The Ries line of Oberderdingen and Tiefenbach, Germany

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This post is for my husband, Nick, and my mother-in-law, Helene's, family. Helene's father, August Ries, immigrated from Germany to America in 1924. Here I will share what I have learned about the history of the place he came from, as well as how the German and American lines of the family reconnected.

The Best Greeting from West-Germany

In Sept of 1979, eight years after the death of her father, Helene (Ries) Vigdahl wrote the following letter to the Mayor's Office of Oberderdingen, Germany:

The Mayor's Office was able to provide her with some names of likely family members that she could contact, and in Oct. 1979 she sent off another hopeful letter:

A little over a month later she was finally rewarded by a reply from her long-lost uncle Anton Ries (by way of help from his daughter Anette who was studying English at the University in Heidelberg), a part of which is included here:

Anton was also able to provide her with a copy of a page from her grandfather Franz Joseph Ries' bible that contained information about both her grandmother Rosa (Schenkel) Ries, and her great grandparents, Wilhelm and Sofi Ries. He also sent her a copy of the last letter they received from her father, August, dated 16 Feb 1927:

After much more correspondence, Helene was eventually able to travel with her children (my husband and sister-in-law) to Oberderdingen and visit with her German relatives in person.

(Anton Ries on the accordion)

Sickingen Catholic Church

Franz Joseph Ries b.1873 d.1947

Many years passed, children grew older, and eventually her son Nick married me- who loves family history stories like this one. Helene humored me by digging out her old container of letters, photos, and mementoes from this time period, and also put me in touch with Anette (Ries) Welte, the daughter of Anton Ries (who had passed on in 1999).

Anette with her daughter and grandchildren

Anette has been a gift, for she had been bitten by the genealogy bug as well. We have exchanged a wealth of information, and she has even made a trip to her local church to look up very old records of family members that were difficult to get online. This helped immensely to point us in the right direction.

Original book of church records from St. Maria Magdalena Catholic Church in Sickingen

The results are presented to you in the Ries Ancestry and the American/German Ries Descendant documents privately provided to family members. Additionally, I have written a place of origin history below, similar to what I like to do for my own family tree blog posts. May these two family lines never again lose touch of their shared history with one another!

The Ries Surname

The surname Ries is Bohemian (now Czech Republican) in origin. Its literal meaning is "branch" or "twig", and it was probably used to signify a woodcarver. Alternatively, in southern Germany, it could be used to denote a person who was very big or tall. Sometimes it is spelled with the variations of Riess, Reis, or Rüs. Given their Roman Catholic roots, the Ries' of Bohemia may have been part of the House of Habsburg- Austrian's who defeated and then took over the area starting around 1278. Or instead, they may have been a part of the original Slavic inhabitants that were mostly aligned with the Protestants prior to 1620. 

Location of Bohemia before becoming a part of Czechoslovakia in 1928. Bordered on the west by Germany. Now a part of the Czech Republic.

Starting in the early 1500s, tensions between the established Roman Catholics and the newly forming Lutheran Protestants created a great deal of unrest throughout Europe (more on this to follow). In Bohemia, this came to a head at the Battle of White Mountain on 8 Nov 1620. The untrained Protestants lost soundly, resulting in the suppression of Lutheranism within Bohemia, and about 600 families being forced to either convert to Catholicism or be exiled. Given the timing of when the Ries line is first recorded in Tiefenbach, Germany, (likely between 1620-1640), it is possible this historic battle played a role in the family's emigration.

The Battle of White Mountain (by Peter Snayers)

Tiefenbach, Östringen, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Location of Tiefenbach, within the Baden-Württemberg state of SW Germany

Tiefenbach from view of Kreuzberg chapel

Tiefenbach is a small village that was originally owned by the nearby town of Odenheim, but is now a part of the municipality of Östringen. It was first mentioned in records in 1122 AD where it had built up around an Odenheim Benedictine monastery that later became a noble knights monastery. Interestingly, it had early ties to Sickingen as well, (another noble knight town), which their king had pledged allegiance to in 1344. Its ownership changed many times over the generations, and with it, its religious affiliation. Teachings of the Protestant Reformation came to the city in 1556, but were quenched by 1673 when its ownership passed to the Electoral Palatinate. From 1794 until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, it was ruled by the Catholic French, but then the Congress of Vienna determined that it should become part of Protestant Prussia. Within a year of this decision, the Ries family left Tiefenbach for Sickingen.

Route from Tiefenbach to Sickingen (then separate from Flehingen), about 9 miles. Both are part of the district of Karlsruhe in Germany.

The earliest ancestor of this line that is known by name with certainty was Georg Ries, born in Tiefenbach around 1640. In 1666, he was married to Catherine Nies. We do not know what his occupation was, but both weaving and wine making were particularly important to the economy of this region at the time. It was a growing area up until the 1850s when the Industrial Revolution began to draw people away into the city factories. When Georg Roman Ries and his wife Elizabeth (Heitlinger) moved their growing family to Sickingen in 1816, many of his wife's family line must have remained. The Heitlinger family is still well established in the area and amazingly, still owns a family winery in Tiefenbach today. Not to mention a hotel, a spa, a golf course, a restaurant...

Historical Background

Sickingen-Flehingen, Oberderdingen, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The village of Sickingen no longer exists by the name of Sickingen. In 1936, it merged with the adjoining town of Flehingen. And then again in 1972, Flehingen and another town, Großvillars, were combined with the municipality of Oberderdingen. Based on monastery records, the original towns of Sickingen and Flehingen existed at least as early as 764 AD and 779 AD, respectively. The Flehingen family line is an offshoot of the Sickingen line that settled the two villages. Unfortunately, the earliest genealogy of the Sickingen line has been lost to time, but the early town was gifted as a fief of the Electoral Palatinate to the noble von Sickingen line no later than 1353.

Current day combined town of Flehingen and Sickingen. Sickingen was originally separate and located at the east end of the city.

