These charts were prepared in response to requests for updated material on the immigrant Michael Messner and his descendants for distribution at the commemoration of the 250th anniversary of his arrival at Philadelphia on 20 Sep 1738.
In some of the families charted, data was collected in the early 1970's, and family growth since then is missing. There are a few dates as late as 1988. This spread simply indicates that my data collection effort has continued over the past eighteen years, and is still ongoing. Note also that much data is missing, and that many names and dates which should be included are not there. You may even find some errors, hopefully very few.
You can help with these problems by supplying missing data. I have enclosed two forms on which you can record data for my use in writing a narrative historical and geneological account of the Michael Messner Family. Reproduce as many copies of the forms as you need. The ancestor chart is essential to identify the correct line of descent. The family group sheet is used for each nuclear family...husband, wife and their children. Multiple marriages require a form for each marriage. Please use complete names, dates and places.
I also need narrative accounts of the various families and their activities, biographical sketches, published materials from all kinds of pulications, facsimile copies of family records of all kinds...the list is endless.
I have been accused of all manner of evil intent in omitting the descendants of Messner family females from these charts. The simple reason they are not included is that there are just too many of them. To try to include them would make the scope too massive to contemplate.
Let me demonstrate the problem. Assume that each family has four children who have descendants, two boys and two girls, and that each of them has two boys and two girtls who have descendants, and so on. The number of children in the next generation doubles in the male line, but quadruples in all lines. If we extend our example to the 9th generation, we find 264 persons in the male line, and 65,536 in all lines. Real families do not grow in this regular pattern, some having fewer children, and some having more. However, the ratio between the numbers in the male line, and those in all lines generally approximates the example.
The decision to include only those descendants of the immigrant Michael Messner who bore the Messner familly name was forced by sheer weight of numbers. For those of you who are still angry at me, please note that I and my descendants do not qualify, and are not included in these charts. My mother is included because she was born a Mesner.
I hope that you will enjoy these charts of the various branches of the Michael Messner Family. They represent another step toward a complete picture of the descendants of our immigrant ancestor. With your help we can continue to fill in the missing pieces.
With my best wishes,
Phil