1750 Catharine Koffroth was born on October 20, 1750, in Cocalico Twp, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. [1]
1767 Maria Catharine Cafferoth and John Ernst were married on May 19, 1767, in Bethany United Church of Christ, United Church of Christ church, Ephrata Twp, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Maria Catharine Cafferoth was a child of John Gerhart Cafferoth. [2]
1772 John Ernst was taxed in Cocalico Twp, Lancaster County as a freeman. [3]
1773 John Ernst was taxed in Cocalico Twp, Lancaster County as a freeman. [4]
Catharine Koffroth married John Ernst. [5]
1780 John Ernst, perhaps this one, enlisted in the Pennsylvania Volunteers on August 8. [6]
A biosketch reports [7]:
John Ernst. Reformed. Born February 22, 1744. Appears in the Manheim township, York county, tax lists for 1775 and continues to appear until his death, usually being assessed for about 200 acres of land and in 1788 being identified as a cooper. The names of six of his children, born between 1773 and 1785, are entered in the register of Lischy's Reformed church, North Codorus township.
Was one of the men drawn into the movement begun by William Otterbein and others which eventually led to the formation of the United Brethren Church. Beginning in 1789, regularly attended conferences of Otterbein's followers. Preqached the opening sermon at a United Brethren quarterly meeting in 1798.
About 1785 or 1790 began serving Reformed congregations in York and Adams counties. May have been accepted by some nearby Reformed pastors who were themselves unable to provide all of these places with preaching and the sacraments. The congregations which he served, or probably served, include Lower Bermudian, Upper Bermudian, Paradise, David's, Jerusalem, Saddler's, Shuster;s, and Stehly's.
The name of John Ernst does not ever appear in the minutes of the Reformed coetus or the synod. His affilliation with a church body was clearly with a developing United Brethren one. Paul E. Holdcraft, historian of the Pennsylvania conferene of that church, listed him as its seventh minister.
In 1802 moved to East Berlin, Adams county, where Christian Newcomer, pioneer United Brethren leader, visited him on July 1, 1803.
Died August 30, 1804 in East Berlin, where he was buried. Was one of the victims of an epidemic which swept over a wide area and was fatal to many. His tombstone does not identify him as a pastor, but Newcomer called him "the Rev. Mr. Ernst" and the 1803 tax list, "minister".
The inventory taken on October 13, 1804 of the personal property of "Rev. John Ernst" included "one large housebible," a "himbook," and eighty other books of different kinds. The estate proceedings in Adams and York counties show that he left a widow, Catharine (1750-1810), and ten children. One young daughter died about two weeks after her father. The farm in Manheim township which he dad owned for thirty years was taken by his oldest son.
Sources: HM, pp. 415-416; Paul E. Holdcraft, History of the Pennsylvania Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ (Fayetteville, 1938), pp. 34, 35, 38, 268; Samuel S Hough, ed., Christian Newcomer: His Life, Journal, and Achievements (Dayton, 1941), p. 73; Manheim township, York County, and Berwick township, Adams County, tax lists, copies at the Adams County Historical Society; Adams and York counties estate papers for John Ernst.
[1] Willis Adrian Koffroth, Koffroth Family History (2000), 20, [FHLCatalog].
[2] Pennsylvania and New Jersey, Church and Town Records, 1708-1985, Bethany United Church of Christ, Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, [AncestryRecord], [AncestryImage].
[3] William Henry Egle, Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Volume 17 (Lancaster Taxables) (1897), 272, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].
[4] William Henry Egle, Pennsylvania Archives, Third Series, Volume 17 (Lancaster Taxables) (1897), 486, [GoogleBooks], [InternetArchive].
[5] Willis Adrian Koffroth, Koffroth Family History (2000), 20, [FHLCatalog].
[6] Jacob I. Mombert, An Authentic History of Lancaster County (1869), 320, [GoogleBooks], [HathiTrust], [InternetArchive].
[7] Charles H. Glatfelter, Pastors and people: German Lutheran and Reformed churches in the Pennsylvania field, 1717-1793 (1981), 35-36, [GoogleBooks].