The GEIGER/KIGER HOUSE

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.