Maria Margaretha Hauenstein was the daughter of Johann Heinrich and Christina Hauenstein of Oberlustadt, Germany.

The Hauensteins emigrated to Philadelphia on the Royal Union, arriving on August 15, 1750. The ship passenger list declares, ""We subscribers, natives and late inhabitants of the Palatinate upon the Rhine, having transported ourselves into this Province....promise that we will be faithful to his present MAJESTY KING GEORGE THE SECOND..."

Philadelphia records also place Heinrich Hauenstein in town in 1750, before he and his family move on to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

The Hauensteins had two children born in Germany. Margaretha is believed to have been born in Pennsylvania about 1750. The family had other children in America as well, noted later.

Margaretha was a communicant at Manheim Reformed Lutheran Church in Lancaster County on June 28, 1771.

She appears to have married Jacob Schultz, also from Germany, about 1772 near Manheim, though no church record has been found.

Margaretha and Jacob's first child and eldest son was Johann Georg, named after her brother. Johann Georg Schultz was baptized at Saint Paul's Lutheran Church in Lancaster County, Manheim Township, PA on July 25, 1773, and was sponsored by his uncle, Johann Georg Hauenstein, and his wife, Elisabetha.(George Hauenstein appears in the deeds of Lancaster County in 1769.)

According to Keith Dull, who wrote a book on early settlers of Somerset and Fayette Counties in Pennsylvania, these are all of the known children of Jacob and Margaretha:

1) Johann George (born June 18, 1773 and served in the War of 1812)

2) Elizabeth (born 1774)

3) Phillip (born 1776)

4) Maria (born January 1, 1777)

5) Johannes (born October 19, 1779)

6) Catherine (born about 1781)

7) Heinrich (born 1784)

8) Johann Peter (born April 30, 1786)

9) Susanna (born December 25, 1787)

10) Georg Adam (born February 28, 1789)

11) Maria Eva (born February 28, 1789)

12) Hanna (born August 4, 1790)

13) a daughter (born about 1792)

Around the time of American Revolution, the family moved across the Maryland border. Daughter Maria was born in Maryland on January 1, 1777.

By 1786, the family had moved to Somerset County, Pennsylvania. The known baptism locations for the other children: Johann Peter (Berlin), Susanna (Berlin), Georg Adam (Pine Hill), Maria Eva (Pine Hill), and Hanna (Berlin). The preceding were all baptized in Somerset County, PA (Berlin and Pine Hill Lutheran Churches).

Heinrich Haeunstein's will, probated in Lancaster County in February 1792, mentions his daughter Margaretha--as well as her mother Christina, and Margaretha's siblings--George, Elisabetha, and Catharina. Johann Georg and Maria Elisabetha were born in Oberlustadt in 1745 and 1747 respectively. Margaretha and Catharina were born in Pennsylvania, presumably near Manheim,. There appears to have been another son George born in 1761, who was also born in Manheim. The elder George may have died by the time of Heinrich's will, perhaps during the war, and without heirs. Heinrich's will also mentions his son-in-law Andrew Halder. ( Margaretha had children named after all of her siblings. As mentioned, her eldest son Johann Georg was named after her eldest brother. But her younger son, Georg Adam, who was born 16 years later, may have been named after her younger brother George, who was also born 16 years after his elder brother, Johann Georg.)

According to "The History of the Alison, Or Allison Family in Europe and America," published in 1893, Jacob Schultz died in 1808. Jacob was taxed in Somerset County, Southampton Township (near Pleasant Union) in 1805, and presumably died before 1810 since he is not listed in the census of that year. Margaretha's death date is not known but she is believed to have died before or near the time of her husband.

The Alison book also mentions that Jacob Schultz married Mary Howenstein ( (Maria is German for Mary) whose family was from Stuppensburg, PA. This is thought to be a misspelling of Shippensburg, PA. Indeed, Margaretha's sister and brother-in-law Andrew Halter's family moved to Shippensburg.

Maria and Margaretha were also names of Heinrich's sisters in Germany. My mother, descended from Margaretha Hauenstein, also shows a DNA match to descendants of the younger George Hauenstein born in 1761, who served in the Revolutionary War.

--Greg Mantell, 2020