Henry Mockford b. 1831

/ Kirstin Miller

Henry Mockford 3rd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Henry Mockford was born on February 5, 1831 in Budock Cornwall England, the oldest of 8 children of Richard and Elizabeth Green Mockford. In Cornwall on the 1851 census Richard and son Henry are Millers and Journeyman- workers who have completed an apprenticeship considered qualified in their trade. Philippa Johns is a servant in the home. In 1853 Henry Mockford married this Philippa Johns, she was also from Cornwall.

1851 Budock England census Mockfords and PhillipaHenry, a year after his marriage, sailed to America and on the 1855 New York census he lived in Monroe County, New York, he was a servant and boarded in the home of Lucy Blodgett.  Within a year his wife and baby son William came to America too. By 1860 Henry had his own home, a next door neighbor of Lucy Blodgett and her family. On the 1860 census Henry is a Miller, his kids range from age 6 to 2 months, older brother William is also in the home. Henry and Philippa would have 7 kids total, 4 sons and 3 daughters: William born in England, and Richard, Emily, Lucy, Harry, Mary and Milton, all born in New York.

By 1872 Henry and his brother William were business owners in Hamline, New York. From the Atlas of Monroe Co., “Business Notices Mockford , Henry Propr of flouring and custom mill, Mockford, WS Propr of saw mill. Particular attention paid to custom work. Lumber constantly on hand and for sale at lowest rates”.

Mockford brothers 1872 in Hamlin, NY

Henry died in 1905. HIs obituary mentioned he worked at Johnson Harvester Company and mentioned his surviving family including children, bothers and sisters of the Monroe County, NY area except Richard Mockford who had left for Shell Rock, Iowa.

Henry and Philippa are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in  Batavia, New York.

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

Michael Young b. 1787

/ Kirstin Miller

Michael Young 4th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Micheal Young was born in 1787 in Pennsylvania, his ancestors were probably German and their name may have been Jung. Michael married Mary -her last name not known. Michael and Mary had at least 5 children. Michael was a farmer and active in local politics.

The Stark County Democrat newspaper of April 24, 1841 show Michael and son in law Isaac Dickerhoof as administrators on Baranabus Weller’s will. Michael and Isaac offer up lands and a log chain. Barnabus may be a son in law of Michael’s. And no relation but of this time, Valentine Rinehart offers a six cents reward for a runaway apprentice, about 16 years old, five feet, stout, fair complexion, clothing not recollected.

The 1850 US agricultural census records Michael’s farm. The farm had 106 acres of improved land, 70 acres of unimproved, the farm’s value was $7000, machinery valued at $75. The farm had 7 horses, 8 milk cows, 5 sheep and 16 swine; and produced 290 bushels of wheat, 30 bushels of rye, 250 bushels of Indian Corn and 300 bushels of oats. In 1855 on the New Map of Stark, Ohio his lands were nearby family and in laws: Bairs Bowmans, Bryans, Dickerhoofs, Essigs, Grubbs, Harters, Kryders, Millers and Shrivers. Michael’s land is above the M in Marlboro.

Young, Michael 1850 land in Marlboro screenshot

M. Young 1855 Marlboro Township

Michael was a widow in 1857 and shortly after moved to Randolph about 30 miles north of Stark. Michael’s daughter Susannah married Isaac Dickerhoof, she died in 1851. Michael’s son Isaac married Susannah Shriver, Isaac died in 1852 and he and Susannah’s sons died in 1851 and 53. There was a major cholera epidemic in Ohio at this time, It’s probable that Michael’s wife, daughter, son, and grandsons died in this epidemic. Michael’s son Peter married Catherine Truby they moved to Elkhart, Indiana. Michael’s daughters Hannah and Esther both married in Ohio. Esther married Peter Miller they moved to Waverly, Iowa. Hannah married John Bryan they stayed in Stark. A son of Hannah and John Bryan visited his aunt Esther and uncle Peter Miller in September of 1887, recorded in the Waverly (Iowa) Democrat newspaper.

