Mathias Ambrose

Clovers of Franklin County, Ohio: A Study of Henry Clover, His Ancestors and Descendants
Created, edited and maintained
by June Clover Byrne

Mathias Ambrose

Ambrose- Ambrosi- Ambrosius

       Mathias Ambrose was the grandfather of Catherine Ambrose, wife of Henry Clover of Franklin County, Ohio. I did a great deal of research on this group while I was living in Virginia because it was all at the National Society DAR Library in Washington, and what I couldn’t find there was on microfilms in one of the local Family History Centers. Some of my subscribers have asked me to share some of that research. Although he is not, strictly speaking, a Clover, he is the direct ancestor of thousands of Clovers.   One of the reasons for the delay in publishing this is that I do not consider my research finished. However, my correspondent says she is tired of waiting and wants to see my research NOW. So I obey.

    Mathias Ambrose was born 10 February 1690, died 10 August 1784, and was buried in the graveyard associated with Peter Apple’s Church, Thurmont, Frederick County, Maryland.(1) The earliest record found for him is an immigration record. Matheis Ambrosi was one of “42 Palatines who, with their families, were imported in the Ship Pleasant, James Morris, Master, from Rotterdam, last from Deal, as by clearance thence.” The passengers appeared at the courthouse in Philadelphia, 11 October 1732. They were qualified on that day. There are several lists for the same ship with the same list of names. He appears as Marthies Ambrose, age 37, and as Matheis Ambrosi.(2) Only the head of the household is listed so whether he had a wife and/or family at this time is not known. Several of the names indicated that they signed with a mark. Since this was not by his name, we expect that he could at least sign his name. The above age indicated that he was born ca. 1695 instead of 1690. I have not seen any further evidence of his age, consequently, I do not have a strong opinion. I tend to believe the later age because of the number of children he had after he arrived. It is just possible that the two children of his whose ages are not really known, may have come with them on the ship. Again, I have no evidence for or against this.
        He must has married shortly after he arrived, if he was not already married at the time he came to America. There is considerable information published that his wife was Maria Catherine Spogn/Spough with other variant spellings. The information usually states that she was the daughter of Adam Spongh. I have stacks of information on Adam, because, with my usual diligence, I have been trying to find some kind of proof of this descent. Since we had the Shepherd fiasco in my family, I have become a very suspicious person. Just now, I am smelling a rat. However, I have not finished researching. There is an Adam Spone in the 1750 Lancaster County, Pennsylvania tax list. So it is possible. However, there are no Spone’s or variants in the Lancaster County Will Indexes. We have more available to us now than was available 20 years ago. So if someone found it 20 or 40 or 60 years ago, you should be able to find it. If you can’t, you should be very suspicious. I do not believe he was married to a Spogn or whatever spelling is used. I strongly suspect that the person who jumped to a conclusion on the Shephard nonsense is the same person who created this. I can't prove it but I am sure in my own mind after wasting YEARS on this, that he was not married to a Spogn.
    Mathias was in Lancaster, Pennsylvania by 6 February 1734, when Johan Phillip Ambrose was baptized. He must have stayed in the area for a few years because four of his children were baptized in the Muddy Creek church, the last one was John Frederick Ambrose, baptized 20 June 1741. Augustus Heinrich Ambrose was baptized in 1736, and Matthias Ambrose was baptized 20 March 1739.(3)
    Although John Frederick was baptized in Pennsylvania, the family moved on to Frederick County, Maryland, somewhere in this time frame. Many of the Pennsylvania Germans were moving on past Lancaster. There was a road from New Jersey all the way to North Carolina which went through Lancaster and Frederick County, Maryland.
    The first indication of his wife’s name is in a set of deeds where Catherine Ambrose signed as his wife.
    Ambrose’s Mill was the forerunner of today’s town of Thurmont and was used as a reference point in many of the old road records. It was situated a half mile south of Ambrose’s land parcel which was called Gap. The farms or land parcels have names in that area which are carried from owner to owner. The Gap was originally surveyed for Adam Spuch, 3 June 1743. However, he did not actually appear to have taken possession and the land was later patented to Mattheis Ambrose, 10 November 1752. This is the only known connection between Adam and the Ambrose family and probably led to the error about Maria Catherine.
        According to the Frederick County Debt Books, 1755-1756, he owned Arnold’s Chance, 500 acres, and Arnold’s Delight, 125 acres.(4) By this time, the Gap, 100 acres, was owned by Jacob Ambrose.(5)
    In late September of 1743, Mateas Ambrose received communion from Pastor Candler in the Lutheran Church of Manaquice preparatory to his naturalization on 19 October 1743. (6)
    Mathias and Jacob Ambrose were listed as members of the committees which were formed during the Revolution to resist the British. “At that period, the majority of the population of Maryland lived in the western part of the province, within the limits of what was then Frederick County, of these by far the greater number were the Germans who had come down from Pennsylvania and their descendants. These people had abandoned their homes across the ocean and had come to America to escape from just such oppression and it was but natural, therefore, that they should quickly resent any attempts of the British government to enforce what appeared to be unjust laws, particularly in the matter of taxation.”(7)

    Will of Mathias Ambrose, Sr., of Frederick County, yeoman. Will dated 19 October 1782, in good health. To the church at Peter Apple’s called Jacob’s Church: £3; To daughter, Catherine Weller: 40 shillings. To John Weller, Senior, remainder of real and personal estate. None of my children except Catherine Weller shall have a claim as I have given them their shares for many years past. Friend, John Weller, executor, Signed with mark. Witnesses: Benjam Ogle, Frederick Troxall, Frederick Beard, Proved 16 October 1784 by the last two.(8)

        The LDS Church has been indexing German records in massive numbers. Just for the fun of it, I looked up Matthias Ambrose and found the following.

Johan Matthias Brosius married Maria Catharina Hommerich, date 23 November 1730 in Oberhonnefeld-Gierend, Rheinland, Preußen, Germany. The father of the bride was Philip Hommerich [FHL microfilm no. 489993 batch I02568-9 Indexed by https://www.familysearch.org]

        I only recently found this and don't really know if this is our Matthias Ambrose or not. It needs to be followed up. It certainly could fit into the known records. If this is our Mathias, it could be a second marriage because Catherine (Ambrose) Weller seems to be older. But I can't tell for sure. I did some further searches in that batch number and discovered more Ambrosius families so the Brosius could well be Ambrosius. There is a Johannes Matthius Ambrose with a wife Anne Veronica with a child in 1728.
        Oberhonnefeld-Gierend is in the district of Neuweid which is in the Rhineland Palitinate. It certainly seems to be in an appropriate area.

Mathias Ambrose Deed Records in Frederick County, Maryland.

    Children of Mathias and Maria Catherine Ambrose:

2. i. Catherine Ambrose, date of birth unknown. Catherine Weller was named as Mathias’s daughter and her husband, John Weller, was also mentioned in Mathias’s will.(9) John was born 28 May 1716, died 15 June 1792, buried at Apple’s Church.(10) His will was filed at Frederick County, Maryland. Catherine was still alive at the time her husband’s will was written. She is supposed to have died in 1804. I do not know the source of this date. (11) According to the IGI, John Jacob Weller was the son of Johannes Weller and Catherine Salome Ambrose, born 17 October 1752, died 15 October 1831. He was married ca. 1774 to Anna Christina Krall. If this is true, Catherine was probably born before the sons who were baptized in Lancaster. It is even possible that she was born in Germany. Pioneers of Moncracy, states that John Weller and Catherine Ambrose were married shortly after 1743.(12) If this is true, she was much older than her known siblings. Since her children are known and could presumably be traced, her marriage date could be surmised from that. I have not done this. I have wondered if she could have been the child of a first wife. It is hard to understand the chronology otherwise.

   3. ii.    Jacob Ambrose born 1734, died 1776, Thurmont, Maryland. His tombstone gives a birth date of 1734,(13) but there is no record of his baptism in the Muddy Creek Church Records, so 1734 may be an error. He may have been born in 1733 between the time Mathias landed in Philadelphia and when Mathias moved to Lancaster. Jacob married Maria Catherine Salome. Her name appears in the baptismal records of their child in Apple’s Church Records.(14) Maria Catherine was born 15 December 1731, died 28 August 1807.(15)
       Jacob is assumed to be a son of Mathias on the basis of geographical proximity, but the link is not proven. There is a Frederick County, Maryland estate record for a Catherine Ambrose, first R. B. #1, 1806-1809: 499. I saw the entry for the estate but have not seen it.
                Jacob, like others in his family, was very active politically in the Revolutionary War. He was at meetings and on committees intended to resist the British.(16)

4. iii. Johan Phillip Ambrose, son of Mattheis Ambrosius, born 6 February 1734, baptized 12 May 1734, Lutheran Congregation of Muddy Creek Church, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Sponsors were Philipp Schweickert and his wife Susanna.(17) He married Eva Catherine [–?–] whose name appears in the baptismal record for their daughter, Maria Barbara, in Apple’s church records in 1773.(18)

5. iv. Augustus Heinrich Ambrose, son of Matheis Ambrosius, born 13 October 1736, baptized 6 January 1737, Lutheran Congregation of Muddy Creek Church, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The sponsor was August Heinrich Kutschmann.(19) His exact date of death is unknown, but his estate appraisal was filed in the Berkeley County Court on 12 December 1811. (20) He was known as Henry Ambrose. There has been some resistence to the idea that this is the Henry Ambrose of Berkeley County, Virginia, but I believe that he is. He disappears from Frederick County, Maryland just before he appears in Virginia. The two counties are basically just across the river from each other. See also Henry Ambrose of Berkeley County, Virginia

