Gummere Family of the USA

Johannes Gömere / John Gummere I

Born c.1670 - said to have been born in French Flanders though this has not been proven.
Married Anna Koch before 1700 in Europe.
Died on 23 May 1738 at Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, USA, aged 68 years.
Buried in the Upper Burying Grounds, Germantown.

Anna Koch

born c.1670 in Europe.
died 23 May 1738 at Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.

Children:-

1. Catherine born c.1700 in Europe; married 11 Jul 1721 at Abingdon Presbyterian Church, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania to William Johnson.
2. John born c.1705 in Europe; married before 1738 to Sarah Deaves.
3. David born in Europe.

The part of Germantown on the Wissahickon River which is known as the Monastery was part of an 82 acre tract of land that Johannes Gumre bought from John Cunrads and his wife in January 1719/20 (at that time the new year began on 25 March).

In the autumn of 1722 Peter Becker together with Johannes Gumre, George Balser Gansz, and one of the Traut brothers made a pilgrimage through Pennsylvania to try to reunite the twenty Brethren families who came to the area from Krefeld in 1719. His trip was a success and on Wednesday 25 December 1723 in Peter Becker's house in Bebberstown in upper Germantown they gathered together and organised themselves into a church with Becker chosen as their elder. Seventeen of them had been baptised in Europe - Peter Becker, Johann Heinrich Traut, Jeremias Traut, Balser Traut, Heinrich Holzappel, Johannes Gumre (John Gummere), Stephan Koch, Jacob Koch, Johannes Hildebrand, Daniel Ritter, George Balser Gansz, Johannes Preisz (John Price), Johannes Kampfer, Magdalena Traut, Anna Gumre, Maria Hildebrand, and Johanna Gansz; but six people, two married couples and two single men, asked to be baptised. The six were Martin Urner and his wife Catherina Reist, Heinrich Landes (Henry Londes) and his wife, Frederick Lang and Jan Mayle. They were baptised in the Wissahickon one and a half miles away on a level bank on the estate of Johannes Gumre ( two hundred yards north of Kitchen's Lane), by immersion in the icy river water three times. They needed to crack the ice on the river before the baptisms could take place. After the baptisms the group went to the Gumre house where they were given dry clothes and a feast was held in the evening with the rite of foot-washing observed. That day the Church of the Brethren was formed in America. In 1829 Alexander Mack brought the remainder of the Brethrens from Germany to America. Those left behind in Germany gradually rejoined the Reformed Church.

A 1734 list of landholders in Philadelphia County shows John Gumry holding 100 acres of land in Roxburro (Roxborough) division..

Johannes sold the land on the Wissahickon River to his elder son, Johannes (John), who in turn sold it to Benjamin Shoemaker on 29 October 1742. A few years later Shoemaker sold it to John Gorgas on 2 March 1746/7, whose brother Joseph built the three story stone house known as the Monastery. The map below dated 1857 shows the location of the Monastery, built on land once owned by Johannes Gumre.

John Gumre wrote his will on 16 May 1738 and died shortly after on the 23rd. His will was proven the following day, and mentions his wife Anna and his three children, John, David and Catherine. His executors were John Frederick, John Theobald, Endta and Dick Keyser, and the will was witnessed by Richard Roff and John Adam Gruber.

Anna Gumre died the same day as her husband, they are both buried in the Upper Burying Grounds in Germantown.

If I have something wrong I would greatly appreciate being corrected, or if you have something to add to the story then please email me .

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References:-
A Mural History of the Church of the Brethren, published by Camp Alexander Mack, Milford, Indiana, 1953.
The Brethren, The Schwenkfelders, and Other Plain People, on the Pennsylvania-Dutch website at http://www.horseshoe.cc/pennadutch/
The Wissahickon Valley Within the City of Philadelphia, by Francis Burke Brandt, published 1927 by the Corn Exchange National Bank, Philadelphia.
Landholders of Philadelphia County 1734, published by the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania 1898.
Will Abstracts, Book F:1736-43: Philadelphia County, PA.
Map section from Map of Bucks and Montgomery Counties & the Consolidated City of Philadelphia, published by Kuhe & Shrope, 1857.
URL=http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~gomery/gummerejohn1.html
Last revised: 23 September 2006
© Linda Hansen 2006