LYDICK & CHANCE FAMILIES
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LYDICK MAIN PAGECurrently our family's documented history begins with Jost Leydig (or Leidig or Lydich), a German immigrant miller/farmer who arrived in the American Colonies about mid-1700s. Sometime before 1785 he and his family settled in Londonderry Township, Bedford County (now Somerset County), Pennsylvania. They were among the earliest permanent white settlers in that area. Descendant information for Jost starts with his children Jacob, Jost (or Joseph Jr.), George, William, and Elizabeth. Practically all of the known family history centers on these children when they lived in Somerset County, and then follows their offspring, many of whom left Pennsylvania for northwestern Virginia (now West Virginia) and Ohio. Today we find members of this family group living throughout the United States, and some residing in other countries as well.Finding information about Jost's earlier life and his parents has presented a big challenge for family researchers. Pre-1775 Maryland and Pennsylvania colonial records (searching church, government and newspaper records) show evidence of at least two, and possibly three men with the same name (pronounced 'Yost Leidig') who all resided within the close geographical area between Berks County (PA), Frederick (Maryland) and Baltimore Town (Maryland). Using church baptism records we can fairly certainly rule out Jost Leidig of Berks County, as none of the records match our Jost's childrens' names or ages. Early records (1770-1772) in Maryland indicate our Jost lived and owned land for at least a short time near the Pipe Creek Church which is near present day Westminster, Carroll County, Maryland (he owned the land until 1789, but it is assumed that he relocated to Bedford County, PA before the land sold).The name Jost Leidig (Littig) has been found on several earlier records from the Maryland colony. In 1763 in Frederick, Maryland, Jost Leidig's name was among a group of men pledging money to support a teacher hired by the congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Frederick. Concurrently, from 1752 through 1794 records for a Littig family (including Jost Littig) can be found in Baltimore Town (using land and probate records).Initially I believed that the Frederick and Baltimore Josts were the same man, but a recently discovered newspaper advertisement from a 1794 Baltimore newspaper leads me to suspect that they were two different people, and that our Jost is probably the fellow from Frederick. Understand that the documentation I have from this early time period is very limited, sketchy in its detail, and therefore difficult to connect clearly to our ancestor. It is my hope that additional records will soon be found that identify our Jost and his parents and tell us more about their lives; perhaps where they came from in Germany.
WHICH JOST?Was there more than one Josts? My research leads me to believe that there were three German men with a similarly spelled name who immigrated to the Colonies about the same time. All three named Jost. One Leydig, one Littig and the other Leidig. Jost Leydig who settled in Bedford (Somerset) County came from northern Maryland, in what was then Frederick County, presently Carroll County (It is possible that he lived in the Philadelphia area prior to that). German born, he became a naturalized citizen in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1772. Married to a woman named Anna Margretha, or Maria Margretha, they had children named Joseph, Jacob, William, George, and Elizabeth. His last name was spelled in many different ways on all the old government and church records -- Leydig, Lidig, Lydig, Leidig, Leidich, Leidick, Lydick, Liddick, and several other variants. Today, however, most descendants spell the name Lydick, Leydig, or Lydic. There are concurrent records for a Jost Leidig (a German immigrant shoemaker) with a wife Susannah, living in the Philadelphia area, in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Children named Peter, Anna Christina and Jacob. He was probably ten years or so older than our Jost Leydig. Some of his descendants today spell their name Laudig. In a book, The History of Bedford and Somerset County, the author states that Jost Leydig (our Jost) came from Berks County -- the problem with this is that, as far as I am aware, no records have been found of Jost Leydig there. There ARE records of him living near what is now Westminster, Maryland. It is my (researched) opinion that our Jost Leydig did not live in Berks County, Pennsylvania, at least immediately prior to his move to Somerset County. There are also records from the same time period for a Jost Littig who lived in Baltimore Town, Maryland from 1752 until his death in 1794. He appears to have been about the same age as our Jost Leydig, but is most likely another man and not our Jost. However, old records for this man and his extended family show similarities (to our family) in the way the name was spelled. Most records show the family name as Littig or Lettig, but several documents, including their signatures, spell the name Lydick or Liddick. A quick research of later descendants shows the name Littig still being used in Baltimore around 1850, but some descendants (who are said to have moved to Kentucky) used the Lydick spelling.
This site focuses on the family of Jost Leydig who settled in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, since those are the records that I have researched, but the website can easily be expanded to include research relating on other Leidig family lines. Anyone interested in providing material is encouraged to contact me at sllydick@yahoo.com.
NOT A DESCENDANT OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY LYDICKS?
Are you a Leydig-Leidig-Lydick-Lydic researcher, but not connected to the Leydigs of Somerset County? Check out the page entitled "LYDICK ORPHANS" (see top of page for link). That is a page we have set aside for information on those Lydicks we haven't been able to identify on our family tree. If your Lydick family came from Indiana County, Pennsylvania you are probably descended from patriot John Lydick. An internet search for "patriot John Lydick" should put you in touch with the websites you are seeking.
THE SPELLING OF THE NAMEToday, my branch of the family spells our name Lydick. There are those in Pennsylvania who still use the Leydig spelling, and yet others who go by Lydic or Leidig. Prior to 1850, the Leydig name was spelled a variety of ways in documents, probably because it was an uncommon name and record-keepers weren't sure of the proper spelling. I've seen the name spelled Leidich, Leidick, Leideck, Leidig, Lydig, Lidig, Leydig, Leydigh, and Littig. Samuel, Jost's grandson, was the first of my direct ancestors to spell the name "Lydick". The change happened about the time he moved his family to Marshall County, West Virginia, around 1835. Perhaps he was copying his uncle William or his mother and siblings who had moved earlier to Ohio. There is evidence to suggest that the family members who settled in Ohio were the first to use the "Lydick" spelling. On these pages I use the "Lydick" or "Leydig" spelling except when quoting information from a source document that uses a variant spelling.
This is a website in progress. Information to be added on a weekly basis. If you have comments or material to contribute, please email sllydick@yahoo.com |