Our Family's Background:William Henry Brandenburg (aka Wilhelm Heinrich Brandenburg) was born in 1722 in Brandenburg, Prussia. He sailed to America in 1752 with his wife Anna (maiden name unknown), and settled in Frederick County, Maryland. Our immediate family is descended from them.
Here is our family's line through seven generations.
Our direct ancestors are shown in red.
All of our family is descended from the generations above. |
Our family's direct line is descended from the generations above.
The rest of this page explores our connection to our cousins.
Today, we might be closer than ever before.
Mathias BrandenburgIn 1752, Mathias sailed with his brother Wilhelm Heinrich for America aboard the vessel "Two Brothers", settling at first in Middlesex, New Jersey and then moving near Hagerstown, Frederick County, Maryland. The two brothers settled in the Middletown Valley, Frederick County, Maryland. Fourteen years later their brother Jacob Brandenburg, and probably also Johannes Martin (John Martin) Brandenburg, sailed aboard the vessel "Sally" in 1766, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jacob settled on a farm in the New Market district called "Chance" in the wilderness of Frederick county, Maryland. Johannes settled at Oaklands Plantation in Orangeburg Co, SC. All the brothers were well educated (they all signed the Oath of Allegiance and various Deeds.) Records:Mathias Brandenburg |
Aaron BrandenburgA family Bible record shows Aaron Brandenburg was born on 18 February 1761. He married his cousin Ann 'Nancy' Brandenburg who was born in 1766. They were married in Maryland. They had fourteen children, shown in their family records. Records:Family Record Their first child is Samuel, born 1784. A 1939 application for a Sons of the American Revolution membership lists the applicant's great-grandfather as "Samuel Brandenburg" born 1784 and married to "Polly Baer" in 1818. It lists the applicant's great-great-grandparents (Samuel's parents) as "William Brandenburg" (born 1758) and "Nancy Buzzard" (born 1766). Those names are in error. Samuel's parents are Aaron (born 1761) and Ann 'Nancy' Brandenburg (born 1766), as shown in the Family Bible record above. The Family Bible record also shows Samuel's marriage to "Polly Bier" in 1818. Record:SAR Application |
Samuel BrandenburgWith the ending of the French and Indian Wars in 1763, people began to look westward to the Ohio Valley as an open and promising area to settle. Following the gaining of Independence, and partly to finance the debt from the war, the new Federal government opened those lands for sale and settlement for the increasing United States population (the first US Federal Census in 1790 records 4,000,000 people in the new country). Migration to the Ohio Valley, then called the "west", accelerated with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. By 1820 those fertile lands were becoming home to families resettling from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Kentucky as well as for families newly arrived from Europe. Samuel Brandenburg was one of those early settlers. Records below show two deeds to lands in Ohio that he purchased from the Federal government in 1835. Records:Deed 1: 15 Sep 1835, 92.73 acres |