According to legend, the precursor of the Flehingen line of the von Sickingen family started in 1158, when two brothers, Eberhard and Berthold, were disputing over who should get to claim the ancestral castle. Due to their mother's pleas to avoid bloodshed, they decided on a snowball fight to settle the claim. Each brother would be given 5 snowballs, with the winner taking the castle. Unfortunately, the epic battle ended in a tie, leaving the castle's fate unresolved. Still desiring to refrain from violence, the mother devised a new contest in which the winner would instead be the brother who saw an animal first on the following day. This time, Eberhard was the victor, after spotting a wild swan on the castle moat. A short time later, Berthold caught sight of a wolfhound as well, but the fate of the castle was already sealed. Thus, it would be that Berthold would be forced to build his own "Upper Castle", north of the Sickingen church, while Eberhard would remain south of the church in the "Lower Castle". Each would adopt a coat of arms depicting the 5 snowballs, with Eberhard's also displaying a swan and Berthold's exhibiting a wolf. Over time, the Sickingen crest lost one of its snowballs and the Flehingen crest lost its wolf, but they still exist in similar form today.

Original Coat of Arms

Modern versions

Perhaps Berthold can be considered to have won the day after all though, for in 1525, peasants destroyed the Lower Castle during the German Peasants' War, and no trace of its exact location now remains. Additionally, by 1353, the von Flehingens had built a third castle in the town Flehingen. Berthold's legacy would also be scarred, however, by the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), during which the Upper Castle was burned and pillaged. This was done in an effort to destroy the influence of the Protestant Reformation among the peasantry and restore the region back to its Roman Catholic roots. So now, the Flehingen Castle, which was rebuilt as a palace in 1565 by Ludwig Wolf von Flehingen, is the only castle of the 3 still remaining. Both Sickingen, and especially Flehingen (due to its castle), were badly damaged in 1622 during the Thirty Years War. This was a very difficult time period, and is estimated that up to 50% of people in central Germany died during the war, due to either battle, famine, or disease. Then in 1666, the Bubonic Plague spread to the Rhine region from London, taking the lives of another 10-15% of the population. That Georg Ries (b.1640) survived this time period to carry on the line says a lot about his strength and luck. It also explains why very little in the way of official records can be found before his time.

Flehingen Palace, originally a moated castle, as it appears today

The power of the noble Sickingen and Flehingen families, along with their hopes for Protestant Reformation, were diminished leading up to the Thirty Years War, particularly after their loses in the Knight's Revolt of 1522-1523. By the early 1600s, the last of the von Flehingen males had died, and ownership of the village was passed on to the noble Wolff-Metternich family, which was Catholic. The von Sickingen line persisted until 1834, when the last of the line, Franz Graf von Sickingen, died unmarried and childless. Many of the noble family members are entombed within the Sickingen Church.

Tomb of Lucia von Andlau, died 1547, wife of Franz Konrad von Sickingen

The Catholic Church of St Maria Magdalena

As alluded to previously, the religious affiliation of the inhabitants of Sickingen and Flehingen was caught in the same Protestant Reformation tug of war as of much of the rest of 16th century Europe. It began in 1517, when Martin Luther published his famous "Disputation on the Power of Indulgences", calling into question the all-encompassing authority of the Roman Catholic Church. Ultimately, the Reformation helped to introduce social and political ideas that would one day bring down the feudal system, and usher in more democratic forms of government. But many lives were lost or upended in the long transition.

A 19th-century painting by Julius Hübner sensationalizing Luther's posting of the 95 Theses

These Protestant ideals enamored not just the peasantry, but many of the free noble class as well. In the late Middle Ages, the world economy was undergoing a gradual shift into industrial, rather than agricultural, wealth. This created declining conditions for the noble land Barons, who felt impoverished in both property and political power. Imperial Knight Franz von Sickingen (born March 2, 1481) was an early adopter of this new way of thinking, as was also the nephew of Konrad von Sickingen, the Lord Baron of Sickingen at that time. After his wife died in 1515, Franz began campaigning in earnest to improve the conditions of the free nobles. In doing so, he came into acquaintance with humanist Ulrich von Hutten in 1519, an ardent supporter of Martin Luther and an outspoken critic of the Roman Catholic Church.

Hutten-Sickingen Monument ( Robert and Ludwig Cauer, 1889) on the Ebernburg

The result for Sickingen was that in 1522, the von Sickingen family became members of the Protestant faith, and their church began to preach Luther's doctrine. This change seems to have inspired the building of a new church in 1523, a structure which still stands in the town today. Throughout the remainder of the 16th century and the Thirty Years War soon after, Sickingen and Flehingen remained Protestant. Tides changed in 1685, when Catholic French King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes that had helped to secure peace between Catholics and Protestants since its signing in 1598. 

King Louis XIV (1638-1715)

In the late 1600s, King Louis XIV was at the height of his power, and he sought to enforce French land claims along the Rhine and in Württemberg, which he judged had been granted by the Peace of Westphalia treaty at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War. By 1688 he was launching attacks on this region, and forcing Protestant towns to convert to Catholicism or be destroyed. By 1693, the von Sickingen family had re-converted to Catholicism, and the Sickingen Church became The Catholic Church of St. Maria Magdalena. This church has played a prominent role in the Ries family, as it has been the site of numerous baptisms, weddings, and funerals for many, many generations. By the time Franz Josef Ries moved his family from Tiefenbach to Sickingen in 1816, the church had been Roman Catholic for over 100 years.

Choir vault of the Sickingen Church

Kraichgau Railway

The railroad industry has also been of prime importance to the economic growth of Germany. Napoleon's defeat in 1815 lifted the Continental Blockade that had prevented trade with the British Empire. Unfortunately, the gradual weakening and final collapse of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 initially left future Germany fractured and disordered, with no organized economic center. Town specific cottage industries involving a particular specialty such as linen, wine, or iron works, began to apply more mechanized forms of industry from the 1830s onward. But he real leap forward in industrialization began in the 1850s when Germany began to invest more heavily in railway construction. In addition to connecting centers of trade, railroads also increased demand for iron and coal, leading to expansion in these industries as well.

