Gunmaker Peter Moll’s 1799 Baptismal Certificate or
TaufscheinThese were important to early members of the Lutheran and Reformed faiths, as baptism was a key credential required to enter heaven. They are also somewhat rare today, because to insure there were no slip-ups, the certificates were often placed in caskets upon death.
They are also important Pennsylvania German folk art or
Frakturschriften and were hand-made either by the local schoolmaster, the local pastor, or by traveling artists. The designs used are classic German, Swiss and Alsatian images, and the inks and paints were generally home-made from old recipes. The images of flowers and animals weren’t meant to imitate reality, but depict how they would appear in heaven.
My rough translation:
“The blessed marriage between Johannes Moll and his respected wife Elizabeth nee Neyhartin (diminutive of Neuhart), produces a son born into the world named Peter Moll.”
“Peter was born 13 October, 1799 in Pennsylvania's Lehigh County in Northampton Township.” (sic)
The certificate also lists the pastor (Troxel?), the 10 November 1799 date of baptism, the child's sponsors or Godparents, “Peter Moll” and “A. Marie Neuhardt”, followed by what looks like The Lord's Prayer.
Beneath the verse is the certificate’s maker, who probably wasn’t a local man because he got the township and county wrong, and two sayings I can’t make out.
Sponsor Peter Moll (1779-1825) was single, was the youngest son of John Moll I (Bef 1746-1794), would serve in the War of 1812 and later move to Somerset County in western Pennsylvania where he would become wealthy. Perhaps his property there was a land grant provided to soldiers. He would marry Sarah Burger (1785-1860) in 1803 and father 12 children, one of whom was Allentown gunsmith James Moll (1804-1870), who married Sarah Neuhardt (1805-unk).
Sponsor Anna Marie Neuhardt (1778-1851) was the granddaughter of 1737 immigrant and Lehigh Valley patriarch Frederick Neuhart (1699-1765), was single, and would marry Daniel Yundt (1774-1851) the following year and eventually migrate with him to Western Pennsylvania in Armstrong County.
Peter Moll (1799-1879) moved to Hellertown around 1820, when his brother John III bought his father's Allentown shop. Perhaps Peter and his younger brother David (1807-1853) who joined him in Hellertown, wanted to venture out on their own. Hellertown in 1820 contained thirteen houses, eighteen families, three taverns, two stores, one grist mill and seventy-three inhabitants. The earliest artifact of Moll gunsmithing in Hellertown was found on the barrel of a rifle marked "Peter Moll, Hellertown, May 26, 1826".
About 1831 Peter Moll married Mary Anne Shafer (1806-1888). A December 5th, 1929 article appeared in the Allentown
Morning Call noting the one-hundredth anniversary of the gunshop in Hellertown. "Peter Moll erected the shop, now the Ruch Store, and moved in on April 12, 1831. He then married Mary Shafer and erected a dwelling, moving in on May 31, 1831." The land on which he built his home was owned by John Younghen who sold it to Christian Shafer on May 31, 1822. On December 5, 1829 the property was transferred from Christian Shafer to Peter Moll upon payment of one hundred fifteen dollars.
Peter and Mary Anne had the following children:
1) Susanna (1832-unk), married Francis L. Reihman, a cabinetmaker.
2) Nathan (1833-1914), a gunsmith who married Rosina Lee (1818-1889), sister of gunsmith George Lee below. Later moved to Evansville, Indiana.
3) Reuben (1834-unk), a gunsmith and later a clerk.
4) Mary Anne (1836-unk), married Charles Schloyer.
5) Charles (1838-unk)
6) Elizabeth (1841-1918), married Hellertown gunsmith George Lee (1825-1889)
7) Catherine (1842-1898)
8. Emeline (1842-1918), married Robert Reiss.
9) Peter Moll II (1847-1883), Hellertown gunsmith. Accidentally drowned in Portland on the Delaware River where he was establishing a washboard manufactory.
10) John Jacob Moll (1849-1909), the last practicing gunsmith in Hellertown.
Peter prospered in Hellertown. The 1860 Federal Census reports Peter Moll as having real estate valued at $35,000, and a personal estate of $1,100. He died at 8:00pm on June 8th, 1879 after a long illness. He may have transferred his property to his heirs earlier, as his estate at death amounted to only $216.98. His physician, W. W. Detweiler, presented a bill to the estate amounting to $98.00, a large sum. The 1880 Census shows his wife Mary Anne living with her son Peter Jr. and his wife, where she lived until her death in 1889. (LDS Genealogical Library, Brent Wade Moll
http://www.angelfire.com/pa5/mollpa/1850s.html)
Peter lived to age 79, dying on June 8, 1879. His wife Mary Anne survived him until 1888.
