I was asked, in response to my recent post about the Barnitz brewers of York, if they were related to brewer J. C. Barnitz of Harrisburg. Click here to read about the York brewers.
Good question, and the answer is Yes. It turns out that brewing was a traditional occupation in the Barnitz family during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
I didn't get a chance to research original records, so the information below was gleaned from several printed family histories and online resources:
Nicholas Barnitz, born in Hesse Darmstadt (Germany) in 1676 immigrated to Baltimore and supposedly established a brewery there. He had five sons: Conrad, William, Daniel, Leonard, and John George Carl. Daniel is to have stayed in Baltimore while Nicholas and the other sons came to York County.
One website gives John Leonard Barnitz and Elias Daniel Barnitz credit for establishing a brewery (later the Globe Brewing Company) at Hanover and Baltimore Streets in Baltimore in 1748. Another site credits W. Barnitz as being the first Baltimore brewer.
Nicholas...Leonard...Daniel...William...it all seems to be the same family.
Nicholas's son, John George Carl Barnitz, married to Anna Barbara Spengler, is said to have left his York brewery to two of his sons, Charles and John. His other children were Daniel, Jacob, George, Michael, Barbara, and Susan.
The York brewery I previously wrote about was that of A.M. (Albert McLean) Barnitz and D. W. (Daniel Wagner) Barnitz, sons of Jacob Barnitz, Jr. (also a brewer) and Catherine Wagner Barnitz. Albert and Daniel were grandchildren of brewer John George Carl Barnitz.
J. C. (John Charles) Barnitz was born in York in 1795, the son of George Barnitz (son of John George Carl) and Catharine Spangler. He learned brewing, and in 1831 moved to Harrisburg, the hometown of his wife Elizabeth Kunkle, and built his brewery there.
That seems to make J.C. of Harrisburg a first cousin of Jacob, Jr., father of the A.M. and D.W. who advertised that they were taking over their father's brewery business in 1857.
Confusing, isn't it. To make it more so, a quick perusal of a database of York County tax lists 1800-1850 lists at least ten different Barnitz family members as brewers in York or Hanover during that period. That was about half the total number of all the brewers in the county. I wonder if there are any family members still in the brewery business. Or maybe they just like a good beer.
Holy Moley. I know this is a really old blog but I just came across it and it is completely wrong. John George Charles was the York brewer-he emigrated in 1733 with father John Leonard and brother Daniel Elias. When he died in 1796 he left the brewery and lot ("on the west side of Walter St) to sons Charles and George. I didn't check to see if there were any updates to this entry but just wanted to clear this up-I have JCG Barnitz's will and he was quite specific about the brewery in it. My (very) great grandpa was another son of his, Jacob. Not quite sure who Nicolas and his sons were, but I'm interested if anyone has any info about them! Thanks
Thanks Sara. I don't know where I got that info, but I'm certainly glad you straightened me out. I'll see if I can figure out where I read it and do an update.
Where might I find more information on John Leonardt Barnitz? Our family records show John George Carl was the son of John Leonardt and the my 6th Great Grandfather was step brother to JGC Barnitz. Would appreciate any help in locating my ancestors.
Good blog! Love reading about the history of York County.
York County Heritage Trust Library/Archives has a lot of Barnitz information. If you live fairly close, you can come and do research 9-5 Tuesday through Saturday. If you live over 100 miles away, they do offer a research by mail service for a fee. See www.yorkheritage.org and click on Library.
Another descendant commented that the family information in the post, which I admitted that I gleaned from other sources, not original records, was not correct. We also may be thinking of different generations. It is especially confusing, because like most Pennsylvania German families, they limited themselves to a small pool of given names. Then it depends whether the name is Anglicized or not--Leonardt/Leonard, Jacob/James, Karl/Carl/Charles, Johan/John etc. Also in most cases John Adam would be called Adam, John Henry would be called Henry, for example. (Same with women--Anna Maria = Mary, Anna Catharina = Catharine.)
Good luck with your Barnitz family. An amazing number of them seemed to be brewers, which doesn't help sort them out by occupation either.