Initially, Sickingen was somewhat left out of this booming expansion, due to early railroad routes that circumvented the region for the larger cities of Heilbronn, Heidelberg, Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart. This diverted traditional trade routes, and threatened the economic interests of the Eppingen, Kraichital, and Oberderdingen regions. Construction of the Kraichgau Railway in 1880 helped to remediate those concerns. The line runs from Karlsruhe to Heilbronn, crossing directly through the towns of Bretten, Flehingen, and Eppingen on its path. Many generations of the Ries line have maintained their livelihood by working for the railroad, including the father of August Ries, Franz Josef (b. 1873) and August's brother Anton (b. 1920).

The Ries Line

Passage to America

August Ries came to America in 1924, at the age of 19, to continue his training as a locksmith. His brother Wilhelm had left for America the year prior, and for the first two months they lived together with their first cousin (once removed) John Haag (b. 1867). John's family was descended from the line of August's great aunt and uncle, Ludwig Haag and Elizabeth Ries (b. 1838), who had come to America in 1886. They settled in Middlesex County, New Jersey, and over the years rented out their home to a number of different immigrant boarders.

For unknown reasons, August lost track of both his brother Wilhelm and his German family back in Sickingen. At the age of 26, he married Mary Dernar, whose parents had immigrated from Slovakia to Pennsylvania in about 1900. In 1941 they moved to Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio where they raised a family of 5 children. August worked initially as a machinist, and eventually as an electrical appliance repairman. The Ries line surname carried on for two more generations in America, but at this point has ceased to advance, though many DNA descendants on female branches of the line still remain.

The Enyeart's: Family Ties in an Early Pennsylvania Rural Community

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Every once in a while, in my genealogy research, I come across a family that surprises me for one reason or another. While researching our Dean/Norris lines of the Raystown Branch Juniata River in PA, I came across one such family - the Enyeart's. I kept finding myself thinking about them so often that I finally decided I just had to write something.

Raystown Branch Juniata River, Huntingdon County, PA

In my prior post on the Dean's, I mentioned a rivalry that existed between the Deans and Norrises, who lived on neighboring farms near the boarder of Juniata and Penn townships (then Hopewell Twp.) Years later this quarrel seems to have been adequately resolved, as evidenced by the marriage between Abraham Dean (b.1837) and Hannah Norris (b.1842). Like Abraham's great grandfather John Dean (b.1739) discussed previously, Hannah's great grandfather Joseph P. Norris, Sr. (b.1729) also came to Huntingdon County, PA from Frederick Co., MD (now Washington Co.) around the time of the Revolutionary War. Joseph P. Norris, Sr. had a son named Joseph P. Norris, Jr. (b. 1774), who is also in our direct line. And this Joseph married Elizabeth "Betsey" Enyeart (b.1779) in 1797.

Elizabeth Enyeart came from the very large family of William Enyeart (b.1748), another early settler of the Raystown Branch Juniata River (Ref 2, p.75). He was from NJ originally, but married his first wife, Catherine Schell (b.1750, our direct line) in Frederick Co., MD. He then went on to have 23 kids! Can you imagine??!? Not that many couples didn't have fairly large families at that time, but even a large family usually topped out around 15 kids, and around 10 was more typical. I'm not certain that he has the largest family of our tree so far, but he's definitely in the upper 1%. And due to the large number of healthy offspring he had, his family line ended up linking a lot of the early Juniata River Valley families together through marriage, including our own. With quite a few twists and turns along the way.

Outline of Juniata Twp. shown in red. Penn Twp. is at its southern border, while Walker Twp. lies to its west and Union Twp. to its east.

William Enyeart was well regarded by his community (Ref 3, p.1181). He was said to be famous for his excellent shooting abilities, which allowed his large family to never go hungry. While his main occupation was farming, he was also a part-time blacksmith (Ref 5, p.6). He was a soldier in the Bedford Co. Pennsylvania Militia during the Revolutionary War, and played a prominent role in establishing the early Huntingdon Co. government, in which he served as an auditor. He also was a regular member of the Protestant Episcopal Church and a large land owner in the area.

Raystown Branch Juniata River showing outline of pre-dam river boundaries. Homestead location is approximate.

He and his first wife Catherine (Shell) married in 1772 when they were 24 and 22 years of age respectively. By 1780 they had 4 children, despite Willian presumably being away for significant periods of time during his years of military service (1778-1783). His 4th child, Elizabeth (our direct ancestor), was born in March 1779. Perhaps his stretches of time away did impact the young couple eventually though, for after the birth of Elizabeth, there is and unexpected gap in the birth record until their 5th child, David, was born in May 1787. Only 10 month later they were poised to welcome their next offspring, this time twins, when tragedy struck. Catherine died in childbirth on Mar 20, 1788, along with her two infant girls. She and the twins were buried at the Yocum family cemetery, their neighbors upriver to the south.

At this point William was 39 years old, and the single father of 5 children ranging in age from 1 to 14 years of age. Fortunately for him, another upriver neighbor, Joseph P. Norris, was able to assist. His daughter Jane Norris was sent to help manage the household. Joseph was a second generation American of Scotch-Irish descent, and the father of 12 children himself (see Note 1), but by 1788, all but his youngest two children had either married or passed on. His daughter, Jane (b.1772), was but 15 years old, which was quite a bit younger than typical for marriage at that time. Nevertheless, she turned 16 that Aug, and in Sept. she and William married just after he turned 40. Even more awkward, her eldest step-child, John, was only 2 years younger than she was! Granted, marrying a younger second wife was not all that uncommon in this time period, though a difference in age of at most about 10-15 years was much more typical. William was a reasonably wealthy and respected man, however, and was probably considered a "good catch".

Jane (Norris) was of healthy, fertile stock, and within 10 months, had added another child, James, to the mix. Over the next 5 years she birthed 5 more children, and then in Sep 1797, she gave birth to boy/girl twins, Benjamin and Jane, this time healthy and strong. So Jane was now the 25 year old mother/step-mother of 12 kids! Thankfully, their home was a bit larger than typical houses of those days (Ref. 5, p.6). In 1782, William had built the family a large, 2.5 story, 10 room stone home, for which he crafted each nail or other piece of hardware by his own two hands. The rooms were cleverly partitioned by folding doors such that all the rooms on each floor could be opened to create one large room if desired. And it was built nestled into the mountainside overlooking the Juniata River Valley. 

