Common Misconceptions

The Troutman Family of North Carolina

A Genealogy from 1690 to 1850 with some records up to 1900

12 Common Misconceptions in Troutman genealogies

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While I am certain that my research contains many errors, there are a few misconceptions which I have found in other Troutman family research. This comes from a very thorough study of all previous Troutman research I could find, including the Bernard Cruse research at the Lutheran Synod in Salisbury, North Carolina. This knowledge also comes from hundreds of church, cemetery, marriage, deed, probate, will, court, military, tax list, census, and other records. These misconceptions will be elaborated upon more in the 52 Troutman Sketches, but for now I just want to point out a few of them. Some of these are not actually misconceptions, but North Carolina Troutman lines on which very little research has previously been done.


1) Eve Troutman (Anna Eva Trautmann), who was born 26 aug 1746 in Germany, did not die during the 1751 voyage to America. Rather, she was the daughter Eve, wife of Peter Correll, that Peter Troutman (1716) named in his will in 1792 in Rowan Co, NC.


2) The Troutman family did not come south to North Carolina until February 1770 at the earliest, assuming they all migrated south together. Barbara Troutman (1770) was born 11 Feb 1770 in present-day Lehigh Co, PA and baptized there, the daughter of Adam Troutman (1743), and his wife Margaret. The Troutman family may have migrated to North Carolina in piecemeal fashion, with the families of Peter (1716), Melchior (1729), and Adam (1743) making the move at different times. The first church records of the Troutman family in North Carolina are from 1775, and the first civil records are from 1778.


3) Adam Troutman (1752), son of Melchior Troutman (1729) and Anna Heist, moved to present-day southwest Alexander Co, NC (then western Rowan Co, NC) where he married Eve Kennert in 1775. The area they lived in became Burke Co, NC in 1777, and Adam was listed in the 1790 Census there. Adam (1752) then moved to Iredell Co, NC, where he died. His widow, Eve (Kennert) Troutman, and his brother, Jacob Troutman (1767), were named administrators of his estate on 10 Mar 1797. Eve (Kennert) Troutman then took her family to present-day Catawba Co, NC (then Lincoln Co, NC). Those Troutmans in the 1850 Census in Catawba and Lincoln Counties were descendents of Adam Troutman (1752).


4) Jacob Troutman, son of Peter Troutman (1716), was not not Peter's son John (1750), but was rather born 22 Sep 1768 in Berks Co, PA and baptized 16 Oct 1768 at Mertz Church in Berks, the same day as his nephew, Adam Troutman (born 3 Sep 1768), son of Adam (1743). Jacob (1768) married Elizabeth Lingle (a daughter of Lorentz Lingle) and they had several children in Rowan Co, NC before moving to Butler County, Ohio about 1809. The family of Samuel Garver, who was married to Jacob's sister, Elizabeth Troutman (1757), had moved to Butler Co, OH about 1804. Jacob (1768) died in Butler Co, OH between 1840 and 1850, but his son Peter Troutman (born 22 Jul 1793 in Rowan Co, NC) was living in 1850, as well as two grandsons from his son Lawrence Troutman (11 Jul 1800) who died in Butler in 1847.


5) Peter Troutman, son of Peter Troutman (1716) was born about 1761. This is based upon his confirmation date of 7 Apr 1778 at Organ Lutheran Church in Rowan Co, NC, as well as census records and tax records (you had to be at least 21 to be listed as a poll). He married Catherine Lingle (a daughter of Lorentz Lingle) about 1785. Catherine (Lingle) Troutman was still living, age 88, in Cabarrus Co, NC at the time of the 1850 Census. The last record of Peter Troutman (c1761) alive was when he attended the baptism of his daughter Sophia (born 13 Jan 1806) on 27 Apr 1806. Cabarrus Court records mention him as deceased on 20 July 1806. His tombstone at Grace Lowerstone Church in Rowan Co, NC has only his name (Peter Trautman) and the year of his death, 1806. Peter Troutman (c1761) was very close to the family of his nephew, Adam Troutman (1768), probably due to the fact that Peter's land in Cabarrus Co, NC, which was on the Cabarrus/Rowan county line, was very close or adjacent to the land of Adam (1768) which was in Rowan Co, NC and also on the Rowan/Cabarrus county line. Both Peter (c1761) and Adam (1768) had daughters named Sophia (Adam's daughter Sophia was born 5 Apr 1806) and both Sophia Troutmans were baptized on the same day, 27 Apr 1806, at Organ Lutheran Church in Rowan Co, NC. Two of Adam's sons, John (1801) and Henry (1803), married two of Peter's daughters, Elizabeth (1799) and Margaret (1796) respectively.


