WIESTER/WEISTER ANCESTRY

Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Muffley Lentz (sister of Joe Muffley) was my (Gary’s) 2nd great aunt. Sadie’s husband was William Henry Lentz. In 1891, Henry’s first wife Mary Margaret “Maggie” Wiester Lentz had passed away, & Henry then married Sadie. I presume that it was known to these people that Maggie & Sadie were Wiester cousins, but that bit of family history did not make its way to me. Now we find that Chuck2642, a descendant of Henry & Maggie, is an autosomal DNA match to me in the AncestryDNA database. Chuck’s closer cousin Bobbi was already my correspondent, but we had not realized that Bobbi & I are actual biological kin. Bobbi’s Lentz tree at Ancestry.com is under bberic. But wait, there’s more.

Maggie was my 1st cousin 4 times removed. Her reported (by Chuck) father Joseph Wiester (b. 1823) was a brother of Sarah Ann Weister/Wiester (b. 1800) who married our Jacob Wilhelm. Sarah’s identity was long sought & finally suspected even prior to the DNA results. Sarah & Joseph were reportedly among the several kids of Rudolph Wiester (b. 1772) & Susanna Fisher. Sarah’s & Joseph’s brother Rudolph Weister Jr. (b. 1814) was an ancestor of more atDNA matches to Gary in the AncestryDNA database. Their brother John Weister (b. 1797 or 1798) appears to have been the ancestor of my atDNA match Margaret/Maggie George: www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Weister-Family-Tree-25 Maggie’s ancestor Sarah Wilhelm Weister (b. 1826) would have been a niece of our Sarah Ann Wiester Wilhelm (b. 1800) & would have been a contemporary cousin of our Julianna Wilhelm Muffley (b. 1820) & of Julianna’s brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm (b 1831).

At www.gedmatch.com Rudolph Wiester Sr. descendant A044554 has a Chromosome 6 shared segment of 20.8 centiMorgans with Gary’s 3rd cousin Bill T826229. Bill’s & Gary’s Most Recent Common Ancestors were Thomas Muffley & Julianna Wilhelm (daughter of Sarah Ann Wiester).

Julianna’ brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm was an ancestor of Gary’s & Bill’s cousin Joyce. At AncestryDNA, Joyce & Gary have shared atDNA segments at 4 chromosomal locations (total of 37 centiMorgans), some of which must be Wiester genes. Joyce & Gary both match Donnanewton2cu who descends from Rudolph Wiester Jr. via son Samuel (b. 1843) & his son George Alfred Weister/Wiester (b. 1875). Additionally, Rudolph Wiester Sr. may have had a sister Elizabeth, one of whose reported descendants is also an atDNA match with Gary.

Julianna Wilhelm (daughter of Sarah Ann Wiester & Jacob Wilhelm) was born Nov. 18, 1820. Her 1849 marriage with Thomas Muffley happened at Poke Run Presbyterian Church, Washington Township, Westmoreland County Pennsylvania. The Poke Run vicinity was the scene of a lot of Muffley, Wilhelm, & Wiester activity. Poke Run is near the Wiester Cemetery & Wiester Crossroads. The current Wiester community lies on Route 286, west of the intersection with Route 66, just southwest of Poke Run, which is in turn southwest of current Muffley Hollow in Bell Township. There are several Weister & Wiester burials in the Poke Run Church Cemetery. Our Muffley Cousin Becky attended Poke Run growing up, & is familiar with the Weister/Wiester surname. Becky’s ancestor Israel Muffley (b. 1824) was a brother of our Thomas Muffley (b. 1821) who married Julianna Wilhelm.

