A History of Pennsylvania and Maryland's Drach Family SOURCE: Ancestry page of family researcher, Tom Lengle. He is a member of the Nat'l Genealogical Soc.
The text below was provided on the Ancestry page of family researcher, Tom Lengle. He is a member of the Nat'l Genealogical Soc. I messaged him on Nov 06, 2015 to ask permission to post the information on my family tree website. He replied,"Please feel free to use the source".With several of the families studied in this book there is difficulty in determining the correct spelling of the family name. In the records consulted in this chapter we find the name spelled Drach, Trach, Drak and Trough, which are apparently all merely the attempts of English clerks to spell the name as it was pronounced to them in German. Silver spoons belonging to the family have the initial "D" on them instead of "T". As late as 1842 the name is Drach on tombstone inscriptions. However, the common spelling at the present time is Trach. The exact spelling of the name will be preserved as it is found in different documents. There is sufficient proof to show that they all belong to the same family regardless of spelling.
There will be no attempt made to describe the entire Drach family, but enough is given to serve as a guide for subsequent additional research.
Rudolph Drach, the emigrant (as far as we know) arrived August 29th, 1730, on the ship "Thistle," landing at Philadelphia, and appears in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, as early as 1750, when we find record of the birth and baptism of a daughter, Anna Maria. In 1753 he is named as one of the trustees in the deed for the purchase of a church site for the Tohicken Church. On the 4th of June, 1763, he purchased from the proprietors of the province of Pennsylvania 300 acres of land in Rockhill Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which land he later divided between his sons Adam, and Henry.
A complete study of the baptismal records of his children has not been made but his family is named fully in the various legal papers concerned with the division of his estate. In these his wife is named "Merrilas," which is evidently a pet name for "Elizabeth" as she is named in the baptismal record of 1750. The children were: Adam; Henry; Elizabeth who married Jacob Good; Magdalena, who married Michael VVeisel; Anna Margaret, who married Jacob Allum; Anna Maria, who married Jacob Berut; Margaret, who married Col. John Keller, and Susanna.
In 1770 Rudolph, feeling the chill of advancing years, decided to divide his property among his children. This he did by means of an agreement whereby each daughter was to receive 40 pounds (except Susanna who only received 5 pounds.) This money was to be paid by the two sons who in their turn were to divide the farm between them and furnish maintenance for their parents as long as they should live. This support included "a hogshead of good cider yearly." The agreement between Rudolph and his two sons, Adam and Henry, was as follows:
Deed Book No. 18, p. 274, Office of Recorder of Deeds, Doylestown, Penn'a.
AGREEMENT made January 5, 1770, between Rudolph Drach of Rockhill Township, County of Bucks, and Province of Pennsylvania, yeoman, of the one part, and his sons Henry Drach and Adam Drach of the same place, of the other part.
WITNESSETH: That the said Rudolph Drach grants unto his said sons the tract of 300 acres of land in Bedminster Township, the said County, which he, the said Rudolph, had purchased of the Right Honorable the Proprietaries of the Province of Pennsylvania by their patent bearing date the 4th day of June 1763. To the said Henry 100 acres, and to Adam 200 acres thereof.
Henry shall give yearly and every year from the date hereof on the 27th of November to his said father at his house where he now lives 8 bushels, the halfe of wheate and the halfe of rey, in the hole, 8 bushels; and shal plow and harrow in one half acre with Buckwheat each yeare and find the seed, thresh and kline the same and deliver same at the same time when he delivers the wheat and rey in Rockhill Township, Bucks County.
And Adam Drach shall likewise give each and every year to his father Rudolph Drach and mother Merilas Drach as long as they or either of them live, 20 bushels the one half wheate and one half rey, and shall sew one half acre of Buckwheat in like manner as Henry, and deliver the same together with one hogset of good cider. And said Henry and Adam shall pay 40 pounds each to my five daughters Elizabeth, Madalenck, Margaret, Ann Margaret, and Ann Mary, and the said Henry to pay unto my daughter Susannah Drack 5 pounds. Ten acres are excepted from Rudolph's 200 acres during the lifetime of the said Rudolph.
Signed by the three contracting parties in German. Witnessed by Johann Philip Schryer and Peter Drach.
Unfortunately Rudolph did not live to drink many hogsheads of good cider, as we find that his will, written January 5th, 1770, was probated October 1st, 1771, which approximately fixes the date of his death.
