Elizabeth Custer

1726 - 1767  (41 years)

• Name	Elizabeth Custer
  Birth	1726	Maytown, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA
  Gender	Female
  Death	1767	Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, USA
  Burial	Herman Long Farm Cemetery, Hempfield, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA   [1]
  Person ID	I2712	Tulpehocken Genealogy
  Last Modified	13 Nov 2023

  
  

  Family	Christian Long,   b. 1723, Hempfield, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, USA d. 31 Dec 1798, Lebanon, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, USA (Age 75 years)
  Family ID	F2995	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	10 Nov 2020

  
  

• Notes

  Elizabeth was the wife of Christian Long/Lang. Some family trees only give the name of his first wife, Barbara. The William Gabriel Long book does not give a name for Herman's second wife. Several older, credible Long genealogies listed the maiden name of Christian's second wife as Custer*. According to respected genealogist and author Richard Davis, a deed in 1806 gave her first name as Elizabeth. Her year of birth is an estimate based on a marriage year of 1747 and birth years of her children, beginning in 1748. Christian purchased 380 acres of his father's land, located south of Fairlands, southeast from Annville. Christian built a large stone farm house there. Their known children were: 1-Herman Long (July 5 1748-1820) 2-Anna Lang (July 13 1750) 3-Christian Long (March 31 1752-Feb 8 1829) married Esther Neff and Elizabeth Eby 4-Mariah/ Mary Long (Sept 20 1754) married Christian Neff 5-Barbara Long (Oct 20 1760) 6-Frene Lang (March 25 1762) 7-Elizabeth Long/ Lang (Oct 17 1763-1841) married John Snavely 8-Abraham Long (July 16 1766) Note~Her daughter Elizabeth Long Snavely's genealogy has been missed by many because William Gabriel Long stated that she married a Brubaker. It was actually her daughter Barbara who married Abraham Brubaker. Additionally, most family trees are copying the incorrect information that Elizabeth Long was the daughter of Christian Long and Esther Neff. These are NOT Elizabeth Long Snavely's parents. Christian would have been 11 years old when his daughter Elizabeth was born. He was actually Elizabeth's brother. Some family trees have now added his parents as Christian Long and Elizabeth Custer, apparently based on the same documentation presented here. *Interesting genealogy is shown at Ancestry trees and Rootsweb freepages giving Reiner/ Ryner/ Rynier Kuster (May 26 1696 Germantown PA-after 1762 Philadelphia) and Anne Hewitt as Elizabeth's parents. They were married on January 31 1718 in the Abington Monthly Meeting (Quaker) in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Reiner's parents are given as Mennonites Johannes Kuster (Dec 12 1670 - Kaldenkirchen, Germany-1708 Germantown PA) and Elizabeth Cassell (1672 Kresheim, Germany-after 1709 PA). Elizabeth's parents were Johannes Peter Cassell (1631 Kresheim, Germany-PA) and Mary. Ken Reed researched that Johannes Cassell was a weaver who immigrated to Germantown in 1686. The parents of Johannes Kuster are listed as Paulus Von Haren Kuster (before 1646 Kaldenkirchen, Germany-Feb 1707/08 Germantown, PA) and Gertrude Gertruyd Streyphers/Streipers Doors (abt 1645 Kaldenkirchen-Feb 23 1707/08 Germantown PA). Paulus and Gertrude were married in the Reformed Church in Kaldenkirchen, Germany on October 16 1668. They are believed to have been Mennonites in Pennsylvania. Paulus Kester was the son of a Roman Catholic who had converted to the Reformed faith (Niepoth). Gertrude was the daughter of Theiss (Matthias) Doors (1614-after 1663) and Agnes (Neess) (Hillekrin) Op den Graeff (abt 1614-abt 1691). Sometime before 1655, Theiss Doors left the Catholic Church and became a Mennonite. An effort was made to expel him from Kaldenkirchen. He was fined 100 gold guilders for a fictitious violation. He was unable to pay the fine, and the authorities confiscated the goods in his shop. The bailiff at Kaldenkirchen entered the Doors home, and got into an argument with Agnes Doors, who was soon to give birth. He abused her and "struck her hard in the face". Charges were filed, and the case was eventually taken before Elector Philipp Wilhelm, Duke of Julich, who decreed that Theiss could stay on in Kaldenkirchen and was "not to be further molested". Agnes enrolled their children in the Reformed Church School but to ease the pressure from officials, they changed their children to the Catholic school, and had their infant Margarita baptized Catholic in 1655. By January 20 1656 the family had returned to the Reformed Church and attended there for three more months. The trial record identified Gertrude's husband as "Theiss Gohrs or Peterschen (Doors) born at Kaldenkirchen of Catholic parents, later adhering to the Anabaptist sect." This research on the Doors family was contributed by Charles Custer to Dora Smith's website. Theiss' wife Agnes is believed by some to be the daughter of Bishop Herman Op den Graeff, a signer of the Mennonite Confession Faith in 1632. She thus would have been the aunt of the three Op den Graeff brothers who came to Germantown (sons of Isaac Hermans Op den Graeff 1616-1669). Her father Herman was a wealthy cloth and linen merchant who lived in a substantial house with stained glass windows full of mystical symbolism. Half of his 18 children died of as infants. Hillikren is allegedly the form in which her name appears on genealogy lists of the 18 children of Herman the bishop. The only source of this idea is the Scheuten Manuscripts (which were later altered). Herman is presumed by some to have noble parentage and his wife thought to be a Plantagenet, but there is no evidence to support this. This information was researched with some skeptisism by Dora Smith, daughter of Russell D. Smith. She has a website with extensive comments on the Kuster/ Custer families at: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~villandra/fatheri/i708.htm#i1336 [Elizabeth's burial location is from the book 'History of the Long Family of Pennsylvania' by William Gabriel Long, published in 1930. She was buried with her husband on his father Herman's farm. The farm was from a William Penn land patent. Their graves are located on a property line and were cemented over by the owner.]

  
  

• Sources

  [S64] Website: Find a Grave [text], https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/153123198/elizabeth-long.