......The Leiby family name has been through many changes over the centuries. Spelling was at the mercy of those who recorded Baptisms, and church records. Those who wrote the ships manifests, and those who recorded births. Probably misspelled in the 16th & 17th century as frequently as it is today. Spelled Louppe in the early 1500's, in Switzerland. Leuppin in the late 1500's. In the early 1600's it was Loupi. A few of the other early variations include Leype, Luype, and Leipe. Modern day variations include Leiby, Lieby, Liby, and Libey, as well as many others. We do know that Johann Friedrich signed the Oath of Allegiance on August 17,1733 as LEIBY. |
one of the names, feel free to contact me at Alazlo@lazlographics.com & I will attempt to reconcile the information. Family members have supplied the photographs and the identity of those in the photos is certain. The names highlighted in red are my direct descendants. ........................Alan L. Leiby * Indicates info taken from the Leiby Family Bible Ulli Leuppe came from Grenchen
Switzerland and married Rosina Furler on August 27,1565, in Bubendorf,
Basil,
Urs (Durs) Leuppin was a tailor in Bubendorf Switzerland. Born in 1573 and probably died in 1634 or before. Married Elisabetha Grimm November 25, 1589 in Bubendorf. Elisabetha was from Zeifen, a village near Bubendorf. Elisabetha was buried Feb 19,1639 in Muttenz, Basel, Switzerland. All of their children were baptized in Bubendorf or Zeifen.
Michael & his mother moved to Muttenz Switzerland in 1634 and there is no record that indicates that Urs moved with them.. Michael Leuppin was born in Bubendorf and baptized June 21,1601, and was buried Oct 14 1684 in Muttenz, Basel, Switzerland. Michael worked in the Wildenstein Castle while in Bubendorf. When the castle burned in 1634 he , and his brothers and sisters moved to Muttenz, Canton, Basel, Switzerland where he entered the Vogtei Munchenstein for the legal court at the salary of 12 Pfund and 10 Schilling. Younger brother Adam (1607-1635), was shot and killed by a young mill worker. Because of the early death of all of his other brothers except Jacob, Michael appears to be the progenitor of all of the Loupi families remaining in Muttenz today. (Brother Jacob may or may not have had family or he may have settled elsewhere.) Married twice. First to Elisabeth Stoler (buried Feb 5,1639) on Nov 29, 1630 in Bubendorf, Basel, Switzerland. Second to Barbara Tschudin (born 1602, died Oct 14, 1685) on Mar 19, 1639 in Muttenz, Basel, Switzerland. Children born to Michael & Elisabeth were:
Jacob Leype, baptized Mar 5,1637, his sister, Anna Margaretha Leupi and her husband Martin moved from Muttenz, Basel Switzerland to Steinsfurt, Baden, Germany before 1661. Jacob was first married to Lsabiets (surname unknown). She is believed to have died in late 1662 or early 1663. Jacob married Anna Catharina Shumacher Apr 21,1663 in Steinsfurt. Jacobs third marriage was to Sara Wanner June 3, 1678 and the marriage record identifies Jacob as a member of the village council. Church records indicate that many descendants of Jacob still live in Steinsfurt. Records indicate that Jacob was a linen weaver. .....Jacob was apparently a part of the extensive repopulation of the Kraichgau area after the end of the Thirty Years war and the pestilence year of 1635 when 80 to 90% of the population died. Many of the new residents came from an over populated Switzerland. Children of Jacob & Anna Catharina were
Michael Luype was Baptized February 18,1664. Born and probably died in Steinsfurt, Germany. Married Barbara (surname unknown). Their son: Johann Friedrich Johann Friedrich Leiby, Sr. born Dec 1694 in Steinsfurt,Baden, Germany, died 1759 in Greenwich Twp., Berks Co., PA. Buried at Friendship Farm, Greenwich Twp., Berks, Co., PA. . Married Maria Magdalena (or Mettlina) (born 1696 died after1760) . They arrived in Philadelphia on the ship "Samuel" August 17,1733 with children Jacob 13(B 07/1719, D 1809,) Michael 10, Wolrick 4 and Catharina 1. Son John Killian was born in America after Johann Friedrich Jr. Friedrich was 38 years old and Maria was 37 when they arrived in Pennsylvania..