6) There was no such person as "Michael Melchior Troutman." This person was supposedly born 2 Nov 1744 in Germany as the son of Peter Troutmanm (1716), married Christine Sifford on 4 Sep 1801 in Rowan, and was buried 3 Aug 1852 in Rowan. This person would have been very amazing to have lived to be 106 years old in the 1800s. This "Michael Melchior Troutman" was in fact a conglomeration of three distinct people: Melchior Troutman (born 2 Nov 1744 as the son of Peter), and Melchior's sons, Michael (born about 1773) and Melchior (born about 1776). It was Michael (c1773) who married Christine Sifford on 4 Sep 1801. Michael apparently died after the 1830 Census. Melchior (c1776) apparently never married and was still living in 1850. He died in Aug 1852 and was buried by Rothrock on 3 Aug 1852. Melchior Troutman (1744) died in July 1798, before his father Peter (1716), died in 1799. Peter Troutman (1716) never updated his will, which he wrote in 1792. The death of Melchior is mentioned in the records of Pastor Storch, who preached his burial on 30 July 1798, and in Rowan Court records for Aug 1798: Administration of the estate of Melcher Troutman granted to Eve Troutman & Michael Troutman who qualified and gave bond with Michael Hartman. Eve Troutman was the widow of Melchior (1744) and she was born as Eve Hartman, as proved by the will of George Hartman in 1811 in Cabarrus Co, NC. George Hartman apparently had no children of his own, because in his will he names his wife and then the children of his brother, George Michael Hartman, and his sister, Eve Troutman. George Michael Hartman was generally just called Michael Hartman, probably to avoid confusion with his brother George Hartman, and he was the Michael Hartman who was security for the administration of the estate of Melchior Troutman (1744). In George Hartman's 1811 will, he named the children of his sister, Eve Troutman, as Michael, Mary, Melker [Melchior], Peter, George, Andrew, Eve, and Katy [Catherine]. Melchior (1744) may also have been the father of the Jacob Troutman (c1774), who was buried on 20 Sep 1796 by Pastor Storch, who noted in his diary that Jacob was 21 years old. However, I lean a little more toward Jacob (c1774) being the son of Adam Troutman (1743). Not a great deal is currently known about the daughters of Melchior (1743). His sons, Michael (c1773) and Melchior (c1776) I talked about above. Peter (1780) moved to Cabarrus where he married Catherine Peck and was known as Peter Troutman the Blacksmith, and he has a readable stone at St. Stephen's Lutheran Church in Cabarrus Co, NC. George (c1782) also moved to Cabarrus; his wife was Margaret Sifford. Not much is known about Andrew (c1783) except that he moved to Cabarrus, his wife's first name was Margaret, and he died in 1845 (Cabarrus court records). This Andrew Troutman (c1783) has often been confused with his first cousin, Andrew Troutman (1784), who was the son of Adam Troutman (1743).


