was an American pioneer

Samuel Druckenbrod and Maria Menser b. 1805

/ Kirstin Miller

Samuel  Druckenbrod and Maria Menser 4th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree

Samuel was born May 5, 1805 in Warwick Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Maria Menser was born around the same time, in the same area. Samuel and probably Maria’s family were in America by 1750, from Germany. Warwick, PA is in between Allentown and Philadelphia. Penn-sylvania “Penn’s Woods” was founded by William Penn, no relation, on land Penn received from King Charles II to pay debts the king owed Penn’s dad. William Penn helped German citizens to migrate to America and Pennsylvania was home to 100,000 German Americans between 1683 – 1783.

Samuel and Mary married on June 12 1825 at a German Reformed church in Warwick. The Warwick church record book was written in English and German languages. Samuel and Maria had 6 children and four sons were baptized in this same Warwick church: Allen, Andreas, Daniel and Samuel Druckenbrod Jr.  Samuel Jr., born May 6 1834, is the dad of Fianna who married William Miller, their daughter Lola is the mom of Faber who married Gladys.

Druckenbrod 1850 cenus

Samuel and Maria or Polly, their family 1850 census

By 1850 Samuel, Maria and their family with groups of other Pennsylvania families traveled to Stark County, Ohio. “The opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 linked the east to the west … Ohio’s population increased from 45,000 in 1800 to over 2 million in 1850, including many German-speakers from Pennsylvania.”

Samuel and his four older sons were all farmers. Bair, Essig, Harter, Kryder and Miller families were neighbors, all ancestors of Faber in the future. Maria died around 1864, Samuel remarried, Mary Moonshower was his 2nd wife. Samuel died on August 20, 1883 at age 78. Cause of death was heart disease.

Sources

Asa Angell b. 1771

/ Kirstin Miller

Asa Angell 5th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Asa Angell was the 4th child of Israel and Martha Angell, born  August  24, 1771 in Providence, Rhode Island. Asa grew up during the American Revolution, his dad was a Colonel in the 2nd Rhode Island Regiment  and probably came home with stories of the war.

Asa married Cynthia Hill in 1794 and they moved to New Berlin NY. From the Genealogy of Thomas Angell book, “Asa, Abner and Israel Angell, sons of Col. Israel, went to the State of New York, and settled in the town of New Berlin, Chenango Co., where they purchased farms. A cousin of theirs, who has visited them, reports that their descendants are numerous. We are told that the family of Dexter Angell have in their possession the gold medal awarded by Gen. Lafayette, to Col. Israel Angell. We know less of the descendants of Asa, than of either of the other brothers.” Asa’s son Dexter may have had his grandpa’s gold medals for awhile, with him in Indiana and New York, today they’re at the Rhode Island Historical Society.

Asa and Cynthia stayed in New Berlin and had 8 children. Asas was a farmer and a cooper- he made big wooden barrels, casks, kegs. Asa’s children Betsy, Lewis and Henry all stayed in the NY area, Adeline died young. Oldest son Dexter Angell went further west, to Indiana. Two of Dexter’s children, Charles and Delia, went to Iowa where their aunt, Asa’s sister, Mehitable Angell Wilkinson was living. Delia married William Flood they had a son Asa and are the great grandparents of Elizabeth Speedy. Angell, Asa and family

Sources

Elizabeth Bulkeley b. 1637

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Bulkeley my first cousin 10x removed on RootsMagic tree

Elizabeth Bulkeley was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1637. Her grandpa, Reverend Peter Bulkeley migrated from England and founded Concord in 1635. Peter was the first pastor of First Parish Church in Concord. Elizabeth’s dad Edward was the 3rd pastor. Elizabeth married a pastor, Joseph Emerson who also migrated to America from England.

Elizabeth and Joseph married in Concord and had 6 kids all born there. One son Edward Emerson married Rebecca Waldo, whose 3rd great grandson was Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson wrote a poem Hamatreya mentioning his 5th great grandpa Peter Bulkeley, a few lines, worth reading the full poem:

“Bulkeley, Hunt, Willard, Each of these landlords walked amidst his farm.
Saying, T’is mine, my children’s and my name’s.
Where are these men? Asleep beneath their grounds. 
Earth laughs in flowers, to see her boastful boys.
Earth-proud, proud of the earth which is not theirs;
Mine and yours; Mine, not yours.
Earth endures Stars abide -.

