Dr. Samuel Christopher Wiestling Sr. ^{2 3 4 5 6 7}

   FamilySearch ID: KF5Q-Y79.

  General Notes:

John Gottfried Fritchey and Samuel Wiestling were friends who came from Germany together and later married two daughters of Casper Bucher.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. He immigrated from Germany on 4 Oct 1783 to , Chester, PA. ^{1 2 5}

2. Residence: in 1793 in Susquehanna Twp., Dauphin, PA. ⁸

3. He has conflicting death information of 20 Apr 1823 and Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA. ⁵

4. He has conflicting death information of 10 May 1836. ¹

5. Book: Pennsylvania Genealogies, Mainly Scotch Irish And German, 1896. ²
1. SAMUEL CHRISTOPHER WIESTLING b. June 4. 1760 at Oschatz, in the Canton or district of Meisisehen, Germany, during a visit of his mother to her parents. The home of his parents was Colba, on the river Saale, in Lower Saxony. Inasmuch as the military law of Prussia required all Prussian officers and citizens to have the name of every child recorded in the church-book of the town wherein it was born, this was done in his case. The record was also made in the military canton-book or soldiers' roll of Oschatz. He was baptized shortly after, his sponsors being Samuel Ludwig Goldman, Christopher Henry Ahren, and Mrs. Catharine Elizabeth Wiestling, all residents of Colba. His parents were CHRISTOPHER MARTIN WIESTLING and Dorothea Elizabeth Goldman. His father, who held the office of secretary of Colba, and was widely known, died in 1769. The widow afterwards married Michael Horst, a justice of the peace, of Acken, on the river Elbe, in whom Samuel found a kind parent; was sent to school, and carefully educated. Subsequently, being influenced and guided by the counsel of his preceptors, Herr Ruprechtand his brother-in-law, the Honorable Inspector Gehring, his step-father persuaded him to study theology, and through the recommendation of those mentioned, he was received into the Ilallische Weisenhaus. But this life was irksome to him, and unsuited to the natural bent of his mind, and, becoming discontented, he returned to his home at Colba. In April, 1774, he was placed under the instruction of the State Surgeon and ''Land Physician,1' Dr. linger, but the doctor having died on the 1st of May, 1776, he, with a good recommendation, went to Halle, and put himself under the care and tuition of Field-Surgeon Ollenroth, with whom he remained until 1778. This gentleman very kindly secured for him regular college privileges, under Professors Makel, Nestsky, Dr. Younghaus, and others. As war broke out about this time between the Emperor Joseph and King Frederick II. - the bone of contention being Bayern, and a part of the Prussian army being stationed in Alsace, under Prince Henry - he was recommended by his principal for the position of Lazar-Surgeon, and was accordingly examined and appointed on June 3. 1778. On July the 1st, the army marched to Dresden, and the field hospital was removed to Thorgan. In the beginning of October, he was taken sick, in consequence of which he obtained leave to return home. On recovering his health, in November, he went to Halle and resumed his studies under the professors already named, until the year 1779, when he went to Dresden for the purpose of continuing his studies in anatomy in the then existing preparatory institute, under the care of the Elector's counselor, Pietrochen. Here the branches of anatomy, physiology, physics, materia medica, chemistry, pathology, and therapeutics were as thoroughly taught by Dr. Hoffrath and Professors Meiden and Thomrianie as they were in Halle. But botany was neglected, though chirurgery was also thoroughly taught by the general surgeon, Wilda In the spring of 1780, he went to Berlin to prosecute, under the Berlin State Accouchour, Dr. Hagan, his studies in obstetrics, which he had already commenced at Halle, under Catenins, Loesicke, Schmucker, and Thedus. He remained during the summer in a private college of medicine, chirurgery, and anatomy. In October of the same year he returned to Dresden, to visit the preparatory school of anatomy. In April of the following year he went to Amsterdam, to visit John Herman Osterdyke, who had been his intimate friend in Halle, and who was now a doctor of medicine in