7) Andrew Troutman (1784) was the son of Adam Troutman (1743). Although there is no direct proof, the closeness of Andrew in deed and census records to Adam Troutman (1768), a known son of Adam (1743), indicates that Adam (1743) was his father. Furthermore, only 3 men in the Cabarrus/Rowan region could have been his father: Adam (1743), Melchior (1744), or Peter (c1761). The wife of Peter (1716), Elizabeth Gartner, was far too old to have children by 1784, and Jacob (1768) was not yet married. Melchior (1744) did have a son named Andrew, who was Andrew Troutman (c1783) named in the will of George Hartman in 1811 in Cabarrus. However, this Andrew Troutman (c1783) died in 1845, whereas Andrew (1784) was still living in the 1850 Census. Peter (c1761) also had a son named Andrew, Andrew Troutman (c1786), who died in 1805 and is buried right next to his father in Lowerstone Church cemetery in Rowan (his tombstone reads "Andres Trautman 1805"). This leaves Adam (1743) as the only possible father of Andrew (1784) and his proximity to the children of Adam Troutman (1768) in the 1850 Census bolsters this conclusion. Andrew died in 1857; his tombstone at Lowerstone Church says he died 9 May 1857, aged 72 years and six months. His widow, Elizabeth, left a will in Rowan naming her children as Solomon, James, Andrew, and Samuel. Samuel (1827) was shown as living with Andrew (1784) and Elizabeth Troutman in 1850. The maiden name of Elizabeth, wife of Andrew (1784), is currently unknown. I found some undocumented sources listing her birth name as Bean, but I have found evidence suggesting she was a Fesperman.


8) John Absalom Troutman (born in Cabarrus on 21 Jan 1821) has often been reported as the son of Jacob Troutman (1797) and his wife, Mary "Polly" Harkey. John Absalom (1821) was in fact the son of Jacob Troutman (1788) and Christina Walcher. Jacob Troutman (1797) was the son of Adam Troutman (1768), which is proved by his will in Rowan Co, NC, in which he names the childen of his brothers, John and David Troutman, and the children of his sister, Sarah Earnhardt. John (1801), David (1808) and Sarah (c1810), were all known children of Adam (1768). Jacob (1797) had no known legitimate children who lived to adulthood. He did have an illegitimate daughter, Lucy Almond, by Ann Almond (Rowan Co, NC bastardy bonds) and he named both Ann Almond and Lucy Almond in his will.

Jacob (1788) was the son of Peter Troutman (c1761). He died in 1829, and his widow, Christina, was named the administrator of his estate in Cabarrus court records. Christina (Walcher) Troutman died just before the 1850 Census (she is listed in the 1850 Mortality Census for Cabarrus) and John Absalom Troutman (1821) was named the administrator of her estate in Cabarrus court records. John Absalom was the only one of Jacob and Christina's six children to remain in North Carolina, eventually moving from Cabarrus to Stanly Co, NC. His five brothers and sisters moved to Montgomery County, Illinois. Simeon Troutman (1822), son of Jacob and Christina, is the ancestor of all the Troutmans in Montgomery Co, IL. By the way, the Troutmans in Union County, Illinois were the descendents of Peter Troutman (c1790), son of Peter (c1761). Peter Troutman (c1790) had two other children who did not settle in Illinois, Monroe Thomas Troutman (1825) and Edmund Troutman (1829). Monroe Troutman (1825) married his cousin, Amelia Troutman (1829). Amelia Troutman's parents were also cousins, John Troutman (1801), son of Adam (1768), and Elizabeth Troutman (1799), daughter of Peter (c1761). Monroe and Amelia lived in Stanly Co, NC until the mid-1870s, when they moved to Saline County, Arkansas, where they were for the 1880 Census. Edmund Troutman (1829) married Frances Culp and they moved to Newton County, Missouri; Edmund was killed in the Civil War.


