And time passed. . . . . . .

I thought I would have had word now regarding the translation of the German book pages but nothing so far to write about.  Patience is key in genealogy.

My hope was that some Smitley genealogists would respond to my posts so we could begin to piece the puzzle of the family together in the early days.  Is anyone interested in such a project?

Jakob Schmidli - CONFIRMED!

Greetings to my fellow Smitley relatives and researchers!

I have news. The story as written below is true. I have heard from a Professor at the University of Luzern in Switzerland who is an expert on the life and story of Jakob Schmidli/Schmidlin. (born 1699, died 1747). The sketch of Jakob is very old and to the best of my knowledge is a likeness of him from the day in which he lived.
Anton Schwingruber confirmed that my ancestor Matthias was indeed one of Jacob’s seven children from his first marriage. His birth date is listed as 1732.
When the family was banished after Jakob’s death they scattered. Some went to Germany, others to areas of Switzerland and some to the U.S. The person many of us know as “Lunzy Shmitly who arrived on the ship the “Sandwich” in 1750 is I believe the brother of Jakob, Loenz Schmidli. On board that ship are other names that are the same as other citizens of Luzern that were banished as well. All settled immediately in Philadelphia and can be found on the Philadelphia census in 1750. Leonz is listed as “Lorentz Schmiedle”. He may also be Lorentz Schmidt that can be found there in 1751 and 1767 but on this I’m not very sure.
I do not know when Matthias came to the US. For many years I thought he was a soldier solely in the Virginia Militia but I recently came across information that says he also served in the Maryland army as a Sergeant in 1775-1776. I cannot locate pension records, land grants, or his name listed in any rosters. That is still a work in progress.
There is much work left to be done as all of the documents have arrived in German. I plan to have them transcribed so that I can relay the facts more clearly. But for now it’s important to note that the details I provided below are all true.
I am hoping that we can put together family groups now that we have a place to work from. Please leave comments on this blog beneath any of the entries. If you leave an email address I can write back to you and perhaps we can begin to gather some family groups.

You can click on the family group sheet and it will enlarge in another window.

Diane Smitley Williams

No New Updates

I have heard from a handful of people since revealing the fruits of my research.  No one has refuted my research nor has anyone found a line of thinking that would send it crashing down.  That's the good news.  The bad news is that I haven't found any new links to help connect the dots completely.  Still looking. . . . . . . .