In 1680, Elizabeth was a widow and married John Browne. Elizabeth died in 1693, she and John Browne are both buried at Old Burying Ground in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Elizabeth and John’s gravestones are art, chiseled from stone with winged skulls, grapes, vines. John’s is more decayed than Elizabeth’s. A sign at John Browne’s Find a Grave memorial, “The gravestones in this semi-circle were originally located in the town’s first Burying Ground, near the present site of the Bandstand. These stones represent some of the oldest expressions of Puritan gravestone art in New England”.

Bulkeley, Elizabeth headstone
Elizabeth Bulkeley Emerson Browne gravestone via Lucius Beebe Memorial Library Digital Heritage collection.

Inscription: Memento Mori “remember you will die” Fugue Hora “the hour flees” Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Elizabeth Browne wife to Cap’n John Brown Esq and former wife of ye Reverend Mr Joseph Emerson of Mendon who deceased Septemb’r ye 4th 1693 in ye 56 year of her age.

Sources

Edward Bulkeley b. 1614

/ Kirstin Miller

Edward Bulkeley 8th great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Edward was born June 17, 1614 in Odell, England to Peter and Jane Allen Bulkeley, the oldest child of 9. Edward’s dad Peter was a Puritan pastor in Odell and was harassed by Archbishop Laud, so looking to leave England. The Buckeleys sailed to America in 1634 or 1635, secretly, “No doubt the long drawn out enrollments and lack of effort to standardize spelling of the names were reflections of the family’s attempt to board the ship without being apprehended. Son Edward preceded the rest of the family, becoming a member of Boston church on 22 March 1634/5”. Archbishop Laud’s story didn’t end well, He was sent to the Tower of London, then executed in 1645. King Charles would regret putting ’too much trust in Laud’.

Bulkeley, Edward house 1967Once they were in America the Bulkeleys lived in Concord where Edward was a freeman on May 6 1635. He married Lucien, last name unknown, in 1640 and they had 6 children. Around 1660 Edward built a house in Concord, on Main Street. “А deed referring to the property, with a dwelling on it, records the 1663 transfer of 10 acres of land located on today’s Main Street to Edward Bulkeley by his mother, widow of one of Concord’s founders and its first minister, Peter Bulkeley.” Today this home is at 92 Sudbury Road in Concord, a private residence, the house was moved in the 1800s. Edward died in 1696, his wife Lucien died in 1690. They are both probably buried at Old Hill Burying Ground in Concord, no headstones remain.

Edward, like his dad, was a Puritan pastor and was known for his ‘fiery’ sermons. When his dad died, Edward followed as pastor of the First Parish Church in Concord. This church is also still there in Concord, Massachusetts, now a Unitarian Universalist church. Each Sunday the congregation ends their service with this benediction:

Go out into the world in peace

Have courage

Hold on to what is good

Return to no person evil for evil

Strengthen the fainthearted

Support the weak

Help the suffering

Honor all beings

Sources

Tena Henrichs b. 1880

/ Kirstin Miller

Tena Henrichs 2nd great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Tena or Trientje was born October 1, 1880 in Germany. At 5 years old she and her family sailed from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore, from Baltimore they traveled to Butler County, Iowa. Tena grew up in Butler County, the 2nd youngest of 5 daughters and 4 sons of Hinrich and Maria Rodenbeck Henrichs.

On February 20, 1907 Tena married John Jacobs. John also migrated from Germany with his parents and 8 siblings. Tena’s brother Fred and sister Mattie were witnesses to the marriage and included on the marriage record. Tena and John lived in Jefferson Township, Butler County Iowa, in a community of German immigrants, farmers, Lutherans. Tena and John had a daughter who died very young and 3 sons: Henry, Jacob and John. Tena’s husband John died December 16, 1916, in an automobile accident. There are no records on how or where Tena and her three young sons lived, whether they stayed on their farm or moved in with relatives.

Soldiers of the 34th Infantry DivisionMeanwhile John Jacobs’s younger bother William had enlisted in the army for World War 1. He was a private in the Minnesota 34th Engineers, with men from Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska. They trained at Camp Cody, New Mexico and were in the war until the 1920s. Marvin Cone, Iowa artist and friend of Grant Wood was in this same unit and designed the insignia. William returned from World War 1 in 1920 and Tena and William married at Ebenezer Lutheran Church on February 22, 1920.