9) Micheal Troutman (c1773) and his wife, Christina Sifford, had four children attributed to him in baptismal records of Organ Lutheran Church: George (1802), Henry (1805), Elizabeth (1807), and Amelia (1816). Besides these, he also had at least one other child, John Troutman (c1810). John (c1810) married twice, and in the record of his second marriage to the widow Prudy (Turner) Carter on 15 Apr 1869 in Rowan Co, NC, he named Michael and Christina Troutman as his parents. Henry Troutman (1805), son of Michael (c1773), married Maria Fesperman and died about 1855 in Rowan with no known children (Rowan Co, NC estate records). Despite the fact that there is a tombstone for a Henry Troutman in St. Stephen's cemetery in Cabarrus Co, NC with the same birth date as Henry (1805), son of Michael (c1773), this tombstone was not Henry (1805), but rather Henry Troutman (1793), son of Peter Troutman (c1761). See Note #10.


10) The Henry Troutman who married first Elizabeth Eisenhauer and secondly the widow Rachel (Trexler) Casper, was not Henry (1805), son of Michael (c1773), but rather Henry (1793), son of Peter (c1761). The dates on Henry's (1793) tombstone at St. Stephen's Lutheran are simply dead wrong. Henry's age in every census indicates he was born prior to 1800, and he was listed in the 1880 Mortality Census of Cabarrus as Henry Troutman, age 86, died in May 1880. Henry (1793) was born 13 Nov 1793 and baptized at Organ Lutheran Church in Rowan as the son of Peter Troutman. In a series of deed records from May 1827, in which the heirs of Peter Troutman (c1761) divided his estate, Henry (1793) was listed as Henry Troutman, Sr. This was to distinguish him from Henry Troutman (1803), son of Adam (1768), who was married to Margaret Troutman (1796), sister of Henry (1793). Henry (1803) was listed in these 1827 deeds (and in the 1830 Census of Cabarrus) as Henry Troutman, Jr. The most definite proof that Henry Troutman (1793) was the son of Peter (c1761) comes from these deed records in 1827. The piece of land which Henry (1793), as an heir of Peter (c1761), bought from his brothers and sisters in 1827, was the same exact piece of land that he and his second wife, Rachel, sold to Henry's (1793) son, Henry Moses Troutman (1839) on 18 Jun 1870; the lengths and angles of the sides of the property match precisely. How the birthdate of Henry Troutman (1805) got on the tombstone of Henry Troutman (1793) may always be a mystery. One theory I have is that Henry (1793) did not have a tombstone until several years after he died, or that his original stone was somehow destroyed. When his tombstone was finally placed (or replaced), his family was no longer sure of his birthdate, so they consulted the baptismal records of Organ Lutheran Church. Going backwards through the records, the very first Henry Troutman they can across was Henry Troutman (1805). They must not have noticed that this Henry was listed as the son of Michael Troutman. This is just a theory, as I said, we may never know why the wrong dates are on this tombstone, but it sure has confused Troutman genealogy.


