Matthias Geiger (later Kiger) and
his wife Anna Mary Halter arrived in Philadelphia in 1738 on the Snow Two
Sisters. Anna Mary was the daughter of Simon Halter, an expert glassblower at
Mattstall, Alsace, and the sister of Casper Halter, one of four glassmaking
experts who were brought to America by Casper Wistar to run what was to turn out
to be the first successful glass factory in America-- Wistarburgh, in Salem
County, New Jersey. In the early 1700s glassmaking was a highly skilled art that
one had to be born into--you didn't just decide to go into glassmaking. A
glassmaker would teach his legitimate sons the craft and thus glassmaking was
passed from generation to generation in a family. I think my ancestor Matthias
Geiger married into the glass industry--I find no record of his involvement with
glass prior to his marriage. I am not even sure exactly what his role was at the
Wistarburgh glass factory, but I know he brought his family to America to work
at the glasshouse in Salem County from Lembach, Alsace, France. Lembach had gone
through a hundred years as a Lutheran town, and in 1716 the Catholic Church was
permitted to establish a church there. Oaths of abjuration can be found in the
early Catholic records including at least one for a Geiger. So I don't know
whether my Geigers became Catholic in Lembach, or whether they had been Catholic
all along--but one thing is sure--when they came to America in 1738, they came
as Catholics.
Whether they knew what they would face
when they arrived in New Jersey or not, I will never know--but they faced a
Colony in which Catholicism was banned! For the first few years they were unable
to practice their chosen religion at all. They had a child baptized at the
Lutheran Church where many of the glass workers worshipped. They must have
longed to practice their Catholic faith because in 1743 a fellow worker Moritz
Lorentz invited Father Schneider of Goshenhoppen (now Bally) in Berks County,
Pennsylvania, to come to the glass factory to hold services for the small band
of Catholics who wished to worship there. This group of Catholics were among the
very first Catholics in New Jersey--their records are among the very earliest to
be found in the Goshenhoppen Registers--the earliest existing Catholic records
in the thirteen original Colonies.
Pennsylvania, unlike New Jersey, was
not strict in enforcing the English ban on Catholicism in the Colonies. Father
Schneider may have been introduced to my ancestor Matthias Geiger by Moritz
Lorentz. It must have been discussed that the Geigers were living in a house in
Salem County that was hidden and out of the way--the ideal location to hold
Catholic services in secret without being discovered by the authorities.
Beginning in 1744 The Goshenhoppen Registers of Father Schneider tell us that
baptisms and marriages were held in the Geiger House which is also referred to
in the register as the New Jersey Mission. The Priest would come to the Geiger
home wearing disguises and in some instances he was even shot at, such were the
obstacles he faced. He came on horseback and by small boat (since the Geiger
house was more accessible by water than by road). Beginning in the 1750s Father
Farmer from Old Saint Joseph's Church in Philadelphia took over from Father
Schneider and began making regular visit to the Geiger House. He came disguised
as a botanist since botany was his hobby. In this "role" he planted vegetation
that was not native to Salem County--and which continues to grow around the
house which still stands today--250 years later.
After the Revolution the visits to the
New Jersey Mission ended since it was now possible for Catholic Churches to be
built in New Jersey, and for the religion to be practiced legally. The house
remained in the Geiger/Kiger family until the 1870s when it was lost in a
sheriff's sale. In the 1940s an attempt was made (by those working with the
Historic American Buildings Survey) to verify that the house was actually the
original house in which the early ceremonies were held. At that time no one had
studied the Geiger family genealogy and it proved impossible to trace the
history of the property--there were too many Henrys and Matthiases to be able to
be sure the researchers had the right house and transfers of ownership. To make
matters worse the house was sometimes listed as being in Pilesgrove Township,
and sometimes listed as being in Mannington Township. In reality the house sits
right on Major's Run, a branch of Salem Creek, which forms the boundary between
Mannington and Pilesgrove. It is actually in Mannington (where the Mannington
floor coverings are made today). At one time there was a discussion of marking
this house as a shrine for the role it played in the history of the Catholic
Church in New Jersey. However, no one could be absolutely sure they had the
right house--so the matter was dropped.
In 1991 I compiled a complete early history
of the New Jersey Geiger/Kiger family. At the same time Janet Drumm Dirnberger
was compiling the records for her book New Jersey Catholic Baptismal Records
from 1759 to 1781. A sketch of the Geiger House appears on the front page of
this book. That sketch shows the house as it would have appeared at the time my
ancestors and those of the descendants of the other Catholic glass workers were
baptized and married. It is said to be the oldest existing building in which
Catholic services were held in New Jersey.
The photo at the top of this page shows
the sketch of the Geiger/Kiger House. Click on the photo to see the house as it
looks today.
Even though it became legal after the
Revolution to practice their faith in the "open"--the family still lived in an
area in which Catholics were a distinct minority. My 4th great-grandfather,
Henry Kiger, was baptized a Catholic and buried in a Baptist cemetery. His son
Mathias Kiger (my 3rd great-grandfather) was baptized a Catholic, married a
woman of Swedish descent who was a Moravian, and was buried in a Methodist
cemetery. By the time of Mathias' death in 1857 no known members of this family
remained Catholic. The descendants of this family today have, for the most part,
lost all knowledge of the important role their ancestors and the house played in
the history of the Catholic Church in New Jersey, and the risks they took to
defend their chosen faith.
My goal is to preserve that knowledge,
and to make certain that the sacrifices made by my ancestors are not forgotten.
Copyright© 1998 by
Joan M Young
[The
Geiger Connection Homepage]
