Display Patriot - P-340250 - Martin BOTTORFF/BATTORFF
Martin BOTTORFF/BATTORFF
SAR Patriot #:
P-340250
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: Patriotic Service
Author: Eric Troutman
Martin Battorff was born about Sepember 1699 in Pfalz, Bayern, Germany, the son of Johannes Peter Battorff and Maria Elisabetha Anspach. His parents, along with his sister Catharina Elisabetha, left Germany in 1709. Martin’s trip to America was quite an adventure. His parents were part of a group of about 3,000 Germans who were sent to New York in 1709 by way of England to manufacture naval stores ( tar and pitch) for the British Navy from the pine trees that dotted the Hudson Valley of NY. Many died on the voyage to America including Martin’s father. The project of striping the trees of their bark to produce tar never worked and the poor Germans were really left to fend for themselves afterwards. ` In 1723 about fifteen families, after being invited by the governor of Pennsylvania to come to Pennsylvania, left the Schoharie Valley, Livingston Manor, NY and rafted down the Susquehanna River to the Swatara creek and ended up in the Tulpehocken area of what is now northwestern Berks County, PA. As the years followed many more families left New York for the Tulpehocken area in PA. Martin, along with his wife Maria Elisabetha Walborn, were part of that first wave of Germans that traveled south to Pennsylvania. ` Martin had a farm in Bethel Twp., Berks County, PA where he and his wife raised a family of 12 children. His oldest daughter Credelis and son Herman were born while the family lived in New York, the other ten, Johann Adam, Anna Eva, Christian, George Peter, Anna Catharina, Maria Margaretha, Henrich, Martin, Maria Elisabetha and Eva were all born in the Tulpehocken area of what is now Berks County, PA. ` Many of Martin’s sons and grandsons were patriots of the Revolutionary War. Martin took the Oath of Allegiance to the state of Pennsylvania in Heidelberg Twp., Lancaster Co. (now Lebanon Co.), PA just over the border from Berks County, PA. The date he took the oath is not recorded although it took place during the years of the Revolutionary War. Martin died sometime after 1782 probably at his homestead in Bethel Twp., Berks County, PA. His place of burial is unknown.
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