Plankenhorn Family History & Genealogy

History

Catherine Plankinhorn was born abt 1730 in the Chesapeake Bay States and died 24 Apr 1780 in Surry Co., NC. Jackson researchers over the years have tried to find Catherine Plankinhorn's parents or anyone by the name of Plankinhorn. Every available source has been researched in the states of NY, PA, MD, NJ and DE. The libraries in Washington,DC including the Library of Congress and the D.A.R. Library has been searched. Research was done in archives, county seats and tax records and in all of this research, only two small articles have been found on the name of Plankinhorn and they were on Peter and Susanna Plankinhorn.

Lucille Jackson Vernon felt that one of the reasons for not finding the name is that prior to the war in 1776 the name was changed from Plankinhorn to Plankenton. Information has been found in PA on the Plankenton families who were the children and grandchildren of Peter and Susanna Plankinhorn.

The first valuable source of information on the Plankinhorn's was compiled in 1901 by Gilbert Cope, on the descendants of George and Sarah Smedley, early settlers of Chester Co., PA, who's descendants had married into the Robins family of Edgemont Township, Delaware Co., PA. Two of the Robin sisters, Jane and Sarah, married Jesse and Samuel Plankenton, son of Peter Plankinhorn, Jr. Jane and Sarah were the granddaughters of Joseph and Lear Crayton Robins of NJ and the daughters of Joseph and Jane Hooper Robins of Edgemont. In 1901, Cope wrote that Peter and Susanna Plankinhorn who, in 1778 (now deceased) were mentioned as "Late of Gloucester in the Providence of New Jersey." He named four known children: Jacob, John, Peter, Jr. and Elizabeth. Information on these four is found in census, tax records, and marriages of PA. He did not research the family, but they probably had other children.

The second piece of information written on the family of Peter and Sarah Plankinhorn was four pages written out in long hand and very hard to read. It was written by one of the great-grandsons of Peter Plankinhorn, Jr. and placed in one of the libraries in Washington, DC. Mr. Keith Parrish from Washington, DC found these pages while researching the family and sent copies to Lucille Jackson Vernon. The name of the writer was not given.

Peter and Susanna may have had other children named Susannah, Michael, and Bridget. One Susannah Blankinhorn was married to John Hepperset 27 Aug 1763 at St. Michael and Zion Lutheran Church in Philadelphia, PA. One Bridget Blackenton was baptized in 1760 at the age of 23. In 1777, Michael Blankinhorn was in the Revolutionary War, and in 1780 he was listed as Michael Plankinhorn. In Colonial days, the "P" and "B" were often used interchangeably.

Joseph Plankinton has said he thought the origin of the Plankinhorns were from Great Britain (Wales) Cope said he thought they came from Wales, since no one has found any written information on where they came from or how many children they had. The origin could even be German instead of from Wales. The Moravians had settled in PA around 1722. They had come from Hernhut,Germany. Their religion is very similar to that of the Lutheran Church. In the early 1800's a John Plankinhorn settled in Lycoming Co., PA. He was from Germany. The Susannah Blankinhorn was married in a Lutheran Church. Elizabeth was married in the Old Swede Church, (now Lutheran), so the religion of the early Plankinhorn's may have been Lutheran. One of their sons, John, married a Quaker girl and later joined the Concord MM in Philadelphia.

Lucille Jackson Vernon expresses her thanks to Keith Parrish who sent her most of the information that she had on the family, along with Mrs. Edith Hankins of Memphis, TN.

From the LDS site (www.familysearch.org) comes:

Plankenhorn 160 entries Black Forest, Germany
Planckenhorn 20 entries Black Forest, Germany
Plankinhorn - no entries in Germany
Catharina/Katharina/Catharine/Kathraine Plankenhorn 12 entries
Catharina Planckenhorn 1 entry
Plankinton/Plankenton 232 entries USA
Plankenhorn 87 entries USA

Name Origin

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Early Plankenhorns

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