Sheets Lines -- Scheetz in early Pennsylvania

[Paul Sheats]

These series of "Sheets Lines" threads I have created to help identify and outline the various Sheets lines we know about today, thanks to those researchers who have gone before us, and also those among us today who continue the search.?
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Sheets Lines -- Scheetz in early Pennsylvania

There has been some research done on the early Scheetz in Pennsylanvia.  Their website is here:  http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~scheetz/index.html
This covers the early Scheetz (and other spelling variations) settlers in the PA counties of Berks, Bucks, Clinton, and Lehigh, Germantown, PA, and Schoharie, New York.
 
Also, visit the Miscellaneous page of the Sheets DNA Project to view pedigrees of these families:  http://worldfamilies.net/surnames/s/sheets/misc.html

[Paul Sheats]

I'm not sure if this belongs in this thread or not, but ...

Here is a link to a write-up on early PA, including Germantown, where Johan Jacob Sheetz is listed as one of the first purchasers of land in connection with the colonization of William Penn.:   http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/philadelphia/areahistory/watson0202.txt

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This brings up several ponderings in my mind.  The timeframe seems right to fit in with the early "Johan Sheets" mentioned in the book entitled "History and genealogy of the John Sheets family", written by Myrtle O. Sheets in 1940.  However, the book seems vague where the above link has more details.  For example the book does not mention "Francfort company", indicating these Germans were from Frankfort, Germany.  And the number of acres of land bought don't match (612 in the book, and 428 in the above link).  But then again, how many Johan Sheets/z could there be in connection with land originally purchased of Wm Penn at such an early date?

The book mentions that Johan came across the ocean from Holland with the 2nd colony of Wm. Penn in 1682.  According to the link, the "patent execution" specifying the purchasers of the land was dated the 3rd of April, 1689.  Does that mean these purchases took place in 1689?  Or somewhere inbetween 1682 and 1689?

I questionned Barry Scheetz (from the Scheetz Family web pages site), who told me he had looked into this before in connection with the early Scheetz from Germantown at their site, and he determined that it is part of the Conrad "the paper maker"'s linage. 
   

[ConnieS]

I have read in more than one place that the Johann Jacob Sheetz who purchased land in Germantown did not come to America.  Here is a link to an account that was apparently written before 1912 that states he died in Germany in 1701, and suggests a relationship to Conrad Scheetz the papermaker.

http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/pa/montgomery/church/merion02.txt

Following is a link to the history of the earliest settlement of Germantown:

http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/KADE/germantown.html 

As far as I know, there was no Scheetz/Sheetz/variant spellings among the first group of 13 families who settled there, though certainly some were there by the early 1700s and may be related.  There is a website dedicated to the original 13 families at:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~original13/settlers.htm

At a 1908 family reunion of descendants of Conrad Scheetz, descent was claimed from these families.  See:

http://www.larryhillpot.com/family_reunions.htm

It is not unusual for family tradition to suggest relationship to an early settler or prominent man because "the name's the same."  It is virtually certain that all Scheetz/Sheetz/Sheets etc. families who once lived in Pennsylvania are not descended from this man, and it will be interesting to see the extent to which, over time with both DNA and standard research, we can sort out who is related and who isn't. 

The first link I provided indicates that a Henry Scheetz m. Catherine Rubinkam (sic).  I do know that Milton Rubincam, a distinguished genealogist who died at an advanced age in 1997, did research on Scheetz families and copies of his notebooks are available at the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.  It would be interesting to see what he documented in those notebooks, but I'm a long way from Philly, though I may get there next summer.

[ConnieS]

Here is another link with a brief biography of Conrad Shutz/Sheetz/Scheetz. 

http://www.lowermerionhistory.org/texts/biographies.html