Peter MOELICH

  Noted events in his life were:

• Biography: From 'The Story of an Old Farm' by Andrew Mellick. The Moelich Family in Germany


"The first of the name is Peter, who appears in or about the year 1500 on the register of the Lutheran congregation at Winningen. This place is a market town of about three thousand inhabitants, on the left bank of the Moselle, five miles above Coblentz. It has a background of lofty and precipitous rocks, every available spot of which is planted with vines, producing the best flavored wine of the Lower Moselle. Winningen is one of the most ancient settlements in Germany, the unearthing of numerous coins, bits of arms, and remains of masonry, proving conclusively its Roman origin. In the year 888 the place was called Windiga, the present name having first been used about 1136."

"In 1288 Winningen came into the possession of the county Sponheim, which resulted, a few years later, in its forming, like Enkirch, Trarbach, and other places on the Moselle, a strong Protestant enclave in the midst of the Roman Catholic Electorate of Treves. Since 1814 it has been part of the kingdom of Prussia, and for sixty years before that date was attached to the Grand Dukedom of Baden. During the year 1557 the congregation - whose register has supplied the little information I have regarding the Moselle Moelichs, - went over in a body, under the leadership of Father George Muller, to the reformed religion and, to-day, there are only Lutherans in Winningen. The church, which is a very plain but noble-looking Romanesque structure, was built soon after the year 1200. During the seventeenth century the side naves were raised, in order to introduce galleries, which of course much mars its original architectural outlines. Pastor Theveny, the present incumbent, exhibits with much pride a Roman baptismal font, and, if his visitors are willing to climb, he will also, show the fine large bells hanging in the tower. On one of them is inscribed "in godes namen lueden ich, matheus heis ich, henrich vom proim gois mich anno x vc unde seven." (In the name of God I do ring; my name is Mathens, and was formed by Henry of Proim in the 1507)."

"JONAS MOELICH, the 2nd great grandson of Peter Moelich, was born in 1650 in Winnengen on the Moselle, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, where his family had lived for at least the last 183 years. He married and had four children in Winnengen. George Thilmann 1678; Justinia Maria 1681; HANS PETER born on September 19, 1683; and Anna Apollonia. In the year 1668, when Georg was 10 years old and Justinia was 7, JONAS left his two oldest children in Winningen, and moved with his two youngest children to Bendorf, Rhineland-Pfalz, Germany. This town, of 4500 people is located on the right bank of Rhine, four miles below Coblentz. Like Winningen it was founded by Roman settlers early in the Christian era, they establishing a fortress there, which was destroyed by Huns, A. D. 875. The next known settlement at this point was in the eighth century when the nucleus of a population was formed by the establishing of a mission station in the vicinity by an English missionary named Wilibrord. The baptismal font of brown stone, now in the possession of the Evangelical Head-Church of that place, is said to have been the one used by this missionary in baptizing the converted Rhine heathens. About the tenth century, as recited in the old documents of the county, Wied, the Frankish kings set up here three courts. This attracted many settlers and the place, soon after, assumed the name of Bethin, or Bede, meaning cheap, said to refer to the low price at which land could then be acquired. Since then the name has gradually changed from Bethendorf and Bendendorf to Bendorf."

"Jonas established at Bendorf, a tannery, and became a prominent citizen and an assessor of the court. He married his second wife and had TWO children; Johan Michael born February 13, 1689, who remained in the place of his nativity and had there, children and grandchildren; and Maria Christina born September 25, 1691 who died in infancy. Jonas's wife died in May 11, 1693. After a while, he married his third wife, Gertraut Lucas. They had THREE children; Johannes born on February 14, 1695, who remained in Bendorf and had there, eleven children; Maria Cathrine born July 21, 1699, who died in infancy; and Anna Cathrine born April 17, 1704, who also died in infancy. His third wife, Gertraut died in 1718, and on September 24, 1719, Jonas married for the fourth time, the widow Elisabetta Pistoris. Jonas died at Bendorf in 1722, while Elisabetta lived another 20 years, dying at the age of eighty in 1742."

"When JONAS migrated from Winningen to Bendorf in 1688 he was accompanied by, Johan Wilhelm Moelich, the father of Johannes, who founded the "Old Farm," whose story is told in this volume. There is every reason to believe that if not the son, he was at least a nephew of JONAS. Four of Johan Wilhelm's children were named after the children of JONAS and as will be shown in the baptism of his nine children, in almost every instance, JONAS himself stood sponsor." Jonas MOELICH's third child was Hans Peter MOELICH."

