Franz meets Magdalena Zernhelt

As Franz Hillanbrand acclomated himself to the region, he took up residence in Pottsville, PA. We know through the Recorder of Deeds Office of Schuylkill County that he had purchased two residences in town located at 60 Market Street and 66 Norwegian Street. Unfortunately, Franz lost both homes do to a fire and with no insurance, he was in debt for the rest of his life. On July 22, 1851, Franz married Magdalena B. Zernhelt in the St. John the Baptist Church, pictured in this article. Magdalena was the fourth child of Francis Anthony and Gertrude (Holzmann) Zernhelt. Originally from the Alsace-Lorraine region, the Zernhelt family were of German descent. Anthony and Gertrude had five children, three (Mary, Anthony and Enos) were born in Germany and two (Magdalena and George) were born in America. So, as far as the Hillanbrand family, Magdalena was the first ancestor born on American soil on June 18th, 1833.

A very short synopsis of the Zernhelt family is as follows: the oldest child of Anthony and Gertrude was Mary. Mary married a carpenter, by the name of Placidus Hasenauer of Pottsville and they had eleven children. Placidus, a native of Oberbimbach, Germany, was one of the original congregants of the St. John the Baptist Church in Pottsville. The next child of Anthony and Gertrude was Anthony. Anthony married Magdelena Swerity and through this union, they had nine children. Anthony was a shoemaker, but unfortunately, he had died suddenly, before his last child was born. His widow, Magdalena, survived him by forty-four years. The third child of Anthony and Gertrude born in 1827 was Enos. I have been unable to extract many records as to what became of Enos, although I know he survived his father, in 1870. The last son of Anthony and Gertrude was George. He was born in Pottsville in 1839. George lived with his sister Magdalena, before he enlisted in the Civil War. I will dedicate a separate article on George in a later post.

During the Civil War, Franz Hillanbrand enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Militia during the South's incursion into Pennsylvania. He was a Private in the U.S. Army, 19th Regiment, P.S.M. This unit was formed quickly, because of Lee's aggression in Gettysburg. The Governor of Pennsylvania asked for volunteers to prevent a further push into Pennsylvania by the Confederate Army. After the war, Franz Hillanbrand left his position at the Bulls Head Colliery to work at the Potts colliery, at Wolf Creek, near Minersville, Schuylkill County, where he worked for sixteen years, or until 1870. He then moved to Ashland, Schuylkill county, and worked at the Tunnel colliery, for two years, coming to Mahanoy Plane in 1872, and working as engineer there up to 1893, until a couple of months prior to his death on October 14, 1893.