Remains on the Enyeart stone house, photographed by Mary Enyeart Racer circa 1910 (pre-dam).

On the marriage front, William's neighbor Joseph Norris, Sr. was still willing to deal. He had one last child to marry off, Jane's younger brother Joseph, Jr. It is unclear why the Enyeart's older daughter Mary was passed over for this union. It is also uncertain why Elizabeth married so early compared to her other siblings. Was there some type of agreement made between the two fathers at the time of the first marriage? Or maybe she didn't get along with her step-mother? Regardless, in 1797, at 18 years of age, William's second daughter, Elizabeth, was willing to tie the knot. That's right, our direct ancestor, Elizabeth, married her step-mom's 23 year old brother! They settled nearby and went on to eventually have a family of 11 children themselves.

Over the next 10 years, no other Enyeart children married, and Jane went on to birth 5 more children, increasing their household size to 18 occupants by 1806. Luckily for these two busy parents, the family size would finally begin to decrease at this point. For although there were still 4 children to be born, there were also now a number of children of (typical) marriable age. But where to find partners for all these offspring in such a rural area? Even today, Juniata township has only about 20 people per square mile, and the population back then was about 25% of what it is today. Answer - you look to your neighbors, and sometimes you take a 2 (or even 3) for 1 bargain! Or, you move on to the greener pastures of newly opening territories like OH and IN.

Approximate locations of neighboring families (see Note 2)

The 16 children of William Enyeart, Sr. & Jane (Norris)

In 1807, William Enyeart, Sr.'s second oldest son, William, Jr., and his oldest daughter, Mary, both married. Mary married Isaac Vandevender, son of Peter Vandevender from Holland (Ref 1, p.218), who owned a distillery/inn near Mapleton where the railroad would one day cross the Juniata River. Mary and Isaac settled in McConnellstown, PA. William, Jr. was one of only two male offspring of William Enyeart, Sr. who stayed in PA (the other being David). Most of the males relocated to newly established Miami Co., OH starting in the 1820s (see Note 3), and later to Wabash Co., IN. But William Enyeart, Jr. stayed and married Elizabeth Wilson, daughter of Thomas Wilson (Ref 1, p.336). Thomas was an Englishman who built the first grist mill in the area for grinding grains. Ten years later, Jane (Norris) Enyeart's daughter Jane would also marry a son from this family.

1875 drawing by Sipes depicting view of the railroad eastward from Mapleton, PA

John Enyeart, William, Sr.'s eldest son, seems to have been the first offspring to move westward to Miami Co., OH (see Note 4) where he married a woman named Mary Kessler in 1809. They had only 1 child, a girl named Mary. Then, in 1810, William and Jane's 4th son, James, married downriver neighbor Sarah Kisling. Sarah Kisling's father, Martin Kisling, was a second generation German immigrant (Ref 6, p.119, Ref 1, p.303) whose family had originally settled in Berks Co., PA. They were relative newcomers to Huntingdon Co., having only arrived in 1791, well after the end of the war. Three years later, William's son, Silas, married another Kisling daughter, Hannah. Both couples relocated to Miami Co, OH between 1815-1825.

The trek from Juniata Twp, Huntingdon Co., PA to Miami Co., OH was 388 miles. From Miami Co. to Wabash Co., IN added another 134 miles.

In 1812, William's 3rd oldest son, David, married Margaret Householder. The Householders (from the German line Haushalter) seem to have been closely tied to the Vanderventers, and served together in the War of 1812 (see Note 5). David was the last of the Enyeart males to stay in PA rather than moving on to OH or IN. He was also the last of the children from William's first marriage to tie the knot, so by 1813 only Jane's children remained. It was still a full house, but Jane's birth rate slowed after her daughter Rebecca was born in 1808. She still somehow went on to have 3 more children in her 40's, but her next child, Margaret, wasn't born until 1814, by which point the household size had time to whittle down to 14.

By 1816, their son Joseph set off for OH as well, and married a woman there named Margaret Wickard. Then, in 1817, Benjamin married Judith Lloyd. Judith was the granddaughter of Henry Lloyd, Sr. (Ref 1, p.379), one of the very earliest settlers of the valley, and one who had lived through many Native American raids in Huntingdon County's early founding. His family was originally from VA, and had immigrated from Wales before that. Judith and Benjamin initially settled in neighboring Blair Co., PA to begin their family. At this point, William and Jane had successfully married off 10 children, but there were still so many to go! It was time to get serious about this.

Luckily, the Enyearts were also close with their neighbors to the north, the Heffners (Ref 7, p.180, Ref 1, p.380). Originally of German descent, Valentine Heffner had also fought in the Revolutionary War, and then filed for his bounty land warrant in PA. In 1818, he had a son named Peter that was of the right age to enter into marriage with William's daughter Catherine Enyeart. They decided to make it a twofer though, and the following year, William's daughter Rachel married a Heffner son as well - John. A few years later (1824), the families joined hands once again, and at age 16, William's daughter Rebecca married Valentine's youngest son Adam, age 25. Meanwhile, William's son Thomas also left for OH, where he married Mary Berk in 1819. Unlike his siblings, who were all settling near one another in Miami Co., OH, Thomas went off on his own to settle in Butler Co., OH.  Likely this was due to the trouble he got himself into in 1815, when he had a child out of wedlock with his neighbor to the south, Elizabeth Beaver. Luckily for Elizabeth, she was still able to find a husband about a year and a half later, and went on to have a legitimate family of her own.

In 1820, William Enyeart arranged another double match, this time with the children of his downstream neighbor William Corbin. Mr. Corbin, originally from MD, has served as a Ranger on the PA frontier alongside William Enyeart during the war (Ref 1, p.302). Corbin was on the tail end of marrying off the last of his own offspring at that point, and was willing to do another twofer. First, his 24 year old son David married Nancy Ann Enyeart, who was only 16 at the time. They settled on the Corbin property and carried on the Corbin family line there for many generations. A year later, in 1821, a "sister swap" marriage occurred when Levi Enyeart, only 19, which was quite young for a male, married William Corbin's youngest child, Sophia, who was 23. Why they didn't pair the two couples of closer age together instead is a bit of a mystery. Offspring preference one would hope? Regardless, these two marriages would have reduced the Enyeart household size to 8 persons, if it weren't for the fact that in 1820, William, Jr's house was repossessed for failure to make payments, and he had to move his family of 5 back into his parents house (Ref 8, Note 6).

