Reverend John Schenk

Birth: 1717 Lancaster County Pennsylvania, USA Death: Aug., 1791 Adams County Pennsylvania, USA

Mennonite Minister at Flohrs Church in 1791 when he died.

Name on Will: Johanne Schenck.

Was Minister of Bairs church in York County from 1767 to early 1791.

Family links:

Parents:

 Michael Schenk (1692 - 1763)

 Mary Yeeny Shank (1695 - 1759)

Spouse:

 Mary Moyer Schenck (1718 - 1834)

Children:

 Jacob Shank (1767 - 1834)*

• Calculated relationship

Burial: Hostetters Meeting House Cemetery Adams County Pennsylvania, USA

Created by: Dr. Dale R Shank, LCSW Record added: Jul 02, 2011 Find A Grave Memorial# 72491178

From George Shank's research:

NOTE: The following is taken directly from THE SHANKS FAMILY OF PEQUEA CREEK by J. Arthur Shank, 205 S. Broadway, Providence, KY. Repository: The Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society, 2215 Millstream Road, Lancaster, Pa. 17602-1499, Phone: (717) 393-9745. Internet=use a search engine.

During the period of 1710 through, 1800, there were no less than fourteen men in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania named John Shank. Separating and identifying each of them has been no easy task. The one of interest to this Genealogy, however, was Johanne Schenk (John Shank), a Mennonite preacher and the son of Mary and of the Michael Shank who came from Germany in 1717 and who died in Lancaster County in 1759.

John Shank was probably born about 1717 or 1718, very near the time his parents arrived in America. As a child, he lived on the farm that his father selected on Pequea Creek in 1717. He would have been the first native born ancestor of ours and the third one of our grandfathers to have lived on Pequea Creek; preceded, of course by this father Michael and his grandfather Christian. Later on, John lived at the farm on Conestoga Creek that his father, Michael, had bought from George Gray after 1725 and which adjoined the farm of Hans Moyer.

One of the early documents relating to John, is a deed, dated March 8, 1743 and is recorded in the courthouse in Lancaster Co. in Deed Book G. pages 81 and 82. The deed recites that 138 pounds, 18 shillings and 8 pence was paid for 100 acres of land for John Shank. The land and the home, already built on the property, was on

Conestoga Creek. It was east and directly across the creek from his father Michael's farm. At this point, a large loop in Conestoga Creek extends to the south from present day Millersville and the loop includes the small community of Wabank.

John's land was just south of Wabank, at the bottom or south end of the loop. To the east and across the creek in the opposite direction of Michael was the property of Hans Moyer. In the genealogical publication "Egles Notes & Queries", Series I & II, page 306, is an item which reads as follows:

.

"Hans Moyers purchased 10 Feb. 1719, three hundred acres of land

on Conestoga Creek from John Farrer, to whom it was warranted

2nd, Aug. 1716. Moyer subsequently died, leaving children; I-John;

II-Jacob: III-Onela, who married Jacob Kendig; IV-Elizabeth, who

married Henry Mussleman; V-Mary, who married John Shank, who for the

sum of 75 pounds, deeded the same to Casper Loughman on 25th of Dec.

1739".

.

Deeds made a few years later show that John's wife was named Mary, and the farm that they bought in 1743, sandwiched between his father Michael's land and the land of Hans Moyer, leaves no doubt that our John Shank married Mary Moyer, daughter of his neighbor Hans. Eshelman's history, page 204, mentions the names, within the same paragraphs, of our Michael Shank and Hans Moyers. Thus we can add the name of Hans Moyer, (anglicized into John Meyer or Myers) to our list of early American grandfather's.

John was a Mennonite minister during the greater part of his life. In Ellis & Evans "History of Lancaster County", pages 741 and 742, there is an account of a church being built in Conestoga township about 1760. It states that "John Shenk" was the first minister. The church was called Esheleman's, then Miller and now River Corner. The stone building there today is the third at that site. Although I have no definite proof that our John Shank was the first preacher at River Corner, it seems most likely that he was. It was a Mennonite church; John was a Mennonite preacher; he lived nearby and he also lived there in 1760.

In 1764, John bought an additional 15 acres for which he paid the sum of 150 pounds. The land adjoined his first tract on the north side and it, too, bounded on the Conestoga Creek. His father, Michael, having died in 1759, title to the land across the creek now rested with John's brothers, Tobias and Michael. The close proximity of the three to each other, would have made a good farm work relationship. which would last for more than 20 years. In 1981 I visited the area that was once the farms of Michael and John Shank. Today they have been cut up into smaller tracts and the central part of Michael's farm is now a subdivision of expensive homes, complete with private tennis courts and swimming pools, no doubt, populated from the nearby city of Lancaster.

John and Mary lived on Conestoga Creek until the end of 1766. By this time, Lancaster County was becoming heavily settled and the ever present lure of good low priced land in less settled areas began to move our ancestors south and west. On the 15th of December in 1766, John and Mary sold out their holdings in Lancaster County for 2000 pounds. On January 12, 1767, they appeared at the courthouse in Lancaster and affixed their signatures to the deed. John, of course, signed first and, quoting from the deed, "Mary, his wife being of full age and secretly examined, did confess that she consented thereto voluntarily and without compulsion."