Each of Tena’s 3 sons married, had children and farmed in the Butler County area. Oldest son Henry married Alma Constein at Vilmar Church on February 18, 1936. Tena died May 9, 1959. She was 79 years old and is buried at Butler Center Cemetery with the Jacobs and Henrichs families.

Sources

Casjen Frerichs b. 1834

/ Kirstin Miller

Casjen Frerichs 3rd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Casjen was born February 5, 1834. He was from Lower Saxony Germany near Hamburg and Bremen, close to the Netherlands, and Amsterdam. Casjen married Kuna Janssen in Germany. In 1883 Casjen was 49, he and Kuna had 5 kids: Yevkea, Enno, Gerd, Entje, Hilka and the whole family left Germany for America.

Frerichs, Casjen arrival 1883 cardThey sailed on the ship, America, stopped at the New York Harbor then sailed on to Baltimore. From Baltimore, Casjen and family went directly to Butler County, Iowa just over 1,000 miles. Casjen stayed in Butler County, near Parkersburg in Albion township. HIs children stayed in same area, Gerd and Yevkea died shortly after arriving in Iowa, son Enno, daughters Entje and Hilka married, had children and farmed. When Casjen died at age 59, in 1893 he had 3 grandchildren including Mary Frerichs Roose, mom of Stanley Roose.

Frerichs, Casjen headstone

Casjen and wife Kuna are buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Parkersburg. They share a headstone, at the bottom are many words inscribed, by hand, in the German language, something like -Not mine, -, my Savior I found, and I have also in part – . About 10 yards away Martin and Mary Walters Wisbar are buried, parents of Lena who married Johan Roose. Lena and Johann’s son was George Roose who married Mary Frerichs, their son was Stanley Roose.

 

 

Sources

Elizabeth Fryberger b. 1786

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Fryberger 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Elizabeth was born then baptized on October 22,1786 in the Bern Church in Berks County, Pennsylvania. The Bern Church was a German Reformed Church. Elizabeth was a 2nd generation American, her grandparents migrated from Germany. Berks County, PA was a farming community 20 miles NE of Philadelphia. Around 1814 Elizabeth married Henry Miller, he was from Pennsylvania too. Their first son John was born in Pennsylvania, then the family was in Stark County, Ohio by 1820. Elizabeth’s dad Johann and mom Anna Kryder and siblings all moved to Stark, Ohio. In Stark, Elizabeth and family were members of the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church and at least 3 children were baptized there. Elizabeth’s sister Magdalena was a sponsor at a baptism. From the book, Portrait and biographical record of Stark County, Ohio, in the bio about son William Miller, “The maiden name of our subject’s mother was Elizabeth Freiberger, and she was a native of Pennsylvania. By her union with Mr. Miller she became the mother of fifteen children, twelve of whom grew to mature years. She preceded her husband to the better land, dying when only thirty-eight years of age.”

Miller, Wm bio with mom

Elizabeth, mom of William Miller

Elizabeth probably did not have 15 children, probably closer to 12, with 8 living beyond childhood. Elizabeth did die at age 38 in 1835. She is buried in Maplegrove Mennonite Cemetery Stark, Ohio. The Find a Grave memorial has no photo of her headstone but an inscription and description, ” 38y 21d (Broken Stone-Name missing)”.

Sources

William Stewart b. 1804

/ Kirstin Miller

William Stewart 3rd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

William was born in 1804 in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. In 1833 or so he married Elizabeth Crooks also of Pennsylvania. William and Elizabeth had 2 daughters and 5 sons. They stayed in Pennsylvania until at least January 15, 1852 when their youngest daughter Elizabeth Stewart, mom of Harve Speedy, grandma of Elizabeth Speedy was born.

Mary and brother James Stewart

Mary b. 1833 and brother James b. 1845

On the 1860 census the family was in Jefferson, Green County, Wisconsin. They lived on a farm. On any census recording occupation William was a farmer. Their neighbors were also farmers, most from Pennsylvania, a couple from Ohio, Ireland and New York. In 1860 sons Thomas, William, James and Jeffrey and daughter Elizabeth were with their parents. Oldest daughter Mary -in the photo- was married to William Royer and oldest son John was married to Martha Graham, all lived and farmed in Jefferson, Wisconsin too.

