Rebecca Eckley | Eat Live & Love

Birth

Rebecca Eckley was born in October 1826 in Pennsylvania to Catherine Pontzler, age 26, and Mr. Eckley, age 38.

Oct 1826 • Pennsylvania

death cert.

I could not find her birth certificate but only her death certificate at the moment. Someone helped me look records up and found this:

Mary Lynn William Eckley born abt 1796 in Philadelphia. Catherine Pontzler born abt. 1802 in Chester County, PA. There is a tree on ancestry that goes back further but I would try to communicate with the tree owner to see what her sources are for earlier information. Rebecca was Episcopalian so I think you need to look at church records for marriage, etc. Her husband..

Mary LynnReuben was enumerated as Reuben Earnest in 1850, living with her parents. I believe because he was a wheelwright. He served in the Civil War, spent time in disabled soldier’s home in Virginia but was still with her in 1900 though the don’t appear in census together, they are in the city directories.

Reuben Ebert, Rebecca’s husband. Enumerated- listed by the census taker. Some were better than others so the census isn’t gospel, there are mistakes and the often got birth years wrong especially.

I joined a Facebook group and someone tried to help me with this research of this family … they found this … and I thought Id share! 🙂

You will not find her birth certificate. They really didn’t exist until after 1880 in some areas and post-1900 in others. You could goto the North Cedar HIll cemetery in Philadelphia where she is buried and see what they have for burial records. This might provide and some information. Her death certificate lists her father’s birthplace and hers as Lancaster County. You could reach out to the local historical society and see if they have any church records for christening/baptism which might show her birth date. These are all considered secondary sources but in the absence of a birth certificate will just be as good.

I found a burial record for the funeral home on ancestry. it showed that she died of pneumonia and her funeral cost $118 roughly. There is a death notice for her on genealogybank.com dated 15 Jan 1912 in the Philadelphia Inquirer that says she was buired in the Palmer Vault, North Cedar Hill Cemetery. It has her age listed as 85 so I would guess that she was born sometime in 1826 then. The services was conducted in her home at 843 Moyer Street.