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Eberman
Family


Johannes 'John' Eberman  1749-1835, who married Elisabeth Franck 1752-1801, was a well-known clockmaker of Lancaster.   In the considerable literature on this subject he is usually referred to as 'John Eberman Jr', although in fact he was the third John Eberman in America, the first one born here.  His father and grandfather, both also named Johannes, arrived in Philadelphia on the ship "Johnson" in 1732.  His grandfather signed his name on the ship's list:

An advertisement from the Pennsylvania Gazette of Philadelphia, 11 Nov 1772:

Lancaster, November 3, 1772.  John Eberman, junior, BEGS leave to acquaint his friends and customers, and the public in general, that he has moved out of the house where he formerly lived, into Queen street, in the Borough of Lancaster, opposite the sign of the Black Bear; where he makes and repairs all kinds of CLOCKS and WATCHES, in the best and nearest manner.  From the experience he has had, in working with a man whose abilities are well known [his father, I think he means], and a due attention to the commands of those, who may please to employ him, he hopes he shall merit their approbation, and that of the public, whose favours shall be most gratefully acknowledged, by the most obliged friend,
 - John Eberman, junior.
John Eberman built and for many years cared for the clock in the courthouse tower in Lancaster.  One set of tower clock works that he made can be seen in  a museum there now (1998).  He also made case clocks ('grandfather clocks', although one must realize as I did not originally, that a 'clockmaker' made only the works, not the cabinets).  John's father and several of his descendants were also clock and watchmakers.

The best source on John, his family, and his clocks is:  Wood, Stacy B. C., Jr, "A John Eberman Legacy: Eight Lancaster, Pa. Clockmakers", Journal of the Lancaster County Historical Society, Vol 91, #3, 1987-88, pp 90-127.  This includes an extensive Eberman genealogy from which I have gotten much information.

John Eberman and Elisabeth Franck had eleven children:

Jacob Eberman 1773 - 1828, married Elizabeth Ganter 1777-1866
Anna Maria Eberman 1775 - 1776
John Eberman 1776 - 1846, married Sarah Elizabeth Fahnestock 1789 - 1865
George Eberman 1778 - 1794
Joseph Eberman 1780 - 1781
Elizabeth Eberman 1783 - 1805, married Jacob Demuth 1779 - 1842
Joseph Eberman 1785 - 1860, married  Anna Maria Thomas 1792 - 1873
William Eberman 1787 - 1857, married 1st Caroline Elizabeth Lembke 1795 - 1818,
      2nd Charlotte Wilhelmina Lembke 1793 - 1823, 3rd Anna Rebecca Oehme 1794 - 1880
Mathias Eberman 1789 - Aft. 1825, married Barbara Catherine Motter
Heinrich Eberman 1791 - 1792
George Eberman 1796 - 1796
Elisabeth Franck died in 1801 and John Eberman was remarried to Anna Maria Demuth 1768-1828 and had two more children:

Maria Elizabeth Eberman 1804 - Unknown, married Leopold Gotta
Christopher Demuth Eberman 1807 - Unknown
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I am not going to do the Ebermans blow-by-blow here; it has been done elsewhere better than I could, and they are in my database.   I do wish to say a little about William Eberman 1787-1857, a son of John Eberman and Elizabeth Franck.  He began as a cigarmaker and also a clockmaker like his father, in Lancaster.  But he eventually became a Moravian minister and missionary and had a long and distinguished career.
From the Guide to the Old Moravian Cemetery at Bethlehem, PA, where he is buried:  William Eberman 1787-1857, born in Lancaster, PA.  In 1825 he was called to the mission service in the West Indies.  Returning from there in 1831, he bacame warden of the church at Lititz and, later, minister at Hope, Indiana.  From 1841-49 he was steward of the Sisters' House and Widows' House at Bethlehem, and later again he served as warden at Nazareth.  He was three times married, his first wife being Caroline Lembke, his second Charlotte Lembke, and his third A. R. Oehme.
For those who have got here by way of the Frank family, it is interesting that William Eberman's first son, born in 1826 in St Croix during his time as a missionary in the West Indies, was named Jacob Frank Eberman 1826-1879.   He is buried at Bethlehem, too.
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