Peter THOMAS

   Other names for Peter were Peter DOMAS and Peter TOMAS.

  Baptism Notes:

Sponsors were Peter Scholosser from Pleizenhausen, Johann Peter Lust from Laubach and Maria Elisabeth Götz from Pleizenhausen.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Emigration, 1754, Simmern, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. ⁸

• Immigration, 1 Oct 1754, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ⁹ His trip to Philadelphia was on the Ship Phoenix, originating in Rotterdam and last stopping in Cowes, England, before traveling across the Atlantic. Onboard the ship were 11 Roman Catholics, 25 Menonists, Swissers., 300 Souls and 554 Freights, mostly originating from Franconia, Palatinate, and Zweybreck.

• Land, 2 Jul 1764, Bethel Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. ¹⁰ Peter Thomas entered into an indenture recorded in Berks County Deed Book 6, pages 114-115, dated 2 July, 1764, that "Didrich Sixth" [Dietrich Six] sold a one hundred acre tract of land in Bethel Township to Peter Domas [Thomas] for the sum of five shillings. The land was bounded by the lands of George Groff, George Lechner, and Jacob Seirer/Seirett[?]. It was half of Dietrich's land and was a portion of the land originally granted by Warrant to Andreas Groff. Peter was bound not to sell the land without Dietrichs agreement. Dietrich agreed not to sell the other half. The parties bound themselves to each other (and heirs) in the sum of one hundred pounds lawful money of Pennsylvania.

• Probate, 23 Dec 1789, Bethel Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. ² Eva Maria Thomas (widow of Peter Thomas) and Christian Thomas (eldest son) were granted Letters of Administration over the Estate of Peter Thomas. Eva Maria, Christian, Daniel Hoffman and Jacob Geyer(?) (both of Bethel Township) paid the 300 pound bond to the Register of Wills.

Various documents describe the process of the sheriff gathering a group of 12 local residents to determine how the land (148 acres) could be partitioned without prejudice to or spoiling the whole. On 4 Feb 1795, the sheriff reported back to the Orphan's Court that the land could not be divided and it was appraised at a value of 400 pounds. On that same day, the Orphan's Court awarded the land to Christian Thomas providing he pay each of the other heirs their respective share. George Groff and George Sheephaur provided the securities for Christian to make these payments. [Berks Co. Orphan Court Proceedings, vol. 4, book 1, 247-249]

The documents list the heirs as: Eva Maria (widow) and nine children: Christian (eldest son), Jacob, Godfrey, Margaret, the wife of Michael Raebuck, Eve Maria, the wife of John Sheffer, Elizabeth, Catherine, Christina, and Magdalena (last four yet in their minority [less than 18 yrs old]). [There was another son, Johannes, who is not listed. This researcher presumes Johannes to have died before Peter's death.]

Subsequent petitions were made to the Orphan Court of the County of Berks on 25 March 1791 to allow Elizabeth and Catherine (both minors above the age of 14) to make a choice of guardian, and to name guardians for the two girls under the age of 14, Christina and Magdalena. Daniel Hoffman was named the guardian (husband of Eve Emmert, who was daughter of George Emmert (co-executor for the will of Dietrich Six)).

A list of the initial dispersements made from the Estate of Peter Thomas included the following names: Frederick Deek, Henry Bunner, Jacob Feather, Michael Groff, Philip Wile, Godfrey Röhrer, George Wirich, Jacob Snyder, Jacob Röhrer, Frederick Weaver, Jacob Geiger, Daniel Kunsman, Philip Zaring, Philip Gephart, Michael Raboch, Eve Thomas, Marin Gundrum, Daniel Hoffman, and Daniel Ludwig.

An inventory of belongings is listed in the file, with a total value of over 64 pounds.

Peter married Eva Maria SIX, daughter of Dietrich SIX and Unknown, on 6 Apr 1760 in Bethel Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.^{1 2 3} (Eva Maria SIX was born on 5 Nov 1742,¹¹ died on 7 Jul 1817 in Northumberland County, Pennsylvania ¹¹ and was buried in Himmels Church Cemetery, Washington Township, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania ¹¹.)

  Marriage Notes:

It is unclear how Eva Maria would have met Peter Thomas, given there is no record of Peter's family in the Bethel Township area. Given that their marriage took place at the conclusion of the Indian uprisings of 1755-1759, perhaps there is some relationship between those events. Eva Maria's family clearly had been forced from their home during portions of this time period. Perhaps they stayed further south in Berks County, or in Lebanon, where Peter may have been raised. Perhaps Peter was in the militia garrisoned at Fort Henry near Eva Maria's home. These ideas are nothing but speculation at this point.