Ernestine Louisa Holben ⁸⁵³

  General Notes:

I am trying to find Ernestine Louisa's parents and siblings

The following is from "The Early History of the Johann Jacob (Holbe) Holben Family" by Eugene F. Holben Dec 2006

Johann Jacob Holbe was born December 25, 1717 in Rodenbergen, Gruendau, Germany (present day Rothenbergen) to Ulrich Holbe and Anna Maria Kessler. The Gruendau area is about 25 miles northeast of Frankfort am Main. Nearby villages are Niedergruendau and Lieblos. He was baptized in the Evangelischekirke auf dem Berg. He was one of eleven (11) children consisting of seven (7) daughters and four (4) sons. His brothers were Johann Conrad, born 1715, Johannes, born 1720 and Silvester, born 1723.
Ulrich Holbe, born June 14, 1676, was the son of Hans Casper Holbe, born about 1636, and Anna Heinrich and the grandson of Hans Holbe, born between 1600 & 1615, and Elisabeth (last name unknown). (For Hans Holbe's tree, click here <http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=jmholben>)
All four brothers emigrated to America. Johann Conrad and Silvester arrived in the Port of Philadelphia on October 5, 1737 aboard the ship "Billinder Townsend", Thomas Thompson, Master from Amsterdam, Netherlands via Cowes, England. On Passenger List 48A, they were named Silvester Holvert and Conraet Holber. Another Passenger List 48B lists them as Silvester Holbe and Conrath Holbe. List 48C names them as Balthasar Holben and Conrat Holbe. They were part of the heavy migration of Germans from the Palatinate to eastern Pennsylvania after the area west of South Mountain was purchased from the Indians in 1732 and 1736.
Land records show that Conrad owned a farm in Lower Milford Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1738 and sold it in 1749. Silvester had purchased a 151 acre property in Maiden Creek Township in Philadelphia County in 1740. Silvester then relocated to a 200 acre farm in Lynn Township in 1750 and Conrad purchased land adjacent to him at the same time. This area was a part of Bucks County until 1752 when it became a part of the new Northampton County. Lynn Township is about 12 miles west of Allentown, Pennsylvania and borders on the northwest side of Weisenberg Township. In 1753 both townships became incorporated as a part of Northampton County and then became part of Lehigh County, which was formed in 1812. This area is one of rolling hills and lush farming country very similar to the topography of Gruendau, Germany.
Johann Jacob Holbe followed on September 21, 1742 arriving in Philadelphia aboard the "Francis & Elizabeth", George North, Master, from Rotterdam, Netherlands via Deal, England. His name is recorded on the passenger list as "Johann Jacob Holbein" or what appears to be "Holbein". There is no evidence that he ever used the name "Holbein" again and it is not known whether he signed his own name or it was signed for him. He is variously recorded as "Johann Jacob Holbe", "Johann Jacob Holben" and "Jacob Holben" in church and county documents. Unfortunately, several publications have transcribed the name as "Holbein" with the result that a myth has grown over several years that this family is related to Hans Holbein the Younger, court painter to Henry VIII of England. The preponderance of recently found documents at the Evangelischekirke auf dem Berg strongly supports the name as "Holbe". Johann Jacob was most likely single when he arrived in Philadelphia. The names of women and children were not noted on the passenger lists at this time so it is hard to verify that he was single.
Ernestine Louisa Holben is recorded as the wife of Christian Seiberling, a Private in the Northampton Co. Militia in the Revolution. She was born in 1728 in Baden, Wurrtemberg, Germany. This is an area some distance south of Gruendau. Their first child was born in 1760 in Weisenberg Township, so she must have been in Pennsylvania before that time. There has been no link found between Ernestine Louisa and the four Holbe brothers.
Conrad, Silvester and Johann Jacob settled in the same area in Bucks County, which became known as Holben's Valley. Lehigh County road LR39072 running from Route 100 westerly to Werley's Corner in Holben's Valley of Weisenberg Township was known as Hulwigstal Road and later changed to its current name of Holben's Valley Road.
The first use of the name Holben that I know of is recorded as the birth of Robert Holben on May 8, 1677 in Elsworth, Cambridgeshire, England. We know that Hans Holbein the Younger, a famous German portrait painter resided in England from 1526 until 1528 and then from 1532 until his death from the plague in 1543. He was the court painter to Henry VIII of England from 1536 until his death. In his will, Hans Holbein made a provision as follows: "I bequeythe for kyping of my two Chylder which be at nurse, for every month sewyne shyllynges and sex pence sterlyng". We do not know the sex of these children. If one or more were males, it is possible that the name Holben in England started here. We also know that the English often anglicized German names so that Holbein could have become Holben. The descendants of this line came into Skaneateles, New York area in 1850. Other branches of this line migrated from England directly to Iowa, Michigan and mid-western Canada in the late 1800's. Recent DNA tests of the descendants of the Holbe brothers and of the English Branch show a common ancestor for the brothers but NOT for the English Branch. There is no relationship between the "English" Holben's and the descendants of the Holbe family.
None of the immigrants from Germany to Pennsylvania arrived with the name Holben. Therefore, it appears that the name evolved here in North America. Most of these immigrants were illiterate and signed documents with an "X". Their names had to be transcribed by others onto documents. The scribe wrote what he heard. Furthermore, the German Script that was used for most documents was flowery so that copying names could result in all kinds of spellings.

Ernestine married Christian Seiberling, son of Han Michael Sauberlich and Sara Spiegel, about 1759 in Ellmendingen, Pforzhein, Baden, Germany.⁸⁵³ (Christian Seiberling was born on Jan 30, 1731 in Ellmendingen, Pforzhein, Baden, Germany, died on Dec 29, 1816 in Lynn Twp, Lehigh Co, Pennsylvania, USA and was buried after Dec 29, 1816 in Weisenberg, Lehigh Co, Pennsylvania, USA.)