Siler Family History
Arrival in America
While family tradition says that Plikard Dederick Siler arrived
in America in 1741, published research on Palatine immigrants seems to indicate that Plikard actually arrived in Philadelphia
in September, 1738 on board the ship Two Sisters from
Rotterdam via Cowes on the Isle of Wight, England.
The book Pennsylvania
German Pioneers by Ralph B. Strass-
burger and William J. Hinke contains passenger lists of ships
that carried German immigrants to America. The book (3 vols)
was published in 1934 by the Pennsylvania German Society.
Vol. I contains the reconstructed passenger lists, Vol. III the
index, and in Vol. II you will find the enhanced and cleaned
up actual signatures of the immigrants arranged by ship.
Note that not all libraries carry Vol. II with the signatures,
but it can be found via inter-library loan.
The Strassburger/Hinke book also contains information on
the spelling of German names, German letter combinations
and their transcription, which is important in identifying the immigrants. In Plikard's case, it's useful to know that the
letters B and P were often interchangeable.
You may also view a reconstructed list of passengers on
the Two Sisters on the web at Progenealogist's Palatine Project.
Plikard's place of origin is shown as Ittlingen, Germany.
None of the ships lists
we have found so far include Elizabeth Hartsoe, making it difficult to
prove the family story that
Plikard and Elizabeth met on the ship.
Searching the web
for more information about Elizabeth will yield
postings on
various message boards and personal websites, some
indicating that she was born in Pennsylvania, rather than
Germany (no source reference).~ ♥ ~
Plikard's signature?
The second volume of the Strassburger/Hinke book shows
the actual enhanced
and cleaned up signatures of the
German immigrants from the ships' passenger lists in vol. I (indexed in vol. III).
The signatures of the immigrants indicate that they took
the oath of allegiance to the English King and the oath of
abjuration, giving up their previous citizenship. Immigrants
unable to write their own names made their mark
(an X or +) next to their names as signed by an official.
Scroll down the sidebar on the right to see a scan of the
signature believed to be Plikard's: "Bleinhart Dit.
Saillor."
Note the + by his name. See also the link to a PDF scan
of the whole page on which Plikard's signature appears. ~ ♥ ~
Books on the Siler Family
The Family of Weimar
Siler: 1755-1831 by Leona Bryson Porter
was published to coincide with the 100th Siler Family Meeting
in 1951.
If you do not have a copy of the book and need a look-up,
please send us an e-mail at info@silerdescendants.org and tell
us what you're looking for. We'll be glad to help.
Some years ago, an updated version of the Weimar Siler book
was in the planning stages. We are not sure, at this point,
if this project is still underway. If you have any information
about the update, please let us know.
The Siler Family by Arvid Ouchterlony Siler (1922) is available
for download as a PDF-file on Google Books.
Go to www.books.google.com and search for The Siler Family
by A. O. Siler.
The Siler Family: Roots and Shoots by Theodore E. Siler &
A. O. Siler (1982) is out of print and we do not have a copy
of the book. It is, however, available at several libraries.
Contact your local library to see if they have a copy or can
find one for you via inter-library loan.
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Genealogical Standards
Today's
genealogical research standards require that we do
not simply rely on
family lore and legend to build our family histories, but provide actual
proof of events such as births,
deaths, etc.
We have made every
effort to show where we have found the information posted on the Siler
Descendants site. Should you
have contrary information, additional
information or new information, we would love to hear from you.
If
you are new to Siler family research, we recommend that
you use the
Siler family books and the sourced information on
this site as a
starting point and work from
there.
Always independently verify the information found
in family
genealogies and given to you.
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New!! The Jesse Siler Sloan Family
Courtesy of Patricia Smith Levasseur, Louisiana
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On the back of the photo, the family is identified as follows:
Standing: Dick, Tim, Mama, Papa, Carter, Neville
Seated: Francis Tessier, Reby, Eleanor & Carolyn
Papa is of course Jesse Siler Sloan, and Mama is Georgia Augusta Neville Sloan.
The photo does not show Jesse and Georgia's fourth son, Harold.
Reby married Francis in 1912 and their first child was born in 1913. Seeing that the photo is showing the "Jesse Siler Sloan Family" and that none of Reby's and Francis' children are in the photo, we believe the photo dates to sometime between 1912 and 1913. If anyone knows more, please send us a note!
Go to the Photos page to see the picture in a larger format!
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New!! Tributes to Jesse Siler Sloan
Jesse Siler Sloan passed away in 1922. You may read his obituary (tribute by Franklin Press) on the Cemetery Page.
Jesse Siler Sloan by Reby Sloan TessierReby Sloan was the eldest child of Jesse Siler Sloan and Georgia Neville. She married Francis Monsanto Tessier in 1912. Franklin Bank Tribute to Jesse Siler SloanJesse Siler Sloan was a director and president of The Franklin Bank for many years. The above documents were given to Mark Tessier by his cousin, William Steele Smith Jr. back in 1999. We're delighted that technology has made it possible for us to scan the documents and post them online for the family to read.
The wonderful photo of the Jesse Siler Family was sent to us much more recently by Steele's sister, Patricia Smith Levasseur. Our sincere thanks to Pat and Steele!
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Plikard's Signature
The signature below is believed to be that of Plikard Siler. The + indicates that Plikard could not write, but made his mark next to his name as signed by an official.
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~ ♥ ~
Thank you to the
Pennsylvania German Society
for their kind permission to post the scan of Plikard's signature and the scan of the Two Sisters signatures page as they appear in the Strassburger/Hinke book.
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~ ♥ ~
Signatures of Two Sisters immigrants as they appear in the Strassburger/Hinke book Pennsylvania German Pioneers.
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Click here for a PDF version of the signatures page. You will be able to zoom in on individual signatures.
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