On the 1870 census William was in Shell Rock, Iowa with wife, daughter Elizabeth and son James. William was still farming. All of his children, spouses and grandkids stayed in Shell Rock or the Butler County area except youngest son James – in the photo- and his wife Anne Elliot who went further west to Nebraska. In 20 years time William and Elizabeth traveled at least 700 miles across the country, maybe common today, but in their time kind of incredible. William died at age 70, in 1874 and is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Shell Rock. There are 25 Stewart memorials in Riverside Cemetery, of those 15 are proven in this same Stewart family, the remaining 10 may be somehow related.

Pennsylvania to Iowa

Sources
1850, 60, 70 and 1900 US censuses at FamilySearch.
Google map, Allegheny County, PA to Shell Rock IA
Find a grave memorial https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83687033

Joseph Gaines and Abigail Tubbs b. 1756

/ Kirstin Miller

Joseph Gaines and Abigail Tubbs, my 5th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

The Gaines and Tubbs families came to America, separately, in the 1630s from England. Joseph Gaines was the 5th generation of his family in America. Abigail Tubbs was the 4th generation of her family in America. Joseph and Abigail married on March 21, 1779 in Greenfield, Massachusetts. They moved to Guilford, Windham, Vermont where they had 9 children: 3 daughters and 6 sons. Obed, their 7th child was the only one to leave Vermont and the New England area. Obed went to Bremer County, Iowa to join his son William Gaines. 

Joseph died on November 13, 1843, Abigail died May 17, 1841. They are buried in Maplehurst Cemetery in Windham Vermont- they have matching headstones. Joseph’s brother David Gaines married Abigail’s sister Elizabeth Tubbs, also buried in Maplehurst Cemetery with matching headstones.

Gaines, Joseph and Abigail Tubbs headstone

Sources

  • Vermont, Vital Records, 1720-1908
  • New England historical and genealogical register volume 85 page 52, Descendants of Henry Gaines of Lynn Mass., several pages at American Ancestors

William Speedy b. 1783

/ Kirstin Miller

William Speedy 3rd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

William Speedy was born in 1783 in Pennsylvania. His parents aren’t known. He probably grew up in Pennsylvania then left for Ohio where he fought in the War of 1812.

Speedy, William on War of 1812 roster

War of 1812 Roster

On April 13, 1823 he married Elizabeth Glenn. He and Elizabeth had 6 sons Thomas, John, James, Clark, William and Manford. The Speedys lived in Jefferson County, Ohio near the Ohio River. William’s farm in 1850 had 100 acres of improved land, 100 acres of unimproved land, a cash value of $1000 and $200 worth of tools and machinery. Livestock on the farm included 5 horse, 2 milking cows, 2 cattle, 20 pigs valued at $450. the farm produced 500 bushels of wheat, 100 bushels bushels of Indian corn, 20 pounds of Irish potatoes, 300 lbs of butter, 8 tons of hay and 3 bushels of clover seed.

William was a widow in 1850, his wife Elizabeth and her dad Thomas Glenn died in the cholera epidemic in Ohio. By 1856 William’s younger sons Clark and Manford were in Shell Rock, Iowa living with Thomas Hall, son of Mary Glenn Hall- Elizabeth Glenn Speedy’s sister. William joined his sons in 1870 and lived with Manford and his family in Iowa. William died in 1872 he was 83 years old.

William is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Shell Rock Iowa. One of 7 Speedys in that cemetery. Annie Coates Speedy, 1st wife of Manford, their 4 children who died young Bertha, Blanche, Eda and Julet and Clark Speedy, son of William, brother to Manford.

Andrew and Manford Speedy cousins

William Speedy is somehow related to Allen Speedy born in Ireland or Scotland in about 1726. I haven’t found any records showing this connection only my DNA results which show Allen Speedy’s descendants as ‘half 4th cousins’. Allen Speedy b. 1726, a cousin or uncle of William Speedy, were both living in Pennsylvania and then in Jefferson County, Ohio. Allen Speedy had a son Andrew, 13 years younger than William, photo shows Andrew Speedy’s family. The 1820 census in Jefferson County Wisconsin shows Allen and William Speedy as neighbors.

Sources