Jacob Dickert

[spgordon]

Hi everybody,

I'm in the middle of writing a piece on Jacob Dickert for a new online encyclopedia of German immigrant entrepreneurs from 1720-1841 (http://www.immigrantentrepreneurship.org/volume-entries.php?rec=1) and am hoping that list-members might help with a couple of things.

A. Is anybody aware of Dickert documents in private hands that have not appeared in published sources? I'd be eager to know about any of these.

B. Does anybody know what institution (or individual) owns the Dickert naturalization document (1765) that was published in Kauffman, and Heckert/Vaughan, and elsewhere? I don't think that any of the books that have included images of that document have included information about where it is held...

C. If anybody who owns a signed Dickert rifle would be willing to have images of it used in this article--either anonymously or with the rifle owner's name mentioned--please contact me at spg4@lehigh.edu.

Thanks in advance for any help with any of these queries!

Scott Gordon

[DaveM]

Hi Scott - sounds like a cool project, I'll look forward to reading it.
This is something kind of interesting - it is a letter that Dickert wrote in 1769 after his father died.  He was from Berks County in Windsor Township and his parents had stayed there after Jacob went to Lancaster County.  When his father died this letter seems to demonstrate that Jacob was somewhat estranged from his father.  Hope this helps, 

[spgordon]

Wow!! That is fantastic! More than I could have expected when I asked!! Thanks so much for posting it.

(Do you own this letter--or how, if necessary, can I cite it?)

Thanks again!

[DaveM]

Scott, I found the source - actually you can cite the Berks County Register of Wills as that was where the original is stored.  Wish I could help you with item C! 

[spgordon]

Thanks again. According to the indexes on that site, the estate records for John Dickert contain six pages--so perhaps there's other info there about Jacob Dickert's parents, their occupation, etc. I really appreciate the lead! -- Scott

[mkeen]

Hi Scott - sounds like a cool project, I'll look forward to reading it.
This is something kind of interesting - it is a letter that Dickert wrote in 1769 after his father died.  He was from Berks County in Windsor Township and his parents had stayed there after Jacob went to Lancaster County.  When his father died this letter seems to demonstrate that Jacob was somewhat estranged from his father.  Hope this helps, 

The letter might not indicate that Jacob was estranged from his father.  His father might have already given Jacob his share of his inheritance. It was common in Pennsylvania German culture to give a great deal of money and goods at marriage and shortly after to help the son or daughter get started. In Pennsylvania Dutch it is known as aussteier. Sometimes in a will a child might only get a shilling. It can mean the child is estranged or they have already received their portion. The Germans almost always wanted to make sure all children got the same amount unlike the English. Jacob might be reiterating that he already received his share. It's hard to tell without studying the whole estate and his father's aussteier book.

Martin

[spgordon]

This document does tell us, though, that all the standard texts (Kauffman and Whisker, as well as more recent publications such as Flying Leaves and One-Sheets and the catalog to the recent Lancaster Long Rifle exhibit) are inaccurate when they state that Dickert moved with his family to Lancaster County. His father and mother seem to have remained in Berks County. Dickert's lebenslauf notes that, after emigrating with his parents, he "lived with them a few years in Berks County and in his 16th year came here [Lancaster] to learn the trade of gunsmith." So it sounds like he was sent to Lancaster to apprentice and lived with his master.

I went to the Registrar of Wills in Berks County today and saw the six documents that comprise the estate records of this John Dickert (spelled variously Tickert and Digert in these records). The inventoried items were worth about £14. John Dickert's wife, Mary, gave up the right of administration due to "infirmity" and "great Age" to "the Eldest son or (on his refusal or Neglect) to other persons" that the court shall appoint. That language sounds pretty formulaic. Jacob Dickert (who as the other document makes clear was not the eldest but the only son) refused the task, as you can see above, and others inventoried John Dickert's estate.