Johannes G'Fellers, Adam G'Fellers, Abraham Gefellers

Johannes G'Fellers immigrated from the Palatinate State of what is now western Germany, through the Netherlands to Philadelphia on the ship Bilender Townsen on October 5, 1737. He settled in Lancaster County, PA, as did many Palatinates who came to the colonies to avoid religious persecution.

Johannes’s son, Adam immigrated to Philadelphia in 1737 on the Charming Nancy. Adam married and lived for a while in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia before settling in Greene County, TN. Adam’s son, Abraham was a judge in the Greene County Court for many years.

Abraham GeFellers’s third son was Jackson G’Fellers. Little is known about him. Jackson G’Fellers’s third son was William G. Fellers, who moved to Illinois. Pictures exist of William, although not accompanied by much narrative, except that he married Sarah M. Watson (a descendant of the Pierpont line that traces back to 1066 and the Battle of Hastings under William the Conqueror) and that they had four children. William’s oldest son was Roscoe Conklin Fellers, who married Florence Tavenor Allen. They had five children, the first two born in Allerton, IL before they relocated to Dawson County, NE, concurrent with the Allen family relocated there. The Allen’s were well known breeders of Bates shorthorn cattle and Shropshire sheep. Roscoe and Florence’s oldest daughter was Mina Margaret Fellers, who married Albert Asa Kring. The Kring family is well-documented on other pages of this website.

The G'Fellers name appears in records in a variety of spellings: G'Feller, G'Gellers, GeFellers, Gefellers, Fellars, Feller, and Fellers. Also, several through the years used G. as a middle initial with the last name Feller or Fellers. No doubt this reflected the record-keeping of the era as well as an attempt to Americanize the name.

It is interesting to note the similarity in the history of the G'Fellers and Kring families which eventually intermarried in Nebraska in 1920. There is no evidence the two families were acquainted back in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

Most of the Feller and Pierpont information comes from records accumulated by Florence Johnson Kring of Lexington, NE. Information on Johannes and Adam G'Feller is from Bruce Nichols of St. Louis, MO, a researcher of the Barnhart surname.

Click here for a pdf file of photographs of Fellers ancestors