Amsterdam. This afforded him an opportunity to visit the Land and Sea Hospital located there, and also the Amsterdam College of Medicine and Surgery, of which Dr. Herman Gerhard Osterdyke, the father of his friend, was the president Through the kindness of the general surgeon of the hospital, the Hon. B. Hasson, he had free access to the Gast-Huys. His friend going to Halle to hold his "Inaugural Disputations," in order to the promoting, under the supervision of Dr. Leopold Ostcrdyke, and at his earnest persuasion he gladly accompanied him. He remained in Halle, until April, 1782, when he returned to Amsterdam, where he attended the Hospital and College of Medicine and Surgery until June of 1782, when he was appointed to a position as navy doctor and surgeon, he having passed a creditable examination before the Committee of the Honorable Board of Admiralty. At this time an expedition started out from the Netherlands to America, under the ambassador from Holland, with two ships laden with linen, a frigate, and a cutter. He was ordered to duty on this expedition as navy surgeon. lie set sail on June 4, 1788, with a favoring wind. His record says. "We left Texel, and on October 4, 1783, we reached the port of Chester on the Delaware, in Delaware county, and State of Pennsylvania. The voyage was not all smooth sailing, as we encountered high winds and rough seas. Indeed, on one occasion, one of the vessels came very near swamping and emptying us all out into the sea. However, with hard work, good management, and the interposition of a kind Providence we kept above water and arrived safely on terra firma." As it was obligatory upon all students and artisans in Germany, to travel and see the world before they could pursue the practice of their chosen profession or trade, our young doctor concluded to see something of the new world before returning. He accordingly left the vessel in company with a friend named Godfrey Fritchey, and started on foot on a tour of observation. They traversed middle Pennsylvania which was not then as now, "the garden spot of the world," but was sparsely settled, and the whole country deeply impressed with the desolation and devastation consequent upon the Revolutionary war. Visions of the "home beyond the sea," however, beckoned them to return, and they turned their footsteps towards Philadelphia with a view of finding a vessel to carry them home. At the Trappe, in Montgomery county, in Pennsylvania, they fell in with a gentleman by the name of Messemer or Minsker, who was proprietor of an inn at that place, who, learning that the subject of this sketch was a thoroughly-educated German physician, succeeded in persuading him to tarry with him, as he had a sick wife, who had been bedridden for a long time, and upon whom he had expended quite a sum of money to physicians, to little or no purpose. This was an episode in his life that shaped his destiny for the future. This man offered to pay him twenty dollars in hand, with his boarding for self and friend, and find the medicine. He regarded this a good and advantageous offer, under the peculiar circumstances, and accepted it. The case was a serious and obstinate one, and although it baffled others, he was entirely successful, and tins fortunate turn of affaire afterwards proved to be the foundation of a large and paying practice at the Trappe. About the year 1792 or 1793 he, with his family and that of his father-in-law, removed to Dauphin county, locating on farms along the Blue mountain, on the road leading from the Susquehanna river to Linglestown. His new home was about two miles from the river and five miles from the city of Harrisburg, in now Susquehanna township. Here he continued in pursuit of his profession until the spring of 1811, when they removed to the town of Harrisburg. where his practice greatly increased, until the year 1817, when he was stricken with paralysis, which terminated his medical career. He died April 28, 1823, in the sixty-third year of his age, thus ending a life of active usefulness, respected by all who knew him. Dr. Wiestling m.. May 10, 1785, ANNA MARIA BUCHER, b. September 7, 1765, in Montgomery county, Pa. ; d. May 10, 1836. in Harrisburg, Pa.: daughter of Casper and Catharine Bucher of Paxtang.*
They had issue :

