Abraham Kurtz (1769–1830)
Christophel, Ascending and Descending Genealogy of Joseph Kurtz and Lydia Zug
Born 22 Feb 1769. Married Miss Fisher in Lancaster County about 1793; moved to Mifflin County, where she died 2 Jun 1808. “Later Abraham married Mrs. Madelene Zook (maiden name Lantz). They moved to Wayne County, Ohio, near Wooster.” Died 1830; buried 1½ miles east of Wooster.
Why he is in the tree: the 1889 Wayne County biography of Solomon K. Plank says his mother Fanny Kurtz (b. 3 Jun 1810, Huntingdon County) came to Wayne County at twenty “with her parents, Abraham and Magdalena Kurtz”, and that her father died there. Fanny was born two years after the first wife’s death, so she is a daughter of the second marriage. Place (Mifflin/Huntingdon), dates (move c.1830, death in Wayne County) and wife’s name all agree; no single record states the whole chain.
His grandfather was the immigrant Abraham Kurtz (arr. 1749), through one of the two sons born in Germany to his first wife (Christian or Jacob; the family never learned which). See Double ancestors: if right, Christopher descends from the immigrant Abraham Kurtz on the Ramseyer side as well as the Miller side.
The family chart
- Which son of the immigrant was his father, Christian or Jacob (born in Germany, came 1740): Berks/Lancaster tax lists and deeds of the 1760s–90s for Christian and Jacob Kurtz, and any baptism-sponsor or estate record naming an Abraham born 1769 task/ai
Children in this vault
- Veronica Fanny Kurtz (1811–1889) (second marriage)
Half-brother of Fanny: Joseph Kurtz (1808–), who married Lydia Zook in Fairfield County, Ohio (father of Bishop Jonathan Kurtz of Ligonier, Indiana).
Sources
- Christophel - Ascending and Descending Genealogy of Joseph Kurtz and Lydia Zug
- Commemorative Biographical Record of Wayne and Holmes Counties (1889)
Narratives and research
- Stories: Double ancestors
- Sources: Christophel - Ascending and Descending Genealogy of Joseph Kurtz and Lydia Zug
Open questions
- Death: 1830 (booklet text; MQR 1957) vs 5 May 1831 (booklet chart)
Research log
- 2026-11-01: Christophel booklet Table I (chart, image 11) read: confirms Fanny (b. 1810, m. Jeptha Plank) as a child of his second wife; his father is ‘Christian Kurtz (?) / Jacob Kurtz (?) — not sure which’; death given as 5 May 1831. Children: (1st wife) Barbara 1794, Jacob 1796, Elizabeth 1798 (m. Christian Plank), Abraham 1801, Magdelena 1803 (m. Samuel King), Anna 1805 (m. M. Plank), Joseph 1808 (m. Lydia Zook); (2nd wife) Fanny 1810, John 1812, Lydia 1813, David 1824
- 2026-11-01: Christophel Kurtz genealogy (archive.org ascendingdescend00chri): b. 22 Feb 1769; m. (1) Miss Fisher c.1793 (d. 1808, seven children incl. Joseph b. 1808); m. (2) Mrs. Magdalena Zook née Lantz; moved Mifflin Co. → Wayne Co., Ohio; d. 1830. Grandson of the immigrant Abraham Kurtz through Christian or Jacob (lead: which son not known)
- 2026-11-01: MQR 31 (1957) p.161 n.13 (Oak Grove history): ‘Abraham had lived in Lancaster county and in Mifflin county … before moving to Wayne, where he died in 1830’
Record compiled 1 November 2026.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.