Was John Burger a Somerset County gunsmith?

Introduction
The Brethren settler John Burger/Berger is known as the first blacksmith at what is now Meyersdale in Summit Township of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The Brethren were also known as German Baptists, Tunkers, or Dunkers.

According to the 1983 booklet "Gunsmiths and Gunmakers of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania 1770-1900", John Berger repaired guns but did not make them. John Berger is one of a number of pre-1815 Somerset County residents the authors identified as gunsmiths in their 1983 booklet but omitted from their 1991 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford, Somerset, and Fulton Counties" and from their 2017 book "Gunsmiths of Bedford County, Pennsylvania".

I wonder if the authors originally inferred that John Berger performed gunsmithing because he was an early blacksmith. If so, that certainly seems like a reasonable inference to me.

The people in what is now Somerset County had their lives interrupted by the fear of Indian depredations that were occurring nearby during the Revolutionary War, and many fled. Some of the ones who remained would have needed someone to repair their firearms. I suspect that a local blacksmith like John Berger would have done what he could.

The year of 1784 was different — the war was over. A large number of surveys were made that year and the next, and many settlers put down the roots of families that are still in Somerset County. So soon after the war and its horrors, I believe firearms would have still been a significant factor in their safety planning. Firearms would have also been needed for hunting and for dispatching livestock at butchering time. Gunsmiths and blacksmiths were few and far between, and it seems hard to imagine that John Berger did not perform at least some degree of gun repair, such as spring replacement.

Click here to read a very old newspaper article that was written by a grandson of one of the Meyersdale-area pioneers. The article briefly mentions "John Bergen", and describes what pioneer life was like where John Berger settled. (The article was probably prepared in cursive, and in cursive it is difficult to distinguish "Bergen" and "Berger".)

L. Dietle

Chronology
1752-1836: I believe that the pioneer blacksmith John Burger/Berger of Somerset County is the individual who is buried at the Fisher Cemetery (40.45888874280463, -81.68887616012113) in Holmes County, Ohio. His modern replacement tombstone there indicates he was born in 1752 and died on June 27, 1836. The reason for my belief is participation in the same church denomination in Pennsylvania and Ohio, and an Ohio reference to one of his sons being born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The Fisher Cemetery is located about 1.5 miles north-northeast of the village of Baltic, Ohio.

The village of Baltic (originally known as Rowville) is located at the juncture of Coshocton, Holmes, and Tuscarawas counties and straddles Brush Run, which is a tributary of the South Fork of Sugar Creek. The local congregation of the Brethren Church that John Burger was involved with was called the Sugar Creek Congregation.

At least one website indicates that the parents of John Burger were Johann Nicolaus Borger (1720-1791) and Ottilia Juliana Schaffer (1725-1791). At present I have no way of validating this information.

1771: The place in Summit Township of Somerset County where John Burger settled was part of Brothersvalley Township of Bedford County when he first appears in surviving records. Bedford County was formed from part of Cumberland County in the spring of 1771. The following excerpt from the 1884 book "History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania" describes the formation and large initial size of Brothersvalley Township of Bedford County, and mentions that "German Baptists, or Brethren ... were among the first settlers":

1773-1779: In the 1908 book Provincial Papers: Returns of Taxables (Bedford County, Pennsylvania 1773-1784... (15.7 MB pdf), John Burger does not appear in the 1773 to 1776 transcripts of taxables or the 1779 return of property for Brothersvalley Township.

1777: The English translation of the German business journal of my Salisbury, Pennsylvania area ancestor Peter Livengood has a June 11, 1777 entry that references the wife of Tschann Burger. I don't know if the book is correct in doing so, but it interprets "Tschann" to be an equivalent of "John". The entry indicates that the wife of Tschann Burger was indebted to Peter Livengood for weaving. They had a conversation about the debt on June 11, 1777. This entry puts the wife of Tschann Burger in what is now Somerset County at a very early date. I wonder if the fact that Peter Livengood was reckoning with the wife of Tschann Burger instead of Tschann Burger himself means that Tschann Burger was absent at the time — perhaps performing military service.

