Abraham Tunes, Orginal 13 Families of Germantown, PA

Abrahan Tunes was born in Prussia (Germany) as Abraham Klincken. He and his wife Beatrix Boetzen Lucken were one of the original 13 families who were settlers of Germantown. He took his father Anthonius Klincken's anglicized first name "Thonis" and made his last name "Tunes". All five of their childrens births are recorded in Abington Meeting records with their last names spelled as "Tunes". Their first child bearing son William used the same spelling sometimes, however finally settling on the spelling "Tennis". Their second son Anthony chose "Tunis". Their daughter Alice (Aeltie) Tunes last name was spelled as such until she married Jacob Levering about 1714. After 15 years of research, talking to many professional genealogists from Philadelphia area. I've come to the conclusion this would be the most likely place of interrment of my immigrant ancestors. However, I'd like to specify the location as being as 5418 Germantown Avenue, on the southeast side of the library. The original meetinghouse being built here in 1690. (Bio written by Nelson R. Tennis) p.s. This whole corner of Germantown Avenue and Coulter St. being a ex burial ground. You can still see some of the markers out here from the post 1800 timeframe. Before 1800, Quakers didn't mark the burial locations.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Apr 27 2018, 6:39:36 UTC

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ABRAHAM TUNES, founder of the family of that name in Pennsylvania, as well as a branch of the same family later known as Tennis, came to Pennsylvania Crefeld--on-the-Rhine, with the first settlers of Germantown. He arrived in Philadelphia in the "Concord", July 29 1683, and was one of the original founders this, the first German settlement in Penn's colony, and member of the Company the projectors of this colony and the purchasers from William Penn the land on which they settled. Abraham Tunes participated in the division of this land joining in the deeds, by which it was apportioned to the actual settlers, recorded in the ancient Germantown Deed Book. On April 26 1689, two acres of land, a tract called Sommerhausen, was laid out near Chestnut Hill, in "German Township", by warrant from Penn's commissioners, to Francis Pastorius; and on December 29 1693 Pastorius conveyed it to Abraham and William Strepers who held it jointly until after the death of William Strepers. who by will, dated in 1717, devised his interest therein to his son John.

On June 14 1724, "Abraham Tunes, of Sommerhausen, German Township, husbandman", and John Strepers, made partition of this two hundred acres between them.

On November 20 1708, Daniel Falkner, and others of the survivors of Frankfort Company, conveyed to Abraham Tunes seventy five acres the above tract on the line of Penn's Manor of Springfield, now township Montgomery county, in the extreme upper end of Germantown township. On June 17 1703, Daniel and Justus Fa,lkner, as attorneys of Furly, of the city of Rotterdam, merchant, conveyed to Abraham Tunes and Lucken, one thousand acres of land purchased by Furly of William Penn. This land was laid out in what became Towamencin township, Philadelphia, Montgomery county, and in 1709 Tunes and Lucken made partition thereof, each taking five hundred acres. On May 16 1715. Abraham Tunes. of German township and Bathsheba, his wife, conveyed to William Strepers, ten acres of seventy-five purchased in 1708. Another tract was conveyed to Abraham Tunes, by Daniel Falkner, 1712, adjoining his other land, and on July 21 1727, he conveyed to his second son, Anthony Tunes, several tracts in German township, apparently all his real estate holdings there, comprising four separate tracts. No wife joined in this deed, from which it is to be inferred that she was deceased at date.

Abraham Tunes was one of the purchasers, with Caus Rittenhouse and John Gorgas, on March 4 1713-14, of the De Wees paper mills, the first in America.

On May 2 1723 Abraham Tunes conveyed to his eldest son, William Tunes, four hundred acres of the five hundred acres surveyed to him in right of the purchase of Benjamin Furley, and the partition between him and John Lucken, Towamencin township, Philadelphia, now Montgomery county, and settled thereon. The name of Abraham Tunes. as signed to the various deeds. above recited. though appearing in the body of the deed as "Tunes" is written proper form, "Abraham Teunisen", from which it may be inferred that his father's Christian, and not his surname, was "Tennis", quite a common name among the Hollanders, and that according to a Dutch custom of the time, the "sen" was added to the father's Christian name, to make the surname of the son. It is therefore impossible without research abroad to trace the ancestry of this pioneer of the family in America.

