Introduction to Reins in America (From the book, Reins in America by Don & Jeanine Hartman)

The story of our involvement with the Rhyne family is a complex one at that! For many years we have been researching the descendants of Casper and John Peter Glattfelder of Glattfelden, Zurich, Switzerland. Don's mother is a descendant of Casper and his father is a descendant of John Peter (Casper's brother). Casper emigrated to America in 1743 with his family and the recently widowed and orphaned family of John Peter. They settled in York County, Pennsylvania: first, in Newberry Township; then three years later, in West Manchester Township near Hoke's Mill on Codorus Creek; and lastly near what is now Glatfelter's Station in North Codorus Township on the border of Springfield Township, probably in 1749 or 1750. In 1993, we published our then collected descendants of these two men, which totaled about 21,000 in a book called Glattfelders in America.

We had plenty of information on two of John Peter's sons, Felix and Johan Rudolph, who went to North Carolina. We had information on John Peter's daughter, Barbara, who stayed in York County, Pennsylvania. At that time, however, we were puzzled about two of the daughters of Johan Peter Glattfelder, namely Elsbetha and Lisabeth. According to emigration records in Glattfelden, Elsbetha was sixteen and Lisabeth was ten when they registered to leave for America. This registration took place some years before they actually did leave. Elsbetha's birth record was further ascertained as 14 June 1723 from Glattfelden church records. Lisabeth's birth was not found in the church records but from the emigration record can be deduced as some time in 1729.

In Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church records in York, Pennsylvania, we find the record of the marriage of one of John Peter's two daughters named "Elizabeth", as Casper Glattfelder, brother of Johan Peter, did not have a daughter with a name similar to Elizabeth. In the record, Jacob Rein married an Elizabeth Glattfelder on 18 November 1750. From the age of Jacob Rein, it is inferred that Jacob married Lisabeth, not Elsbetha. We found his age by searching York County church records and then church records in Blankenloch, Germany (see below).

Jacob Rein was part of the Johan Martin Rein (Reinau) family of West Manchester Township in York County. From the records of Strayer's Church in West Manchester Township and Christ Lutheran Church in York, we learn that this family came from Blankenloch in the Principality of Baden-Durlach, which is near what is now Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurtenburg, Germany. The records in Blankenloch give Jacob Rein's birth date as 12 August 1726.

We established other evidences of the Jacob Rhyne family in York County, Pennsylvania. Jacob Rein obtained a land warrant in Springfield Township shortly after his marriage to Lisabeth near to where her Uncle Casper had moved the year before. From church records in York County, Pennsylvania, we learn the birth dates of two of Jacob and Lisabeth's children, namely: Maria Magdalena Rhein, 4 August 1751; and Peter Rhein, 16 March 1755. We also learn that Jacob Rein's cousin Johan Philip Jacob Hoos from Blankenloch also lived in West Manchester Township. In a German prayer book in the possession of Margaret Whitehead Rhyne in Tennessee, we learn that Philip Hoos and his wife are the sponsors at the baptism of Jacob Rhyne's son Johan Philip (son of Jacob Rhyne of Lincoln County, NC) who was born 30 January 1760. From the 1762 tax lists of Shrewbury Township (later Springfield Township) in York County, Pennsylvania, we learn that Jacob Rhyne was still in York County at that time. From the above information, we were able to verify that Jacob Rhyne of North Carolina was the same Jacob Rein of York, County Pennsylvania was the same Jacob Reineau of Blankenloch, Germany.

From Rowan County, North Carolina records, we learn that Felix Glattfelder (a.k.a. Clodfelter and brother to Lisabeth who married Jacob Rhyne) came to North Carolina in late 1763 or early 1764. We also learn that Rudolph Glattfelder (a.k.a. Clodfelter, brother to Felix and Lisabeth) came to the same area between 1785 and 1790 after spending several years in Virginia.

In March 1764, Jacob Rhyne was conveyed 200 acres of property near Leeper's Creek in then Mecklenburg County, North Carolina by Philip Jakob Rudisill. Philip Jakob Rudisill, we will later find to be the brother of Jacob Rhyne's sister-in-law. The Lincoln County, North Carolina Court of Pleas minutes from October 1784, state Felix Clodfelter bought 150 acres on 4 August 1784 which was proved by Jacob Rine. These two land acquisitions are probably what made up the 350 acres of land that was surveyed upon the death of Jacob Rhyne. This also indicates that Jacob Rhyne probably came south with his wife's brother, Felix Glattfelder (Clodfelter).

