• Born: December 12, 1719 in Württemberg, Germany
• Immigrated: Sept. 27, 1740 in Philadelphia
• Died: April 22, 1783 in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania (Burial place unconfirmed)
• Spouse:  Anna Maria
  • Born: 1739
  • Died: March 1792?
• Married: February 23, 1759
• Children: Johannes, Antony, Anna Catharina, Maria Elizabeth, and Johann Jacob

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Our Fox lineage can be traced to German immigrant Matthias Fuchs, born on December 12, 1719, in Württemberg, Germany.  The following synopsis of his immigration and life in Pennsylvania was provided by Mr. Leslie Gerhart:

“Matthias Fuchs came to America on the ship Lydia, James Allen, Master, from Rotterdam and qualified at Philadelphia, September 27^th 1740, at the age of 21 years.  He was born in the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, December 12, 1719, and died April 28(?), 1787, age 64 years, 5 months, and 18(?) days.  He was a member of the Faulkner Swamp Lutheran Church, and is buried there.  His resting place is marked with a good tombstone.  The name of all his children are in the Baptismal Record of said Church.

He resided on the “Manor of Douglass” formerly “The John Penn’s Manor,” later “The McCall’s Manor” including the whole of Douglass Township (then in the County of Philadelphia in the Province of Philadelphia) Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Deed Book H 12, pp 484-86 at City Hall, Philadelphia on Record: Andrew Elliott and Elizabeth (McCall) Elliott, his wife, grated unto Matthias Fuchs (alias Fox) and his heirs assigns a tract of land in Douglass Township (part of the McCall Manor) containing 156 acres and 61 parches of land.

December 3, 1774 Martin Sensenderfer and Hannah, his wife granted unto Matthias Fuchs 50 acres and 15 parches of land situated in the Manor of Douglass, aforesaid.

And whereas he became in his lifetime seized in his demesne as of fee he made is last will and testament dated the 19^th of April A.D. 1783 and duly proved and remaining in the General Register Office at Philadelphia, in which said will he Nominated, Constituted and Appointed his second son, John Fuchs and his friend, Bernhart Gilbert as executors.  In which said will are the names of all his children – which names are the same as those in the Baptismal Record of the Faulkner Swamp Lutheran Church.”

Matthias married Anna Maria (maiden name unknown) on February 23, 1759.  Anna Maria lived from 1739 to approximately March 1792.  Matthias died on April 22, 1783.

Matthias’s Parents

Tracing Matthias’s parents is difficult due to the scarcity of records from that time period.  Some family trees on ancestry.com that list a Matthias Fuchs with the same birth and death dates as our Matthias show three earlier generations:

• Matthias’s parents, Johann Cristophel Fuchs (1683-1711) and Johanna Elizabeth Korsing (1688-?)
• Grandparents Johann Phillip Fuchs (1663-1698) and Catherine Neitzert (1664-1698)
• Great-grandparents Christoffel Fuchs (1636-1698) and Maria Lnu (1640-1680).

The accuracy of these names and dates can only be speculated, however.

The Children of Matthias and Anna Maria

According to the baptismal records of New Hanover Lutheran Church in Gilbertsville, the couple had five children who survived infancy:

Johannes was born on June 10, 1761 and married a woman by the name of Margaretha.  Based on church records, it can be inferred that among their children were Johann Jacob (b. 1784), Catharina (b. 1785), Matthias (1793-1795 and buried at New Hanover), Friederich (b. 1794), Margaretha (1796-1797), David (b. 1797), Susanna (1799-1801 and buried at New Hanover), and Salome (b. 1801).

Antony was born on March 25, 1763.  He died on November 29, 1843 and is buried at New Hanover Church.  He married a woman by the name of Elizabeth.  Based on church records it can be inferred that among their children were Jacob (b. 1792), Margaretha (b. 1795), Susanna (b. 1797), Johann Jonas (b. 1800), Elizabeth (1802-1814), Lydia (b. 1804), Ruben (b. 1810), and Judith (1813-1840).

Anna Catharina was born on January 28^, 1765.

Maria Elizabeth was born on April 3, 1767 and died on October 16, 1776 at the age of 9 years, 6 months.

Johann Jacob is discussed here.

The Final Resting Place of Matthias & Anna Maria

The exact location of Matthias & Anna Maria Fuchs’ final resting place remains something of a mystery.  The account of Matthias’s immigration and settlement (page 6) states that “He was a member of the Faulkner Swamp Lutheran Church, and is buried there.  His resting place is marked with a good tombstone.  The names of all his children are in the Baptismal Record of said Church.”

However, no “Falkner Swamp Lutheran Church” ever existed.  This confusion likely arises from the close proximity of the Falkner Swamp Reformed Church and the New Hanover Lutheran Church; both churches exist within half a mile of each other in Gilbertsville, are the oldest of their type still existing in the country, and once shared a Sunday school building.

Matthias Fuchs’s name is found in “A History of the Lutheran Church in New Hanover, Montgomery Co., Penna.” along with his daughter, Maria Elizabeth, a few of his grandchildren, and several other “Fuchs” who may or may not have belonged to the same family.  The record lists Matthias’s death date as April 22, 1783, at the age of 64 years, 6 months, and 18 days.  Notably absent from New Hanover’s list of deaths, however, is Matthias’s wife, Anna Maria.

Representatives from New Hanover Lutheran Church have confirmed that, despite the family’s presence in the church for many years, no record of either Matthias’s or Anna Maria’s interment in the cemetery exists.  Extensive searches of the cemetery have also been unsuccessful in locating their final resting places.

Upon inquiry into whether Matthias and Anna Maria may have been interred at the neighboring Falkner Swamp Reformed Church, a representative of that church provided the following information on an “Anna Maria Fuchs,” one of only two “Fuchs” in their death records:

“On page 10 in our Death & Burials (meaning the pastor’s records) we show: Anna Maria Fuchs, widow of Matthew March 1, 1792 53-3-14

I show no other reference to the name FUCHS in our burial or cemetery records.  In the first book on Death & Burials (our reference pg. 10) there is a place for the pastor to record the place where the deceased is buried, in the case of Anna Maria Fuchs this was left blank.”

Since no information regarding when Anna Maria was born has been found to date, it is impossible to know whether this Anna Maria Fuchs is the same.  Chances are high that it is, however, especially since “Matthew” is an Anglicized version of Matthias.  Assuming that “53-3-14” indicates that this Anna Maria lived 53 years, 3 months and 14 days, she would have been born in 1739.  This would make her 20 years younger than Matthias, but old enough to have borne their first child in 1761.

The best theory I can propose is that Matthias’s funeral was likely held at New Hanover, but that if he was buried in the church’s cemetery it went unrecorded, and any tombstone he may have had has since been lost.  As for Anna Maria, assuming that the record at Falkner Swamp is for the same Anna Maria Fuchs, it is likely that she moved to the Reformed church after her husband’s death.  This would have been around the time that the present Falkner Swamp church building was constructed. Her funeral was most likely held there, but like Matthias, if she was interred in a church cemetery there is no written record of it and no surviving tombstone to serve as proof.

A final possibility is that the couple was buried on their property, though locating such a burial ground over two centuries later would, unfortunately, be nearly impossible. 

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