Jane birthed her last child, Elenor, in 1821, at the age of 49! Which while not impossible, is definitely rare. Women usually had their last child by their early 40s. I would be tempted to assume it was really a grandchild, but when William Enyeart, Sr. wrote his will in Jun of 1828, he mentioned Elenor by name as his child (Ref 9). Jane, and even more so, William, Sr., were getting old themselves at this point. The younger age of their children in these last few marriages was likely an effort to secure their children's futures before William died. By 1824, when Jane was 52 and William Sr. was 76, five of their children were still at home, ranging in age from 3 to 18 years. Likely William Jr. and his family were still living there as well, and they had 4 living children of their own by this time.  

In 1824, William's 4th youngest daughter, Sarah, married William Masden, the son of Johnathan Masden. It has been difficult to find out much about this family (see Note 7). They were from neighboring Mifflin Co. rather than Huntingdon Co. originally. Johnathan Masden seems to have died only 2 years after his son William was married, and his offspring all seem to have left PA for OH in the decade after. The Enyearts must have been quite close to the family though. For not only did William Sr. and Jane (Norris) Enyeart's daughter Sarah marry into the family, but their daughter Elizabeth (the one who married her step-mom's brother, our direct ancestor) had 3 of 11 children who also married into it! (As well as 3 who married into the neighboring Grubb family).  

In 1825, William's daughter Martha married John McMonigal from nearby Baree Twp. They initially settled in that township after the marriage, but eventually moved to Indiana. Martha would be the last of his children that William would see married before his death in 1828. He died Sept 2, 1828. Now it was up to Jane to finish raising their 3 remaining children - Margaret (age 14), Abraham (age 11), and Elenor (age 7). Faced with this predicament, Jane decided to move her family to Miami Co., OH where most of her adult children had relocated to by this time. William Jr.'s family stayed behind and assumed control of the farm, though he would die as well only 3 years later, at the age of 53. Jane's adult son Benjamin chose to join his mother on her trek west. To do so, he divorced his wife Judith Lloyd (very rare at that time) and left his 7 children in PA. Within a year he had remarried to Sarah Mustard and started a new family in OH. Eventually he had 10 more kids!

The 1830 census shows Jane living independently with her 3 remaining children in Staunton, Miami Co., OH. In 1834, her daughter Margaret married Jacob Graffius, son of Martin Graffius and grandson of Nicholas Graffius, who had come to Huntingdon Co. after the Revolutionary War. The family was of French Huguenots descent, having originally come to America in the 1750s due to religious persecution (Ref 7, p.229). Martin was a farmer of both crops and stock animals, as well as a distiller. He came from a large and well respected family in the area. His son Jacob relocated to Miami Co., OH after marrying Margaret. 

The 1820-30's were an exciting time in early America due to canal construction. Completion of canals linked together major cities and vastly decreased the cost of shipping goods from one area to another. It created new and far easier ways for settlers to expand into the western territories (Ref 10). It also likely explains why most of the Enyeart's who settled in Miami Co., OH near Troy, began to gradually relocate to Wabash Co., IN near Lagro, beginning in about 1838. The Miami extension of the Erie canal, which went through Troy, was started in 1834 and reached Lagro in 1837. A wave of new settlement soon followed, and for many years Lagro was a prosperous and widely known town (Ref 11).

Postcard image created by Terry Lacy depicting the Kerr Lock in mid-1800s

Erie Canal with Miami and Wabash extensions

William Enyeart Sr.'s youngest son Abraham was the probably the first to make the move to Indiana, along with his mother Jane who was living with him by that time. In 1838, he married Jerusha Keller, daughter of Judge John Keller who had moved to Wabash Co., IN in 1828 (Ref 12, p.215, Note 8). By 1840, his sister Margaret and brother Joseph's families had joined them there as well. William and Jane's youngest daughter, Elenor, initially married Eli Maddock of Miami Co., OH in 1841. But when he died just a few years later, she joined her family in Wabash Co., IN and remarried soon after (Note 9). Their older brother Levi also came to IN with his family after his first wife died in 1840. Eventually John and Silas followed too. 

Lagro, Wabash Co., Indiana

In 1848, at the age of 76, Jane (Norris) Enyeart died in Lagro, Indiana. She was the birth mother of 16 children, as well as the step-mother to the 5 living children of William Enyeart Sr.'s first wife Catherine Shell (our direct ancestor). She married a 40 year old man at the age of barely 16, and spent the next 36 years either pregnant or nursing infant children. Then, only 3 years later, she was left a widow to figure out the rest of story on her own. I am not sure what she was like as an actual person. No doubt there were some interesting family dynamics in a situation as complex as this. But I would say she deserves some type of motherhood medal none the less.

Likewise, William Sr., though of dubious character regarding his some of his (and his children's) marital choices, was none the less a well-respected and valuable member of his community. He successfully provided for the household needs of 23 children and two wives. He laid out property provisions for Jane and each of his living children in his will, and secured their futures by arranging marriages for all but the youngest 3 before his death at age 80. Many of these marriages were forged by community ties between men who came to the Juniata River Valley from Franklin Co., MD after serving together in the Revolutionary War. The healthy and fertile offspring of his line have spread the Enyeart clan far a wide across western PA, OH, and IN and it is hard to even imagine how many descendants of his line are still with us today.

Notes

1) According to a history given by Mrs. Racer of Troy, OH in 1913 at the Norris Family Reunion in LaGrange Co., IN, Joseph P. Norris, Sr. actually had two wives; 5 children with the first wife, and 11 with the second. If that is the case, Mary Moody was his second wife. I have not yet been able to find any other indications of a first wife, or other children.

