May 27, 2023
Pages 4620
Whole Number 173
CHRISTIAN NEWSWANGER
PURCHASER OF LAND FROM WILLIAM SPARKS (ca. 1725-1801/02)
In the article on William Sparks (ca. 1725-1801/02) in the Quarterly of June 1991 (Whole No. 154), we gave the text of the deed dated April 26, 1764, by which William Sparks sold to Christian Newswanger his 283-acre farm in Frederick County, Maryland (see page 3764). Sparks disposed of his farm in preparation for moving, with his family, to that part of Rowan County, North Carolina, that is now Davie County, in the Forks of the Yadkin. We had no knowledge of Christian Newswanger when we prepared this article, but we speculated that he was probably a member of the German community in Frederick County.
Recently we learned that Jay Lipps, 1539 Sandpiper Ct., Sunnyvale, California, 94087-5045, has done research on the Newswanger family, and he has been able to identify Christian Newswanger for us.
Mr. Lipps uses the spelling "Neiswanger" for the family to which Christian "New swanger" belonged, observing that very few names in America have as many variants as does this name, "Newswanger" being one of them.
The Christian Neiswanger (or Newswanger) who purchased William Sparks's land in 1764 had been born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, on January 23, 1735, and had been baptized in the Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster. His first name was Johann, but, as was often true in German families of that time, he was known by his middle name, Christian. His father, also named Christian, had been one of eighty Palatine male immigrants who arrived in Philadelphia in 1728. He died in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1762, his only heir being his son, Christian, v/ho married (first) Mary Catherine Hany (or Harry) in 1753 and (second) to Anna Margaret Good in 1761. He moved with his family from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, to Frederick County, Maryland, in 1764, the same year that he purchased William Sparks's farm there. Christian Newswanger died in Frederick County, Maryland, in 1802.