This blog post was partially written using Artificial Intelligence based on my research report on Valentine Shults.
Unlocking the Mysteries of Johan “Valentine” Velten Shults
Johan “Valentine” Velten Shults was born in 1715 in Darmstadt, Germany, and immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1731. He married twice and died in 1745. But who exactly was this early German immigrant to America? Genealogists have puzzled over conflicting records about his parentage and life in Germany.
I recently completed a Research Like a Pro Mini 14-Day research project to learn more about Valentine and why he left his homeland for the British colonies. I chose Valentine as my subject after taking the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy course “Immigration from Colonial Times to 1890,” coordinated by D. Joshua Taylor. Because my paternal ancestors all originated in colonial America I wanted to learn more about researching them. So far, only a handful of these ancestors actually have a record that provides clues to their immigration. Valentine, a Pennsylvania German immigrant, is one.
Some key points that I learned in the course about researching colonial settlers can help us get started on this challenging type of research. First, know that there are likely not going to be records for many people who immigrated from Britain. They were often British subjects coming to a British colony, so there would be no type of naturalization record or passport and often no ship manifest. There are exceptions, however, and it’s always possible that a record exists for an ancestor. Because the Pennsylvania colony leaders were concerned about the large number of Palatine Germans emigrating in the early 1700s, they created laws that resulted in records, and thus, we have evidence of Valentine Shults arriving in Philadelphia on 10 September 1731.
To mitigate the challenge of records, we can study the context of the ancestor’s choice to immigrate. Learning more about the community the immigrant settled in and their associates could provide clues to their origins. Also, we need to sort through a plethora of compiled sources to understand what evidence can be gained. Myths and assumptions have likely grown up around the immigrant ancestor, and we will need to understand the records thoroughly. We will also need to research the colonist’s life for every possible clue. This will be especially important if identities have become conflated due to people of the same name. Separating out individuals can only be done with reasonable exhaustive research in many cases.
Applying these principles of colonial immigrant research, I tackled Valentine Shults as my research subject for the mini-challenge. Because this was to take place over 14 days with a 30-minute to hour window of research each day, I kept my objective focused on Valentine’s emigration – not his further life in Pennsylvania.
Research Objective
Discover why Johan “Valentine” Velten Shults emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1731 from Germany. Johan was born on 24 July 1715 in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany, and died on 16 November 1745 in Manchester, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He first married Elizabeth on 10 September 1731 and second Maria Eva Stocker on 16 October 1735 in Conestoga, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
The Theories
I started with a literature survey, knowing that much had been researched and written about Valentine. I discovered quickly that there are two main theories about Valentine’s parents, with # 1 being the current theory most researchers have settled on.1
1. Heinrich Christof Schultz and Sophia Margaretha of Darmstadt, Hessen. This couple had 11 children, with Valentine being the 4th born.
2. Gabriel Shultz and Anna Margaretta of Pfaltz, Alsace. Their son Johann Martin Schultz preceded Valentine in immigrating to Pennsylvania in 1721.
As I studied the accounts, I realized that sorting out these two theories and coming to my own conclusion of which was likely to be most accurate would be a separate, more involved project, so I tabled that for future research. Besides, my objective was to discover the “why” of emigration, which needed a study of the broader context of these Palatine Germans.
The History
Regardless of his exact parentage, Valentine came from the southwest region of Germany that was undergoing tremendous upheaval in the early 18th century. Religious persecution, political turmoil, and economic stresses led many Germans, known as the Palatines, to seek better fortunes across the Atlantic. The map below depicts southwestern Germany with the black star indicating Darmstadt, Hessen, the present theory for Valentine’s birth.2

Postarum . . . Germanium, 1729, David Rumsey Map Collection
Valentine likely grew up hearing stories of life in the Pennsylvania colony from letters and advertisements. The colony promised religious freedom, available land, and economic opportunity. These pull factors enticed Valentine and thousands of others to make the difficult journey.
The Journey
In the summer of 1731, the 16-year-old Valentine boarded the Pennsylvania Merchant in Rotterdam as a single man. No record of his voyage has surfaced, but other descriptions of similar voyages indicate this was not for the lighthearted. Valentine would have first needed to make his way to Rotterdam on the coast and then survive the treacherous voyage across the Atlantic. Valentine arrived in Philadelphia on 10 September 1731 and, the next day, took the required oath of allegiance to the British crown and the oath of abjuration relinquishing allegiance to the Pope.3 His signature on these official documents cemented his status as a newly-minted Pennsylvanian.
The Records
A challenge of researching a colonial immigrant is the many derivative records that have been compiled during the last 200 + years. Finding the original document with Valentine’s name and his mark required digging through several compiled sources and understanding each one.
In 1856, Isaac Daniel Rupp published A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French, and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776. 4 He subsequently published a second edition in 1875. This was not a complete list and contained many transcription errors. Additionally, he did not preserve the lists in their original structure and changed headings and the arrangements of names. In 1890, the State of Pennsylvania commissioned Dr. William H. Egle to republish the lists in a more complete form and correct errors from Rupp’s work. Egle corrected the headings but used the same names that had been interpreted by Rupp, many of which were misspelled and not in the original German. In 1934, Ralph B. Strassburger and William J. Hinke revisited the lists with the following objectives.5
present all the lists that are now in existence in full, without any change or abbreviation
[print] the name in the exact order as found in the originals
Great care is given in this edition to explain the three types of lists, the editing rules used in the transcriptions, and the interpretation of the lists. The editors explain:
The main emphasis of the editor has been laid throughout upon the proper decipherment of the names of the passengers. Wherever there was more than one list of a ship, the names on the different lists have been carefully compared. From this comparative study of the lists, many new and better readings have been obtained. There are, however, many names which defy all pain and patience to read them correctly. In these cases a question mark, enclosed in square brackets, indicates the uncertainty in the reading.
When a German immigrant arrived in the colonies, three lists could have been created: the captain’s list (A), the oath of allegiance (B), and the oath of abjuration (C). In the case of Valentine Shults, all three lists appear in Strassburger and Hinke’s Pennsylvania German Pioneers. The image below shows a portion of List B and List C. In both instances, Valentine signed with a mark.

Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William John Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers; A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808, List C
List A first names the men above sixteen, then women above sixteen years of age, and then children under the age of sixteen. John Stedman, Commander, gave an “account of Palatine Passengers on board of ye Pensilvania [sic] Merchant . . . from Rotterdam, at the day of their arrival at Philadelphia, September ye 10th 1731.”
Among these were the following Shults individuals who may or may not be related.
Men above 16
Valentine Shults
Hans Martin Schults
Women above 16 years of age
Cathrine Shultsone
Eliz. Shultsone
Children under 16
Jacob Schults
Is the order of the names important? Only two men over 16 have the same exact last name, Frans and Jacob Kryke. They are listed together whereas Valentine Shults and Hans Martin Schults not only have different spellings, but they are also separated in the list by several men. However, several women about 16 are grouped together by surname, including the two Shultsone women. The same holds true with the children under 16. Those of the same surname are grouped together. It would seem that several families made the voyage together and to test this I created a list of hypothetical families based on surnames. I made the following observations.
- 29 men appeared to be single, with no women or children of the same surname listed
- 28 men had women or children of the same surname listed
- 21 women did not have the same surname as a man
- 3 children did not have the same surname as a man or woman
Accounts of similar voyages speak to the death that occurred during the voyage, and the number of children without a parent, women without a husband, and men without a wife could largely be in part because of the death of family members. Valentine Shults likely was a single man seeking his fortune and traveling on his own. Alternatively, his wife or sister could be one of the Shultsone women, as assumed by past researchers. Additional research will be needed in the records and the associates on this voyage to make further connections.
Not wanting to rely solely on a derivative record, I found that the Pennsylvania State Archives has digitized the original lists.6 By comparing the careful record made by Hinke with the microfilm, I located the original List C, which showed Valentine Shults’s name with his mark as his signature.

Signature of Valentine [his mark] Shults

Signature of Hans Martin Schultz
Viewing the list in its entirety shows the variation in signatures and that most of the men were literate and could sign their own names.

11 September 1731, Philadelphia, List C Palatines Imported in the Ship Pennsylvania Merchant, John Stedman, Master, from Rotterdam, but last from Dover. Valentine [his mark] Shults and Hans Martin Schultz highlighted.
The Mysteries
Valentine’s story contains many gaps. Determining his exact parentage requires more research in German and colonial records. Tracing his associates from the voyage and early years in Pennsylvania may reveal clues about his origins and family left behind.
Unlocking the mysteries of Valentine’s former life can illuminate the world he left behind. As genealogists, digging into our ancestor’s experiences helps us understand their motivations. Valentine took a bold leap into the unknown that led to the lives we enjoy today.
Let me know if you have any insights into Valentine Shults’ origins and immigration story! I’m continuing to explore records on both sides of the Atlantic to solve the mysteries.
For more details and to see how I wrote this as a formal report, see the following: Johan Valentine Shults Research Report
Best of luck in all your genealogical endeavors!
Sources
- Eli and Betsy McCarter Family, Ancestor of the Month: Johan Velten (Valentine) Shultz, posted August 2008, (https://huskey-ogle-family.tripod.com/ancestorarchives/id30.html : accessed 28 January 2024), sketch formerly published on the McCarter-Hater Website.
- Matthaeus Seutter, “Postarum . . . Germanium,” 1729; David Rumsey Map Collection (https://www.davidrumsey.com/luna/servlet/detail/RUMSEY~8~1~283621~90056113:Postarum—–Germanium- : accessed 26 January 2024).
- Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William John Hinke, Pennsylvania German Pioneers; A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808 (Norristown, Penn. : Pennsylvania German Society, 1934), 42; digitized book, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/pennsylvaniagerm42stra/page/42/mode/2up : accessed 28 January 2024).
- Isaac Daniel Rupp, A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727 to 1776 . . ., 2nd Ed (Philadelphia: Leary, Stuart & Co., 1875).
- Strassburger and Hinke, xlv
- Pennsylvania State Archives, “Ships Lists Of German Passengers (Roll 4231)”, Ships Lists of German Passengers, 1727-1808, Valentine Shults, 1731, (https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/psa/islandora/object/psa%3A1407332?page_pid=psa%3A1411344 : accessed 10 February 2024).
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