Charles Bingeman was the first of ten children born to Samuel Bingeman and Sarah Wentzel. Charles was born 1 March 1829 and baptized 4 June 1829 in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Little is known about his early life other than he learned the trade of a stonemason and enjoyed 'coon and 'possum hunting. Charles married Sarah Miller, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth (Seidel) Miller, 8 September 1849.

Charles and Sarah had five children: Wilhelmina Lydia, born 31 May 1851; Albert A., born 1853; Henry (Harry), born 18 October 1855; Katarine, born 10 September 1857; Emma, born 14 January 1859.

In 1852 Charles purchased approximately thirty-four acres in Alsace Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania. Charles and his family worked the farm until 1893 when they sold the property to the city of Reading. The family moved to 525 South Eighteenth street in Reading. Charles died 30 December 1903 and Sarah died 23 November 1914 in Reading, Pennsylvania. Both were buried in Spies Church cemetery.

All of my family have their American roots in Berks County, Pennsylvania. This fact makes my research a bit easy has I do not have travel all over the country looking for records. This blog will concentrate on my research of the Bingaman family in Berks County, Pennsylvania, specifically the descendants of Samuel Bingeman and Sarah Wentzel. Samuel and Sarah Bingeman had ten children: Charles, Daniel, Samuel, Johannes (my line), Hannah, William, Ephraim, Sarah, Mary and Katherine. Six of the ten children had descendants who are living today. For the past four years I have been trying to locate all the living descendants of Samuel and Sarah with the hope of obtaining additional information on the deceased and pictures of those who have come before. My intention is put my research findings into book form and I hope by creating this blog I will be able to contact more of my distant relatives.

The earliest Bingeman that I have located is in the 1731 baptismal records of Rev. John Casper Stoever. As you can see the Bingeman name has been in the Berks County area for many years but I feel that they have not received the recognition as being one of the early families in the area. It is my intent that this blog changes that perception and the descendants of the Bingaman family will learn what a great heritage they have.

I will be posting information and pictures from my research files from time to time and please feel free to comment about what you see at this site. Above is The Reading Nature Center. At one time this was the home of Charles and Sarah (Miller) Bingaman. Charles was the oldest child of Samuel and Sarah Bingeman.