2. i. John-Solomon, b. September 18, 1787; m. Salome Youse.

3. ii. Annn-Maria, b. June 29, 1789; m. Abraham Gross.

* CASPER BUCHER, of Paxtang, Dauphin county, Pa.; d. September.
1800, leaving a wife Catharine, and children as follows :
i. Rev. John-Casper.
ii. Elizabeth ; in. Jacob Engle.
iii. Catherine; m. Henry Goetz.
iv. Anna-Maria ; m. Dr. Samuel C. Wiestling.
v. Dorothea ; m. Godfrey Fritchey.
vi. Magdalena; m. Henry Shiley.
vii. Jacob.
The executors of his estate were his wife, and Jacob Bucher, Esq.

4.iii. Samuel-Christopher, b. April 24,1791; m. Henrietta Doll. iv. Jacob-Henry, b. January 22, 1783, in Vincent township, Montgomery county, Pa.; d. 1826, at Hanover, York county, Pa. He was educated at Harrisburg, studied theology under the Rev. Philip Gloninger there, and was licensed by the Reformed Synod to preach the gospel in 1812, and about the same time received and accepted a call to Hanover, York county, Pa., which included three congregations in his charge. Owing to some difficulty with reference to the Manchester congregation, he stood disconnected from the Synod for some years. In 1821, application to that body was made in his behalf, and in the following year he was received. Several other congregations were added to his charge, and his field of labor consisted of five congregations, in which he continued to preach to the end of his life. He died at the age of thirty-three years, and is buried in the grave-yard connected with the Reformed church at that place. Mr. Wiestling was a man of talent, and more than ordinary pulpit abilities. He was conscientious and faithful in the discharge of all his public and private duties, and his piety and moral deportment were of an undoubted and unexceptionable character. Respected and esteemed by the community generally, lie was especially beloved by the people of his own charge, among whom he labored with much acceptance. He m. Rachel Wagner, and they had issue, J.-Quincy, d. s. p .; and Maria-K.
v. Elizabeth-Dorothea, b. June 3, 1795; m. Norman Callender;
they lived and died in Meadville, Pa.; and had issue (surname Callender) :
1. Samuel-N. ; m. Eliza Harbine.
2. Cornelius-W. ; d. 1885, in Tennessee.
3. Joshua ; d. in infancy.
4. Joseph; d. in infancy.
5. Elizabeth.
6. Maria.
7. Ellen ; m. Philip Laufer.

5. vi. Joshua- Martin, b. February 28, 1797 ; in. Catharine Youse.
vii. Frederick-C., b. June 12, 1799 ; d. February 27, 1834.
viii. Sarah-Magdalena, b. May 29,1802; d. February 0,1840;
m. Rev. Henry Wagner; and had issue (surname Wagner) :
1. Theophilus-Wiesting, b. September 4, 1829; m.
Mary A. Stilz.
2. Samuel-Gross, b. October 4, 1831 ; m. Rebecca
3. Maria-Catharine, b. January 28, 1833 ; d. July 9,
1834.
4. Catharine-Elizabeth, b. October 22, 1834 ; d. September
24, 1836.
5. John-Henry, b. January 28, 1837; m. A. Josephine
Withers.
6. Caroline-Sarah, b. March 23, 1838; d. March 28,
1861.
7. Sarah-Magdalena, b. January 30, 1840 ; d. March
27, 1840.

6. ix. Benjamin-Joseph, b. September 16, 1805; m. Matilda Eveline
Ross.
7. x. George-P., b. May 4, 1808; m. Margaret Berryhill.
xi. Catherine-E. b. February 21, 1810; m. John A. Weir (set
Wallace and Weir).

6. Diary: Diary of Eilizabeth Midaugh [Bucher] Brown (1833-1926), in 1903,. ⁹ Dr. Wiestling was such a legend that as late as 1903, members of his wife's Bucher family were telling family stories about him, one of which was recorded in the diary of the young Eilizabeth Midaugh [Bucher] Brown (1833-1926), daughter of George Bucher (1792-1846) and granddaughter of George Bucher (1768-1829), who was Casper Bucher's son. Here is what she recorded:

An old doctor the cousin of Ma's / father an eminent physician in Germany was known as a witch doctor. His name was Weislin and had rel. in Harrisburg Penn. Ma's mother told Mary unremarkable stories of him He was highly educated and knew just when he was going to die. He performed unremarkable cures. One person he did not undertake to cure because he would need three years to do it in and he as a doctor did not have that long to live. When he died he burned all his witch books. He could not die in peace and leave them, because he said if they fell into the hands of an evil disposed person he would be able to do so much harm with them.

7. Book: History of Dauphin County, 1907. ¹⁰

July 3, 1818, the German Reformed Salem Church of Harrisburg was incorporated by the following persons: …Members…John Horter… Jacob Bucher…Samuel Wiestling…
[note: other names left out. Horter and Wiestling families included since they married into Bucher family. See books for full text.].

Samuel married Anna Maria Bucher, daughter of Casper Bucher and Catherine Wannemacher, on 10 May 1785 in , Montgomery, PA.^{1 2} (Anna Maria Bucher was born on 7 Sep 1765 in Colebrook Twp., Berks, PA,^{2 3 11 12} died on 10 May 1836 in Harrisburg, Dauphin, PA ^{2 11} and was buried in Harrisburg: Harrisburg Cemetery, Dauphin, PA ¹¹.)