Apparently "Merrilas", wife of Rudolph, survived him until 1782, as it was not until that year that the executors, Peter Drach and Philip Schryer finally deeded the two tracts of land to Adam and Henry and they jointly to each other so that each should have a clear title. Finally, in 1807, for the purpose of securing for a purchaser a clear title five of Rudolph's sisters sign a release showing that they each received 40 pounds from their brothers and it is from this release that we obtain the names of their husbands. We are left in ignorance as to why Susanna is not mentioned in this release or why she only received five pounds instead of 40 as did her sisters.
The name Rudolph appears with such frequency in this family that it is difficult to tell one person from another. Fortunately this is not the case with the name Adam. There is only one Adam Drach on record and the agreement, will and deeds, show plainly that he was the son of Rudolph and had reached adult life prior to the Revolutionary War. In addition, the baptismal records of the Lutheran Church at Tohicken, Bucks County, show that he and his wife, Eva, had at least two children prior to the war. John Rudolph was born August 19th, 1770, and baptized on the 9th of October of the same year. The other son, John Peter, was born November 4th, 1772, and baptized January 3rd, 1773, the sponsor being Catharine Geres (single).
This church record giving the date of birth of Rudolph, son of Adam, as August 19th, 1770, corresponds exactly to the date of birth on his stone in the Hamilton Church yard, thus proving beyond a doubt that the Monroe County Trachs are directly descended from the Bucks County family.
Adam Trough (thus the name is spelled on the old muster rolls) was an Associator in Captain McHenry's company, Bedminister Township, Bucks County Militia.
Satisfactory proof of his service is contained in the Pennsylvania Archives, Series 5, Vol. 5, pages 373-378-384. It is believed that the information contained in this chapter is sufficient to permit any of his descendants to apply for membership in any Revolutionary Society. While some dates are missing, the line of descent is proven beyond cavile.
Following the war, Adam Drach continued to live in Bucks County. In 1807 he began to sell his land and by 1815 he had moved to Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, from which place he sold to Jacob Kramer, Sr., ten and one-half acres of the original land purchased by his father from the Penns. This deed shows that his wife, Eve, was still living as her name and mark appears at the end of the paper, which is dated April 5, 1815.
On the 27th of December, 1813, he drew up his will which was probated on the 10th day of May, 1815, in Will Book 8, page 329, at Carlisle, Pennsylvania. This will names seven children among whom is the son, Rudolph, of Hamilton Township who is also named as one of the executors.
(Source: Taken in part from: THE KELLERS OF HAMILTON TOWNSHIP: A Study In Democracy; By David Henry Keller, M. D., Alexandria, La. The Wall Printing Co., 1922)
Some Notes From BJ Rivers Peters Mr. Lengle and Mr. Keller never claim that my Adam Drach and the one mentioned in the above quoted article are the same individual. I've seen where records of two separate individuals in my family tree are married into one, including people on Ancestry posting a tombstone which has a different death year altogether as being their ancestor's tombstone, and attaching Revolutionary Pension records to their ancestor who came from a different part of Switzerland. It is to prevent such mistakes that I post my notes here.
In comparing the information on Adam Drach, my 4th great grandfather, who was born about 1765 and died on 8 Feb 1835 according to his tombstone, and the fact that the above mentioned Adam was married to a woman named Eve at his death, I believe my 4th great grandfather and the above mentioned Adam are two separate individuals.
I'm not sure where the above mentioned Rudolf, Henry and Adam may fit into my family tree. I read 142 pages of church records of 1766 - 1837, St. Benjamins aka (Kreiders) Lutheran Congregation of Pipe Creek (near Westminster), Carroll County, MD which was translated from the original German manuscript by Chas. T. Zahn, published in 1935, and found the following including any alternate spellings of the surname mentioned in the article above.
Date:
Communicant Name: 19 Oct 1822
Johan Adam Drach (first time couple is seen in these records.)
Catharina Drach______ 1823
Adam Drach
Catharina Drach8 May 1824
Adam Drach
Catharina Drach1825
No Drachs listed 27 May 1826
Catharina Drach is only name listed
Adam Drach died 8 Feb 18351 Aug 1834
Catharina, wife of Adam died.
No mention of it in church records.8 Feb 1835
Adam, husb. of Catharina died.
No mention of it in church records.There are no other mentions of our Drachs in these records. I was a little surprised, as I was hoping to see mention of their children.