Anna Clymer (Clemmer)

  Noted events in her life were:

• Notes of Interest. ^444,445 The original Germanic spelling of the name Clymer was Klemm. The derivation of the name is not clearly known, but four possibilities exist. First, it is interesting to note that a small river near the German-Swiss border is called, “the Klemm” and that the Clymer family originated from this area. Secondly, Klemmer may be a nickname carried over from the Middle Ages. In the days before the hereditary surname system evolved, it was common practice for a man to be given a nickname by his neighbors in order to distinguish him from others. Klemmer was a north German expression for a miser. Thirdly, the name may be of occupational origin. Klemmer was the Middle High German term for someone who worked with clay. Finally, the common Pennsylvania Mennonite names of Clemmer, Detweller, Haldeman, Hofstetter, Eschelfiten, Longenecker and Oberholtzer are all derived from villages in Switzerland.

2. Records for the Clymer surname date back as far as the fourteenth century in Germany. In 1350, Sigfrid der Klemmer and Hainrich Klemmerlin were registered in the town of Elbingen in Leonberg district. The Clymer name has undergone several spelling changes throughout its history. The earliest spelling derivation from Alsace Lorraine was Klemayr. After the family fled to Zurich, Switzerland to avoid the Catholic Church's persecution of Protestant of France, the surname was commonly spelled Klymmer. Klemmer was and still is the prevailing spelling in Germany and to some degree in the United States. By the early 1800's, many Klemmer's in the United States had anglicized the last name in order to increase their economic opportunities. World War I brought unjust treatment to many who were German-American, forcing even more Klemmers to switch to the Clemmer and Clymer spelling. In our family line, Christian Klemmer frequently was known as Clymer rather then Klemmer. Anna Clymer along with her siblings and cousins were known exclusively as Clymer.

3. It is important to point out that in the 1700's, there lived in Philadelphia a very well known English family by the surname Clymer. In fact, one of their members signed the Declaration of Independence. However, there is no connection whatsoever between the two families.

Anna married John Bergey, son of John Hans Ulrich Bergey and Mary Clemens, before 1758 in Lower Salford Mennonite Meetinghouse.⁴²⁸ (John Bergey was born in 1728 in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, died on 19 Jun 1804 in Lower Salford Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania and was buried in 1804 in Salford Mennonite Cemetery, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.)