John Yost Kurth and Margaret Kemmerer

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Husband John Yost Kurth ^{1 2}

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            AKA: John Yost Curth,1 3 John Joseph Kort 4
           Born: 16 Nov 1737 - Biedenbach, Westphalia, Prussia 2
     Christened: 24 Nov 1737 2
           Died: 22 Nov 1827 - ? Westmoreland Co, PA 5
         Buried:  - Brush Creek Cemetery, near Manor Station, Westmoreland Co, PA

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         Father: John Curth (      -      ) 2
         Mother: Elizabeth [Unk] (      -      ) 2

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       Marriage: 

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Wife Margaret Kemmerer ^{1 3 6}

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            AKA: Margaret Kemerer 5
           Born: 1751 - near Hagerstown, Washington Co, MD 5
     Christened: 
           Died: 1828 5
         Buried:  - Brush Creek Cemetery, near Manor Station, Westmoreland Co, PA

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         Father: Ludwick Kemerer (      -      ) 7
         Mother: 

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Children

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1 M Frederick Cort ³

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            AKA: Frederick Curth 3
           Born: Abt 1768
     Christened: 
           Died: 1850 - Beaver Co, PA 5
         Buried: 

         Spouse: [Unk] Kunkle (      -      ) 8

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2 F Susannah Cort ⁵

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Michael Kunkle (      -      ) 5

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3 F Catherine Cort ⁵

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Baughman (      -      ) 5

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4 F Hannah Cort ⁵

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: John Knappenberger (      -      ) 5

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5 F Elizabeth Cort ⁵

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Leonard Croninger (      -      ) 5

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6 M Joseph Cort ³

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            AKA: Joseph Curth 3
           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: [Unk] Gross (      -      ) 5

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7 M Daniel Kort ^{1 11}

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            AKA: Daniel Cort,3 6 9 10 Daniel Curth 3
           Born: 5 Mar 1780 - South Huntingdon Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA 1 3 6
     Christened: 
           Died: 31 May 1859 - West Newton, South Huntingdon Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA 9
         Buried:  - West Newton, South Huntingdon Twp, Westmoreland Co, PA

         Spouse: Elizabeth A. Turney (1786-1860) 1 6 9 12
           Marr: 4 Oct 1803 5 6

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General Notes: Husband - John Yost Kurth

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When he was baptized his sponsor was John Yost Hofer, assistant judge of the parishes of Ferndorf and Crombach. John Yost Kurth came to America in the year that he attained man's estate, 1758, the reason for his emigration probably being the desire to escape conscription for military service. Either on the voyage or shortly before or after that event, he became acquainted with Dr. David Marchand, a Huguenot surgeon of the French army, whose fortunes were closely linked with his own thereafter, the two men marrying sisters. They resided for a time in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, then moved to Washington County, Maryland, in which place there was a considerable settlement of German Reformed people as early as 1746, the pioneer Reformed church preacher, Martin Schlatter, ministering to them soon after his arrival in that year as superintendent of German Reformed congregations in America. John Yost Kurth, accompanied by Dr. Marchand, moved thence to Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, and settled at Port Royal, near West Newton, soon making his home on a large farm, about two miles south of Adamsburg, where he and his wife resided until death. He was in charge of Fort Marchand during the Indian wars, that place serving as an asylum for the women and children when the natives were troublesome, the fort being located several miles from the Kurth homestead. [GPHWP, 1003]

Tradition says that the founder of the Kort (Cort) family in America was John Yost Kurth, who emigrated in 1758, when he was twenty-one years of age, leaving the German fatherland to avoid conscription for military service and coming to America without the consent of his family, and even secretly.

In 1758, when twenty years of age, he came to Hagerstown, Maryland. He was a member of the Reformed church and had charge of a frontier block-house. He married and reared a family of three children: Joseph, Frederick and Daniel. These sons, at the instance of a yankee schoolteacher, changed their name from Curth to Cort.

The American ancestor of the Cort family came from Nassau Siegen, in Westphalia, in 1758, first settling in Hagerstown, Maryland. There he was married to Margaret Kemmerer, and shortly after, in company with three brothers of his wife and another brother-in-law, Dr. David Marchand, came across the mountains to Westmoreland County. They located on the Youghiogheny river, near Port Royal.

He was commandant of Fort Marchand during the Indian wars, where women and children were sheltered from the natives in times of emergency. On one occasion they fled from the homestead through the woods, he holding the children on a horse, his wife following on foot, in spite of a painful bruise from which she was suffering. They reached the fort in safety, their asylum being located on the Rumbaugh farm south of Grapeville, several miles from the Kort homestead.

1 Editor, History of Franklin County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, IL: Warner, Beers & Co., 1887), Pg 703.

2 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1003.

3 Samuel T. Wiley, Biographical and Historical Cyclopedia of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: John M. Gresham & Co., 1890.), Pg 91.

4 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 72.

5 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 1004.

6 Fenwick Y. Hedley, Old and New Westmoreland, Vols. III & IV (New York, NY: The American Historical Society, Inc., 1918), Pg 1124.

7 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 357.

8 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 181.

9 George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, PA: L. H. Everts & Co., 1882), Pg 662.

10 George P. Donehoo, Pennsylvania - A History (SW) (New York, NY; Chicago, IL: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, Inc., 1926), Pg 158.

11 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of Western Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1915), Pg 179.

12 John W. Jordan, History of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, Genealogical Memoirs, Vol. III (Chicago, IL: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1906), Pg 642.