At Find A Grave.com there is a burial of some W. J. Wiester (b. 1854; d. 1920) at nearby Pine Run German Reformed Church. Memorial # 122604418. On that web page, there is a church (built 1875) photo by Alan Saltsman, with whom I have corresponded about grave photographs. Alan’s list of Pine Run burials: www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.westmoreland/5803.2/mb.ashx Note the Weister, Muffley & Yockey listings. An 1861 Pine Run Church founder was
Elizabeth Muffley (1784-1875), widow of Jacob Muffley (1784-1844). My 3rd great-grandparents. The Pine Run Church core members had come west from Yockey’s Schoolhouse meeting house. Elizabeth was the mother-in-law of Julianna Wilhelm Muffley. The quest to find the maiden name & ancestry of Elizabeth continues, & it looks like DNA will be the only solid route forward. We have a short list of possible surnames. This church is near Apollo Penn., one of the places visited many years ago by my father Robert Muffley. There are 9 Muffley burials listed online for Pine Run. Including Rebecca Thompson Muffley (1834-1909), 2nd great-grandmother of my Muffley Cousin Rebecca “Becky”. When younger, Becky was on a scavenger hunt & first encountered the grave of her ancestor with the same first name. Memorable.

In the 1820 census, a group of Wiester households appears on the same Westmoreland County Penn. page as Isaac Muffley, & some familiar Yockey, Ringle, & Carnahan people. From the work “Westmoreland in 1825” (tax records) we know that Washington Township was the location of several known Muffley (including our Jacob, plus brothers Isaac, Joseph, & William) households. Adjacent to the east is Bell Township, scene of more Muffley, Yockey, & kin activity.

Fast-forward to Quincy, Illinois, 1870-1890. Wiester-descendant Adam Biddle Wilhelm (ancestor of Cousin Joyce) was a saddler & harness dealer, at Welton & Wilhelm. For a time, Adam’s nephew Franklin Biddle Muffley (ancestor of Cousin Bill) was a harness-maker, e.g. in 1873 while living with his mother Julianna. “Biddle”/Frank’s brother Joe Muffley (my 1st great-grandpa) was a harness maker for all of his working life, & attributed his longevity to avoidance of “bumming around”. Sound advice? I wonder what he meant. Henry Lentz (future husband of Sadie Muffley) was in those days a harness maker, had married Maggie Wiester in Quincy on November 3, 1869, & somehow knew Maggie’s cousin (1st, once removed) Sadie. In 1880, the Henry & Maggie Wiester Lentz family lived in Liberty Township, southeast of Quincy in Adams Co. Ill. Cousin Sadie Muffley, age 23 in 1880, lived with her mother Julia, & sibs Joe & Will (bookbinder who eventually worked & lived in D.C.). After 1880, the Lentz family had moved on, eventually (by 1884?) to Halstead Kansas. In 1890, Sadie was a seamstress & living with her mother Julia at the rear of 518 Vermont, Quincy. Maggie Wiester Lentz died in February 1891. Henry & Sadie married in Quincy, October 11, 1892. Contrary to some online trees, Sadie & Henry had only 1 child: Harold Leland Lentz. Kids of Henry’s 1st wife Maggie lived with Sadie & Henry, so census returns might give the wrong impression as to their mother. A photo of Sadie’s & Henry’s home in Halstead appears in the photo album of Emma Jane McCreary Muffley, wife of Joe & sister-in-law of Sadie. I have visited Halstead Kansas & have viewed the exterior of their home.

For those with Ancestry.com access, find my Muffley tree under GaryMuffley62. My autosomal DNA findings at www.gedmatch.com appear under kits A693287 & T203534. Check my GEDmatch kits for my e-mail address. I have several atDNA matches in various databases with people having Muffley, Yockey, & Wiester ancestries. Still working on Wilhelm. Is there a Biddle ancestry?

It is doubtful that this Wiester ancestry discovery would have even been possible without the assist of DNA: To have been never more than a suspicion until the convincing convergences of atDNA connections which we have seen so far. A work in progress. Sending all Wiester-of-Westmoreland atDNA raw data to GEDmatch (free; easily done in minutes) would be a big help to this research.