It is not possible to definitely determine the date of the death of Abraham Tunes, or Teunisen, of Sommerhausen, as a careful search of the civil records of Philadelphia county fails to disclose any probate records on his estate. It is probable that in his old age having lost his wife he conveyed all his real estate to his two sons, William and Anthony, and thereafter made his residence either with one of them, or with his daughter Alice, wife of Jacob Levering of Roxborough. Source and additional information: Google Books

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=nelsonten...

1. 1 Colonial Families of Philadelphia by John W. Jordan LL.D., Vol 2, pg 1557;
2. 2 Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, by John F. Watson, July 1842, Vol. II, pgs. 18, 19, 20;
3. 3 History of Montgomery County, Towamencin Twp., pg. 1085;
4. 4 Philadelphia county deeds, G-12-743, Spruance library, Doylestown, Pa., 8th Nov 1736, Abram Tunes to Wm Tunes;
5. 5 Ellwood Roberts' Biographical Annals, 1904: Montgomery Co, PA, Vol I - Part 23: pg. 503;  #6 The Ancestry of the Thirteen Krefeld Emigrants of 1683, by Wilhelm Niepoth, translated by John Brockie Lukens. pgs. 195-197;
6. 7 History of Old Germantown, by Dr. Naaman H. Keyser, C. Henry Kain, John Palmer Garber, and Horace F. McCann, 1907;
7. 8 History of Early Chestnut Hill, by John J. MacFarlane, A.M., 1927, Chapter XI, pg. 104-107. Condensed and story told by Nelson R. Tennis, 7th great grandson of Abraham and Beatrix;

Notes;

1. 2 GERMANTOWN, The Germantown settlement was first taken up by Francis Daniel Pastorius, the 12th of the 8th month 1683, by a purchase from William Penn, and was surveyed and laid out by the surveyor general, 2d of 3d month 1684; under a grant to him for himself and others for 6000 acres. It proved, however, to contain but 5700 acres. Germantown was incorporated as a borough town by a patent from William Penn, executed in England in 1689. Francis Daniel Pastorius, civilian, was made first bailiff; and Jacob Tellner, Dirk Isaacs op den graff and Herman op den Graff, three burghess, to act ex-officio as town magistrates, and eight yeomen; the whole to form a general court to sit once a month. They made laws and laid taxes. The town lost its charter for want of a due election, officers not being found willing to serve; somewhere about 1706. In a letter from Pastorius to William Penn, dated in 1701-2, he states his concern that he should not be able to get men to serve in the general court for "conscience sake", and he trusts, for a remedy, to an expected arrival of emigrants. This difficulty probably arose from the oaths used in court proceedings. All the settlers in Cresheim built on the Cresheim road, before settling a house on the Germantown road through Cresheim. There is an old map, made in 1700, in which all their residences and barns at that time are marked. The Germantown town lots (55) were located in 1687, and were drawn for by lot in 1689, being 27 1/2 lots on each side of the road. Their side lots up town began from Abington lane (at Samuel Johnson's) and went up to the foot of the hill by Leibert's boat yard. The original price of the township of Germantown was 1s. per acre. The original of the following curious paper is in the hands of John Johnson, Esq. "We whose names are to these presents subscribed, do hereby certify unto all whom it may concern, that soon after our arrival in this province of Pennsylvania, in October, 1683, to our certain knowledge Herman op den Graff, Dirk op den Graff, and Abraham op den Graff, as well as ourselves, in the cave of Francis Daniel Pastorius, at Philadelphia, did cast lots for the respective lots which they and we then began to settle in Germantown; and the said Graffs (three brothers) have sold their several lots, each by himself, no less than if a division in writing had been made by them.

Witness our hands this 29th Nov., A.D.1709. Lenart Arets, Thomas Hunder, Abraham Tunes, Jan Lensen, William Streygert, Jan Lucken, Reiner Tysen.

