Jacob Shultz - Place of Birth/Spelling of Last Name

Found this on Find a Grave:

Birth: 
1750, Germany
Death: 
1808
Southampton Township
Somerset County
Pennsylvania, USA

Sources vary about the origins of Jacob Schultz, some claiming he was from Germany and others Switzerland.

"The History of Macoupin County, Illinois", published in 1879, says:

"The family which Mr. Shultz is descended from is of German origin. His grandfather, Jacob Shultz, came over from Germany when fourteen years of age, before the Revolutionary War.

Later in the same book, a passage says, "The first representative of the family came to America from Prussia about 1760, during the reign of Frederick the Great, when he was fifteen years of age, having been sent to this country by his parents."

But the "Encyclopedia of the History of St. Louis", published in 1899, contains bios of Jacob's grandsons, claiming Jacob was from Poltz or Paultz, Switzerland.

However, several Swiss genealogists who specialize in Bern say that there is no such town as Poltz or Paultz in Switzerland and that Schultz is a very GERMAN German name (not a SWISS German) name. The names Poltz or Paultz may be a misunderstanding of the German region Rheinland-Pfalz, where emigration to the United States was common during this period.

Sources also disagree about Jacob's birth year (some saying 1742, some 1744-45, and others 1751) and also his age at emigration.

Jacob married Margaretha Hauenstein, the daughter of Johann Heinrich and Christina Hauenstein from Oberlustadt, Germany. Margaretha was a communicant at Manheim Reformed Lutheran Church in Lancaster County on June 28, 1771.

Some researchers believe our Jacob Schultz arrived on the ship Polly in August 1765. The ship also contained Conrad and George Hauenstein, relatives of our Jacob's wife.
(If Jacob were born in 1751, he would have been 14 in 1765, which matches certain accounts of his age at birth and emigration.)

According to Keith Dull, who wrote a book on early settlers of Somerset and Fayette Counties in Pennsylvania, the following are the known children of Jacob and Margaretha:

1) Johann George (born June 18, 1773 and served in the War of 1812)
2) Elizabeth (born 1774)
3) Phillip (born 1776)
4) Maria (born January 1, 1777)
5) Johannes (born October 19, 1779)
6) Catherine (born about 1781)
7) Heinrich (born 1784)
8) Johann Peter (born April 30, 1786)
9) Susanna (born December 25, 1787)
10) Georg Adam (born February 28, 1789)
11) Maria Eva (born February 28, 1789)
12) Hanna (born August 4, 1790)
13) a daughter (born about 1792)

The eldest son, Johann Georg, was baptized at Saint Paul's Lutheran Church in Lancaster County, Manheim Township, PA on July 25, 1773, and was sponsored by his uncle, Johann Georg Hauenstein, and his wife, Elisabetha. Maria was born in Maryland on January 1, 1777.

The known baptism locations for the other children: Johann Peter (Berlin), Susanna (Berlin), Georg Adam (Pine Hill), Maria Eva (Pine Hill), and Hanna (Berlin). The preceding were all baptized in Somerset County, PA (Berlin and Pine Hill Lutheran Churches).

According to "The History of the Alison, Or Allison Family in Europe and America", Jacob died in 1808. Jacob was taxed in Somerset County, Southampton Township (near Pleasant Union) in 1805, and presumably died before 1810 since he is not listed in the census of that year.

The family eventually dropped the 'c' from the last name in America, but in older records the last name is spelled Schultz.