Laban Miles Hoffman lists Jacob Rhyne's wife as Elizabeth Wills, sister of Garrett Wills who was the son of Adam Wills of the Saarland, Germany. A recent discovery received by the author from Dr. Howard S. Rhyne of Gastonia, North Carolina, shows the transmittal of Adam Wills' household due to frailty to his oldest son Lenhard Will. This transmittal lists all of his living children on 5 March 1744, which include the aforementioned Lenhard by his first wife, and additionally Charlotte and Gerhard (Garrett) by his second wife. It shows no living child named Elizabeth. Charlotte Wills married Johann Phillip Cloninger about 1750. They were the parents of Adam Cloninger who married the previously mentioned Maria Magdalena Rhyne, daughter of Jacob Rhyne. Gerhard (Garrett) Wills was the founder of that family name near the junction of Leeper's and Killian's Creek in today's Gaston County, North Carolina. With this new information and the previously listed information, Lisabeth Glattfelder, was most likely Jacob Rhyne's only wife. It also shows that there was not an Elizabeth Wills, sister of Garrett Wills who could have married Jacob Rhyne.

There were other members of the family who came south. Jacob Rhyne's brother Johannes Martin married Maria Elizabeth Rudisill on 21 October 1744 in York, Pennsylvania. Maria Elizabeth Rudisill Rein of West Manchester Township was the sister of Philip Jakob Rudisill who received 520 acres of land on 20 May 1754 in then, Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. (Tryon County did not come into existence until 1768 which became Lincoln County in 1779. In 1846, Lincoln County was divided to make Gaston County.) Maria Elizabeth was called by the name Elizabeth. She became a widow on the 9th of February 1758 in West Manchester Township, York County, Pennsylvania. Her husband is buried next to his father, Hans Martin Reinau and mother, Magdalena Freymuller, in the Henry Wolf Cemetery (a.k.a. Henry Bott Cemetery) in West Manchester Township across from the present day Briarwood Golf Course. There are no surviving Rein headstones today. Record of the burials are found in Christ Lutheran Church records in York, Pennsylvania.

Johannes Martin Rein left two children that are known to have lived to adulthood. One was Thomas Rhyne, whom Laban Miles Hoffman incorrectly assumed was the son of Jacob Rhyne, and Dorethea Rhyne who married a cousin John Rudisill. Both of these children moved to North Carolina. One sibling is unaccounted for at this time, his name being Jacob, who was named after his uncle Jacob. We believe however, that Jacob, son of Johannes Martin Rein did reach adulthood and raised a family in Virginia and North Carolina before moving on to points westward.

Now let's take a closer look at Thomas Rein, son of Johannes Martin Rein. Thomas Rhyne, even by Hoffman's account in Our Kin may not have been Jacob Rhyne's son. Hoffman however gives us the clues to circumstantially prove that he was the son of Johannes Martin Rein. Hoffman tells us that Thomas Rhyne was a saddler by trade. Thomas Rein, son of Johannes Martin Rein, in the York County Orphan's Docket shows that he was bound to Jacob Myer of Baltimore, a saddler, to learn his trade. We also know that his mother was actually the beneficiary of property in 1768 near where her brother Philip Jakob Rudisill had lived. Hoffman lists this Elizabeth Rhyne as Jacob Rhyne's wife, but since she was married and Jacob was not dead, she could not own property in her name. It had to be a widow or a single woman, thus it was most probably Elizabeth Rein (Rhyne), sister to Philip Jakob Rudisill, widow of Johannes Martin Rein, and mother to Thomas Rhyne (Rein).

By far, out of any of the Glattfelder descendants we have researched, the Jacob Rhyne family has had the most information available to the researcher. Members of the family have gladly shared what information they have had. Additionally, information from scattered geographical locations that was not previously available has shed additional light on the Rhyne family history.

Without the efforts of Dr. Howard S. Rhyne of Gastonia, North Carolina, this work would not have been possible. His information with others and verification against original records has dispelled many myths. That is not to say that Laban Miles Hoffman's work was not invaluable. His interviews of early family members and the compilation of Our Kin made it possible to trace family lines down even until today. He didn't have the resources that are available to the researcher who is blessed to live in this great information age.