11) The William M. Troutman (1809) who lived in Iredell Co, NC was correctly reported in Descending Jacob's Ladder to be NOT descended from Jacob Troutman (1767), which made his family unique among Troutman families in Iredell Co, NC. However, William M. (1809) was incorrectly reported as being the son of Jacob Troutman, son of Peter (1716). As shown in Note #4, Jacob Troutman (1768), son of Peter (1716), moved to Butler Co, OH about 1809. William M. was born 2 May 1809 and baptized at Organ Lutheran in Rowan as the son of George Troutman; his tombstone at St. Martin's Lutheran Cemetery in Iredell matches this birthdate exactly. The parents of William M. Troutman were George Troutman (c1782) and Margaret Sifford; George's will in Cabarrus, dated 21 Mar 1860, lists William Troutman as his son. William M. (1809) was living in the household of George (c1782) in the 1830 Census of Cabarrus. Later that year, on 18 Nov 1830, he married Salome "Sally" Stirewalt in Rowan Co, NC. The marriage was reported in the 7 Dec 1830 edition of the Western Carolinian newspaper as William Troutman to Miss Sarah Stirewalt on 19 Nov 1830 in Rowan County. The marriage bond from Rowan Co, NC is dated 11 Nov 1830. Salome Stirewalt was born 10 Mar 1809 and baptized at Organ Lutheran as the daughter of Michael Stirewalt; this birthdate matches the birthdate on the stone of Sally Troutman, next to W. M. Troutman, at St. Martin's Lutheran Cemetery in Iredell. Salome was often mistakenly listed as Sarah, probably because she went by Sally, which was commonly known as the nickname for Sarah. Salome Stirewalt's parents were John Michael Stirewalt and Anna Maria Hoffman. Michael Stirewalt's will from 1833 lists, among others, wife Anna Maria, and daughter Sally Troutman. Salome (Stirewalt) Troutman's mother, Anna Maria (Hoffman) Stirewalt, is buried at St. Martin's Lutheran Cemetery only four stones from Sally Troutman, her daughter; her stone reads Anna M. Stirewalt, 20 Apr 1779 to 1 July 1860, aged 82 years, 2 months, 11 days. Willam M. (1809) and Salome Sirewalt Troutman inherited land from her father Michael Stirewalt in Rowan Co, NC. They sold this land to William Smith; Sally Troutman was interviewed by county officials away from her husband to insure she was not being coerced by her husband into selling the land, a good indication that this land was her inheritance. Shortly after selling the land in Rowan, William M. Troutman (1809) bought land in Iredell Co, NC, which was in the midst of his distant cousins, the Troutmans of Iredell Co, NC descended from Jacob Troutman (1767). William M. (1809) had a son named Miles (or Milas) and several grandsons and great-grandsons with this name, suggesting that his middle initial, "M," stood for "Miles."


12) Two Troutman lines remain in question. These are Paul Troutman of Newberry County, South Carolina, and George Washington Troutman of Mitchell County, North Carolina. Paul Troutman was apparently missed in the 1850 Census of Newberry Co, SC. In 1860, he was listed as age 38, born in SC, and in 1870 he was listed as age 60, born in NC. He "disappears" after 1870, probably dead. In subsequent censuses, his children indicate that their father was born in NC. A Paul Troutman was born 26 Jun 1812 and baptized at Organ Lutheran Church in Rowan Co, NC as the son of Andrew Troutman. If this is the same Paul who was in Newberry Co, SC, then his father was either Andrew Troutman (1784), son of Adam (1743); or Andrew Troutman (c1783), son of Melchior (1744). However, Elizabeth, widow of Andrew (1784), did not list a Paul when she listed her heirs in her will. This would seems to indicate that Paul (1812) was the son of Andrew (c1783). So little is known of Andrew (c1783) that this is indeed possible. Again, all of this depends upon whether the Paul Troutman in Newberry Co, SC in 1860 and 1870 was the same as the Paul born 26 Jun 1812 and baptized at Organ Lutheran. What is needed is some evidence that the Paul Troutman in Newberry was actually born 26 Jun 1812. One of Paul's sons is buried at the cemetery of St. Phillip's Lutheran Church in Newberry, and perhaps that church has some records on Paul and his family. For now, I have tentatively assigned Paul (1812) as the son of Andrew (c1783).

George Washington Troutman (c1816) was listed as born in NC in the 1850 and 1860 censuses of Yancey Co, NC. After the part of Yancey where he lived became Mitchell Co, NC, he was listed in Mitchell in 1870 as born in SC, and in 1880 as born in NC. His children all reported their father was born in NC. The 1870 Census listing him as born in South Carolina does introduce some doubt as to whether George Washington Troutman (c1816) was related to the rest of the North Carolina Troutmans at all. He fought in the Mexican American War, and I ordered his pension file, but the only genealogical data that reveals is that his wife's maiden name was Matilda Ledford, that they married about 1840 in Bakersville, NC, and that he had a son and a brother (neither named) who fought for the Union cause during the Civil War. If George Washington Troutman (c1816) was related to the rest of the North Carolina Troutmans, then there were only a few men who could have been his father. Most of these, their sons are known, or they already had a son named George. I am tentatively assigning George Washington Troutman (c1816) as the son of Andrew Troutman (c1783).


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