"Johan Peter Moelich was the son of Hans Peter, of Bendorf on the Rhine, Germany, and the grandson of Jonas, who migrated to that place from Winningen on the Moselle in 1688. He was a brother of David and Johan Jonas, both of whom emigrated to America. Peter Melick (note the spelling change), as he was known in later life, was born probably on August 29, 1719, in Bendorf; with that his record ends in Germany. The date of his immigration is unknown, but it is probable that he came with his brothers to America. As neither his nor their names appear among those of the Palatine arrivals in Pennsylvania, they must have landed at New York. Unfortunately that colony did not require arriving immigrants to register their names with the provincial secretary. Peter is said to have remained with his brothers for some time in New Jersey, and then migrated to Pennsylvania, taking up land in the vicinity of where is now the village of Espy, in Columbia County. Here he cleared the ground of its primitive forests and engaged in farming, and here many of his descendants are still living."
http://www.jowest.net/Genealogy/John/Christian/Mellick.htm

• Biography: The story of an old farm, or, Life in New Jersey in the eighteenth century, 1889, Somerville, NJ. The story of an old farm, or, Life in New Jersey in the eighteenth century
Author: Mellick, Andrew D.
Description: The story of an old farm, or, Life in New Jersey in the eighteenth century. Somerville, N.J.: Unionist-Gazette, 1889.
Subject(s):
Mellick family.
Somerset County (N.J.) -- History.
Bedminster (N.J.) -- History.
New Jersey -- History.
New Jersey -- Somerset County -- Bedminster.
Table of Contents:
Front matter
Title page
Contents
The story of an old fram of life in New Jersey in the eighteenth century : Chapter I. The Peapack stage
Chapter II. The old farm--Its upland acres, broad meadows and ancient stone house
Chapter III. Bendorf on the Rhine--Johannes Moelich emigrates to America in 1735
Chapter IV. German exatriation--The distribution of Teuton emigrants in the American colonies
Chapter V. Johannes Moelich reaches Pennslyvania in 1735--His experiences in Philadelphia and Germantown
Chapter VI. Letters from the old country--Bendorf comes over the Dominion of the murdering Margrave of Anspach
Chapter VII. Johannes Moelich appears in New Jersey in 1747--All about his brother Godfrey
Chapter VIII. Purchase of the "old farm" in 1751--The title , and early New Jersey history
Chapter IX. The twenty-four proprietors of east New Jersey--George Willaock and the Peapock patent
Chapter X. Early New Jersey history continued--The story of the title completed--Somerset Land grants
Chapter XI. The building of the "old stone house"--Rendemptioners--White slavery in the colonies
Chapter XII. Johannes goes to the post office--Bedminster and the ancient township in 1752
Chapter XIII. Bound brook in the olden time--The Raritan Valley in 1752
Chapter XIV. From an Indian path to the Kings highway--New Brunswick and historic Piscataway
Chapter XV. Perth Amboy as a Provincial Capital--The appearance the city presented in 1752
Chapter XVI. Social aspects of Perth Amboy in 1752--The Gentry--Slavery--Travelling
Chapter XVII. Clearing the Bedminster land--Life on the "old farm" from 1752 to 1763
Chapter XVIII. The death of Johannes and Mariah in 1763--Changes in the township
Chapter XIX. More changes in Bedminster--The mills on Peapock Brook--Boyish reminiscences--Marriages and deaths
Chapter XX. The Muttering that precedded the stom of the revolution
Chapter XXI. The Declaration of Independance and the overthrow of the Provincial Government--The Arrest of the Royal Governor, William Franklin
Chapter XXII. The turbulent sea of the revolution--The soldiers of Somerset--William Alexander, Lord Stirling; Captian Andrew Malick, and private John Malick
Chapter XXIII. The British in New Jersey--Washingtons retreat to the Delaware--General Lee in Somerset
Chapter XXIV. The capture of General Charles Lee--His army encamps on Peter Melicks land in Bedminster township--The battle of Trenton
Chapter XXV. The Hessians in New Jersey--Just a Little in their favor...
Chapter XXVI. Washingtons march from Trenton to Morriston...
Chapter XXVII. Washingtons army at Morristown in the winter and sping of 1777--The "old farm" on a military thoroughfare
Chapter XXVIII. The continental army in Somerset County in the spring and summer of 1777...
Chapter XXIX. The State of Religion in New Jersey in the eighteenth Century...
Chapter XXX. Revolution events of 1777 and 1778...
Chapter XXXII. Festivities and ceremonies at camp Middlebrook...
Chapter XXXIII. The wedding of William Duer and Lady Kitty Stirling...
Chapter XXXIV. The cold winter of 1780...
Chapter XXXV. The mutinies of the Pennslyvania and New Jersey lines in 1781...
Chapter XXXVI. Peace--Prostration of the Country after war...
Chapter XXXVII. The old stone house in 1788...
Chapter XXXVIII. Some old manuscripts and their story...
Chapter XXXIX. The old papers continue their story...
Chapter XL. What the old papers have to say about the drinking habits of our forefathers...
Back matter
Index

http://www.familyandlocalhistories.com/2006/10/story-of-old-farm-or-life-in-new.htm

Peter married Apolonia. (Apolonia died on 13 Jul 1606 in Winnigen, Rheinland, Prussia, GERMANY.)