1756 Maria Appolonia, daughter of Johann, was confirmed on 26 June before the congregation at Pikestown, Chester County, Pennsylvania. [1]
Research Notes:
A memorial stone for Abigail Hartman Rice (1742-1789) is at Saint Peters Lutheran Church Cemetery, Chester Springs, Chester County, Pennsylvania. [2] An early memorial had the following notes.
Maria Apollonia was known as Abigail for short. She came to America with her parents on August 15, 1750 on the ship "Union Royal" landing in Philadelphia. Records show that during the Revolutionary War, she was a nurse in the Yellow Springs hospital in Chester County (near Valley Forge). She died in 1790 from Yellow Fever she had contracted while on errands of mercy carrying food and delicacies to the invalid soldiers. Her gravesite is listed in the Abstract of gravesites of American Patriots.
Maria Appolonia (Abigail) Hartman was born on 4 Sep 1742 in Wurtemburg, Germany (1,2). The Daughters of the American Revolution Patriot Index has her birth date as 4 Sep 1752. The Lucas Family Genealogy has it as 4 Sep 1742. She emigrated on 15 Aug 1750 and arrived on the ship "Royal Union" at Philadelphia, Penn (3,4). The "Royal Union" was captained by Commander Clement Nicholson of Rotterdam, fomerly of Clowes. Her father's name was located in the ship's passenger list, which only listed males. She died on 6 Nov 1789 of typhus contracted while woring as a nurse at Yellow Springs Hospital during the Revolutionary War Pikelan (5). She was buried at St. Peters Lutheran Church, Clover Mill Road, East Pikeland, Chester County, Pennsylvania (2).
On September 11, 1777, Washington encountered General William Howe's army at the Battle of Brandywine. As the battle ensued and the casualties mounted, Washington soon realized that he was hopelessly outnumbered and poorly supplied to resume the fight. He wisely decided to withdraw, saving his men to "fight another day". During his retreat, Washington and his staff officers stopped at the Rice farm and asked Abigail if they could have some water. She sent one of her daughters to retrieve a pitcher of water from their well, to which she added some sugar, spices, and rum, making a drink that was popularly known as "flip". Abigail handed the drink to him and said, "Here, my Lord." Washington quickly replied, "We have no titles here, we are all brothers." As General Washington drank this beverage, Abigail's five-year-old daughter, Susannah, approached him. Washington smiled, picked her up, and sat her on his knee while he finished his drink. For Abigail's contributions during the war, there is a chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in her name in Washington, DC. There is also a plaque in her honor in the Bell Tower at Valley Forge. Parents: Johannes (John) Hartman.
Abigail, a mother of 21 children, served as nurse at a hospital during the American Revolutionary War. Location: Chester Springs, Chester County, Pennsylvania. [only the stone base ruins survive]. Yellow Springs Military Hospital was built during the American Revolutionary War. The only military hospital ordered by the Continental Congress to be built during the war.
Sources to review:
1. Daughters of the American Revolution Patriot Index.
2. John Lucas of Eastern NC Descendants and Kinfolks. (http://www.lucas-family.org)
3. Jordan. History of Juniata County, PA, Volume: 2, Page: 691-694.
4. Prof. I. Daniel Rupp. A Collection of Upwards of 30,000 Names (German, Swiss, Dutch, French). GPC, 1965.
5. Davis Leeper Descendants. (hometown.aol.com/jasuzd/myhomepage Leeper website)
Died of Typhus fever Nov. 6, 1789. Epitaph on head stone: "Some have children, some have none. Here lies the mother of 21". Buried at St. Peters Cemetery.
"Zachariah Rice was born in Bavaria, Germany in 1731. He came to the United States on the ship Edinburgh, and docked in Philadelphia on September 16, 1751. He settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, near the town of:Yellow Springs. In 1757 Zachariah married Marie Appolonia "Abigail" Hartman. Abigail was born in Wurttemburgh, Germany on September 4, 1742, the daughter of Johannes and Margaret Hartman. She was 15 years old when she married Zachariah and he was 11 years older then she was. Abigail's father, Johannes Hartman, gave the newlyweds a two-hundred acre parcel of farmland, on which they built their home. Zachariah was a Millwright by trade and built the first Clover Mill in the United States [note the name of the road where the Rice home stands] During their marriage of 33 years, Zachariah and Abigail had twenty-one children, seventeen of whom survived to adulthood. Abigail is buried at St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Chester County, Zachariah was buried at Juniata County, Pennsylvania." (Source: hometown.aol.com/jasuzd/myhomepage Zachariah Rice website)
See also: [3]
[1] Frank Ried Diffenderffer, "German Exodus to England in 1709," Pennsylvania German Society Proceedings and Addresses 7 (1897), 256-, at 516, [HathiTrust].
[2] Find A Grave Memorial 176058485, [FindAGrave].
[3] Robert Elliott Flickinger, Flickinger Family History, (1927, Des Moines Iowa), 304, Names Abigail, baptized as Maria Appolonia, as Zachariah's wife, [GoogleBooks].