The journal also records that Peter Livengood reckoned with John Christner on May 12, 1776 and sold sugar to Christian Hochstetler on July 17, 1776. These are two early Salisbury area settlers. This helps to establish that Peter Livengood was already living in what is now Somerset County on June 11, 1777 when he reckoned with the wife of Tschann Burger.

1778: An article in the June 1, 2018 issue of the "Times-Reporter" newspaper titled "Revolutionary War soldier located" indicates that the John Burger who died on June 27, 1836 and is buried in the Fisher Cemetery near Baltic, Ohio was a private who served in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment under Captain Jacob Ashmead, Colonel Walter Stewart, and Captain John Cobra. The article mentions obtaining information about John Burger from a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. I have not seen the information that organization has about John Burger, and do not know the basis for the assertion that the John Burger who is buried in the Fisher Cemetery was a Revolutionary War Soldier. The article says that the original tombstone of John Burger was found in 2017 when members of the American Legion were honoring veterans by adding flags to their graves.

I have also seen a reference to a Sons of the American Revolution membership application. Although I have not seen that application, I suspect that it names the children of the John Burger who is buried in the Fisher Cemetery.

The following excerpt from Volume X of the "Pennsylvania Archives", Second Series lists an individual named John Burger in the July, 1778 muster roll of Jacob Ashmead's Company in the Second Pennsylvania Regiment, which was commanded by Colonel Walter Stewart. Logically, this could not be a reference to the father and son named John Berger who are mentioned as being born in 1769 and 1798, respectively, on page 119 of the 1959 book "Some Early Lineages of Berks County, PA".

1782: On his Mother Bedford website, Larry D. Smith reports that John Burger is listed on the 1782 class tax return for Brothers Valley Township of Bedford County, Pennsylvania.

1782: The following excerpt about the first settlers at what is now Meyersdale is from a Summit Township section in Volume II of the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania" (pages 668 to 670). The book takes the position that John Berger was already in the area of present-day Meyersdale by 1782. As you read the pages, consider the coincidence that when we lived in Houston, Texas our neighbors from Kansas were descendants of John Berger's next-door neighbor Andrew Bontrager, and were related to me through another local settler in that region (Jacob Hochstetler).

The following excerpt is from another Summit Township section in Volume II of the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania" (pages 64 to 65):

1783: The following tax record from the 1898 book "Provincial Papers: Returns of Taxables for the Counties of Bedford (1773 to 1784)..." shows that John Berger was a resident of Brothersvalley Township in 1783.

1783: The following reference to John Burger is from the 1873 issue of "The Brethren's Almanac for the United States". The referenced "Dale City" is Meyersdale, Pennsylvania. This seems likely to be the source of the love feast-related information about John Burger in 1901 book "Holsinger's History of the Tunkers and the Brethren Church..." and in Volume II of the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania".

1783: The following reference to the Brethren Love Feast at the house of John Berger in what is now Meyersdale is from the 1901 book "Holsinger's History of the Tunkers and the Brethren Church...":

1783: The following excerpt relating to John Berger is from Volume II, page 496 of the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania".

1784: The following tax record from the 1898 book "Provincial Papers: Returns of Taxables for the Counties of Bedford (1773 to 1784)..." shows that John Berger had a dwelling house in Brothersvalley Township by 1784.

1785: The following excerpt from the W.P.A. warrant survey map of Summit township shows the location of John Burger's land, and the date it was warranted and the date it was surveyed. The Jacob Sailor survey is not for the Bedford County gunsmith. Rather, it is for another Jacob Saylor who is well known as an early settler in what is now Somerset County.

1785: Here is an official copy of John Burger's survey (Survey Book C Page 33):

1785: According to the following excerpt from the 1884 book "History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania" Elk Lick Township was organized in 1785.

