THE STAMANS IN MANOR TOWNSHIP
The Staman branch of Joseph and Christian Stoneman's descendants ultimately settled in Manor Township. Initially, William Penn had divided the lower part of Pennsylvania into three counties - Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester - the latter including what is now Lancaster
County.(1) Manor Township of Lancaster County (also known as Penn's Manor) was created, in part, out of 3000 acres reserved for the Proprietor. Originally, the majority of the Stehman property in the Manor comprised of land originally filed upon by Martin Chartier about in 1710-11
(2) and expanded by the addition of land south of this track. The property included much of what is now Washington Boro, originally the villages of Washington and
Charleston.(3) While Joseph Stoneman, Sr. and his son, John, initially owned this property, it is the descendants of Joseph Stoneman, Jr. (the Staman line) who eventually acquire it. As to how it was acquired can only be surmised. Joseph Sr. died in 1756 - was all or part of his land inherited by Joseph Jr.? It is said that John inherited his father's plantation in Manheim - did he sell or otherwise relinquish any claim on the Manor property to Joseph Jr. and/or Joseph Jr.'s sons Christian and John? Or, upon John's death in 1766 did Joseph Jr.'s sons acquire the property (remembering that John had two sons of his own)? In the family tree resulting from the Shertz research, "Washington Boro" is noted under Joseph Jr.'s son, John. In any event, Joseph Jr.'s son, Christian dies in 1776 and his brother, John, apparently holds title to at least what was originally the Martin Chartier tract, purchased by Joseph Stoneman, Sr.
Upon John's death in 1792, Samuel Evans' notes include "Jacob Steman (Staman) owned farms in Manor adjoining John (d.1792) and was probably a brother." Almost certainly it was his son, Jacob. Jacob's brother, Abraham, also owned property in the Manor at the time of John's death, some of which may have been the land patented by his great uncle, John, in 1751. As to what property three other brothers (John, Joseph, and Samuel) may have inherited or shared with Jacob and Abraham is unknown. Samuel died in 1795 and his wife remarried but upon her death in 1809 she was buried in the Staman-Wertz Graveyard.
Upon his death in 1799, Jacob's property was left to three of his four children. Ann married John Haldeman and on September 10, 1811, John B. Haldeman, of Donegal, and his wife, Ann, sold a tract of land to Joseph Charles that had previously been owned by her
father. (4) This land became part of the village of Charleston. The remainder of the Martin Chartier tract apparently was inherited by John. The Joshua Scott map in 1824 shows it to be Staman property. Around the time of John's death in 1827, the family must have sold the property. John, his wife, and two daughters are buried in the Staman-Wertz Graveyard which is located approximately in the southeast corner of the Chartier tract, right above Charleston Rd. At a later date most of the Staman property is identified as having been owned by Henry Wertz.
Among John Staman's six children were two boys, Jacob and John Peter. Both stayed in Manor Township or the immediate area. Jacob, who died in 1894, is buried in the Washington Boro Church of God Cemetery. John Peter had a farm in West Hempfield Township prior to 1868 which his son, Edward, later
worked.(5) John Peter and John B. Staman are shown on an 1875 map as having properties just east of the town of Columbia. Who originally acquired these properties has not been ascertained. At some point John
B. Staman (or, perhaps his father, Jacob) built/bought a home by Staman's Run (Mill Creek) at the very southwest corner of the land patented by John Stoneman (Stehman) in 1751. Later he and his wife moved to a smaller home directly west of the Washington Boro Church of God Cemetery. Their daughter, Alice, lived there after their deaths until her death in 1955 (the house is no longer standing). Their son, James, lived in a house in Washington Boro on Charleston (Lancaster) Rd. until his death in 1966. Other Stamans still in the Columbia area would presumably be descendants of John Peter
Staman.
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(1) Ermentrout, Adelaide L. The Story of My Maternal Ancestors: Kendig, Barr, Herr, Brenneman, Neff.
(2) Lancaster County Historical Society Journal, Vol. 29, pg. 97.
(3) Ellis, Franklin and Evans, Samuel. History of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Everts and Peck, Philadelphia, 1883, pgs. 653-55.
(4) Ellis and Evans identify her father as John but it was certainly Jacob.
(5) Biographical Annals of Lancaster County,
Pa., pg. 1298.