.. The second and fourth warrants were combined into a tract of land called "Friendship" in Greenwich Twp., Berks County and was patented by the Commonwealth to Jacob Leiby on May 7, 1810. The following excerpt is taken from "LEIBY GENEALOGY - The Ancestors and Descendants of Daniel L. and Mary Steigerwalt Leiby," published by a committee for the preparation of a brief genealogy, Tamaqua, PA 1956. "FRIEDRICH LEIBY, the ancestor of the Leiby family in America, arrived at Philadelphia on the ship "Samuel" on August 17, 1733, at he age of 38 years. With him were his wife, MARIA METTLINA LEIBY, and four children: Jacob, 13, Michael, 10, Wolrick, 4, and Catharina, 1. The ship had sailed from Rotterdam, the Dutch port at the mouth of the Rhine, from which thousands of other Germans, Swiss and French left for America, after a long journey down the Rhine from their homes in the Palatinate or Switzerland. Robert's "History of Lehigh County", published about seventy-five years ago, says that Frederick Leiby and his family started from their native Switzerland with the intention of going to Brazil, but determined upon a change of destination en route down the Rhine. Family tradition has been that the travelers first stopped in England, which probably referred only to he brief stop at an English port which all vessels from Holland made before proceeding to the British colonies, though England had held thousands of religious refugees from the Rhineland in the early eighteenth century and it is conceivable that the Leibys may have been among them for a time. If there was a change of plan from Brazil to Pennsylvania, that was not unusual, for many emigrants left the upper Rhineland believing this or that government was willing to pay their way to the new world, only to find at Rotterdam that they would have to pay their own way, all too often by binding themselves as indentured servants. Friedrich Leiby was a landowner soon after he arrived in America, so we may assume that he paid his own way to these shores. It was a day in which thousands of Protestants were pouring out of upper Rhineland, convinced that Pennsylvania and the new world offered their only hope of securing religious freedom after a century of religious war and persecution. Thirty thousand of them arrived in Pennsylvania within a few decades in the early 1700's. If Frederick Leiby was Swiss, he was not a religious refugee in any immediate sense, for Switzerland did not persecute followers of the Reformed religion, but many earnest Europeans, of whatever country, felt that God intended to raise up a new Zion on these western shores, where men and the Reformed religion would both prosper. The Swiss government is said to have been finally obliged to take action to discourage the emigration. The ship's list as prepared by English clerks at Philadelphia shows Frederick's name as Friedrich Leyday. His own signature, in a small, neat hand, reads Friedrich Leiby plainly enough. Understandably, the name has been spelled in a great variety of ways. Friedrich himself seems to have sometimes spelled i "Leibi", but "i" and "y" were wholly interchangeable at that time. He also seems to have sometimes signed "John Friedrich Leiby". Here again, the name John was often given to Swiss children - in fact often to more than one child in the same family - the second name being the one regularly used. In any case, Friedrich's signature on the ship's papers leaves no doubt that the name was Leiby, and not Leyday or Leidy or Leibig or any other. Within five years after his arrival in America, Friedrich Leiby had moved to Oley, a small settlement in Berks County. Oley was somewhat better known than its size would have indicated. In the first place, some at least of its people had come, not from the port of Philadelphia, but from the earlier Palatinate settlements on the Hudson River, by way of Schoharie, New York. It was also celebrated among Pennsylvania Germans because it included among its settlers one of the most remarkable of the German religious sects in Pennsylvania; indeed, the sect had been founded there. These men called themselves the "New Born"; they believed ... In February, 1740, Frederick Leiby joined, as deacon, in signing