John and Mary then moved to York County to become the minister of another church. York County Pennsylvania adjoins Lancaster County, but separated by the Susquehanna River. On April 1, 1767 they bought a 150 acre tract of land in Mannheim township for 700 pounds. They were to remain there for 24 years. This farm would be the birthplace of their youngest son, Adam Shank, who would move on to Kentucky.

In George R. Prowell's "History of York County" Volume I, Page 982 is an account of the Mennonite church know as "Bairs Meeting House". Bairs was the first Mennonite church in York County--a log structure which was built in 1746. The account states that in 1774 an agreement was entered into by John Shank, Mennonite minister, and others, whereby 12 acres of land was set aside around the church "to hold equally and in common, and for the use of said congregation, to erect a school house and a meeting house and locate a place to bury the dead". Other research shows that a second church was erected in 1774 to replace the original log structure. It was a larger log building of three rooms. The larger room served both church and school; the two small rooms were occupied by the teacher. It was in use for 86 years. I visited the site in October of 1980 and found Bairs Mennonite Church to be still in existence. It is on Highway 116, 3 miles out of Hanover, Pennsylvania. I talked with Earl Fuhrman, whose farm adjoins the church property. He told me that the 12 acres of church land still remain as property of the church and that, as a trustee of Bairs, he is familiar with the boundaries. His farm incorporates the 150 acres that John Shank bought and which adjoins the church property at the rear of the church. I visited Bairs Church again in 1981 and took photographs. It is now a large brick structure which is separated by a parking lot from another brick building, once used for school purposes, but now converted to a residence. There is a date stone embedded in the upper gable end of the church which reads "Menno Simmons Meeting House. Built A.D. 1860". Rebult A.D. 1908 These dates agree exactly with those turned up by my research of the earlier days of Bairs--John Shank was the minister when the second log church was built in 1774. Being used for 86 years would bring the church to 1860. when the church, as a brick structure, was built.

Preacher John Shank served the congregation at Bairs until the early part of 1791 when he moved to take another Mennonite church called Flohrs. This church was located on Marsh Creek, near Cashtown in the adjoining county of Adams. There is a magazine published by the Mennonite Historical Society of Lancaster, Pennsylvania called "Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage". In the October issue of 1979 there is an article written by Howard Y. Musselman and titled "The Marsh Creek Settlement of Adams County, 1769-1823". The article deals with the early Mennonite churches and ministers in the Marsh Creek area. One section of the article is devoted to John Shank. Mr. Musselman did extensive research prior to writing his article and he has been kind enough to send me copies of his notes which relate to our John. His writings make interesting reading for Shank descendants.

The congregation that John went to serve in 1791, was located at a crossroads community called Flohrs and was located one mile east of present day Cashtown, on old Highway 30. When John and Mary made the 25 mile move to Flohrs, they made arrangements, on the 10th of May 1791, to buy the dwelling and 550 acre plantation from the estate of Walter Buchanan for the sum of 1800 pounds. I have made no effort to find the precise location of the land, but have found it to be "on the south bank of Marsh Creek". This puts the land just a bit west of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and certainly within sight and sound of what was to become, 72 years later, the bloodiest battle of the Civil War, Claiming 51,000 casualties.

Gettysburg National Military Park and the site of Lincoln's famous speech lies across Marsh Creek to the east, no more than three or four miles from John,s last home.

John was in ill health by the time he moved to Flohrs. He received his deed to the 550 acres on July 27, 1791, when Buchanan's estate was finally settled. He made his will only three days prior to that time on July 24, 1791 and he died less than a month later. His gravesite is unknown, but quite possibly he was buried in the old Mennonite cemetery at Flohrs, even though it was not established by deed until 1795. I visited the cemetery in 1981. The old meeting house has long since disappeared, but the cemetery still remains. The last persons buried there were Amos Shank and Anna Shank, an unmarried brother and sister, who died in 1917. They were descendants of Jacob Shank, one of the sons of John and Mary. The Flohrs congregation removed to nearby Mummasburg in 1824 and the present day Flohrs Lutheran Church, located just across the highway now takes care of the old cemetery.

Much can be learned from John's will and the inventory of his estate. To quote from Howard Musselman's article-

.

"He was relatively affluent, the inventory of his estate, outside

of his land, was 1248 pounds. (Editor's Note: Even though the

Revolution is over and the country is now The Untied States Of

America the Pound was still used as the monetary unit. The change to

the decimal system [Dollar] was passed by Congress as The Coinage

Act of 1792. The first dollars minted by the U.S. government were in

Philadelphia in 1794) The inventory lists an uncommonly large library

of religious books for a man of his times. His signature on his will

appears in a firm, clear German script and it suggests that he was

highly literate".

.

John signed his will "Johanne Schenck" and the German script is, at least for me, difficult to decipher. One cannot help but wonder if his large library of books did not descent to him, at least in part, from the rather large amount of books listed in his grandfather Christian's inventory of November 22, 1724.

