Michael Family Genealogy |
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Follow this link to download a Descendant Chart of the descendants of Peter Broadwater Michael and Angelina Collins Michael. It was generated using the software program "Family Tree Maker for Windows v.11." In order to view this document, you will need to download and install the free Adobe Reader if you do not already have it on your computer. This outline may contain some errors and it is definitely incomplete, especially in regard to the younger members of the family. Please send updates and corrections to MichaelCemetery@comcast.net. |
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[Note: Philip Michael was our first Michael immigrant ancestor. Philip's son, John Michael, Sr. (1765-1855) and John's wife Mary Catherine Thankbonden (or Bonham) Michael (1768-1845) were the parents of George Michael (1800-1860). George and his wife Catherine Broadwater Michael (1808-1897) were the parents of Peter Broadwater Michael (1844-1904). This article appears to clear up some persistent confusion about Philip Michael.] |
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Excerpt from: "The Michael Family of Firm Rock Plantation," by Lee C. Michael, published in The Old Pike Post, Genealogical Society of Allegany County, Maryland, Vol. 22, No. 4, December 2005. "Most people with the surname Michael who live in Allegany and Garrett Counties [Maryland] are part of a single family tree. 'Michael' is a troublesome surname. It is often misspelled, mispronounced, given an 's' at the end, or assumed to be a first name. Regardless of the troubles 'Michael' caused nineteenth century census enumerators and modern-day telephone solicitors, members of the Michael family are proud to have inherited the surname from our ancestor, Philip Michael. Philip has been a source of much interest and controversy for Michael researchers. There are two distinct and opposing theories regarding, at least in part, the origin and life history of Philip. The first theory is based on a 1937 article in the Maryland Genealogical Bulletin, entitled 'The Michael Family of Western Maryland." It states that, 'Philip Jacob Michael came to America on the Snow Neptune from Lisbon, Portugal, and qualified, or took the Oath of Allegiance on July 27, 1770. Additional biographical details on the Philip Jacob Michael state that he was married to Anna Margaretha, lived 1736-1822, and resided in Pennsylvania for several years, and served in the Revolutionary War in a Pennsylvania unit. "More recent scholarship conducted by Michael family researchers rejects several key points from the 1937 article. We believe that Philip Michael, without any middle name, was born ca. 1738-40 and died ca. August 1818, emigrated from the German principality of Franconia (more or less located in southern Germany) on the ship Adventure from Hamburg. Philip qualified September 25, 1754 in Pennsylvania. We do not believe he spent any significant amount of time in Pennsylvania. Prior to residing in Allegany County, Maryland, Philip spent 20-30 years in Loudoun County, Virginia, after his immigration until just after the Revolutionary War. Philip served in the Revolution as a Virginia soldier, most likely guarding the western frontier against Indian attacks. (His son, John, Sr., served in the Maryland German Regiment as a corporal). His wife's name was Mary. She lived at least until 1802. Her name and this one date are all we know about her. Philip and Mary had up to seven children, with varying degrees of certainty. The four children with the greatest connection to Allegany/Garrett Counties are Elizabeth, John Sr., Mary, and William. "Elizabeth (1763-1843), born in Loudoun County, married Adam Sigler (1759-1847) in Loudoun County in 1778. Adam was a Methodist minister, and helped found the town of Westernport, Maryland. Mary, (1766/70-1840/50) born in Loudoun County, married Jacob Sigler (1761-1841), brother of Adam Sigler, in Loudoun County in 1782. John Sr. (1765-1855) married a Mary Catherine (1769-1845) in 1787 in Loudoun County. Records show Catherine's surname as either Thankbonden or Bonham. I believe that Thankbonden is a corruption of Bonham, a name that shows up near the Michael family in both Loudoun and Allegany Counties. It is my hypothesis that Thankbonden is based on a middle name of Thank or Thankful plus the surname of Bonham. In any case, John Sr. and Catherine are the progenitors of the largest branch of the Michael family, both in Allegany and Garrett Counties and across the country ... Subsequent generations stayed mainly in West Virginia, as well as Ohio and Maryland. "In Loudoun County, ... their neighbors included the Siglers, the Bonhams, and the Broadwaters, all names that show up in Allegany County in the early nineteenth century. Amos Broadwater wrote that his father, along with John Sr. and Catherine Michael, left Loudoun County because slavery made it impossible for white laborers to make a living. The Michael family moved in stages... John Sr. and William either left Loudoun County at the same time [1788], or one or two years later. Philip and John Sr. headed separate households in the 1800 census... "In Allegany County, the Michael family became substantial landowners. Between Philip and his son John Sr., the Michaels owned the following military lots: 3751-53, 3871-75, 3878-80, 4009-4011, as well as 'Warnock's Defeat' and 'Don't Turn With The World.' These properties, near the Allegany/Garrett Counties border on the east side of Big Savage Mountain, are called the Michael lands by the state forestry administration. Michael Run and Michael Road are legacies of the family's longtime presence in the area - the deed books in the Cumberland courthouse have 26 solid pages dedicated to Michael land transactions from the 1790s until the 1930s, with even more pages for more recent decades. The Michaels were farmers and blacksmiths, sawyers and a few even served as local judges and politicians. "Philip dies sometime before August 11, 1818, the date his son John Sr. filed his first account on the administration of Philip's estate, which was finally settled in 1820. His burial place is unknown. The first known Michael death in Allegany County was that of Philip's grandson, Joseph, son of John, Sr. Two weeks prior to his death, Joseph told his father that he thought a certain place on Firm Rock Plantation would make a good cemetery. Joseph died in a nearby coal mine in 1824 at the age of 15. Joseph's gravestone is the only fieldstone in the family cemetery: all the others are made of marble or granite. Firm Rock passed out of the immediate Michael family's possession when one of Philip's great-granddaughters married a Magruder in the late nineteenth century. The current farmhouse, itself at least a century old, is supposed to be built on the original foundation of the stone house built by the Michaels in 1806. "From these earliest Michael generations, my fellow family researchers and I have documented over 2750 people with some close association to the Michael surname, primarily descendants of John Sr. and William. The true number of Philip's descendants is undoubtedly much higher..." - Lee C. Michael |