Hans Peter's Germantown Deeds

 

According to 1948 Cook:

1. "Before emigration, Hans Peter Umstat acquired a tract of 200 acres in Pennsylvania from Dirck Sipman of said Crefeld, Mercht., by Deed of 16 August 1685, 25 acres of which were laid out in the inhabited part of German Township, that is, along the present Germantown Avenue, on which he settled, and another 25 acres in the Krisheim section of the said Township, ... "

COMMENT

The location of the two 25 acre tracts as recited in the (c) 1706 van Bebber deed is as follows: " ... WHEREAS of the said Two hundred acres granted by the said Dirk Sipman unto the sd Hanns Peter Umstett and his above written there were Fifty acres allotted and laid out to and for the sd Hans Peter Umstett by the said Dirk Sipman then lawful attorney Herman Isaacs opden Graeff in the German township in the county of Philadelphia aforesd whereof Twenty five acres are now in the tenure and possession of the said Hans Peter Umstett situate lying and being in Germantown aforesaid between the Lotts and Lands of him the said Hans Peter Umstett and Peter Shoemaker. The other Twenty five acres situate lying and being at Krisheim in the said Germantownship are now in the tenure & occupation of Henry Sellen bounded with the Lands of the said Henry Sellen and Dirk Sellen."

See also Han's Peter's Rotterdam Deed.

2. " ... and the remaining 150 acres he (Hans Peter) conveyed to Nathias (sic) van Bebber of Cecil County, Maryland, by Deed of 17 December 1706. (c)"

COMMENT

This is correct according to the original deed, although the name is of course Matthias van Bebber.

3. "After his (Han's Peter's) arrival in Germantown, he acquired another 25 acres there by Deed of 6 December 1685 from William Streepers, Thunes Kunder, and Lenert Arets, all of that town, 10 acres of which were in the said inhabited part and the other 15 in the outside section towards Plymouth Township. (d)"

COMMENT

This information is recited in the 1710 deed (d) for the sale to Hogermoed as follows: "WHEREAS the said Hans Peter Umstett by virtue of a Deed of Sale made and executed by William Streepers Thunes Kunder Lenart Arets all of Germantown aforesd yeomen bearing date the 6th day of December 1685 acknowledged in a Court of Record for the said town the 10th day of October 1692 became lawfully seized of Five and Twenty acres of Land whereof Ten acres are situate in the inhabited part of the aforesd town and the other Fifteen acres in the Sideland thereof towards Plymouth ..."

4. "Likewise, by Deed of 17 December 1689 he (Hans Peter) acquired from Herman Isaacs op den Graef, attorney and agent for Dirch (sic) Sipman, another 25 acres in Germantown, 9 3/4 acres of which adjoined the 10 acres town-lot abovesaid, and the remaining 10 1/4 acres adjoined the 15 in the outside land.

COMMENT

This information is also recited in the 1710 deed (d) for the sale to Hogermoed as follows: "AND WHEREAS the abovesd Hans Peter Umstett by Virtue of an other Deed made & executed by Herman Isaacs op den Graaf the then lawful Attorney and Agent of Dirk Sympan Merchant of Crefeld in the County of Muers in Germany dated the 17th day of December 1689 acknowledged in the aforesd Court of Record held the 10th of October 1692 became further lawfully seized of other five and twenty acres of Land whereof nine Acres and Three Quarters of an Acre are Situate in the Inhabited Part of Germantown aforesd and the other Fifteen Acres and one quarter of an Acre in the Sideland towards Plymouth adjacent to the abovementioned (?) purchased five and Twenty Acres as more fully may bee seen by the aforesd Deed of Herman Isaacs op den Graaff."

5. "He conveyed the combined 50 acres, with the house, barn, stable, etc., to George Adam Hogermoed of Germantown by Deed of 14 October 1710. (d)"

COMMENTS

The date on the deed reads "this fourteenth day of October in the Ninth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne over Great Britain, Anno Dmi one thousand seven hundred and Ten." The two twenty-five acre parcels were sold for "Five and Seventy Pounds." It is interesting to note the presumably German influence on the way they wrote five and twenty or five and seventy.

Hans Peter is shown as a husbandman in these deeds.

 

Cook's sources:

(c) Recited in Deed of 17 Dec 1706, recorded in Phila. Deed Book H-17, page 169.

(d) Recorded in Philadelphia Deed Book H-17, page 173.

 

Betsy Umstattd was kind enough to send me copies of the original deeds for the land transactions of Hans Peter IN GERMANTOWN. Full transcripts may be found in her book UMSTADT: The Rhine To Skippack & Beyond - The Route of a German Settler's Family, privately published, Villanova, PA, 1999, which is available from Elizabeth Madison Coles Umstattd, P. O. Box 911, Bryn Mawr, PA 19010

For those who have the earlier editions of Betsy's book, some of the information here may differ slightly. I believe that Five and Twenty acres is correct as opposed to Betsy's [75] acres seen several times in her transcript. The Five and Seventy pounds sale price to Hogermoed seems to be correct. The original deeds are difficult to read and the handwriting is such that "twenty" does look like "seventy."

Hans Peter acquired by lot in 1689 100 acres of land in the area known as Krissheim, adjoining Germantown.

 

 

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2 June 2000