Andrew is our direct ancestor. He joined the Continental Army in 1777 and served as a teamster in General Washington's army at the battle of the Brandywine. Despite the volunteer hepl of the Marquis de Lafayette and the Count Pulaski this battle was lost to the British. When it became evident that the tide of battle was going against the Continental Army Andrew cut his best horse loose and escaped capture. Since Valley Forge, where General Washington's Army spent the winter of 1777-1778 was only fifteen miles from the Geist home it seems probable that Andrew and his brothers Mathias and John wintered at home. Andrew bought his release from the Army and moved to Weisenberg Township in Northampton (now Leigh) County where he was a jointer and a farmer. He married a woman named DORNMEIER, no known first name or dates, shortly after the Battle of Brandywine, by whom he had four children. The family, then consisting of Andrew, his wife and first two children, moved about 1788 to Northumberland County, traveling by foot and horseback. Their route was west from Weisenberg Township along the Tulpehocken Trail to Bethel Township, Berks County, then across the Blue Mountains in Pine Grove, north to Keffers, then northwest to the Valley View Gap and the Klingerstown Gap in Schuylkill County. At Klingerstown Gap they entered Northumberland County and turned north across the hill, settling family where Greenbrier, Northumberland County is now. Their first resting place in this, their future home, was under a large oak tree not much more than a half mile from an Indian hunting camp. They probably chose this spot because of the stream, Swabben Creek, the pleasant rolling country, the good hunting and the presence of other German settlers in the area. The Indians who were camped so close on their first days had a cemetery which later became part of Andrew's farm. Their first house was a log cabin equipped with ports through which the activities of the Indians could be watched and fired on, but Andrew made friends with them rather than fighting. They moved on to other areas not too many years later. Andrew was married twice, as noted above, and his second wife was SCHNEIDER, Marie Christina, daughter of SCHNEIDER, Johan Nicolaus. One of Andrew's granddaughters, reporting to A. F. Geist, the author of "The Geist Relation", stated that Andrew had twenty-one children in all, four by his first wife and the rest by his second, but four of them must have died very young since we have records of only seventeen. Andrew died on 19 Dec 1849, aged 94 years, 10 months, 23 days, and is buried in Himmel's Church, Rebuck, with his wives on either side of him. There is no stone for the first wife, but Marie Christina, born 8 Feb 1778 and died 12 Sep 1859, does have a stone that, like his, is inscribed in German. Andrew bought nearly three hundred acres of land in the Greenbrier area, 216 from SCHLICK, Adam and the rest from MINIAM, Henry, both pieces in 1795. Both of these farms where originally patented by the Penns, and since the Colony of Pennsylvania no longer existed after the Revolution Andrew had trouble getting clear titles. He finally, in 1800, got a Patent Deed from Governor Thomas McKean, the second Governor of the Commonwealth. Himmel's Church was founded in 1772, and since there were a growing number of settlers in the area, as well as a new church, the officials in Philadelphia and Harrisburg decided to definitely locate and anme the locality. In order to do this an official party was send up from Susquehanna River to a certain big creek, now know as Mahantango Creek. From the river they followed this creek eastward until it made a bend through a gap in the mountains, now called Klingerstown Gap. From this bend in the creek they were directed to go north across the hills until they came to a section of the valley covered with nothing but green briers, thus the name Greenbrier. The briers were soon cleared and the land became excellent farms along the clear creek running through the middle this pleasant little valley. This creek was named Swaben Creek after the Swabian Tribe in Germany, from which many of the settlers descended. Father Andrew, as he was known, was the great-grandfather of A. F. Geist who labored so long and diligently on the compilation of "The Geist Relation", and the granddaughter mentioned above was an aunt from whom he obtained much information.
Falck Family Genealogy
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