The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: PA
Qualifying Service: Soldier / Patriotic Service
Dryland Union is also on the west side of Route 191 (Nazareth Bethlem Pike), about 1.5 miles north of Route 22. Dryland Union is about 70 yards NNE of Dryland Church Yard. Dryland Union Cemetery has gravestones. Dryland Church Yard has no gravestones. The grave stones have been removed and replaced with two large signs with the names of those interred
Dryland Union Church Cemetery is also known as Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery
Author: Woodrow John Wilson
Johan Jacob Biesecker was born at the village of Ittlingen, near Heilbronn, Germany, 31 January 1746, a son of Johan Conrad Biesecker and Eva Maria Funck.1
Biesecker married Maria Catharina Geres in 1775 at Northampton County, Pennsylvania. She is thought to be a daughter of Johann Phillip Geres. They lived at Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, Pennsylvania,2 and were the parents of nine children: Mary Magdalene, Margaretta Catharina, Conrad, Anna Elizabeth, Sarah, Barbara, John, Frederick and Michael.
Johan Jacob served three enlistments during the Revolutionary War according to muster rolls.3 He was a private in the Second Company of the Sixth Battalion of the Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Militia, under the command of Captain Alex Forsman and Colonel Jacob Stroud, in 1778. He was a private in the Second Company of the Fifth Battalion of the Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Militia, under the command of Captain John Long, in 1781. He was a private in Captain John Long’s Company at Mount Bethel, Pennsylvania, in 1782.
Maria Catharina Geres Biesecker died at Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in 1792. Johan Jacob died at Bethlehem Township, Northampton County, 17 December 1793.4 Johan Jacob and Catherine are thought to be buried at the Dryland Union Church Cemetery, at Hecktown, Pennsylvania.5
Biesecker’s Revolutionary War Service is recognized on a stone memorial to veterans of the Revolutionary War at the Dryland Church Cemetery, where he is listed as “Johan J. Biersedker,” born 1746 and died 1793.
Sources and References:
1. Baden, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1502-1985 (Ancestry.com)
3. Published Pennsylvania Archives, Series 5, Vol. 7, Pg. 369.
4. Dryland Union Lutheran Church, Northampton County, Pennsylvania, 1763-1832 (Ancestry.com).
5. Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots (Ancestry.com).
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Note: This biography has been edited and/or condensed with the permission of the author/contributor to conform to patriot biography submission standards.
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