Oley's pledge toward the salary of a new minister, and Peter
Leiby (Leibi) signed the same instrument as elder of the Reformed
Church at Maxatawny. (Letters of John Philip Boehm, Hincke, 283,
289, 364.) (Peter Leiby's name appears on one of the ship's lists,
which were of course not always wholly complete. He may have
come to America with Frederick and he may conceivably have come
to the Oley area from the Hudson River settlements. He was old
enough and well enough respected to be elected to the office
of elder of the Maxatawny church.) Some of the sons of Frederick
were later among the principal early figures in the New Jerusalem
church, on Maiden Creek. Johann Friedrich Leiby, Jr born May 1735 (the first Leiby born in America). Married Susanne Jurgon. He died March 1817 in Albany Twp., Berks Co., PA. Buried Dunkel Cemetery, Greenwich Twp., Berks Co., PA. . He was an Indian Trader and Soldier in the Revolutionary war. Children were John George born 1780, Matthias born 1760, Johann Jacob also Revolutionary war soldier, Elizabeth, Barbara, Suzanna born 1781. Their son Matthias Matthias Leiby born 1760, died December 20,1848. Also a Revolutionary War Soldier (Pension # R6273). Married Elizabeth Moyer. Elizabeth died August 1828 and is buried at Zion Church, Snyderville, Schuykill Co., PA.. Matthias is listed in the West Penn census, 1840, as age 80-89, in the same household as a woman, age 60-69 who was probably Anna Margaret Leiby, Johann Jacobs widow. Matthias is buried in Milford Perry Co., now Wila. Nearby is a stone marked 20, 1848MJL D. MBR20. Their only child Johann Jacob
Hannah and Nathaniel were both appointed a guardian on October 26, 1835. The papers for Nathaniel were signed by Margaretha Bachert, wife of Solomon Bachert, as the mother of Nathaniel an illegitimate child. In the 1850 census in West Pen Twp, the wife of Solomon Bachert was listed as Rebecca. It would appear that Rebecca Leiby married Solomon Bachert. Land records in Jackson Twp., Trumbull County, Ohio in 1840, indicate that William Leiby, Stephen Leiby and Tobias Miller were all living very near to each other. Benjamin Sigler (Zigler) was also living in the same township in Trumbull County, Ohio. Stephen Leiby born 1810. Married Rebecca Clingerman. Rebecca was *born Nov10,1812 and *died Jan 31,1898. She is buried in the East Homer Church cemetery, Pawnee Rd, Homer Township, Oh. Marriage records from the Trumbull County Archives indicate William Leiby applied for the license for Stephen Liby and Rebecca Clingerman on September 11, 1834. Also, William Libick and Elizabeth Clingaman were married September 10, 1831, by Jacob Dustman. (Rebecca & Elizabeth were cousins. ......In the 1840 census, Stephen Leiby and his brother George Leiby were living in Homer Twp., Medina County, OH. The 1850 US Census, page 160, shows Stephen and family in Homer Twp., Medina Co., Ohio. Children Gideon l2, Jonathan l0, Abbey 8, Sali 5. The 1860 Census shows George Leiby was still in Homer Twp. As was Rebecca Leiby and children. Stephen Leiby is not, however, listed. This would indicate that Stephen may have died between 1850 and 1860. . .......................
Ralph Otis Leiby born Oct 16, 1908 In Homerville, Oh. Died Apr 7, 1987. Married Clara Elizabeth Sprague, March 20, 1933 at the Baptist Parsonage on West Main St. in Spencer. They lived together on East Ave and 302 North Main Street, Spencer, Oh. Ralph worked as the custodian for Black River High School in Spencer. Clara Elizabeth Sprague was born April 1912, on Adams St., in Wellington ,Oh. She grew up in Elyria and died March 18, 2006 at the Elms Nursing Home in Wellington, Ohio, where she had resided since 1999. Ralph & Clara are buried together in Spencer, Medina County, Oh. Cemetery. They had three children, who were raised in Spencer.
The Leiby Clan Celebrates Ralph's 75th Birthday June 2009 ![]() ![]()
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