John Shank was listed in the York County, Pennsylvania Census of 1790. In the Census, his household is shown as "2 males (over 16) and two females". The two males would have been himself and his youngest son Adam, who was still living at home. The two females would have been his daughter, Myri and his wife, Mary, all the rest of the children having left home by 1790.

John's will and the inventory of his estate, made and appraised on the 13th of August, 1791, are both recorded in York County as of the 22nd of August 1791 and are in Will Book H, Volume I, Page 257. His son Jacob and "good friend" Samuel Flickinger were named Executors. The will, included the usual detailed instructions to his heirs for the care of their mother Mary. He also took special care to provide for his daughter Myri, who was apparently handicapped in some manner and his daughter Elizabeth, who was unmarried. One source has it that Elizabeth had a daughter born out of wedlock and John did, in his will make special provisions for Elizabeth and her child (Editor's Note: Another source indicates that she may have been widowed, which would be a very real possibility). Did this influence John to move from Bairs when he was already old and ill? The inventory of his estate, lists a large amount of equipment and material of a nature which indicates that he was a weaver by trade. Mennonite preachers in those days were not salaried to any great extent and were expected earn a living the same as anyone else.

John bequeathed his home and the 550 acre plantation to his son Jacob and son-in-law Henry Hoober as "tenants-in-common" (not as joint tenants, he said). This was obviously an attempt on his part to insure that Myri and Mary would have a home there as long as they wished. Whatever he intended for the future of the farm did not materialize. The brothers-in-law split their inheritance and in 1803 Jacob sold his part of the farm and bought another one nearby. Mary had probably died by that time. In any case, in order to clear his title to his half of the farm, Jacob obtained sworn affidavits from the rest of the heirs to the effect that they had received their part of John's estate as per the terms of his will.

These sworn statements from the heirs are all recorded in Adams Co. Pennsylvania, in Deed Book B, Pages 96, 97, and 98. They provide the documentary proof that the Michael, Christian and Adam Shank of Botetourt and Greenbriar

counties in Virginia, in 1803, were all brothers and the sons of Preacher John Shank of York Co. Pennsylvania. All three brothers signed one affidavit in Greenbriar County (now in West Virginia) on January 27, 1803. They are probably the only documents anywhere in existence which definitely proves and connects our Shank line of Virginia and Kentucky into a particular Shank line in Pennsylvania which extends back to the year 1717.

The State of Pennsylvania warranted another tract of 150 acres of land to John Shank on July 12, 1791. This came about when John was already gravely ill and near the point of death and although he had paid the authorities for the land at the time of application, it is doubtful that he ever knew it had been awarded to him. In any case, he made no mention of it in his will. It was surveyed out to be 168 acres on December 16, 1791, some four months after his death. Jacob Shank and his brother-in-law, Henry Hoober, claimed title to this tract also, citing John's will as their authority for the claim. It adjoined the 550 acres that John bequeathed them.

Jacob, after selling his half of the 550 acre farm in 1803, bought another tract of 154 acres in Franklin township in Adams County. He and his family lived on in Adams County for many years. In 1795 he was the Mennonite Trustee of the German Society of Franklin township. Jacob's son Christian was a preacher at Mummasburg after the Flohrs congregation moved there in 1823. Jacob and Christian are both buried in the Mummasburg cemetery. Jacob's grandson, Daniel Shank, was ordained a preacher in the Mennonite Church in 1854 and as a bishop in 1878. Musselman's article in the Mennonite Heritage contains a picture of a large stone home occupied by Jaccob's descendants.

John's son, Christian, seeking new land for himself, left York Co. before the 1790 Census. He moved south into Virginia and on the 27th of September in 1786, 290 acres were surveyed to him. The land was located on the Greenbriar River near the small community of Rouceverte which is now in West Virginia. He married Catherine Beckner and to the union was born seven sons and three daughters. They removed to the adjoining county of Botetourt on Catawba Creek in 1803 and he died there in 1834. His farm in Botetourt was a few miles west of present day Interstate 81, near Roanoke, Virginia.

Michael Shank (probably John's oldest son) also went to Virginia, very likely in company with his brother Christian. 350 acres of land were surveyed to him on June 29, 1787. Deeds recorded at Lewisburg, county seat of Greenbriar, show several land transaction of Michael. The Greenbriar Survey Book shows that Michael had a Land Office Treasury Warrant for 1000 acres (No. 2036), but it is not known if he availed himself of the tract. Michael married Elizabeth Miller, daughter of John Miller of Rockingham Co. Virginia. Michael was listed in the Supplement to the 1810 Census of Greenbriar, but the date of his death is unknown.

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Johanne John Shank

Dale R Shank originally shared this on 15 Sep 2008

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chocolatchip1980 Jorgensen_Ellen - what other family do you have in Hawkins County? I have a ton of family in the Hawkins area and have made several trips up there.

Dale Shank - Thank you so very much from the bottom of my heart for this information! The Shank family has been a major brick wall for me for the last year. With this information, I hopefully can now break through it. And have the hopes of planning a trip to PA soon!!

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Jennie_Frank75 Thank-you for this information.

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donnapalm124 I'm glad that I could help with this information!

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paujua Thank you for this information.

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kille213009 thank you

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