2) Although I did look up some of the actual survey maps for the Deans, Norrises, and Enyearts, for other families I am mainly relying on 1873 Atlas of Huntingdon County that was published by A. Pomeroy & Company of Philadelphia, PA, as well as on accounts of early settlers in Ref 1. Most of the original settler families owned many plots of land by 1873, due to expanding families and business interests, but it was assumed that the original land purchase was either near the river or a city center such as McConnellstown and Marklesburg. Of course, some families may have relocated entirely over time, and without tracing each land transfer, it is not possible to say for certain if that is truly where they resided at that exact point in time (a project for another day!). But is serves to give a rough idea of "the neighborhood" none the less.

3) Following the Revolutionary War, many settlers used their military land bounties to settle in OH, prized for its fertile Ohio River Valley farmland. Getting there would have been very tough coming from where they were in western PA though. The Miami & Erie Canals did not open until the 1820s and the National Road did not reach that part of Ohio until the 1830s, so travel by wagon was probably still not possible. Did they go by foot or horse and leave most everything behind? Tough to say. Definitely the reason so many of them made the trip before marriage and kids though!

4) Supposedly John married there in 1809, though I cannot find any records of him until the 1830 census. The county was created in 1807, however, so it is certainly possible.

5) If you can tell me exactly how they are related, I would be most grateful. As far as I can tell, there are two different Householder lines that settled in the same area, and everything I have read has their various family members incorrectly all tangled up together. One was from Washington Co., MD (likely ours) and the other from Lancaster Co., PA, but which actually offspring go with which, I have no idea.

6) The 1820 census shows that one of their married children was likely living with them, along with 3 of their grandchildren who were under the age of 10. Since only the head of household name is reported on the census until 1850, it is difficult to say who this is, though the ages/sexes do seem to match with William, Jr.'s family at that time. Given William, Jr's issues with money and his young age of death, one wonders if he perhaps had problems with alcohol or gambling as well.

7) They were from Wayne Twp., Mifflin Co., PA originally, which borders Huntingdon Co. on the NE, but moved away to Centre Co., PA for a time. Interestingly, Jonathan has a younger brother named John, born two years after him, who stayed in Centre Co., PA and also married an Elizabeth. Which makes sorting things out between them pretty confusing. Also, sometimes the name is written as Marsden instead.

8) Although I cannot find an actual record, Abraham likely divorced his first wife as well. He had only one child in 1840 with Jerusha Keller, and then remarried to Isabella Hullinger in 1843. Jerusha is not supposed to have died until 1870, however. Again, this was very uncommon at that time. Prior to 1852 in Indiana, divorce was only allowed for one of seven causes: "adultery, matrimonial incapacity, bigamous contract, two years' absence with intent to abandon, desertion and living in adultery, conviction of felony; ...extremely barbarous and inhuman treatment". https://www.repository.law.indiana.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3690&context=ilj : 2023.

9) It is likely that Elenor had her first child out of wedlock as well. Elenor did not marry for the first time until 1841, and then remarried to Thomas Martin in 1845. However, the 1850 census lists an 11 year old son named William Martin born in 1839. According to https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7806451/william-enyart, William was actually Thomas Martin's step-son rather than son. Elenor and Thomas relocated from IN to Fulton Co., OH after their marriage.

References 

0) Gardner, A. "Courtship, Sex, and the Single Colonist". CW Journal, 2007. https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/Foundation/journal/Holiday07/court.cfm : 2023.

1) Africa, J. Simpson. "History of Huntingdon and Blair counties, Pennsylvania". Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts, 1883. https://archive.org/details/historyofhunting00afri/page/n6/mode/1up : 2023.

2) Jordan, John W. "A History of the Juniata Valley and its People v.1". New York : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/438262-a-history-of-the-juniata-valley-and-its-people-v-1 : 2023.

3) Jordan, John W. "A History of the Juniata Valley and its People v.3". New York : Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913. https://archive.org/details/historyofjuniata03jord/page/1180/mode/2up?view=theater : 2023.

4) Raywalt, James. "The Enyeart Family Newsletter", vol. 2, n.3. Oct 1999. https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~grannyapple/genealogy/ENYART/ENYARTnews05.html :  2023.

5) Carter, William. "A Genealogical and Historical Sketch of William Enyeart and Some of His Descendants". Midland, TX: Self-published, 1964. https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/22430772?p=47852052&returnLabel=William%20Enyeart%20(LD11-TYV)&returnUrl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.familysearch.org%2Ftree%2Fperson%2Fmemories%2FLD11-TYV : 2023.

6) Long, W. "History of the Grim Family of Pennsylvania and its Associated Families". Grim Family, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1934. https://www.seekingmyroots.com/members/files/G002535.pdf : 2023.

7) "Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia Of The Juniata Valley". Chambersburg, PA : J.M. Runk & Company, 1897. https://archive.org/details/commemorativebio01cham/page/n9/mode/2up : 2023.

8) Huntingdon Gazette, 7 Feb 1822. "BY an act of Assembly passed the 22nd day of March 1820, directing recovery of principal and interest due to the Commonwealth...authorizing me to to give the Inhabitants of Huntingdon County, Public Notice that an accurate List of all such lands as aforesaid...has been recently put into my hands by the Surveyor General, and that I will attend at the following times and places to receive the name of each owner and occupier of those Lands...March...16th at the House if William Enyeart Junr, Hopewell Township, At 10 o'clock A.M. of each day."

9) "Pennsylvania, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1683-1993". Wills, 1787-1908 ; Index to Wills and Letters of Administration, 1787-1918; Author: Huntingdon County (Pennsylvania). Register of Wills; Probate Place: Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. William Enyeart probate on 12 Jun 1828 in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, USA.

10) "The Canal Era". USHistory.org. https://www.ushistory.org/us/25a.asp#:~:text=The%20Canal%20enabled%20the%20farmers,The%20Erie%20Canal%20transformed%20America. : 2023.

11) Thomas. Huntington Press. http://ingenweb.org/inwabash/town-histories/lagro-early.txt : 2023.

12) Helm, T.B. "History of Wabash County, Indiana : containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, military records portraits of early settlers and prominent men, personal reminiscences, etc.". Chicago : John Morris, Printer, 1884. https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/178213-history-of-wabash-county-indiana-containing-a-history-of-the-county-its-townships-towns-military-records-portraits-of-early-settlers-and-prominent-men-personal-reminiscences-etc : 2023.

