The Fisher Family (7 Generations). My husband's paternal grandmother's line.
Fisher Name Meaning
English: occupational name for a fisherman, Middle English fischer. The name has also been used in Ireland as a loose equivalent of Braden. As an American family name, this has absorbed cognates and names of similar meaning from many other European languages, including German Fischer, Dutch Visser, Hungarian Halász, Italian Pescatore, Polish Rybarz, etc. In a few cases, the English name may in fact be a topographic name for someone who lived near a fish weir on a river, from the Old English term fisc-gear ‘fish weir’. Jewish (Ashkenazic): occupational name for a fisherman, Yiddish fisher, German Fischer. Irish: translation of Gaelic Ó Bradáin ‘descendant of Bradán’, a personal name meaning ‘salmon’. See Braden. Mistranslation of French Poissant, meaning ‘powerful’, but understood as poisson ‘fish’ (see Poisson), and assimilated to the more frequent English name. Source
Introducing:
Sebastian Fisher/Fischer
Emigrated from Germany
b. 1675 d. After 1743
married before 1708
Susanna
Emigrated from Germany
b. About 1675 d. About 1724
Places lived: Germany, Holland, NY, PA, VA
Sebastian Fisher, a native of
Germany, with his wife Susanna and their two small children, embarked for England
at Rotterdam, Holland, on July 28, 1708. Just how long they had been in Holland
is uncertain, but they embarked with a group of emigrants from devastated
regions of Germany, mostly from the Palatinate which suffered even more than
other regions from the terrible scourges of wars that Germany had been engaged
in for a long time. Queen Anne of England invited these people to go to
England, and promised that they should be sent later to America to settle in
new homes. It was in one of the boatloads of these Germans that Sebastian left
for England.
The case of Sebastian Fisher was
different from the majority of these emigrants, although some were similar. He
was a refugee, according to tradition that seems to have some foundation in
fact, who was obliged to leave Germany, losing his title and estate, because he
had become involved in the poaching laws. However, there was more to it all
than a mere infringement of poaching laws. He was heir to a vast estate on
which the more modern part of Hannover has since been built. His family was
important enough in political affairs for him to incur the displeasure of those
in power with whom he had disagreed politically. Hence,
the necessity for leaving his homeland with only what means he could carry with
him.
Sebastian Fisher was a man of
good intellect, and he had received a good education from the standpoint of
those days, probably at a German University. He possessed a great amount of
courage and tenacity of purpose. Hardships and misery visited all the emigrants
alike, for there was inadequate provision made for them in England, and it was
almost as bad after they arrived in America a year later.
On the 13th or 14th of June.
1709, Sebastian and Susanna Fisher reached New York with only one of their
children surviving. It was necessary for all these immigrants to have shelter
provided and rations of food and clothing until they could get established and
provide these things for themselves. There were others among them beside
Sebastian Fisher who had money with them, but supplies could not be bought in
those days. Many were given work on a project established for them, but trouble
came almost at once between the Germans and the English Colonists. Small
villages were built along the Hudson River on the Livingston Manor in which to
house the German immigrants, and in 1711 Sebastian Fisher lived at Annsburg,
one of the villages. Later he was at Berne, N. Y. He was one of the men who
engaged in trying to get justice for his countrymen. Several excellent accounts
of the German immigrants have been consulted by the compiler, among them, Early
Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration by W. A. Knittle, and Oscar Rutins' The
German and Swiss Settlements of Colonial Pennsylvania : A Study of the
So-called Pennsylvania Dutch.
Before 1717 Sebastian Fisher and
others purchased and paid for and in the Schoharie Valley and removed to
Gerlachsdorf, which was at first called Neu Cassell. Cassell in Germany was at
that time the seat of one branch of this
Fisher family to which Sebastian Fisher belonged. "Deutches Geschlecter
Buch," a compilation of many volumes, states that members of this family
were emigrants at an early date to North America, it being the only Fisher
family of which this fact was recorded. They bore the same Christian names as
did the early American branch, Sebastian and Adam, for instance, and were men
of higher learning, holding responsible positions. It may be of interest to
note here that at the beginning of this century a well-to-do descendant of
Sebastian Fisher sent a lawyer to Hannover, Germany, to look into a supposed
fortune due the American branch. Needless to say, the trip bore no results
except to verify some of the family traditions.
Gerlach Dorf
The German immigrants who
purchased land in the Schoharie Valley in New York state could get no title to
their land for the reason that the English had no title from the Indians. Since
the immigrants had paid their money in good faith they were angry and disgusted
when this became known to them.
In the spring of 1723 fifteen
families, including Sebastian Fisher, decided to go to Pennsylvania, hoping for
better treatment than they had received in New York. They traveled across the
Schoharie Valley to the Susquehanna River. There they built boats and rafts,
and with their families proceeded down the Susquehanna to the mouth of Swatara
creek, a distance of about 150 miles. Ascending the Swatara they crossed over
the watershed into Tulpehocken Valley which is about seventeen miles northwest
of the present city of Reading, Pa. Here they prospered and others joined them,
from New York and from Germany. At first there was trouble in procuring title
to their land, and a petition is recorded in Pennsylvania Archives regarding
the matter. To this petition Sebastian Fisher signed his name in Latin.
Although he was taxed in 1725, it is doubtful if Sebastian Fisher ever received
title to any land in Pennsylvania. Dr. Charles A. Fisher, Selinsgrove, Pa.,
genealogist for the Fisher and many other Pennsylvania families, states that he
has searched thoroughly and has found no record of title.
Sebastian Fisher helped to found
two of the oldest Lutheran churches in Pennsylvania. Reeds, or Reids, Lutheran
Church situated about two miles east of the present town of Stouchsburg. and
the Tulpehocken Lutheran Church, now Christ Church, about a mile southwest of
Stouchsburg. Reeds Church was founded in 1727, (and in 1730 they built a log
schoolhouse near the church and hired a schoolmaster). When the Reeds, who were
of the fifteen families who came from N. Y. began to lean toward the Moravian
doctrine, Sebastian Fisher headed a list of 150 members who withdrew from Reeds
Church in 1743 and founded the Tulpehocken Church. Sebastian's name was signed
to many petitions — for roads, and for other improvements. Sometimes he signed
as "Sebastine Piscator." His name has not been found in the
Pennsylvania records since 1743. Dr. Charles A. Fisher who has so kindly
furnished so much material on the Pennsylvania history of the family thinks
that he may have migrated with one of his sons or perhaps returned to New York
state. The compiler offers the suggestion that he may have gone to Virginia.
The opportunity has not come during any one of the compiler's several trips
east to search the o'.d Fisher graveyards in Virginia, but there is some
likelihood that his grave may be found there. No record of Susanna Fisher seems
to have been found, but she bore one child after the removal to Tulpehocken, PA. source
John Adam Fisher
b. 1722, alternative October 7th, 1724 d. March 11th, 1783
married in 1755 for forty-nine years to
Christine Burkstoler
Parents emigrated from Germany
b. 1724 d. 1804
Places lived: Pennsylvania, Virginia
7th great-grandparents
John Adam
Fisher was born in New York about 1722 and died in the part of Hampshire County VA that is now Hardy County WV
in March 1783. He married Christina Burkstoler in New York. The family
moved to Hampshire County VA, probably between 1750 and 1760 and located in Fairfax Manor on the South Branch
of the Potomac River. John Adam
Fisher's will was recorded March 11, 1783, indicating that he died near that date. In the will, he identifies himself as "Adam Fisher of Hampshire County" to
distinguish himself from two other Adam Fishers living in VA at that time. Source
The land on which Adam Fisher
settled was a part of the Lord Fairfax Manor, and records and maps show that
this was part of the land surveyed by the young George Washington. At the time
that Adam and Christina Fisher left Pennsylvania many Indian raids were being
experienced in the Tulpehocken Valley, and some feared that the entire country
would be laid waste. Conrad Weiser wrote in 1755 that another raid would be the
destruction of the settlers, but this did not come to pass as he predicted. Indian
raids occurred in western Virginia too, and there are vivid descriptions of
them, written by eyewitnesses. With due allowance made for exaggeration, the
facts could have been nothing but terrifying to all the settlers. It is
believed by some of the family that Catherine Fisher, youngest daughter of Adam
and Christina, met her death in an Indian raid.
Adam Fisher, too frail and along
in years, could not serve in the Army during the Revolutionary War, but
provided flour and other supplies to the Army. Records in Romney. Hampshire Co.
in the form of a receipt signed by Abel Randall, show that at one date, two
years before his death Adam Fisher. Senior, furnished six hundred and
sixty-nine pounds of flour. There are other records, earlier. Three of Adam's
sons served in the Army. source
Jacob John Fisher
Revolutionary War Soldier
b. October 29th, 1758 d. October 15th, 1846
married around 1785 to
Susanna Burns
b. October 20th, 1763 d. May 1st, 1830
Places lived: Virginia, West Virginia
Jacob Fisher, a
son of John Adam and Christina (Burkstoler) Fisher, was born in Rockingham County VA in October 1758
and died in Braxton County WV October 15, 1846. He married Susanna Burns in Hardy County VA in 1785. Susanna was born in VA October 20,
1763 and died in Hardy County May 1, 1830. Jacob married
Catherine Skidmore. Catherine, a daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth (Phares) Skidmore, was born about 1766 and
died in Braxton County November 16, 1850. Jacob served
the Colonies in the American Revolution in 1778 and served six months as a private in Captain Moses Hatton's Virginia Company. He enlisted in 1781 and served three months in Captain Daniel Richardson's Company of Light Horse. He received a land grant in present day Braxton County VA from the State of Virginia in part
payment for his military service.
He received a pension beginning September 11,1833. His pension file is Revolutionary War S-15120. He
enlisted fronm Hardy County VA and applied for his pension in that
county. In 1840, Jacob
was living with his son in law, William Cutlip, on Holly River in Braxton County VA. In the 1850 Braxton
County census,Catherine is listed in the hosehold of her daughter Susan
Cutlip. Source
George Fisher
b. August 1st, 1788 d. November 21st, 1864
married for fifty-five years on January 23rd, 1809 to
Mary Ann Harness
b. May 1st, 1790 d. December 28th, 1881
Places lived: Virginia, West Virginia
1850 Census
1860 Census
1870 Census, Mary Ann is a widow
Andrew "Jackson" Fisher
b. November 24th, 1827 d. 1889
married for forty years on July 17th, 1849 for years to
Hannah McCulloch Cunningham
b. July 26th,1830 d. March 2nd, 1908
Places lived: Virginia, Missouri, Texas
4th great-grandparents
1860 Census
1863 Civil War Draft
1870 Census
1889 Census - Andrew Jackson Fisher was admitted to the State Lunatic Asylum
Thomas Maslin Fisher
b. September 16th, 1864 d. February 12th, 1936
married for fifty-seven years on October 2nd, 1879 to
Martha "Mattie" Edmonia Herndon
b. March 20th, 1860 d. November, 1937
Places lived: Missouri, Oklahoma
3rd great-grandparents
Thomas Maslin Fisher
The marriage of Thomas and Mattie Fisher.
1880 Census
Thomas won 10 acres of land in the 1901 Land Lottery
1910 Census
1920 Census
Mattie with her son, Lewis.
Thomas Maslin Fisher's Obituary
Martha "Mattie" Fisher's Obituary
Mary Elizabeth Fisher
b. March 28th, 1883 d. March 16th, 1965
married for thirty-seven years on September 23rd, 1903 to
b. November 1871 d. June 1941
2nd great-grandparents
Mary Elizabeth McCrea Obituary
Happy researching.
