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From: Neal T Lesh <>
Subject: Re: [BRE] THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LEGENDARY MAGDALENA ZUG
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2002 17:44:41 -0500


I have Peter and Ulrich Zug arriving 27 Sep 1727 with 4 in family,
arrived aboard James Goodwill,Rotterdam. I know that there were other
Zugs because the name is quite unusual and I downloaded several documents
with that name. Only the two above were placed on my Family Tree program
that I set up for Early Immigrants, a file that is in its infancy, I'm
afraid. If I can come across any more of that name, I will forward to
you.

Neal T. Lesh, NEPA Lesh Family

On Sat, 21 Dec 2002 15:45:49 -0500 "Dwayne Wrightsman" <>
writes:
>
> THOUGHTS ABOUT THE LEGENDARY MAGDALENA ZUG
>
> This week alone brought forth three new emails asking me about what
> I had
> previously dubbed "the Myth of Magdalena Zug" and what I really
> believed
> about her. So below is the legend and what I think about it.
> Notice that I
> have substituted the word "legend" for "myth;" it is (I hope) a less
> inflammatory term.
>
>
> THE LEGEND OF MAGDALENA ZUG
>
> Legend has it that Magdalena Zug was the wife of Michael Frantz II,
> son of
> the famous Conestoga Brethren Elder, Michael Frantz I. Features of
> this
> legend are that she and Michael were baptized in 1748 and married
> that same
> year, and also that the baptisms and marriage took place in the
> final days
> of the life of Elder Michael Frantz I. Quoting [brackets my own
> throughout]
> from the Dore M. Frantz manuscript compiled some 60 or so years ago:
>
> ".....it is very probable that the father [Michael Frantz I]
> prevailed on
> him [Michael Frantz II] and also on Magdalena Zug, to become
> members, be
> baptized and married before he died. Records of the church at
> Conestoga
> state that he [Michael Frantz II] was baptized April 24, 1748, and
> Magdalena
> June 12, 1748. I [Dore M. Frantz] think it is very likely they were
> married
> not long after this."
>
> Another part of this legend is that Michael Frantz II bought a farm
> in East
> Cocalico (near Reamstown) in the eastern part of Lancaster County
> where he
> and his wife Magdalena lived. Again, quoting from Dore Frantz:
>
> "Just what he [Michael Frantz II] did between 1748 and 1759, the
> year he
> obtained title to his farm in Cocalico Township, is likewise lost to
> us, but
> no doubt he was either a tenant farmer or a farm hand. There is no
> reason
> to believe that he ever worked at any other kind of work. There
> seems to be
> no doubt that all his children grew to maturity on this farm. The
> ones who
> went [abt. 1790] to Virginia with him, Christian, Peter, Daniel and
> David,
> were no doubt born there [on the Cocalico farm], for they were all
> born
> after 1759."
>
> Continuing:
>
> ".....all four sons who went to Virginia were married before going
> there as
> none of their marriages are recorded at Fincastle and Christian was
> born in
> 1761; Daniel in 1763; Peter in 1767; and family tradition has it
> that David
> was 40 or 45 years of age when he died in 1815 and not over 50."
>
> As for Michael's wife, Magdalena Zug, Dore Frantz says:
>
> "It is doubtful if she [Magdalena Zug] lived to move to Virginia
> with
> Michael and family."
>
>
> MARRIAGES OF THE FOUR SONS
>
> The four sons, Christian Frantz, Daniel Frantz, David Frantz, and
> Peter
> Frantz, all married daughters of John Nicholas Garst. All are
> mentioned by
> name in the settlement accounts of the John Nicholas Garst estate,
> recorded
> at Botetourt March Court 1808, Will Book "B," pages 44 and 178.
>
>
> WHY THE LEGEND CANNOT BE TRUE
>
> John Nicholas Garst lived on Little Swatara Creek in Bethel Township
> in
> northern Lancaster County from about 1749 until about 1790 when he
> and his
> children and his grandchildren moved to Botetourt Co., VA. His
> birth family
> was German Reformed but he and his wife were baptized into the
> Little
> Swatara Creek Brethren Congregation, listed as members in 1770.
>
> The Little Swatara Creek area of Bethel Township was not close to
> the
> Michael Frantz farm in Cocalico. Bethel was in the northern section
> of
> Lancaster County, while Cocalico was in the eastern section. Their
> farms
> were about 16 miles apart as the crow flies, and about 40 minutes
> apart if
> you attempt to drive it today. They were not neighbors. Nor did
> they
> attend the same church. John Nicholas Garst was a member of the
> Little
> Swatara Congregation; Michael Frantz of Cocalico belonged to the
> Cocalico