The Frankford Land Company gave titles to much of the lands on each side of Germantown Main-street. The company at first consisted of ten gentlemen living in Francfort, on the Maine, in Germany; their articles were executed in that city on the 24th November 1686. They bought 25000 acres of land from William Penn. The Germantown patent for 5350, and the Manatauney patent for 22,377 acres. F.D. Pastorius was appointed the attorney for the company, and after his resignation Dan. Faulkner was, in 1708, made attorney. Most of the old houses in Germantown are plastered on the inside with clay and straw mixed, and over it is laid a finishing coat of thin lime plaster. Some old houses seem to be made with log frames and the interstices filled with wattles, river rushes, and clay intermixed. In a house ninety years of age, taken down, the grass in the clay appeared as green as when cut. Probably twenty houses now remain of the primitive population. They are of but one story, so low that a man six feet high can readily touch the eaves of the roof. Their gable ends are to the street. The ground story is of stone or of logs -- or sometimes the front room is of stone, and the back room is of logs, and thus they have generally one room behind the other. The roof is high and mostly hipped, forms a low bed chamber; the ends of the houses above the first story are of boards or sometimes of shingles, with a small chamber window at each end. Many roofs were then tiled. In modern times [July 1842] those houses made of logs have been lathed and plastered over, so as to look like stone houses; the doors all divide in the middle, so as to have an upper and a lower door; and in some houses the upper door folds. The windows are two doors, opening inwards, and were at first set in leaden frames with outside frames of wood. The Germans who originally arrived, came for conscience sake to this land, and were a very religious community. They were usually called Palantines, because they came from a Palatinate, called Cresheim and Crefelt. Many of the German Friends had been convinced by William Penn in Germany. Soon after their settlement, in 1683, some of them who were yet in Philadelphia, suffered considerably by a fire, and were then publicly assisted by the Friends. The original passports of the first inhabitants coming from Germany to Germantown were written with golden ink on parchment, and were very elegant. Wishert Levring, a first settler, lived to the age of 109, and died at Roxborough in 1744. Jacob Snyder lived to be 97. Francis Daniel Pastorius was a chief among the first settlers; he was a scholar, and wrote Latin in a good hand, and left a curious manuscript work called "the Bee" containing a beautiful collection of writing, and various curious selections. He once owned all Chestnut hill on both sides of the road. He was a member of assembly in 1687; and attorney for the Frankford Land company. He died about the year 1730. I have been indebted to the kindness of James Haywood, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, for an explanation of the old German pamphlet, 12mo., in the Cambridge Library, done by F. D. Pastorius, as a "Description of Pennsylvania". It consists of sundry subjects, printed in Holland, viz.: A voyage from London to Pennsylvania, in 1683. Pastorius' Account of the condition of Pennsylvania, in 1683. The Charter by Charles II. to William Penn, of March 1681 -- Penn's Constitution -- a Geographic description of the Country, its trade, and a History with some account of the Aborigines -- and Extracts of several letters of Pastorius to his friends in Germany -- An extract of William Penn's account of Pennsylvania, in a letter to his friends in London, &c. The whole seem to be an extract (im anszug) with notes, done from some larger work;

