Theobald Mechling and his brother, Jacob arrived in Philadelphia on 11 September 1728 on the ship, James Goodwill with David Crocket the ship master. The ship had sailed from Rotterdam, Holland via the Port of Deal, England leaving on 15 June 1728. On board were 90 some Palatine immgrants, 42 were men above the age of 16 making up 37 families. The Palatinate is in the south-western part of Germany adjoining the upper Rhine River.
Upon arrival in Philadelphia they declared their intent to settle peacefully in America before the Provincial Council and signed a declaration of allegiance to King George II of England. Nothing definite is known about Theobald for the next few years.
Sometime within the next few years Theobald married Anna Elizabeth Lauer, daughter of John Peter and Anna Margaret Lauer. In 1731 their first child, Dewalt was born. Since the immediate area around Philadelphia had been settled he went north (about 35 miles north of Philadelphia.) On 29 June 1734 Theobald took out a warrant for approximately 125 acres in Bucks County, PA. When the land was surveyed it amounted to 144 acres and 120 perches. Theobald agreed to pay Fifteen Pounds Ten Shillings per 100 acres and the yearly Quit-rent of one Half-penny Shilling for every Acre. This land was a grant from Thomas and Richard Penn, sons of William Penn, and proprietors of the province of Pennsylvania. According to the record of land patents, warrants and purchases filed in Bucks County, Theobald secured land as follows:
According to Andrew S. Berkey in The Schoolhouse Near the Spring:
The immigrant who went hunting for a home site kept his mind on two or three things. In the first place, a desirable tract had to contain a spring or fresh running water. You didn`t dig a well when you had only a few months time in which to erect a rough shelter and crop off several acres of land for planting. Hilltops were inclined to be rocky after centuries of wind erosion and bottom land was more often than not too swampy to be completely satisfactory. As a consequence, the average pioneer picked a sheltered slope where drainage was good and the springs could be controlled with a minimum of effort. And he knew that he needed a lot of good, hard timber, so he always selected a stand of chestnut, hickory or oak to be included in the survey of his plantation.Theobald selected the land carefully as the log cabin is located near a stream called Mechling`s Creek (later called Walter`s Creek). A dam was erected across the stream and a mill was built. Theobald built a cabin and moved his family to this land in Bucks County, an area which later became part of Lehigh County. The log cabin is still standing and occupied today and is incorporated into a larger home.
In 1735 the Provincial Council ordered a road built to open up the area north of Philadelphia. This King`s Highway, as it was called passed close to the Mechling cabin. By the time the surveyors mapped out the King`s Highway, there were probably fifty to sixty families in the region all of German descent: Mechling, Walker, Ochs, Dillinger, Schantz, Stahl, Kurr, Yeakel, Schubert, Moyer, Rausch, Rieszer and Zimmerman. In 1737 Theobald signed a petition to have the Upper Milford district, where the cabin was located, assigned to a separate region. In 1752 Northampton County was formed and in 1812 Lehigh County was created.
Theobald was one of the founders of the Lutheran church which was to serve as both church and school and eventually be the site of the first public school in Lehigh County. It is thought to be the oldest building used for school instruction when the area schools consolidated. In 1756,1757,1758, and 1759 he gave fifteen shillings toward the pastor`s salary, which made him one of the three largest contributors.
Theobald Mechling is listed in the 1761 Tax table.
On 19 September 1763, Theobald wrote his will leaving his beloved wife, Elizabeth Mechling one complete Bed stead with all the furniture, one cow, one side saddle worth three pounds and ten shillings, one chest, one spinning wheel, two iron pots, all the flax which is not spun into yarn at my decease and two butter dishes, three plates, six spoons, one tea pot, two bureaus of which one is pine. He had already given some of the children l00 pounds each and the others were to receive 100 pounds each when they became of age. He left the plantation of 170 acres to the youngest son, Thomas with the agreement that Elizabeth could remain at the home and share in the profit of the plantation as long as she remain a widow. The plantation was valued at 400 pounds. Thomas was to take possession when he became twenty one years of age. He was to pay the other four brothers and one sister twenty five pounds each year until he had paid each one 1/6 of the 400 pounds.
Theobald died in April 1765 and he and his wife are buried at the cemetery at Dillingersville by the Upper Milford Lutheran Church-school that he helped organize. The Mechling Historical Association placed a new tombstone there to mark the site of Theobald and Anna Elizabeth`s burial location.
On the 6th of March 1773, Dewalt and his wife, Sybilla, Jacob and his wife, Catherine, Philip and his wife, Catherine, Elizabeth and Leonard Steininger acknowledged that they had been paid in full which amounted to two hundred sixty six pound thirteen shillings and four pence lawful money of Pennsylvania. They signed a deed of release. The men signed their names and some of the women made an x mark. Peter had died after his father but before this date.
Thomas and his wife, Katherine Walsh had six children:
Thomas` son, John Jarret Mechling came into possession of the family property by “partition proceedings” on 1 June 1800. He married Anna Margaret Oberly and they had nine children.
John died at the age of 34 years without a will and the Orphans Court on 6 January 1857 awarded to his son, Anthony Oberley Mechling the homestead.
On 8 September 1875, Anthony and his wife, Mary Ann deeded to their sons, Benjamin Franklin Mechling and Anthony Wayne Mechling the property. In 1869 William Harrison and his twin brother, Benjamin Franklin went to Philadelphia where they established a tea and spice business, under the name of Mechling Brothers. This was the foundation of the Mechling Brothers Manufacturing Co., manufacturing chemicals, with its plant at Camden, New Jersey. The farm was used for growing apples and pears and as a place to test the chemical sprays.
In 1876 William Harrison bought his brother`s share of the Mechling homestead and in 1905 sold it to his son, Benjamin Schrieber Mechling. Benjamin died in 1945 leaving no children. After the property had been in the Mechling family for over 200 years, it was sold outside the family.
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