> Church. So the question is: How could four sons have met, courted,
> and
> married four daughters who were neither neighbors nor fellow
> worshippers?
>
> Simple! There was a different Michael Frantz who was both a
> neighbor and a
> member of the same church. Upstream from the Garst farm on Little
> Swatara
> Creek, separated only by the farm of Philip Hautz, was the farm of
> Michael
> Frantz. This Michael Frantz was the son of Christian Frantz I and
> brother
> of Christian Frantz II and John Frantz. All three Frantz brothers
> lived on
> Little Swatara Creek on lands warranted to them by the Penn
> brothers. The
> three Frantz brothers settled on these lands during the 1740s. In
> the 1750s
> they and a few others founded the Little Swatara Congregation of
> Brethren.
> Michael Frantz (son of Christian I) was ordained as Elder of the
> Little
> Swatara Congregation in 1780. It was during the 1780s that his sons
> Christian, Daniel, David, and Peter married four of the daughters of
> John
> Nicholas Garst, as documented in the estate records of John Nicholas
> Garst.
> The brides and grooms grew up together as Brethren neighbors during
> their
> entire lives. In about 1790, Michael Frantz and his children and
> his
> grandchildren pulled up stakes, along with the Garsts, and moved to
> Botetourt Co., VA. By this point the children and grandchildren of
> Michael
> Frantz and John Nicholas Garst were all part of one big
> inter-married
> family.
>
> Dore M. Frantz, who promulgated the legend, must not have been aware
> of the
> fact that there were two Michael Frantzes. Either that, or he was
> not aware
> of where each Michael Frantz lived in relation to where the Garsts
> lived.
> When siblings of one family marry siblings of another family it is
> almost
> always because they have very strong connections in terms of
> neighborhood,
> church, and blood. I say blood because it is possible that the wife
> of John
> Nicholas Garst was Elizabeth Frantz, sister of his neighbor Michael
> Frantz.
>
> The two Michael Frantzes were the same age and they were first
> cousins.
> They both lived and paid taxes in Lancaster County. Michael Frantz
> who
> lived on Little Swatara Creek, in the northern part of the county,
> paid
> taxes in Bethel Township from about 1750 to about 1790. Michael
> Frantz who
> lived in East Cocalico, in the eastern part of the county, paid
> taxes in
> Cocalico Township during the 1760s, 1770s, and 1780s. This latter
> Michael
> Frantz was probably Michael Frantz II, son of Michael Frantz I. He
> was
> listed as a 1770 member of the Cocalico Brethren. According to
> various
> court documents, he was married to Margaret (aka Anna Maria) Frantz,
> who was
> a daughter of Balser Frantz (brother of Michael I and Christian I).
> He was
> named as executor in several wills of Cocalico Brethren during the
> 1770s and
> early-to-mid 1780s.
>
> Clearly, if Magdalena Zug was the wife of the Michael Frantz II, son
> of
> Michael I, she could not have been the mother of the Frantz sons of
> Little
> Swatara who married the Garsts of Little Swatara. These were sons
> of the
> other Michael Frantz who was son of Christian Frantz I.
>
>
> WHAT DO I THINK?
>
> I think it is possible that Magdalena Zug married the Michael Frantz
> of
> Little Swatara. There are so many thousands of descendants of the
> original
> Frantz-Garst marriages that family bibles and oral histories
> probably did
> include the name of Magdalena Zug. I have not found such bibles nor
> do I
> know the sources of the oral histories.
>
> I doubt that Magdalena Zug married Michael Frantz II. This legend,
> in my
> opinion, was created by Dore M. Frantz (1880-1948) who wanted to
> believe
> that it was true. In the quote above he used terms such as
> "probably" and
> "very likely," indicating that he was not sure. In addition,
> Magdalena Zug
> was baptized into the White Oak Church while Michael Frantz II was
> baptized
> into the Cocalico Church, both of which were in the overall
> Conestoga
> Congregation, but located in different communities. It is also not
> clear
> whether the father Michael Frantz I was still alive in the summer of
> 1748,
> when Dore Frantz supposed that he prevailed on the couple to become
> baptized
> and married. Historical accounts suggest that Michael Frantz I
> died in the
> winter of 1747-1748. I think that Dore Frantz created a romantic
> legend
> which has held so much allure that Frantz-Garst descendants (of
> which I am
> one) have accepted it on faith. It is here that I take exception
> with my
> cousins.
>
> Dwayne Wrightsman
> Lee, NH
>
>
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