1. 3 [pg. 1085] The first land probably taken up in Towamencin was a grant of one thousand acres from Penn's commissioners of property to Benjamin Furley, June 8 1703. This was purchased nine days later from Furley's attorneys by Abraham Tennis and Jan Lucken, who, in 1709, divided it, each taking 500 acres. This tract embraced the northern part of the township and extended to the present Skippack Rd., and perhaps as far down as Kulpsville. Here they settled and made improvements. The Tennis Family, it appears, for awhile flourished here. On the Tax list of 1734, we find only William Tennis with 25 acres, but in 1776, Samuel Tennis with 192 acres, and William and Israel Tennis. They possessed an old burial-place in the northeast part of the township, though the name has now become extinct in this section.;
2. 4 This indenture made this twenty second day of May, in the ninth year of the reign of George, King over Great Britain & Ano Dom one thousand seven hundred & twenty three between Abraham Tunes of German township in the county of Philadelphia in the province of Pennsylvania, (yeoman) of the one part & William Tunes of the same county & province likewise (yeoman) of the other part, witnesseth that whereas William Penn proprietory and of governor of the said province, by his indentures of lease and release, dated the eleventh & twelth days of August, Anno Dom, 1682 for the consideration therein mentioned, granted five thousand acres of land in this province to Benjamin Furly, his heirs & assigns forever. And whereas the said Benjamin Furly, (by the name of Benjamin Furly of Rotterdam, in the province of Holland, merchant), did by his letter of attorney dated the 23rd of April anno dom 1700, make, order, authorize, constitute & appoint Daniel Falkner & Justus Falkner forth of the said county & province one and or either of them, for him in his name & for his use among other proves and matters therein contained to dispose of his said five thousand acres of land by way of sale, by lease upon yearly payment or by lease of terms of years & also touching & concerning of the premises to do execute and perform all other things as fully and amply as he the said Benjamin Furly did (by a certain writing under his hand and seal dated the 25th of July 1701, proved hereby Jacob Classen Arents & Matthias Sam Bebber, two of the witness's to the same before Nathan Standbury, one of the Justice's of The Peace for the town & county of Philadelphia, after a revocation of all and former letters of attorney ratified and confirmed the letter of attorney by him made to the said Daniel Falkner & Justus Falkner as aforesaid and whereas at the special instances and requests of said Daniel Falkner & Justus Falkner, on the behalf of the said Benjamin Furly) thence was granted and confirmed by the hands of Edward Shippen Griffith, Owen James Logan thereof the present commissioners of property & grants as of the said Province dated the eighth day of the fourth month, 1703, to the said Benjamin Furly, on right and as part of the said five thousand acres of land, a certain tract of land situate, lying & being in the said county of Philadelphia by meets and bounds in the said patent & set forth & described (containing one thousand acres of land) were the same more or less as by the said letter of attorney & the said writing recorded in the Rolls office at Philadelphia aforesaid in Book D2, Vol. 5, pages 17, 18, 19, & 20. The said Patent recorded in the said office in Patent Book A, Vol 2, pages 53 & 4, may now fully & at large appears, and whereas the said Daniel Falkner & Justus Falkner by one indenture dated the seventeenth day of the fourth month Anno Dom 1703, for the consideration therein mentioned for and is the name & stead of the said Benjamin Furly did sell & convey unto the said Abraham Tunes & to John Lukens, the aforementioned one thousand acres of land to hold to them, their heirs & assigns forever is by the last recited indenture recorded in the enrollment office at Philadelphia in Book E4, page 297. Relation being thereunto had may more at large now appear. And whereas the said Abraham Tunes & John Lukens to the intent and purpose that each of them might hold and enjoy his part of the said one-thousand acres of land. With the appurtances in severality to him, his heirs & assigns have by this indenture dated the 30th day of May anno dom 1709, agreed to make partition thereof between them & in pursuance of the agreement aforesaid, the said Abraham Tunes and John Lukens have divided the said one thousand acres of land, having respect to the twice value thereof and unto equal parts, each part containing five hundred acres of land, be the same more or less, as by the meets and bounds in the said indenture are set forth and described and the said John Lukens, by virtue of the said indenture hath granted, released, assigned, delivered and confirmed unto the said Abraham Tunes, his heirs and assigns, one of the said two equal parts being the just moriety of