped in. John Detweiler of Norriton Township went to court on behalf of “his Brother Jacob’s Grand Children.” In the petition he describes the late Jacob as his nephew, which makes John an uncle of Jacob and a great-uncle of the children. The petition says Jacob died “some time in February 1786” and left five minor children “without any Person legally authorized to take charge of their Persons Education and Property.”
The court named Nicholas Steigher and Jacob Detweiler as guardians, to look after the children’s persons, education and property until each reached the age of fourteen. The five children named, with the ages given in the petition, are shown below next to the children on the family group sheet:
Named in the petition | Matching child on the sheet | Age on the sheet’s dates (Feb 1786) |
Jacob, about 9 | Jacob (b. 1782) | About 3 |
Samuel, about 8 | Samuel (b. 1783) | About 3 |
Barbara, about 6 | Anna Barbara (b. 1780) | About 5 |
Ann Mary, about 4 | Maria (b. 1784), presumably | About 1 |
Elizabeth, about 2 | Elizabeth (b. about 1785) | About 1 |
Michael isn’t on the list, which fits the sheet’s note that he died young. The ages, though, don’t line up neatly with the birth dates, and that is one of the puzzles taken up in the Research Notes below. The petition is in the Montgomery County Estate Files on FamilySearch: view the image.
Eva Catharine’s Long Widowhood
Eva Catharine outlived her husband by about 55 years. She died in 1841 at the age of 84, and the Red Hill cemetery record describes her simply as “Catharina, wife of Jacob Detweiler, née Brey,” born 23 February 1757. She is buried in the Old Section (Row Q) of St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery at Red Hill. Her gravestone inscription reads “Wife of Jacob Detweiler, Nee Brey, Aged 84 Years.”
Nothing in the file says whether she remarried, so the record we have defines her by her first and only documented marriage.
What Became of the Children
Jacob (1782–1861) died on 31 January 1861. If the 1782 birth date holds up, he lived to about 78.
Samuel (1783–1834) died on 24 November 1834. His wife Nancy (1786–1862) outlived him by nearly three decades, and his estate went before the Orphan’s Court in the August Term of 1835.
Maria (1784–1870) married Daniel Miller (1785–1873) at New Hanover on 14 December 1805, when she was about 21. Find a Grave names their children as Frederick August Miller (1808–1840), Juliana Miller (1814–1874) and Edward Miller (1821–1908). Maria rests in the same row of St. Paul’s cemetery as her mother, with a stone reading “Wife of Daniel Miller, Nee Detweiler.”
Anna Barbara, Michael and Elizabeth have no further documented details on the sheet yet. That leaves some good work for the next research session.
Timeline of Jacob’s Life
Date | Event |
6 Apr 1759 | Born in Upper Hanover |
20 May 1759 | Baptized at the Red Hill Lutheran church |
1773 | Confirmed on Good Friday at age 14 |
27 Jul 1779 | Marries Eva Catharine Breyer at New Hanover |
2 May 1780 | Daughter Anna Barbara born |
20 Aug 1782 | Son Jacob born |
2 Jan 1783 | Son Samuel born |
24 Dec 1783 | Son Michael born (baptized 9 Feb 1784) |
Sept 1784 | History: Montgomery County created from Philadelphia County |
29 Oct 1784 | Daughter Maria born |
About 1785 | Daughter Elizabeth born |
Feb 1786 | Jacob dies at age 26; guardians appointed for five minor children soon after |
1789 | Jacob’s father, Jacob Detweiler Jr., dies (per Find a Grave) |
1792 | Jacob’s mother, Maria Margaretha Derr, dies (per Find a Grave) |
1841 | Eva Catharine dies at age 84 |
Johan Jacob Detweiler III is my 1st Cousn 6X Removed.
Sources
Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Estate Files, 1663–1979, Jacob Detweiler (guardianship petition for five minor children, 1786), digital images, FamilySearch, accessed June 2025. Image link
Red Hill Lutheran church records (Baptism, Burial and Marriage Records 1739–1870/1882), FamilySearch: baptism of Johan Jacob Detweiler (page 23) and 1773 confirmation list.
Pennsylvania, U.S., Septennial Census, 1779–1863, Jacob Detweiler, Upper Hanover, 1786, Ancestry.com, accessed June 2025.
Pennsylvania, U.S., Compiled Marriage Records, 1700–1821, and Pennsylvania and New Jersey, U.S., Church and Town Records, 1669–2013 (New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran), Ancestry.com: marriage of Jacob Detweiler and Eva Cath Breyer, 27 July 1779.
Compiled Marriage Records, Ancestry.com: marriage of Daniel Miller and Maria Detweiler, 14 December 1805, New Hanover.
Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of New Goshenhoppen, Red Hill Cemetery Records 1741–1898, FamilySearch: Catharina, wife of Jacob Detweiler.
Find a Grave: John Jacob Detweiler, #210928369; Catharine Brey Detweiler, #115977034; Maria Detweiler Miller, #115977062.
Family Group Sheet, Johan Jacob Detweiler III and Eva Catharine Breyer, prepared 14 October 2026.
Draft biography prepared by Charles Purvis
CPurvis1@gmail.com
