History: Family:  The BEYER (BEER) Family: Montgomery (then Phila.) Co, PA
 
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 The following is from "Genealogical Record of the Schwenkfelder Families: 
 Seekers of Religious Liberty who Fled from Silesia to Saxony and Thence to
 Pennsylvania in the Years 1731 to 1737".  Edited by Samuel Kriebel Brecht,
 A.M.  Printed for The Board of Publication of the Schwenkfelder Church,
 Pennsburg, Pennsylvania.  Rand McNally & Company.  1923.
 
 [NOTE:  The Silesia referenced below was an area of Europe which
is now in southwestern Poland. Germany ceded this province to Poland
after WW II.  The area borders present day Germany and the Czech
Republic.  The founder of the Schwenkfelder Church, Caspar Schwenckfeld, 
was born in Ossing, Silesia, which was changed to Ossig (Osiek in Polish),
and is still a small town outside of Lubin, Poland, which is outside of
Legnica (Liegnitz in German), Poland.  

For more information, see the website of the Schwenkfelder Library and 
Heritage Center at:

  http://www.rpc.ox.ac.uk/rpc/sfld/s_guide.htm

The SLHC is located in Pennsburg, PA.]
   
                        THE BEYER (BEER) FAMILY
 
 MELCHIOR BEYER was married to Eva, nee unknown.  Their known children were:
 
 1.  Ursula BEYER (BEIER), b. about 1686, d. May 15, 1767,, m. Rev. Balzer 
 (Balthasar) HOFFMAN, b. 1687 in Harpersdorf, Liegnitz, Silesia, d. July 11, 
 1775, son of Christopher Hoffman and Ursula Anders. Ursula and Balthasar came 
 to Pa. in 1734 with their children and settled in Lower Salford Twp.  Their
 children were:
     i.    Anna, b. 1712, d. Jan 16, 1796, m. George Schultz.
     ii.   Rosina, b. Dec. 21, 1718, in O. Hdrf., d. June 14, 1788, 
           m. 1) Christopher Seipt, 2) Christopher Yeakel.
     iii.  Christopher, b. Dec. 3, 1727, at Berthelsdorf, Saxony, d. Jan. 29, 
           1804, m. Rosina Dresher.
 
 2.  Abraham BEER (BEYER), b. Aug. 16, 1690 in Nieder Harpersdorf, Silesia,
 d. Oct. 30, 1754, m. Nov. 1717, Rosina JAECKEL (YEAKEL), b. June 16, 1699,
 d. July 30, 1770, dau. of Hans and Maria Jaeckel (Yeakel).
 
 Abraham Beer fled with his wife, two sons, three daughters, one foster son, and
 one foster daughter.  When they came to Pa. in 1736, there were three sons and
 three daughters.  
 
 They settled in Worcester Twp., Pa.  He was naturalized June 21, 1843, and is 
 the only immigrant Schwenkfelder known to have gone back to Europe after the
 migration to Pennsylvania, for he again returned to America in 1749 from Holland
 and brought with him Hans Ulrich Seiler, a Swiss Redemptioner, who murdered
 Abraham Beyer's daughter, Anna Rosina, wife of David Schultz (see The SCHOLTZE
 Family.)  Abraham and Rosina are both buried in the Methacton Cemetery.
 
 Although Abraham Beyer signed his name as "Beer" to the Oath of Allegiance, he
 soon changed it to "Beyer."  There are more variations in the spelling of this
 name than that of any other Schwenkfelder immigrant.  We find the following
 variations in spelling:  "Beer, Baer, Bar (umlaut over 'a'), Bayer, Bear, Beyer,
 Boyer, Byer, and Buyer."  As a matter of fact in one legal paper the same name 
 was written four different ways, and we find the same man signing one form of
 spelling at one time and another form at other times.
 
 Children of Abraham BEER (BEYER) and Rosina JAECKEL (YEAKEL) were:
     i.    George, b. Dec. 21, 1718 in Nieder Harpersdorf, d. 1736-1739.
     ii.   Anna Rosina, b. Aug. 13, 1720 in Nieder Harpersdorf, d. June 14, 1750,
           m. David Schultz (Scholtze.)
     iii.  Abraham, b. Feb. 1722, d. Mar. 6, 1796, m. Barbara Hiestand.
     iv.   Anna Maria, b. about Mar. 1, 1725, d. Apr. 10, 1802, m. 1) Abraham
           Jaeckel (Yeakel), 2) Peter Gerhard, who m. 2nd time, Elizabeth Krauss.
     v.    Andrew, b. about 1733, d. Apr. 19, 1773, m. Philipina Weyand.
     vi.   Susanna, m. Dirk (Derrick) Casselberry.
     vii.  George, b. July 13, 1739, d. Sept. 19, 1744. Buried in Methacton Cem.
 
 3.  Maria BEYER, b. about 1694, d. Mar. 12, 1768, m. Melchior KRAUSS of Neu
 Armenruhe, b. ?, d. before 1737.  Maria Beyer Krauss arrived in Pa. in 1737
 with her children.  She is buried in the Washington Schwenkfelder Cemetery.
 Children of Maria BEYER and Melchior KRAUSS were:
     i.    Melchior, b. ?, d. Sept. 16, 1779, unmarried.
     ii.   Christoph, b. May 19, 1720, in Neu Armenruhe, d. Oct. 23, 1795,
           m. Susanna Schultz.