Another Flooded River Valley: The Deans of Huntingdon Co., Pennsylvania

Family Line Links: (WikiTree.com)(Ancestry.com)(FamilySearch.org)

While researching various family lines, it has been a surprise to me to discover how common it is for early settlement areas to be lost due to the flooding from dam building. Rivers were the highways of early colonial America, and settlers built their homesteads alongside these waterways. However, the growing electrical demands of the mid-1900s required a large number of hydroelectric dam constructions. These dams caused vast changes to water levels along the riverbanks, requiring eminent domain relocation of many areas. In a previous post I discussed the loss of the original Bean Station and cabin settlement of our early ancestor William Bean. In this article, I will describe the Raystown Branch settlement of our Dean line, lost to what is now Raystown Lake in Huntingdon Co., PA.

Raystown Dam in Huntingdon Co., PA

Going back a bit further first though, the Dean surname originates from southwest England, and comes from the Old English word "denu", meaning valley. It is a very common surname in both England and early America, so it is difficult to say with certainty which exact Dean was our English immigrant ancestor. The first direct descendant we can be sure of was a Richard Deane (b.1701) living SE of future Sharpsburg in Frederick County (now Washington Co.), Maryland in the mid-1700s. He was married to a woman named Pricilla, and they had a hardy family of 4 boys and 5 girls. In 1747, they purchased land from Joseph Chapline, a lawyer who had acquired a large land grant from the king to help settle western Maryland in the 1730s. (Later he went on to found the town of Sharpsburg as well.) It is not known for certain whether Richard Dean came over to America just before this time, or was already established in eastern Maryland (possibly Dorchester) prior to the purchase.

Richard Dean's land, purchased from Joseph Chapline's larger Hunting the Hare plot in Mar 1747.

Just before the Revolutionary War, the now adult male children of Richard and Priscilla began to resettle in newly formed Bedford Co., PA (the eastern part of which is now Huntingdon Co.). This area of the country had been purchased out from under the Delaware Indians in 1754, by a treaty with the Six Nations tribes. The Iroquois Six Nations tribes felt they had conquered the Delaware people, and thus had the right to make land decisions on their behalf. The Delaware Native Americans (part of the Lenni Lenape tribe), disagreed (Ref 2, p.40). In response, they declared themselves independent from the British aligned Six Nations tribes, and threw their lot in with the French fur traders instead. And so began the 7 year French-Indian War.

The main settlement of the Delaware Indians during this period was in Kittaning (Kithanink), PA, about 36 miles NE of current day Pittsburg. It was located on the Allegheny River, which feeds into the Ohio River, and could be reached by following the Kittanning Path from Franktown, PA. This path was one of the only routes through the Allegheny mountains into Ohio territory at that time, and had been used by the Native Americans and French fur traders for many years (Ref 2, p.19). Which, of course, made it of great interest to British Americans during the French-Indian war as a means of moving supplies and troops. These troops had set up a base in Aughwick, PA (Ref 2, p.61), and the mountain pass path to Frankstown took them right through what would soon become Huntingdon, PA (then called Standing Stone). It was this confluence of circumstances that caused the area to become permanently settled by whites a short time later (Ref 2, p.238).

Path from Aughwick to Franktown, PA through Huntingdon.

To the Delaware Indian's dismay, the British were victorious over the French, and the war ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris, which expelled French fur traders from the western territories once and for all. White settlers began to flow into the area, settling in valleys along fertile river beds. Richard's 3rd son, John Dean (our direct ancestor), bought 400 acres of land in the Trough Creek Valley of Huntingdon Co. (then Bedford Co.). It was situation just NE of Calvin, PA, along Little Trough Creek. His brothers Thomas and Samuel soon settled on adjoining properties of the same river, while his brother William had purchased land a few years earlier (in 1766), across the western banks of the Raystown Juniata river Branch.

Trough Creek State Park in Huntingdon Co., PA

Approximate area of John Dean's original 1772 homestead on Little Trough Creek

John Dean was likely the first person to have settled on Little Trough Creek, and one of the first to settle in the Trough Creek Valley (Ref 3, p.373). He is said to have come across the mountains alone in Oct of 1772, where he set about constructing a typical pioneer log cabin made of split clapboard sides and puncheon board flooring, complete with greased paper for windows. He then followed the Indian trails back to Sharpsburg, to gather his wife, Ann B. Isett (see Note 0), and their belongings. The trails were not large or smooth enough for a cart of any kind, but they packed their items on the backs of a horse and 2 cows, camping in the woods by night along the way.

Sharpsburg, MD to Raystown Branch, PA, probably about a 9-10 day journey on foot.

Anne and John went on to have 7 children, 1 girl and 6 boys(!), all of whom lived to adulthood. However, their first years in Pennsylvania were ones of constant worry over the frequent Indian attacks on the new frontier. Despite the loss of their alliance with the French, the Native Americans were still determined not to lose more of their lands. But as the Revolutionary War commenced, able bodied men were needed to fight the British, and could not be spared to protect the western front from Native American attacks as well. By the Fall of 1777, it had become so dangerous in western PA that the family chose to flee back for Maryland for a time until things became more settled. John's brothers Thomas and Samuel chose to leave as well, and went on to join Maryland's Frederick Co. militia. Unfortunately, Thomas would never make it back, instead dying of smallpox in 1781. Samuel did return from the war, but chose to make a new homestead with his wife's family in South Carolina instead.

John and Anne returned to their Trough Creek Valley homestead once things settled down, but with other family no longer nearby, they soon chose to sell the land on Little Trough Creek and move nearer to John's brother William at Raystown Branch (now Penn Twp.). By about June 1787, they were living with or near William's family, about 15 miles southwest of where the future Raystown Dam would someday be. These two brother's may not have been such a great influence on one another though. And they seem to have had some type of neighborhood feud involving the family of Joseph Norris on William's southern property boundary line. Between 1790-1792, William and John, as well as a few of their adult sons, were involved in several assault and battery charges with the Norris clan, as well as one instance of forcible entry, for which various fines were paid (Ref 1). This is fairly ironic given that two generations later these two families would intermarry. Eventually though, William moved away to KY (in May of 1794), and John took over the Raystown homestead (Note 1), after which the feud seems to have died down. 

