Re: Giltner Religion
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In reply to:
Re: Giltner Religion
Trudy 1/11/07
My line from John Francis Gueltner and Catherine Weber is as follows:
Andreas/Andrew Giltner through 2nd wife
John Francis Giltner
John Frederick Giltner
Nellie Tid Giltner
Romayne Catherine Kent
Me
Thus, we are descended through two different sons of John Francis Gueltner and Catherine Weber; have only John Francis Gueltner and Catherine Weber in common; but have each heard the same story told on in our separate lines.
My mother always insisted that the Giltners were of Dutch origin (and this was long before she knew anything about the alleged origins of Catherine Weber).She said that while they were settled in Pennsylvania Dutch country, they were not Pennsylvania Deutch (German) but Dutch.[We know that John Francis Gueltner arrived in Pennsylvania on a ship from Rotterdam carrying immigrants from the Palatinate.]My mother referred to the Giltners as being "Black Dutch" meaning by this that they were dark in complexion as opposed to the fair complexion commonly associated with people from the Lowlands of Europe.[I only recently learned that the term "Black Dutch" carries some negative or derisive connotations.]She said that they came from Portugal to Holland; and were of Moorish or Jewish ancestry (or both) and that it was this blood which resulted in their dark complexion.
My mother was the family historian and was very knowlegeable about the Giltner line back to her great grandfather.But, as I earlier wrote, I do not know with this story exactly how much comes from family folklore and how much from her general knowledge of history.However, as you have heard the same story in a completely separate line, I now suspect that it came from family folklore perhaps supplemented by her general knowledge of history.
I personally pay a great deal of attention to family folk history and have discovered, in most cases, that there is an element of truth in these stories.
Jews were expelled from Spain during the Inquisition in 1492.Thousands went to Portugal.The Inquisition arrived in Portugal in 1496 but was no where near as vicious as in Holland.Many Jewish families were Christian in name but practiced Judaism in secret.
More than this, I do not know.I pretty much confine my research to arrival in America and after unless the sources documenting earlier European history are impeccable.Some 125 years elasped between the Inquisition and the birth of John Francis Gueltner.
Certainly John Francis Gueltner and Catherine Weber were members of the Lutheran Church at Heidelberg, Northampton, Pennsylvania.What religion they practiced earlier, I do not know.Many early Jewish immigrants lost their Jewish identify after arrival in America because there were few other Jews in the communities in which they settled.And many Jews lost their Jewish identify as a result of the Inquisition.
More Replies:
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Re: Giltner Religion
Trudy 1/16/07
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Re: Giltner Religion
Ruth Clarke 1/17/07
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Re: Giltner Religion