1850 Census
Shenandoah VA
John G Lonas 80
Catharine Lonas 55
Christina Lonas 20
Barbara Lonas 12

George Lonas, born 19 Oct 1764 near Philadelphia, Pa., was baptized Johann Georg Lohnes, which by German cultural norms meant that his spiritual name was Johann, but he was actually called Georg, as Germans usually went by the second of the two names, or what we would call the "middle name." This was later Americanized to "George," and still later in life he seems to have Americanized even his baptismal name, in addition to the spelling of his surname, to "John George Lonas" or "John G. Lonas" (per the 1850 census, on which his age should have been 85, not 80).

That he was the son of Leonard Lonas (born Johann Leonhart Lohnes in 1742) and wife Catharine Heist (born Anna Catharina) is proven by the existence of several Shenandoah County, Va., deeds in which he is named as son, along with his nine brothers and sisters, who later settled mainly in Ohio.

George's (or John G.'s) parents were married 17 Jan 1764 in Bucks County, Pa. He was born exactly 39 weeks and 3 days later, so a full-term infant with plenty of room to spare. This birth date, being exactly one pregnancy's length following the parents' marriage, means that he must have been the eldest child and eldest son, as this was Leonard's first marriage. (Catharina died sometime before 23 Nov 1826, when Leonard remarried to Elizabeth Copenhaven in Woodstock, Shenendoah County.)

This George Lonas was earlier thought by some to have been the son of Johann Georg Lohnes (1744-1793), his uncle, and first wife Eva Fassin, but this was not possible with a birth date of 19 Oct 1764, which fell a scant 20 weeks and three days after their marriage on 29 May 1764.

Most puzzling of all: among the DAR materials for Pension Application No. S8848, there is a transcription of a 2 Sep 1833 Frederick County court appearance by a man claiming to have been George Lonas, who said that he'd been living in Frederick County since the end of the war (while this George married in, and was living in, Shenandoah Co., and no Lonas census records in Frederick Co.), and who subsequently collected only three pension payments, before dying on 28 Apr 1834 (as noted on p. 361 of Va pension payments report)---while THIS George, meanwhile, lived on another 18 years in Shenandoah County until 8 Mar 1852! Has no one noticed this death date discrepancy before? Who was the man who received the pension?! Was he an identity thief?

C.A. Brooman (Member ID 48601467)
Contributor: C.A. Brooman