1785: The monument shown in the picture below celebrates the original settlers at the site of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania:

1785: According to page 760 in Volume XVIII of the "Pennsylvania Archives", Third Series, an individual named John Burger appears in the 1785 assessment of taxes for Longswamp Township of Berks County Pennsylvania. Could this be a reference to Johann Nicolaus Borger, who is said to be the father of the John Burger who is said to have been born in Berks County in 1752? This would not be a reference to the father and son named John Berger who are mentioned as being born in 1769 and 1798, respectively, on page 119 of the 1959 book "Some Early Lineages of Berks County, PA".

1789: The following militia-related list is from Volume III of the "Pennsylvania Archives", Sixth Series:

1790: I have been told about a 1790 promissory note from Abraham Beachy that was witnessed by John Burger. In September of 2022 I was informed that the note is being obtained by the Springs Museum.

1790: I could not find John Berger or John Burger in the Bedford County section of the transcript of the 1790 census of Pennsylvania (46 MB).

1790-1862: A web page about John Burger's son Samuel Burger indicates that Samuel was born in [what is now] Somerset County, Pennsylvania in 1790, died May 12, 1862, and is buried in the Baltic Cemetery in Tuscarawas County, Ohio. The basis for stating that Samuel Burger was born in Somerset County, Pennsylvania may be the following material from the 1889 book "Commemorative Biographical Record of the Counties of Wayne and Holmes, Ohio":

1795: Somerset County was initially formed from part of Bedford County on April 17, 1795. The relevant statute includes the following statement: "That all that part of Bedford county, lying and being to the westward of a line to be drawn along the top of the Allegheny mountain, from where the Maryland line crosseth the same, to where the line of Huntingdon county crosseth the same mountain, shall be, and the same is hereby, declared to be erected into a county, henceforth to be called Somerset."

1796: On the 1796 tax list of Elk Lick Township, John Burger has 179 acres of property with 50 acres cleared, one house, one horse, four cows, and a value of $560.50. Here is a list of names in the tax list from 1884 book "History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania":

1797: The following item relating to John Berger is from Volume II, page 195 of the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania":

1798: The following excerpt is from the August 1972 issue of the "Laurel Messenger".

1800: Here is the listing for John Burger from the Elk Lick Township portion of the The 1800 manuscript census records of Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The image is a composite, combining the header from one page with tabular information from another.

Circa 1800: Here is what the 1884 book "History of Bedford, Somerset and Fulton Counties, Pennsylvania" says about John Berger.

1803: The state of Ohio was established by an act of Congress that President Thomas Jefferson signed on February 19, 1803.

1804: The following excerpt is from the August 1975 issue of the "Laurel Messenger".

1810: Click here to see the listings of John Burger, Sr. and Godfrey Burger in the manuscript 1810 census of Elk Lick Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania (composite image). I have read that Godfrey was the son of John Burger.

1810: Click here to see a manuscript page from the 1810 census of Somerset County that indicates there were then 68 blacksmiths but only three gunsmiths in the county. Since it's possible to identify at least three other individuals who were working gunsmiths from this time period, this census document is fairly good evidence that John Berger didn't tell the census worker he was a gunsmith by trade. This isn't dispositive though, because there are a number of cases where known participants in the gunsmithing trade (including gun makers) are listed in census and tax records as farmers, blacksmiths, whitesmiths, etc.

1814: Pages reproduced above from the 1906 book "History of Bedford and Somerset Counties Pennsylvania" state, "John Berger sold his farm to Abraham Beachley in 1814."

1815: The July 31, 1934 issue of the "Coshocton Tribune" newspaper references the recent recording of the original April 22, 1815 sheep skin deed to "John Burger of Tuscarawas" for property in what is now Holmes County, Ohio. The military district property referenced in the deed was the southeast quarter of section 25 in township eight of range four. The deed was signed by President James Madison. The individual who owned the property and had the deed recorded in 1934 was Edwin M. Doner.

The northern part of the village of Baltic is in Section 25. The southern edge of Section 25 is at the border between Holmes and Coshocton counties and between Holmes and Tuscarawas counties. All but possibly a sliver of Fisher Cemetery is located in Section 25. The cemetery is located right at the northeast corner of the section. Working in a clockwise direction, the approximate GPS coordinates of Section 25 are: