How I Found My Laubach Ancestry

by Allen. V. Heyl, Colorado

          This article may inspire you, if you are still seeking your roots, as you read of one man’s patient search, with the help of the Laubach book, The Reinhart Laubach Family, The First Five Generations.

I long knew I was descended from the Laubachs on my mother’s side. I recently found a partial Laubach genealogy in a Laubach family Bible, which was written in the unusually bold handwriting of my great-grandfather, Adam Laubach, of Siegfried’s-Northampton, Pennsylvania.

      I was pretty sure that I was a direct descendant of Reinhart, who brought the family to Pennsylvania in 1738. But I had no way of tying my great-grandfather, Adam, to the earlier Laubachs. Unfortunately, great-grandfather Adam had died in an accident in 1905.

      My older brother, John Heyl, who is still with us at 96, stated emphatically that we were not related to the Rev. Frank C. Laubach or his son Robert S. Laubach. I accepted this view until recently, even though it did not seem correct.

      I finally found out that there was a new Laubach Family Association, which had revived the long inactive old one, for which my great Aunt Minnie Laubach had been secretary in the 1920s.

      I joined LFA even though I lived in Colorado and could not attend the meetings. I contacted the LFA News Editor, Robert S. (Bob) Laubach. He assured me that we were related through Reinhart’s descendants. But how?

      The answer came from the Laubach Family Association history (the book mentioned above). I purchased a copy. On page 145 of that book was printed the genealogical key that tied Bob and me together with the older generations of Laubachs.

      “My Adam” (1827-1905) is listed as the tenth child of John Peter Laubach (1788-1857) and Elizabeth Neligh. A footnote says that Adam first married Deborah Stofflet, my great-grandmother. She died young in 1862, possibly of tuberculosis. But she gave birth to my grandmother, Clara J. Laubach, who had at least two brothers, one of whom died young. The other brother, Howard Laubach, married and had three children, Christine and twin boys, who became ministers. I think they are still alive.

      Adam remarried; his second wife was Caroline Laury of Laury’s, Lehigh County, PA. They had two daughters, Elizabeth Laubach Stem and Minnie

Laubach, who never married. I remember my step-grandmother, Caroline, when I was a very young child. She was a famed local business woman who success-fully picked up her father Adam’s business of a retail store and hotel, a lumber yard and a coal yard and ran them for many years.

      Caroline was a fine person, loved and revered by all of her family. Her cooking was famous among her family and friends. This is my Reinhart Laubach line:

(1) Johann Reinhart (1667-1739)

   (2) Johann Christian (1699-1769)

       (3) Johann Peter Laubach (1736-??)

          (4) Adam Laubach )1763-1847) Revolution Veteran

              (5) John Peter Laubach (1788-1857) m. Elizabeth Neligh

                     (6) Adam Laubach (1827-1905) m. Deborah Stofflet

                             (1829-1867) The author’s great-grandparents

                     (7) Clara Jane Laubach Kleppinger

                                (1852-1973) The author’s grandmother

                         (8) Emma Laubach Kleppinger (1878-1939)

                                  m. Allen V.Heyl Sr. (1874-1932)

                                       The author’s parents

                            (9) Allen V. Heyl (1918-) The author and wife

                                    m. Maxine LaVon Hawke (1926-1993)

                                 (10) Nancy Caroline Heyl Swointek (1954-)

                                       (11) Joy Swointek (1984-)

                                       (11) Mathew Swointek (1986-)

                                  (10) Allen David V. Heyl (1958-)

                                       (11) Tamisin Alaine Heyl (1987-)

                                       (11) Clorinda Maxine Heyl (1990-)

                                       (11) Allen Antonio Heyl (1992-)

                                       (11) Jennifer Melissa (1997-)

Allen Heyl lives in Evergreen (P.O. Box 1052), Colorado 80431

LFA NEWS

A Publication of Laubach Family Association

Published in March, June, September, December

Dr. Bob Laubach, Editor

226 Stratford St., Syracuse NY 13210-3052

(315) 474-3869 Email: boblaubach@aol.com

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Laubach Family Association is Open to

All Laubachs and Friends of Laubachs

Dues are $10 a year; send check payable to LFA to

Lou Laubach, Treasurer, 823 W Walnut Street

Allentown, PA 18080 Phone: (800) 752-2006

(Ask for the Laubach Family Association)

Slatington, PA 18080-3836 Phone: (610) 767-6153