Pinks areas show the current water levels after 1972 dam construction at Raystown Branch in Huntingdon Co., PA. Red x is Raystown Branch Dean property location, while blue x is Little Trough Creek property. Green circled area is the White Church Cemetery (across from St.  Jacob's Church) where the Dean family cemetery was moved by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers prior to dam construction. (Ref 7)

John and Ann lived on this property until their deaths in 1821 and 1826 respectively. After Ann's death, the property was divided between their 5 living sons, though eventually their son William bought out the other brothers shares of the land (Note 2). Their son Thomas Dean (our direct ancestor), was born in about 1776, and was about 11 years old when the Dean family relocated from Little Trough Creek to Raystown Branch. Thomas grew up and married Catherine Estep in 1803, the daughter of a William Estep from Maryland who had purchased land on Little Trough Creek in 1794. She and Thomas were married in her parents home by a Justice of the Peace. They had 9 children together. Unfortunately, Thomas died in 1823, at the age of only 47, when the youngest was still just 3 years old (Note 3). 

Catherine never remarried, despite living for almost 40 more years. On the 1830 census, she was living with her eldest son, William P. Dean (our direct ancestor, b. 1805). William, single and just 25 at the time, was listed as head of household for 6 of his younger siblings. By 1840, Catherine was living independently on a property adjoining William P.'s, with her remaining 3 youngest children. Meanwhile, her son William P. went on to marry Martha Buchwalter and to start a family of his own. They had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. Life would continue to be difficult for this couple, however. Two of their boys, Daniel and William H., died of illness in their early 20's, leaving only their son Abraham Dean (b. 1837, our direct ancestor) to carry on the family name. Then, just a few years later in 1869, a fire broke out in their home in the middle of the night, due to meat that had been smoking in the fireplace. Their oldest and youngest daughters, Kate and Martha E., were still living at home at the time, and slept in an upstairs bedroom. William and Martha, who slept downstairs, managed to escape unscathed, but Kate was badly burned and Martha E., sadly, succumbed to the flames. Additionally, the home and all of their property was destroyed, For a time, they went to live nearby with their remaining daughter Margaret and her husband Harrison Speck. Three years later, William died at the age of 67.

Huntingdon Globe, 24 Mar 1869

In the midst of all this tragedy, their son Abraham Dean married Hannah Norris (of the Dean-Norris family feud line) in 1865. The 1870 census shows that they briefly lived in Lawrence, Clearfield Co., PA. But by 1880, they had returned to the Raystown Branch area, though slightly north of the old homestead area in Juniata, rather than Penn, Twp. Unlike his father and grandfathers before him, Abraham was a carpenter rather than a farmer. They had 12 children together, 3 of whom died in infancy, but most of the remaining survived to adulthood and went on to have families of their own. Two of them, Eunice and Ellsworth, never married, but lived together as bachelor and bachelorette. Eunice was a seamstress and Ellsworth was a steam car mechanic (apparently some early cars worked by steam rather than gasoline). Abraham died when the youngest, Ellsworth, was still only 10 years old, but Hannah lived on to be the matriarch of her family until 74 years of age.

Grave marker of Abraham Dean, buried in the Jacob's Church Cemetery (next to White Church in Hesston, PA).

Hannah (Norris ) Dean (1842-1917)

Hannah and Abraham's second child, Martha Anne Dean (b. 1868), was our direct ancestor. In 1899, she married Emory Samuel Seaman, whose family had also been long time early residence of Pennsylvania (see prior post here). They were married in Huntingdon County, but relocated to Wilmore, Cambria Co., PA, where Emory's family was from. There he worked as a retail shop merchant, and Martha raised a family of 3 children. Martha, the last of our Dean line, died of pneumonia from the flu at the age of 58. She is buried in the United Brethren Church Cemetery in Wilmore, PA.

Wilmore United Brethren Cemetery

Notes

0) There is some confusion as to whether this woman's name was really Ann B. Isett or Nancy Bissett (Nancy was a common nickname for Ann at that time.) There was an Isett family in the Raystown Branch area, but not in Washington Co., Maryland where they were married (Ref 1). There is also a later line of the Dean family that records the name as Bissett in a family bible, and there was a Bissett family in Washington Co., Maryland. However, the History of Huntingdon Co. by J. S. Africa (Ref 3) lists the name as Isett as well.

1) Interestingly, William sold his land to a man named Thomas Wright, and then the next day Thomas Wright sold the land to John. Perhaps these two brothers had a falling out as well?

2) Two of the sons, John and Isaac, moved on to settle in OH, while James seems to have relocated to Canada. Neither James nor his brother Samuel has living offspring as far as is known. Only Thomas and William stayed in PA and raised families of there own, and even William seems to have eventually relocated to KY when his children were grown.

3) Thomas and his wife Catherine were also initially buried in the Dean family cemetery, but relocated in 1972 to the White Church cemetery of Hesston, PA.

References

1) https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ladeanxx/genealogy/richarddeane.htm : 2023.

2) Lytle, Milton Scott. "History of Huntingdon County, in the state of Pennsylvania : from the earliest times to the centennial anniversary of American independence". Lancaster, Pa. : William H. Roy, 1876.  https://archive.org/details/historyofhunting00lytl/page/n7/mode/2up?ref=ol : 2023.

3) Africa, J. Simpson. "History of Huntingdon and Blair counties, Pennsylvania". Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts, 1883. https://archive.org/details/historyofhunting00afri/page/n6/mode/1up : 2023.

4) https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ladeanxx/genealogy/deanfamiliespa.htm : 2023.

5) https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~ladeanxx/genealogy/johnandanndean.htm : 2023.

7) Records of Land Office, PA State Archives. http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-114CopiedSurveyBooks/r17-114MainInterfacePage.htm : 2023. Index: http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-88WarrantRegisters/HuntingdonPages/r17-88HuntingdonPageInterface.htm : 2023.