the aforementioned one thousand acres of land to have and to hold, the said one equal part by the meets and bounds in the said indentures set forth and described containing five hundred acres of land, (be the same more or less) with the appurtenances unto him, the said Abraham Tunes, his heirs and assigns forever as by the last recited indentures recorded in the enrollment office at Philadelphia, in book E5, Vol 7, page 265, said relation being hereunto had may more fully and at large appear. Now this indenture witnessth that the said Abraham Tunes for and in consideration of the sum of eighty pounds, current money of America, to him in hand paid by the said William Tunes. The receipt whereof, he the said Abraham Tunes, doth hereby acknowledge & thereof & every part thereof, doth fully acquit & forever discharge the said William Tunes his heirs and assigns by these presents hath granted, bargained, sold, alien, and confirmed & by these presents doth grant, bargain, sell, alien, and confirm unto the said Wm Tunes, his heirs & assigns, a certain tract of land situate lying and being in the county of Philadelphia aforesaid. Beginning at a corner post standing in the line, late of James Claypool, being also the corner of the said John Lukens morety, thence by the said Luckens land northwest one hundred seventy four perches to a post, being also a corner post of Jacob Levering's land. Thence northeast by the said Levering's land one hundred and three perches to a hickory marked for a corner. Thence northwest by the said Levering's land one hundred and sixty perches to a black oak marked for a corner in the line, late of Griffith Jones land. Thence northeast by the said John's land one hundred and thirty seven perches to a post. Thence by Jonathan Hays land southeast three hundred and thirty four perches to a corner post. Thence by the land, late of James Claypool southwest two hundred and forty perches to the place of beginning containing four hundred acres of land, (be the same more or less) part of the said five hundred acres of land, together with all the buildings, improvements, orchards, gardens, fields, fences, meadows, pastures, marshes, swamps, savannah crabapples, minerals, quarries, woods, underwoods, timbers & trees, waters, water courses, ways, liberties, profits, commodities, easements, hereditaments & appurtenances and whatsoever to the said four hundred acres of land or to any part thereof belonging or in any wise appertaining and the reversions and remainders of the premises & the rents, issues & profits thereof and also all the estate right, title, interest and inheritances, property claims & demand whatsoever of him, the said Abraham Tunes of in or to the said four hundred acres of land and premises or to any part thereof together, with all deeds, writings, and evidences touching the said premises or any part thereof. To have and to hold the said four hundred acres of land, (be the same more or less) and premises hereby granted with the appurtenances to him, the said William Tunes his heirs & assigns to the only proper use & behoof of him, the said William Tunes, his heirs & assigns forever, at and under the yearly quit rent, henceforth becoming due and payable to the chief lord of the fee thereof. And the said Abraham Tunes and his heirs the said four hundred acres of land & premises hereby granted or mentioned to be granted, with the appurtenances unto the said William Tunes & his heirs and assigns against him, the said Abraham Tunes & his heirs and against all other persons whatsoever lawfully claiming or to claim by from or under him, them or any of them shall and will warrant & forever defend by the use presents. And the said Abraham Tunes for himself, his heirs, executors & administrators doth promise and grant to and with the said William Tunes, his heirs & assigns by these presents, that he the said Abraham Tunes, his heirs & assigns and all & every person or persons whomsoever having or lawfully claiming or which shall or may claim any estate right, title, interest, inheritance, property claim or demand whatsoever of in or to the said lands, premises hereby granted or any part thereof shall & will at anytime hereafter upon the reasonable request, cost & changes in law of the said William Tunes his heirs or assigns, make do execute & acknowledge or cause so to be all & every such act & acts, deed & deeds, decree or decrees, conveyances and assurances in law. Whatsoever for the further & better performing of the said lands, hereditaments & premises hereby granted & every or in any part thereof with the appurtenances unto the said William Tunes, his heirs & assigns as by him or them or by his or their council learned in the law shall be reasonably devised, advised or required. In witness whereof the said parties have to these presents, interchangeably set their hands & seals the day and year first written. Signed: [Abraham Tunes] Signed sealed & delivered in the presence of us: Herman Groothausen, Henry Pastorius

