The Winterthur Library

 The Joseph Downs Collection of Manuscripts and Printed Ephemera

 

 

OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION

 

Creator:          Kershner family                                               

Title:               Papers

Dates:             1750-1908 (bulk 1750-1848)

Call No.:         Col. 40

Acc. No.:         89x52

Quantity:        1 box

Location:        16 B 2

 

 

 

BIOGRAPHICAL STATEMENT

 

The branch of the Kershner family to whom these papers relate settled in Bern Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania at least as early as the 1740s.  Other Kershners immigrated to Windsor Township, Berks County in the 1730s.  These latter Kershners owned a home from which a number of rooms were taken in the late 1950s for the Winterthur Museum.

 

Some relationships between family members can be discerned from the documents, but no connection with the Windsor Township Kershners has been discovered.  Descendants of the Windsor Township branch of the family have produced a History of the Kershner Family (Winterthur call number CS71 / K41), but the names in these deeds do not fit in with this typed and privately published family history.  In these records, Martin Kershner seems to be the head of the family.  He and his wife Elisabeth had at least two sons, Peter and Nicholas.  The relationship between them, and John and Philip Kershner (parties to the 19th century deeds) is not clear.

 

The land described in these Bern and Penn Township deeds is south of, and across the Schuylkill River from, the Windsor Township area from which the Winterthur Museum's Kershner rooms came.

 

 

SCOPE AND CONTENT

 

The collection consists of nineteen items, specifically deeds, maps and legal documents.  Nine of the items are deeds (five early ones on vellum), most relating to land transfers in Bern Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  Another nine items are hand-drawn surveyor's maps.  The last item in the collection is an 1841 exemplification.  The family name in this collection is variously spelled as: Kersner, Kershner, and Kerschner.

 

           

ORGANIZATION

 

Arranged first by type (exemplification, survey maps, deeds) and then in chronological order.    

 

 

PROVENANCE

 

Gift of Mary V. Reed.  

 

 

ACCESS POINTS

           

            People:

                        Kershner, Martin.

                        Kershner, Peter.

                        Kershner, Nicholas.

                        Kershner, John.

                        Kershner, Philip.

                        Heck, John.

                        Jerger, George.

                        Moyer, Jacob.

                        Moyer, Daniel.

                       

Topics:

            Bern (Berks County, Pa. : Township) - History.

            Berks County (Pa.) - History.

            Berks County (Pa.) - Genealogy.

            Deeds.

            Maps.

            Surveys (land).

           

 

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE COLLECTION

 

Location: 16 B 2

 

 

Box 1:

 

Folder 1:          Exemplification, from the Orphan Courts records, 1841, about valuing the land left by Philip Kershner to his only son Peter; Peter accepted the land and agreed to give part of its value to Anna Maria Kershner, the widow of Philip

 

Folder 2:          Survey maps, Lancaster and Berks Counties, 1750-1908:

a.       draught of Wendel Bright’s land, Lancaster [now Berks] County, 213 acres, 1750

b.      Martin Kershner’s land, Berks (formerly Lancaster) County, 230 acres, October 1763

c.       103 acres and 8 perches in Bern Township, Berks County, now the property of John Kershner, Dec. 2, 1817

d.      109 acres and 73 perches in Bern Township, Berks County, now the property of Jacob Moyer, March 18, 1822 [same land as in c.]

e.       Draught of a tract containing 40 acres and 107 perches, Bern Township, Berks County, which Peter Kershner bought of George Yerger, n.d.

f.        Draught of a tract situated in Penn Township, Berks County, belonging to the estate of Peter Kershner, May 1868

g.       Draft of a tract situated in Penn Township, Berks County, containing 109 acres and 63 perches, estate of Daniel Moyer, May 3, 1875

h.       Draft of a tract of timberland in Penn Township, Berks County, 6 acres and 7 perches, suveyed for Lewis Kershner, April 29, [19]08, and envelope

 

Folder 3:          Deed, John Heck & Wife to Martin Kershner. 5 acres, 31 perches. Berks County. 11 May 1767

 

Folder 4:          Deed, John Heck & uxr. to Martin Kersner. 1.5 acres. Bern Township, Berks County, 22 March 1768

 

Folder 5:          Deed, Martin Kerschner et Ux. to Peter Kerschner. 167 acres, 157 perches. Bern Township, Berks County. 31 May 1771.

 

Folder 6:          Deed, Martin Kerschner et Ux. to Nicholas Kerschner. 128 acres. Bern Township, Berks County. 31 May 1771.

 

Folder 7:          Deed, George Jerger et Ux. to Peter Kershner. 40 acres, 107 perches. Bern Township, Berks County. 26 June 1797.

 

Folder 8:          Deed, John Kershner et Uxr. to Philip Kershner. 15 acres, 74 perches. Bern Township, Berks County. 7 April 1810.

 

Folder 9:          Deed, John Kershner & Ux. to Philip Kershner. 13 acres, 136 perches. Bern Township, Berks County. 30 March 1816.

 

Folder 10:        Deed, John Kershner & wife to Jacob Moyer. 109 acres, 73 perches. Bern Township, Berks County. 28 March 1822.

 

Folder 11:        Deed, Heirs of Jacob Moyer deceased to Daniel Moyer. 109 acres, 73 perches. Penn Township, Berks Conty, 23 March 1848.