Maria Magdalena Bicher ²

   Another name for Maria was Maria Magdalena Bücher.

   FamilySearch ID: K8JY-3VT

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Census in 1790 in Lebanon, Dauphin, PA. ⁴ In the 1790 census Jacob Beacherd is listed in Lebanon township, Lancaster County, with this household:
Males under 16 (born 1775-1790) = 2 (sons Jacob and William)
Males 16 and over (born <=1774) = 1 (father Jacob)
Females = 2 (daughter Magdalena and mother Catherine).

2. Census in 1810 in Lebanon Twp., Dauphin Co, , PA. ⁵ Jacob Beker is listed in Lebanon Township in Dauphin County with this household:
Males (born)
16-25 (1785-1794) = 1 (either son Jacob or William)
45 & over (<=1765) = 1 (father Jacob)
Females (born)
Under 10 (1801-1810) =
10-15 (1795-1800) = 1 (daughter Magdalena)
45 & over (<=1765) = 1 (mother Catherine).

3. Cause of Death: consumption, 8 Aug 1812, Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. ² Her burial record at Salem Lutheran Church reads: "Sept. 26, 1812 Nickolas nee Bicher Mar. Magd. Bicher, born January 27, 1780. Confirmed. Married Henr. Nickolas April 5, 1801. Had 2 children. Both dead. She died of consumption. Aged 32 years, 8 months and 31 days.

4. Tombstone: Tombstone read: Maria Magdalena Bicher Jan 27, 1780 Aug 8, 1812., 8 Aug 1812, Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. ²

5. She has conflicting burial information of Graves moved to Mount Lebanon Cemtery, Nov 1898 and Lebanon, Lebanon, PA. Jacob Bicher Sr., his wife Maria Catharina, and their son Jacob Jr. were originally buried in the old Salem Lutheran Church cemetery. Located at the corner of 8th and Willow Streets, this land was set apart for burials in 1765.

In late 1898, the church required the cemetery land for a new Memorial Chapel and parking lot. Ironically, the church hired Jacob's grandson, William Beicher, to handle the relocation. Between September and November of that year, he reinterred the remains from the old graveyard into a single, unidentified vault at Mount Lebanon Cemetery.

Church records from the time indicate that many tombstone inscriptions had already become illegible. Fortunately, several inscriptions had been documented years earlier in Egle's History of Lebanon County (1883). According to Egle, the stones read:

Jacob Bicker: b. Dec 1, 1758; d. Feb 23, 1842

Johan Jacob Bicker: b. Dec 18, 1782; d. 1812

Maria Catharina Bicker: b. Sep 25, 1747; d. Dec 8, 1830

Additionally, church records confirm the existence of a fourth stone:

Maria Magdalena Bicher: b. Jan 27, 1780; d. Aug 8, 1812

While Egle recorded the surname as Bicker, church records\emdash including christening rolls\emdash consistently use Bicher. It is highly probable that the weathered "h" on the original headstones was misread as a "k" during Egle's transcription. Further burial data can be found in Frederick Weiser's 1969 publication, Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church Burial Records, 1773\endash 1876.

Maria married Henry Nickolas on 5 Apr 1801 in Lebanon: Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lebanon, PA.^{1 2}

  Marriage Notes:

Witnesses were Jacob Bucher and Henry Siech. ¹