6. v. Matthias Ambrose, son of Matheis Ambrosius, born 20 March 1739, baptized 17 June 1739, Lutheran Congregation of Muddy Creek Church, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The sponsors were Mattheis Rossel and wife Anna Barbara.(21) He died before 31 December 1808, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He married Maria Barbara Mathews, born 16 March 1744, died ca. 1836.(22) Jacob Matthews refers to his daughter Barbara Ambrose, in his will, dated 22 April 1776.(23) He served in the Border Militia in the Revolutionary War, 1778-1793.(24)

    7. vi.    Johan Frederick Ambrose, son of Matheis Ambrosius, born 20 June 1741, baptized 24 June 1741, Lutheran Congregation of Muddy Creek Church, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Sponsor was Joh. Friederick Verdriess.(25) His tombstone reads: Born 4 May 1738, died 29 July 1821. He was buried in Brant’s Cemetery, 3 miles south of Ligonier, Pennsylvania.(26)
        He was married to Margaret Countryman, born 1 January 1742, died 11 September 1809.(27) His descendants from the early 1800's left records connecting him with Mathias, but there is a possibility that he is a different Frederick. I am very uneasy about the dates.
                He served as a 1st Lieutenant, Captain Rhoads Company, recruited in Brothers Valley Township, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, on 10 December 1777.(28) He was elected as assessor of Bedford County, 12 October 1780.(29)

8. v. Maria Barbara Ambrose, daughter of Mateas Ambrosse, born 24 January 1743, baptized 13 June 1743, in the Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, Frederick, Maryland. The sponsors were Jacob and Maria Weller.(30) She married John George Matthews, who was born 30 March 1737. I have no source for this date. I apparently put it into my computer 12 years ago and totally forgot to put in a source.

Endnotes:

(1) Jacob Holdecroft, Names in Stone, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985), 78.
(2) Ralph Strassburger, Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Volume 1, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980), 100-1.
(3) William John Hinke and Frederick S. Weiser, translators, Records of Pastoral Acts at the Lutheran & Reformed Congregations of the Muddy Creek Church, East Cocalica Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1730-1790, (Breinigsville, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German Society, 1981), 27.
(4) Frederick County Debt Books, 1755-1756, Western Maryland Genealogy, volume 8 (1992), page 131.
(5) Frederick County Debt Books, 1755-1756, Western Maryland Genealogy, volume 8 (1992), page 24.
(6) Provincial Court Records, 1742-1744, EI 7: 296, Pioneers, page 203.
(7) Daniel Wunderlich Nead, The Pennsylvania-German Settlement of Maryland, (Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German Society), 180, 181, 188 and 190.
(8) Frederick County Wills, pages 106-108, Western Maryland Genealogy, Volume 6, (1990), issue 2, page 125.
(9) Frederick County Wills, pages 106-108, Western Maryland Genealogy, Volume 6, (1990), issue 2, page 125.
(10) Jacob Holdecroft, Names in Stone, Volume II, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985), 1210.
(11) Information from Janis Rager.
(12) Pioneers, page 203.
(13) Jacob Holdecroft, Names in Stone, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985), 78.
(14) Baptismal Records of Apple’s Church (Lutheran and Reformed) Near Thurmont, Maryland, 1773-1848, 5.
(15) Jacob Holdecroft, Names in Stone, (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1985), 78.
(16) Daniel Wunderlich Nead, The Pennsylvania-German Settlement of Maryland, (Lancaster, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German Society), 188 and 190.
(17) William John Hinke and Frederick S. Weiser, translators, Records of Pastoral Acts at the Lutheran & Reformed Congregations of the Muddy Creek Church, East Cocalica Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, 1730-1790, (Breinigsville, Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania German Society, 1981), 27.
(18) Baptismal Records of Apple’s Church (Lutheran and Reformed), near Thurmont, Maryland, (Hudson, Wisconsin: Star-Observer Printers, 1963), 11.
(19) Hinke and Weiser, translators, Pastoral Acts, Muddy Creek Church, 27.
(20) Berkeley County Will Book 3: 509, Probate Court, Martinsburg, West Virginia.
(21) Hinke and Weiser, translators, Pastoral Acts, Muddy Creek Church, 27.
(22) DAR application no. 333907.
(23) Frederick County Wills, pages 106-108, Western Maryland Genealogy, Volume 6, (1990), issue 1, page 28.
(24) DAR application no. 333907.
(25) Hinke and Weiser, translators, Pastoral Acts, Muddy Creek Church, 27.
(26) Tombstone, Brant’s Private Burial Ground, Ligionier Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Sent by Janis Ragar.
(27) Information sent by Janis Ragar.
(28) Pennsylvania Archives, 2nd Series, volume 14: 45, also 5th Series Volume 5: 65.
(29) Pennsylvania Archives, 6th Series, Volume 11: page number unknown.
(30) Frederick S. Weiser, Frederick Evangelical Lutheran Church, Frederick, Maryland, 1743-1811, Volume 1, (Manuscript). Copy at Adams County, Pennsylvania Historical Society, Gettysburg, Maryland. FHL microfilm 1414857 Item 4. Does not circulate. Extracted to IGI.

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