BIO:  SMYSER Family, York County, PA

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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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Part II, Biographical Sketches, York Borough, Pg 46

THE SMYSER FAMILY.  On the 17th of February, 1715, by the historic little village 
of Rugelbach, in the kingdom of Wurtemburg, now Germany, was born Mathias 
Smyser, the ancestor of the Smyser family in York County.  His father, Martin 
Smyser, was an industrious peasant, and a member of the Lutheran Church.  The 
boyhood days of the son were spent in the schools of his native place, and 
assisted the father in tilling the soil and weaving.  The visit of William Penn 
to Germany to invite the industrious peasants of that country to his new 
province across the sea, caused many thousands to emigrate.  On September 21, 
1731, the good ship “Britannia,” with Michael Franklyn as captain, set sail from 
Rotterdam, stopping at Cowes to pay proper obeisance to the English flag and 
government, thence to Philadelphia, freighted with 267 German emigrants, 141 of 
whom were males, and 126 females.  Among them were Mathias Smyser, then but 
sixteen years old, his mother, Anna Barbara, aged fifty, his sister, Margaret, 
aged twenty, and his brother George, aged nine.  It was just at the time of 
their arrival that the first permanent settlements were being made west of the 
Susquehanna, and we next hear of him as a weaver, among the original settlers of 
Kreutz Creek, in York County.  Having received money from Germany, he obtained a 
land warrant from the proprietors, and took up a large tract of land near the 
present village of Spring Grove, about the year 1740.  Being anxious to have 
near neighbors, Mathias divided his plantation into smaller tracts, and 
presented all except one to new immigrants.  Whether is brother, who had now 
grown to manhood, was the recipient of one of these farms, is not known, but 
they did live near each other, on different tracts of land, for some years.  He 
eventually found that he had parted with his best land, so he sold the 
remainder, and purchased a tract of 400 acres from Mr. Henthorn, about three 
miles west of York, on what is now the Berlin Road, erected buildings and moved 
there on May 8, 1745.  He remained there until his death in 1778, about the time 
his distinguished son was fighting the battles of the new government.  His 
brother George also disposed of his property, and bought a farm north of York, 
where he resided several years, but eventually moved to Virginia, and thence to 
Kentucky, where many of his descendants now reside.  Mathias Smyser left to 
survive him three sons:  Michael, born 1740; Jacob, born 1742; Mathias, born 
1744, Anna Maria, next to the youngest daughter, was born 1757; Susanna, the 
youngest, born 1760.  The dates of the births of the other daughters, Dorothy, 
Sabina, Rosanna and Elizabeth, cannot be ascertained.  Michael, the eldest son, 
became a conspicuous personage during the Revolutionary war.