Feller Family Page
I
Welcome to The Feller Family Page, which furnishes historical detail beyond the site index, exploring five generations of Fellers in the line of Nicolas Feller of Germany.
8. Grace Feller --The mother of Zachariah Craver, Grace Feller was born ca. 1775 or 1779 in Rensselaer. NY. She married David Craver in New York in 1794, and had at least five children. Grace appears to have died by 1800-4, by which time David remarried Christine Feller (2nd marriage unconfirmed). Grace’s siblings were: Nicolas (b.1774), Zacharias (b.1777), Phillipus (b.1779) and Catharina (b.1780). Grace’s parents were Zacharias Feller (b. 1745) and Frances (Francisca) De Foy, who was born in 1749 in Albany, NY. (DeFoy, probably a French name, may also be spelled DeVoe or DeFoe); Frances’ parent’s names are not known.
9. Zacharias Feller --The father of Grace Feller Craver, Zacharias (Zachary) Feller was born in Rhinebeck, Rensselaer Co., NY. in 1745. He was baptized on Jan.27, 1745 in Red Hook, Dutchess, New York. His parents were listed as Nicklas Veller and Anna Maria Nehr in U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989. In 1770 Zacharias married Francisca De Foy. Her first name is listed as Francis in the 1779 birth record of her son Phillipus but is Francisca in the 1780 birth record of her daughter, Catherina. (New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962) Zacharias' mother, Anna Marie Nehr, was born Oct. 13, 1717 in West Camp, Ulster Co. NY. Anna’s parents, Carl Nehr and Anna Constantia Reichert, were immigrants to New York who were born in Germany in 1675 and 1689, respectively.
10. Johan Nicholas Feller -- Johan (Niclaus) Feller, the father of Zacharias, was born in West Camp, near Kingston in Dutchess Co.,NY on July 21, 1717 and married Anna Marie Nehr sometime ca.1737. He is listed as "John Feller" in the 1790 census for Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York. Find-a-grave gives his death date as Sept.28, 1791 and states he is buried in Rhinebeck, NY at the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Saint Peter Cemetery. However a July 2, 1800 will exists for Nicholas Feller which suggests that he died after that date. (The U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, submitted in 1955, gives 1804 as his death date in Greenbush, NY. and identifies him as an enlisted man in the 6th regiment of the Albany County Militia in NY, 1775.) In his will Nicholas mentions his sons, Phillip, Nicholas (Jr.). John, and Zacharia and daughters (or daughters-in-law?), Hannah and Catherine. Some Ancestry trees cite 1778 (unsourced) as the death date for their mother, Anna Marie Nehr. Nicholas may have married a second time, as there is a 1781 marriage record in Dutchess Co NY for Nicholas Feller and Anna Richter. However Nicholas doesn't mention any living wife in his 1800 will so she may have also pre-deceased him. Nicholas’ parents were John Phillip Feller & Catherine Elizabeth Rau (Row or Rauh).
11. Johann Phillip Feller -- Johann Phillip Feller, Nicolas’ father, was born ca. 1690 in Hartenburg, (Alsace), Lorraine, NY. and married Catharina (Catherine) Elisabeth Rau in 1716. Phillip’s parents were Nicholas Feller and Mary or Maria (Magdalena) Elizabetha Braun, the daughter of Benedict Braun, a Lutheran from Udenheim, Germany (died 1752). Because Johann Phillip’s wife is listed as both Magdalena and Mary Elisabeth(a) it is not certain whether these names represent two different wives. His U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, submitted in 1945, lists him as Phillip Feller, emigrant 1710, and gives his wife's name as Catherine Elisabeth Rau, married Sept. 8, 1716. His father, Nicholas Feller, is also listed as immigrant, June, 13, 1710. His wife is listed as Maria Elizabeth (Mary), died after 1764. Some (unsourced) Ancestry.com trees give Feb.1, 1768 as Phillip's date of death in Rhinebeck, Dutchess, New York.
12. Nicholas Feller --The earliest known Feller in this line, Nicolas and his wife, Mary Elizabeth, were Palatine immigrants who came to the American colony of New York in 1709. The U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s documents the arrival in New York, NY in 1709 of Nicolaus Feller and his wife, Elizabeth, and 6 children. H. Z. Jones’ well-researched Palentine Families of NY locates their place of origin as Guntersblum in the earldom of Leinnig-Hartenburg, near Oppenheim, Germany. Nicholas was born in 1665. He apparently served as a volunteer soldier in Queensbury (Canada) in 1711. His will is dated 1734. Jones lists as a possible ancestor of the American line, Dalwig Fehler (d.1674), who had a son named Jacob Feller (1653-1682) who lived at Guntersblum, and may have been Nicolas’ father or older brother.
12. Benedict Braun-- The father-in-law of Phillip Feller, Benedict is mentioned in a quote from The History of the Chrysler Family by C. Donald Chrysler as well as Henry Z Jones's book, The Palatine Families of New York - 1710: "In 1701 on the 26th April Johann Philipp Kreusler, the late citizen Johannes Kreusler's legitimate son, was joined with Anna Catharina, the legitimate daughter of the late Benedict Braun, a school teacher of Udenheim." German records indicate that Benedict was born July 2, 1639 in Udenheim, Rhineland-Palatinate, Allemagne, Germany. Find-a-grave states that he was born in Beiswalde, Prussia, and died prior to 26 April 1701. German marriage records show he married Walburga Beurer (b.1640 in Udenheim) about 1660. Benedict and Walburga did not emigrate and died in Germany. Their other daughter, Mary Elizabeth Braun, immigrated to New York in 1709.
The following further Braun ancestry is suggested by trees in Ancestry.com and Geneanet but with insufficient supporting documentation. Benedict Braun's parents are listed as Maximilian Braun (born Feb.29, 1620 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany) and Elisabetha Tochtermans (b.ca. 1620). Maximilian's parents are said to be Hans Braun (born Jan.12, 1561 Birkmannsweiler, Rems-Murr-Kreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany and died there on Dec 14, 1622) and Margaretha Rielin (born in 1588 on Miedelsbach, Rems-Murr-Kreis, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany and died there on May 1633).