This file submitted and copyrighted by: The Reverend Nelson Sulouff
Rev. Nelson R. Sulouff
1416 E. Mule Train Drive
Oro Valley AZ 85737-8834
An early resident of Berks County is the forefather of all SULOUFFs and virtually all SULOFFs in America. Immigrant Johannes Zulauf lived in Berks Co. from the Fall of 1779 to early 1792. He was shipped to America with Hessian soldiers who were sold by their German soverign to fight for the British during the American Revolution.
Johannes Zulauf was born in Germany in 1753 [computed from his gravestone near Port Royal, Juniata Co., Pa.] Family tradition states he was "from Elberfeld." This town is now incorporated as a suburb of Wuppertal, which lies in a picturesque valley at the northernmost curve of the Wupper River, a tributary that enters the Rhine River from the north near Cologne. Recent research questions the "Elberfeld" provenance and favors the town of Alsfeld-Hattendorf as Johannes Zulauf's ancestral home-town. An old hand-written note, traceable to Johannes' youngest daughter, Elizabeth, and passed down through generations of descendants, states that Johannes' father, Walter Zulauf, was killed during the Seven Years War in Europe.
Military records reveal that Johannes Zulauf arrived from Germany at Staten Island on 15 August 1776 in the Minnegerode Company of the Knyphausen Regiment. He participated in the battles of Long Island, Brooklyn Heights, White Plains, and in seizing Fort Washington on New York Island (Manhattan). Between 28 November and 14 December 1776 he marched with his unit across Jersey and was stationed at Trenton in December 1776. His name appears on a list of those Hessians who successfully evaded capture when Washington's forces raided Trenton the day after Christmas in 1776. He participated in the Philadelphia campaign: was at the Battle of Brandywine, spent the winter of 1777-78 in Philadelphia, was at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, and then returned to New York Island in July 1778. On 8 September 1779 he sailed with the British flotilla out of New York harbor, headed for Canada to stave off an anticipated attack from the French. The flotilla was caught in a fierce hurricane that scattered and battered the ships. Johannes' ship, a British brigantine named TRITON which lost both its masts in the storm, was captured by American privateers off the Jersey coast on 26 September 1779. On the list of prisoners taken off the ship, Johannes Zulauf is listed among four men categorized as "Servants to Officers."
He was held very briefly as a POW in Philadelphia and then was moved to Reading in Berks Co., where he arrived on the evening of 15 October 1779. For over a year he was held as a POW in Reading, during which time he and three other men served as attendants to the two Minnegerode Company officers, Captain Wiederhold and Lieutenant Breide. As attendants, they would have been in the private employ of the officers, would essentially have been civilians with a pseudo-military status, and would not have worn military uniforms. Johannes' duty with these officers ended when the officers were exchanged and returned to Manhattan Island in November 1780, at which time Johannes remained in Reading. His name does not appear on the rosters drawn up in the Spring and Summer of 1783 in preparation for return of the Hessians to their homeland.
Johannes' marriage record, written by Reformed Pastor William Boos and dated 28 March 1783 [pastoral acts book preserved in Reformed Church Archives, Schaff Library, Lancaster, Pa.], states Johannes was then a resident of Brecknock Twp., which lies adjacent to Robeson Twp. in Berks Co. His wife was Maria Margaretha Spahr, daughter of Johann Frederick and Anna Margaretha (Schnaeder) Spahr. Johannes' wife went by her middle name, Margaret. Her Spahr ancestry has been traced back to the late 15th C. in Germany and Switzerland. Tax records show Johannes was a farmer in Robeson Twp., Berks Co. beginning in 1783. On two of these tax records his name is spelled "John Sulouf." He and his wife had three, four, or five children born in Berks Co. before the family moved across the Susquehanna River to northern York Co. in early 1792. A 1792 deed shows that Johannes purchased 142 acres in Newberry Twp., northern York Co., Pa. (now in Fairview Twp.) The 2-story log house on this property, probably built by Johannes, is still in use. It now serves as the front portion of a frame building that triples the size of the original residence. The 1800 census shows Johannes with a wife, five boys, and four girls in his household.
Evidently the ten years spent on this farm were quite profitable. In 1802 Johannes purchased a 206-acre farm for 600 pounds Sterling, without encumbrance, near what is now Port Royal, Juniata Co., Pa. In this new locality he consistently used the name "John Sulouff" (except for signing his will), and that is the name inscribed on his gravestone. He and family are listed among those who helped to establish the first German Lutheran Church in the area, located at what came to be known as "Old Church Hill" a few miles southeast of Port Royal.
Numerous court documents related to settlement of the Zulauf estate, dated between 1838 and 1850, paint a picture of life on the farm in Juniata Co. The farm stretched for 0.7 mile along the Tuscarora Creek, which defined its southern boundary, and from there the eastern boundary stretched for a distance of 0.6 mile uphill to its northernmost corner. Its boundaries and fields were marked off by split-rail fences made from wood secured "on the place." Lower portions of the farm along the Tuscarora creek were subject to flooding each Spring. There was a hand-dug well under roof that provided water for house and barn, and a springhouse was erected over a spring where items that required cooling were stored. Next to the house was a sizeable truckpatch for growing vegetables, surrounded by a "pale" fence. There was a 100-tree apple orchard and a cider press. Beekeeping equipment indicates they had their own honey. Crops raised included wheat, rye, hay, corn, oats, hops, and clover seed. Livestock included chickens, horses, cows, pigs and sheep. Cobbler tools in the inventory suggest Johannes may have made shoes, or at least repaired them. The lot of equipment and tools in the inventory for both farm and house indicate this household was virtually self-sustaining, typical of the pioneer farming families who settled in this region at the beginning of the 19th Century.
Four sons and four daughters born to Johannes and Margaret married and had children. Some of the sons and grandsons changed their surnames from SULOUFF to SULOFF. Daughters married men named KUNKLE, SHULTZ, WISE, and NOETLING. At this writing (9/22/2001) the family historian has information on eleven generations, including 1954 descendants and 971 spouses of descendants.
Johannes wrote his will in 1828 and signed it "Johannes Zulauf." He died 23 May 1838 and is buried beside his wife, Margaret, in the churchyard of Old Church Hill Lutheran Church, Port Royal, Juniata Co., Pa. Three of his children are buried nearby, and this old churchyard contains graves of quite a number of Johannes' descendants. Today there are many SULOUFF and SULOFF families still living in the Juniata River Valley.
The above biographical sketch was condensed from a 485-page work, THE SULOUFF AND SULOFF FAMILY, published in January 2001 by Rev. Nelson R. Sulouff. Further details are available from the author at the ListServ E-mail address below.
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