Women In My Family History: Part 6

Anna Maria Catharina Hirtzler

1722 - ~ 1751

Some stories that surface while doing genealogy searches may be lore.    Anna Maria Catharina Hirtzler's story is so romantic that I question it.  But it is in the history books so I am going with the assumption that there is some truth to it.  Anna was born in 1722 in Germany.  In 1739 she gave birth to her son Johann Michael Buchele.   Her infant's father was a German Nobleman named Buechele.  She was not of the same social status as her baby's father and in order to inherit his family land he had to marry within his social status.  So around 1750,  Anna and her son set sail for America and settled in Pennsylvania.  Several months after settling in Germantown Pennsylvania,  Anna received word that she had herself received a generous inheritance, but in order to receive it she had to return to Germany.  While sailing back to Germany from America the ship was boarded by pirates and she was killed.  Her young son was taken captive by the pirates and kept as a slave for two years before escaping while the ship was in harbor at Philadelphia and he was able to return to Germantown.  Among Johann Michael Buchele's children was a son named Michael Beeghley who had a daughter named Susanna.  She married a man named John Garber who married and had a daughter named Elizabeth Ellen.  Elizabeth married David Jacobs and among her children was a daughter named Carrie Bell.  Carrie married LeRoy Shively and they had a daughter who was to become my father's mother.   In Part 6 of my series honoring Women In My Family History I chose Anna Maria Catharina Hirtzler to be the subject of my blog because her story exemplifies the type of struggles women had in the mid 1700s.   To be traveling back and forth across the Atlantic with a young son in her early thirties alone shows a lot of bravery.  She must have been a very strong woman.  Please enjoy the video that follows explaining some of the legends that surround Pirates and read the part of the book telling Anna's story that follows.