Revised 8/1/2017. Copyright @2017; The following Documentary Timeline has been compiled and created by Paul Rhetts. It may be copied for research purposes; but it may not be reproduced for inclusion in any printed or electronic distribution of any kind without the express written permission of the author. Any requests to use this information should be sent to Paul Rhetts, LPDPress@q.com.
Frederick DIETZ (1676-1755) m. Catarina BONACELLI (1678-1742)
s/o Wilhelm DIETZ (1646-1730) and Alesandra _____ (1650-1730)
d/o Andreas BONACELLI (1641-1702) and Elisabeta _____ ( -1705)
p/o Christina Catharina DIETZ (1724-1799)
1676 Frederick DIETZ born at Luxembourg
21 May 1676 Frederick DIETZ baptized at Evangelisch, Waldbockelheim, Rheinland, Prussia (FHL Film #493231 lists father Wilhelm Dietz too)
1678 Catarina BONACELLI born at Berne, Switzerland
1698 Frederick DEITZ and Catarina BONACELLI married at Luxembourg
1701 son Andreas DIETZ born at Luxembourg; died 1778 at Bayern, Germany
1704 dau Elisabeta DIETZ born at Luxembourg
1708 son Augustine DIETZ born at Luxembourg
1712 dau Maria DIETZ born at Luxembourg
1715 dau Barbara DIETZ born at Luxembourg
1718 son Wilhelm DIETZ born at Luxembourg; married Alesandra ____
1724 dau Christina Catharina DIETZ born at Luxembourg; died 7 Jan 1799 at Rowan, NC; married Lewis Ludwig WINKLER in 1742 in England
1742 Catarina BONACELLI died at Luxembourg
7 Oct 1755 Frederick DIETZ and dau Christina Catharina DIETZ immigrated to Philadelphia, PA on ship Neptune [listed on passenger list for Neptune 1755: from Rotterdam, Netherland via Gosport, England, carrying immigrants to Pennsylvania; George Smith, Captain 7 October 1755 (one source says 1753)
1755 Frederick DIETZ listed in PA Early Census Index for Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA (could this be the same Frederick DIETZ listed at Christian Street, south side, between Second St. corner & 228 Christian, Philadelphia, PA: NO IT IS NOT. In 1764, Keen was 61 years old and near death. His land and fortunes were largely in the hands of a group of merchants and large landowners who served as trustees of his estate. The Christian St. properties were sold off in parcels to a younger generation of families, who in large part were recent immigrants and refugees from Germany. People who bought land from Keen at this time included Frederick Dietz, Rudolph Meyer, Felix Fenner, and Philip Dick—who are all mentioned below. The Dietz property (corner of Second and Christian): As travelers forded Weccacoe Creek, in the years after the American Revolution, they would have seen a building belonging to Frederick and Christina Dietz, on the southwest corner of Second and Christian Streets, where those streets met the Moyamensing Road. Possibly the building was used as a tavern. Johann Friedrich (known as “Frederick”) Dietz was born about 1738 in the Saar-Palatinate—the Rhineland. He died in Philadelphia about 1810. When Frederick Dietz was around 11 years old, he sailed to Philadelphia with his father (also Johann Friedrich) and other family members on the ship Edinburgh, which sailed from Rotterdam via Portsmouth, England. The family arrived in Philadelphia on Sept. 15, 1749, and settled in Southwark. Young Dietz might have met a slightly older girl, Catarina Christina Rissler, on board the Edinburgh. She is believed to have been the daughter of Georg Heinrich (George Henry) Rissler, whose name is on the ship’s passenger list, and she was born around 1734 in the Palatine region of Germany. Nine years after the voyage Frederick and Christina married. Their wedding was at Old Swede’s Church on Aug. 5, 1758. They had nine children, all baptized at St. Michael’s and Zion Lutheran Church, at Fifth and Appletree Streets. The family seems to have prospered; in October 1771, Frederick Dietz purchased for 18 pounds the bond of a young immigrant, Maria Elizabeth Pancake, who had recently arrived on a ship from Rotterdam. She was given employment for three years and 10 months as an indentured servant to the family. Apparently, during the years of the Revolution, the family moved briefly to Lancaster, Pa. Some of the Dietz children remained in the Lancaster County area, while five of the sons moved to North Carolina in later years. Frederick’s and Christina’s youngest son, Daniel, remained in Southwark, living near his parents on Second St. as an adult. Christina Rissler died sometime before December 1797. Dietz owned several plots on this block of Christian St., at least some of which were purchased from Keen in 1764. (Dietz is listed as “Frederick Teets” on the deed. See bk. H 31, p. 346.) In 1792, he purchased an additional lot to the south of his Christian St. property from William Williamson and his wife Beth (H44, p. 446). Frederick Dietz pursued the trade of his father, that of a tailor. In directories 1785-1800, however, he is also listed as an “innkeeper” and “tavern keeper.” It would have been very handy to run a tavern at the well-trafficked intersection of Christian, Second, and Moyamensing Road. Since it was merely a couple of blocks from the docks and shipyards, a tavern (particularly one that offered overnight accommodations) would have well served the seamen and transient laborers in the area. In 1796, he is listed as “tavern keeper,” on S. Second St., between Christian and Queen Streets, so possibly the tavern was located just north of the intersection. In 1805, a Shepherdess Tavern is advertised on the Moyamensing Road, with an exhibition of monkeys that “danced on a tight-rope.” Possibly Dietz had retired from the tavern business by then, however. In 1805, “Frederick Deets” is simply listed as a “gentleman,” living at #90 Christian St., and he is at the same address in 1810.On Oct. 21, 1807, Dietz sold the tavern building on the corner of Second St. to Samuel Law (died 1837), a wallpaper maker who had been a painter on Front St. in the 1790s. We shall learn more about Samuel Law further on. The property extended south on Second St. for 40 feet, and west along Christian St. to a line four feet from the wooden building (#90 Christian) where Dietz continued to reside. Around the same time, Dietz sold a portion of the lot he had acquired from Williamson to Frederick Godshall, who also owned property directly on Christian St. The Moyamensing Road (“Old Second Street”), which began at this intersection, was a crooked lane that approached the mansion of Quaker merchant Joseph Wharton (1707-1776) and other estates to the southwest. “Duke” Wharton’s big country house, Walnut Grove, stood on a low hill (near Fifth and Federal Streets today), and was built in 1735. In 1777, soon after Wharton’s death, the house was the seat of the Meschianza, the elaborate mock medieval festival staged by the British officer corps during their military occupation of Philadelphia. The wealthy Wharton family owned pastureland throughout the area purchased from the descendents of the first Swedish settlers. Just east of the Moyamensing Road, on the north side of Wicaco Lane (now Ellsworth St.), was the Bonnin and Morris porcelain works, which began production in January 1771. The lot where the factory was located was once owned by the Swanson brothers, and then by Swan Bankson, who sold the land to George Fitzwater in 1738. After Fitzwater’s death, the land was inherited by his daughter Martha Fitzwater Morris, in joint tenancy with her son George and daughter Phoebe. George Morris then teamed up with Gousse Bonnin to construct a factory on the property, where they produced perhaps the first porcelain in America. But they were not successful financially. During the Revolution, the building was converted into a foundry to cast cannon for the Continental Army. To the west of Dietz’s tavern on Christian St., and southward on Second St., directories and tax lists of the late 18th century mention George Gano (also spelled Ganoe), shoemaker (cordwainer). He also served as a captain in the militia during the Revolution. George Ganoe is listed at #60 Christian St. in 1785, and was there in 1791—but by 1798 his name is missing. Quite possibly Gano was renting the property from Dietz. George Gano married Ann Dick on July 6, 1775, in St. Michael’s and Zion Lutheran Church. Ann Dick might be related to Christian St. landowner Philip Dick (see below), whose family also attended St. Michael’s at that time, but I could find no references to confirm that. In any case, Ann seems to have died soon after marriage, since the church records indicate that less than three years later George Gano married Ann Studam (April 29, 1779). There is a possibility that this was also Ann Studam’s second marriage. Records of the same church mention that a woman named Ann Ford married a mariner, John Studham, on June 1, 1767. Historian Clare A. Lyons reports that Ann walked out of her marriage later the same year. On Aug. 17, 1757, John Studham is listed as a “master’s-man” (helmsman) on the armed frigate Pennsylvania. The provincial government employed the Pennsylvania to guard trading ships headed up the Delaware during the French and Indian War, and the captain was given a Letter of Marque to attack enemy vessels (similar to a privateer). But Studham seems to have been a bit of a rogue; five years before his brief marriage to Ann, he fathered an illegitimate child with another woman. (See Clare A. Lyons, “Sex Among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender and Power in the Age of Revolution: Philadelphia, 1730-1830,” University of North Carolina Press, 2006.). The property divisions immediately to the west of the Dietz/Gano grounds are still unclear to me, and require more research. The 1785 directory mentions “Frederick Goobrick” living at #62 Christian St., adjacent to George Gano, and the 1782 supply tax register lists a “Frederick Ulrick” in the vicinity. Ulrick might not be the same person as Goobrick. Moreover, the latter might be a reference to Frederick Godshall (1763-1830). Godshall married Catherine Cleasly in Old Swedes Church on Oct. 15, 1783. According to one source, the couple and their four children migrated to Greene County, Tenn., in 1795. At some point, Godshall sold the Christian St. property to Nicholas Barrabino. Some deeds mention a “Nicholas Bottwine,” who might be the same person. However, as early as 1774, the provincial tax list mentions a “Nicholas Baltewine,” while the 1779 supply tax list mentions a “Nicholas Bolderwine,” living on the block. The 1798 directory lists Charles Nicholson, shipwright, as owning property in this vicinity. In fact, he might have owned two or more lots on the block at one point. In 1796, Nicholson and his wife Hannah sold one of the lots to Moses Levy (1757-1826), counselor at law. Levy and his wife Mary built a frame house on the lot, probably as a rental property. Moses Levy was a prominent member of Philadelphia society. He came from a Jewish family, and his contemporaries often referred to him—and sometimes reviled him—as a “Jew.” Some historical accounts to this day (i.e., Wikopedia) refer to Levy as being Jewish. In reality, like his father, Sampson Levy Sr., Moses converted to Christianity, and was a member of St. Peter’s Anglican church, still standing on Pine St. Levy graduated from the Academy of Philadelphia (later renamed the University of Pennsylvania) in 1772, and became a member of the Pennsylvania bar (along with his brother, Sampson Jr.) in 1778. After the Revolution, Philadelphia, the American capital city, became the scene of bitter political warfare as the pro-Federalist forces sought to tighten their power against dissension. Some Federalist propagandists employed anti-Semitism, as well as bigotry against immigrants and Blacks, as their weapons. Journalist William Cobbett, writing in his newspaper as “Peter Porcupine,” aimed several essays against “the Jew” Moses Levy in particular. Levy was recorder of the city of Philadelphia, and later a judge and member of the Pennsylvania legislature. (For a solid reference, see Edwin Wolf II, “The History of the Jews of Philadelphia from Colonial Times to the Age of Jackson,” The Jewish Publication Society of America, Philadelphia 1956. Readers are urged to discount the error-filled entry on Moses Levy in Wikipedia, which confuses Moses Levy of Philadelphia with Moses Levy of Newport, who engaged in the slave trade, and plantation owner Moses Levy of Florida.) In 1813, Moses Levy and his wife Mary (daughter of Henry Ward Pearce) sold their Christian St. property to Samuel Law—who had already set up his wallpaper manufacturing shop behind the house once owned by Rudolph and Catherina Meyer, which is described below.
aft 1755 Frederick DIETZ died at Philadelphia, Delaware, PA