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I do have a copy of the Schuler book and strongly recommend it. As a source of its information on the Rev. John Bachman's family history it cites Bachman's biography (1888), which was began by his grandson but completed by his daughter. That account was based on material John Bachman had prepared himself for a scientific meeting in 1858, but must have been in part inaccurate:
"My paternal ancestor was a native of the Canton of Berne, Switzerland. After visiting England he came to America as private secretary to William Penn. Finally he settled near Easton, Penn. As a reward for faithful services rendered to the infant Colony, the Government granted him two Townships of land called, 'Upper and Lower Sackeny,' which are now settled by his numerous descendants. He was the seventh generation from the above." (C. Bachman, 1888, p. 9)
Schuler adds the name of the immigrant (George) and gives the date of 1753 Stacey quoted. Upper and Lower Sackeny undoubtedly refers to Upper and Lower Saucon Township, which is where my ancestor Johann Georg Bachman (George or Görg) settled and was the major landholder (in Upper Saucon), but at an earlier date. George came in 1717 and was in the Great Swamp area (as Saucon was originally known) by the 1720's. But as I mentioned, William Penn did not come to America after 1699 and died in England in 1718, so George could not have come as William Penn's private secretary. Schuler's citation does not explain where he got the name George as John Bachman's ancestor, but I assume it was a deduction based on the fact that George Bachman was the major landholder in Upper Saucon Township. However J. Ross Baughman's research in the Swiss records has shown that Johann George came from Zurich, not Berne. There was also later research by a John Bachman descendant named Mary Hoover (now deceased) which claimed that it was George's father who had come as Penn's secretary, but the unnamed father had returned to Switzerland to marry and George had come later to claim the land. Ross's research suggests that George Bachman's father (Jodocus Bachman, also known as Jos and Oswald) never left Switzerland, so that correction to the tale remains unlikely.
Does anyone else have any other information? I'd love to confirm that John Bachman was a descendant of my ancestor Johann Georg Bachman, (some family trees on the internet suggest that his father Jacob was a son of Johann Georg's son Christian). For now, I have to remain skeptical because of the many contradictions.
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