Story
The following biography is found at Richard W. Tobin II, The Renninger Lineage of Hannah Susannah (Renninger) Yerger 1867-1944 (Phoenix, Arizona: Snowfall Press, 2018), pp. 29-31, posted with permission of the author on FamilySearch.org.
3. JOHANN WENDEL RENNINGER3 (Hanß Reinhard2, Hans Andreas1), son of Reinhard and Anna Christina Renninger, was born on 24 Jul 1701 in Graben, Baden-Durlach. He was baptized on 25 Jul 1701 in Graben, Baden-Durlach. He died after 22 Dec 1764 when he received a patent for land in Bethel Township, Berks Co., Pennsylvania.
Wendel married Maria Margareta Heynle on 5 Mar 1726 in Graben, Baden-Durlach. Margareta, daughter of Michael Heynle, was born about 1707. She died on 24 Jan 1748 at age 41 in Graben, Baden-Durlach.
Wendel married Catharina Elisabetha Häfner on 29 Jul 1749 in Graben, Baden-Durlach. Catharina Elisabetha, daughter of Johann Erhard and Anna Elisabetha (Rösch) Häfner, was born on 12 Nov 1726 in Graben, Baden-Durlach. She died after 7 Mar 1762, when her daughter Magdalena was baptized in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Wendel received permission to emigrate from Graben, Baden-Durlach, in 1750 on payment of a 34 florin tax. Two other men received permission to emigrate that year, Michael Heile (Heinle) and Johannes Hafner on payment of a 25 florin tax each. Wendel was older than both of these men and had a larger family. Michael Heinle was Wendel's first wife's brother and Johannes Hafner was his second wife's brother. These families were, according to a report of the Oberamt "all such, of whom we can well be rid" (solche insgesambt, deren man wohl entübrigt werden könne).
After leaving Graben the families traveled to Rotterdam where they boarded the ship Edinburgh for their voyage together to the British North American colonies. After a stop at Portsmouth, England, they arrived in Philadelphia in August 1750 and on the 13th they went to the Court House to subscribe to the required oaths. Wendel (X) Renninger made his mark and Johannes Haffner and Michel Heinle signed their names.
On 17 Sep 1751 a year after arriving in America, Wendel obtained a warrant for 50 acres of land in what was then Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. On 30 May 1752 Wendel entered a Caveat to a survey made for Petel Bixler in Bethel Township, Lancaster County, writing Wendel had a prior warrant for the land surveyed.
Berks County created 11 March 1752
On 20 Jan 1753 Wendel obtained a warrant for another 50 acres contiguous to his first warrant, located in Bethel Township, Berks County, after the formation of Berks County in 1752 from the part of Lancaster County where he was living.
French and Indian War (1754-1763)
Wendel "Reeger" and his son George "Reninger" are listed among the 69 taxables on the first assessment of Bethel Township, Berks County, dated 1754.
In Pastor John Casper Stöver's book of ministerial acts Wendel Rönninger of Swadara is listed. The Swatara Creek runs along the southern edge of Bethel Township and gave its name to area where Wendel lived. In his book Pastor Stöver recorded the baptisms of two of Wendel's daughters the first on 7 Jan 1752 and the second on 13 Jun 1756. His daughter Catharina's marriage on 13 Jan 1755 in Bethel Township is also found in Pastor Stöver's book, among other entries for members of the Rönninger family.
During the French and Indian War Bethel Township "was conspicuous during the incursions and cruelties by the Indians from 1756 till 1763. More than sixty inhabitants were murdered." As did many families it appears that Wendel moved his family to the safety of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is not listed in a 1759 list of taxables for Bethel Township and his daughter Magdalena was baptized in Lancaster on 7 Mar 1762.
After the war Wendel had his land in Bethel Township surveyed. The survey of his first warrant, dated 2 Mar 1764, returned a tract of 62 3/4 acres and the survey of his second warrant returned a tract of 18.46 acres. On 22 Dec 1764, at age 63, he was issued a patent for the first tract, but did not obtain a patent for the second tract. A new warrant was issued on the second tract on 20 Feb 1772 to Jonathan Davis and was patented by Casper Snavely on 17 Dec 1772.
His patent is the last record I have found of Wendel. Neither he nor any other Renninger is listed in the Proprietary Return for Bethel Township, Berks County in 1767 or 1768. There is no Renninger listed in the Register of Property for Bethel Township, Berks County in 1779. This would indicate that he may have sold his land in Bethel Township shortly after he obtained a patent for it. I have not found the record of that disposition.