The eighth day of November, Anno domi 1736, before me Edward Roberts [Esquire] one of ye Justices: Before me came the within named Herman Groothausen & upon his solemn affirmation did declare & say that he was present & did see the within named Abraham Tunes seal & as his did deliver the within written Indenture & that the name of this affirmation unto subscribed as a witness is of his own hand writing. Witness my hand and seal the day & year abovesaid. Signed: [Edward Roberts] Recorded the 7th day of June 1751

1. 5 After having been in Germantown for a short period of time, Jan Lucken and Abraham Tunes (afterward spelled Tunis) together bought one thousand acres of land in what is now Towamencin township, Montgomery county. This was probably the first land taken up in Towamencin, and was a grant from Penn's commissioners of property to Benjamin Furley on June 8, 1703. This land was purchased nine days later by Abraham Tunes and Jan Lucken, and in 1709 was equally divided, each taking five hundred acres. This tract embraced the northern part of the township and extended to the present Skippack road, and perhaps as far down as Kulpsville. There they settled, probably in 1709, and upon these lands Jan Lucken made the first improvements, and a portion of this land is still in the possession of some of his descendants. In the "Pennsylvania Magazine of G. & B." Vol. 5, page 373, appears the following in relation to the dividing up of the fifty-two lots of land in Germantown; they were all about equal size and were drawn for by lottery;
2. 7 pages 28-43, Part 1, Chapter 3, The Founding of the Settlement. The honor of the first settlement belongs to a band of Mennonite weavers of Crefeld, a town of the lower Rhine near Holland [pre 1700, it was part of Holland, [nrt]. They belonged to the persecuted sects which had been driven up and down the Rhine for a century and a half. The 13 families set sail from the port of Rotterdam, Holland on the ship "CONCORD" then to London, England. On 24 July 1683, Captain William Jeffries, set sail from London with the thirteen Crefelders. They were the families of>

Lenert ARETS Abraham OP DEN GRAEFF Dirck OP DEN GRAEFF Hermann OP DEN GRAEFF Willem STREYPERS Thones KUNDERS Reynier TISON Jan SEIMENS Jan LENSEN Peter KEURLIS Johannes BLEIKERS Jan LUCKEN & Abraham TUNES

They arrived in Philadelphia 6 October 1683. PASTORIUS says, "These honest people expended nearly all their means upon the journey, and if William PENN had not advanced them some stores, they would of necessity have had to serve others."

Pg. 38, & map on pg. 44 -Germantown Town-Lots Towards Bristol, East side of Main street. Abraham Tunes, owner of Lot #7 in 1689. This lot was located just south of Market Square, along Germantown Avenue, down to E. Penn street, back to Stenton Avenue, up to Church Lane and back down to about Market Square, consisting of approximately 200 acres. The present day Fry House, to the left of The Wister property or better known as "Grumplethorpe", on Germantown Ave., is approximately where Abraham and Beatrix's house would've been located in 1689. By the year 1714, Abraham had sold off all his Germantown property, and had moved his family to Summerhausen, known as Chestnut Hill today. Here he is listed as owner of Lot #3, or Lot #5, depending on which map your looking at, however, by todays location, it would be the from the present day Chestnut Hill Hotel location at 8229 Germantown Avenue & Southampton Ave., go NE on Southampton all the way to Stenton Avenue, east to Hartwell Lane, down Hartwell Lane, crossover Germantown Avenue and thru the upper half of Pastorius Park, all the way down to the Wissahickon Creek. Go west to about Andrews Road, and back up Southampton Avenue to point of beginning. This land totally consisting of about 75 acres.

pg. 49, -5 Dec 1694, Abraham Tunes, amongst twelve other jurymen listening to the first court trial. An assault case against Johannes Pettinger, filed by Johannes Koster. Jury found him guilty and Judge Arnold Cassel fined Johannes Koster the sum of three pounds.

1. 8 By the year 1727, Abraham Tunes had sold off all of this property to his second oldest son Anthony Tunis. By the year about 1750, Anthony had sold off all of this property and had moved his family across the Schuykill River to Merion township, Montgomery county. Karen and myself stayed overnight at the Chestnut Hill Hotel on New Years Eve, 31 December 2006. We had dinner in the downstairs dining room of the Chestnut Grill and Sidewalk Cafe. We returned on Friday, 27 April 2007 and walked the antique row of Germantown Avenue, and visited the Chestnut Hill Historical Society. We stayed that night at the B&B of The General Lafayette Inn at Barren Hill. [nrt] After conversation with numerous historians at Germantown Historical Society, and our first visit there in 2003, Karen and I walked thru the Quaker School Yard across from Market Square, which was the first Quaker burial ground. There are still small circular stones with initials and year of death, as this was Quaker tradition of that time. I'm totally convinced that Abraham and Beatrix were buried here;

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• Abraham Klincken Tunis Tunes
• 1650–1727
• BIRTH BET. 1650-1660 • Krefeld, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
• DEATH 21 JUL 1727 • Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA