Kiki Nakita: The Fisher Family (7 Generations)

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

6th great-grandparents

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

5th great-grandparents

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

The State Lunatic Asylum, now known as State Hospital No. 1, was located in Fulton on July 13, 1847.

Video of the hospital before it was demolished.