Sources

 

Elizabeth Stewart b. 1852

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Stewart, my 2nd great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Elizabeth Stewart was born on January 15, 1852 the youngest child of William and Elizabeth Crooks Stewart. She grew up on a farm in Crawford County, Pennsylvania then in 1860 Elizabeth and her family had moved to Jefferson, Wisconsin. In 1870 Elizabeth was in Shell Rock, Iowa and 18 years old. There on July 4, 1873 she married Manford Speedy, he was a widow with 2 kids. Together Elizabeth and Manford had 7 kids, 3 died at a young age. Elizabeth, Manford and kids lived on a 160 acre farm that included lots of livestock, 14 acres of grassland, 3 acres of apple trees and 10 acres of forest.

Elizabeth belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. On the 1895 census her family has 3 religions, Elizabeth is a Methodist, Manford a Baptist, daughters Eva and Ethel Congregationalists. By 1905 Elizabeth and family had moved from their farm to nearby Allison, Iowa. Her oldest step daughter Annette was married and in Springbrook, Wisconsin, stepson Oscar was in Stockton, California, two daughters Eva and Ethel and 2 sons Harve and Ernest lived at home.

Elizabeth had health problems in her later years and died in 1905, she was 53 and the cause of death was ‘rheumatism’. Elizabeth’s funeral was at the Methodist Episcopal Church, “The funeral was conducted from the Methodist church with a verse from Corinthians selected by Mrs. Speedy:

“For now we see through a glass darkly but then face to face”. Bible verse: 1 Corinthians 13:12 (King James Version) For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

Sources

  • Clarksville (Iowa) Star, 1872-2017 1904 Nov 16 page 4 of 8 column 2, 3. Death of Mrs. Speedy
  • 1880 US Agricultural Census at Ancestry
  • 1860 United States Federal Census at Ancestry
  • 1895 Iowa census at FamilySearch
  • Iowa county marriages 1838-1934 at FamilySearch
  • Iowa death records 1904-1951 at FamilySearch

Samuel Druckenbrod b. 1833

/ Kirstin Miller

Samuel Druckenbrod 3rd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Samuel was born in Pennsylvania on May 6, 1833. He was baptized July 14, 1834 in the German Lutheran church at Warwick, PA. Samuel’s great grandpa Matthias was probably the first of his family in America, arriving in the early 1700s during upheaval in Germany and William Penn’s German communities in Pennsylvania. By 1850 his family had moved west to Plain City in Stark County, Ohio.

Samuel married Elizabeth Harter Bair in Stark in 1854. Samuel and Elizabeth had 12 kids and they stayed in Stark, Ohio, they were farmers. On the 1900 US census Samuel and Elizabeth are still farmers. Their son Ivy recorded this census, his name is at the top as ‘enumerator’. In the future Ivy would be superintendent of the Stark County Infirmary. Daughter Fianna Druckenbrod is the only child to move from Ohio. Fianna moved to Bremer County, Iowa with her husband William L. Miller, also from Stark, Ohio, grandparents of Faber Miller.

Samuel was a widow in 1902 and he died on February 14, 1905. At his death his home was in Stark, Ohio, he was on a visit to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 35 miles north, where his two daughters Lidia Druckenbrod Crist and Adeline Druckenbrod Miller were living with their families. The area in the 1800 and 1900s provided “recreation for urban dwellers … the Valley Railway became another way to escape urban industrial life”. The Cuyahoga Valley National Park was established in 2000 and has 100 waterfalls, trails, 250 species of birds and more.

Sources

 

Enno Frerichs b. 1865

/ Kirstin Miller

Enno Henry Frerichs, my 2nd great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Enno Frerichs was born January 6, 1865 in East Frisia, Lower Saxony, Germany. Enno was 18 years old when he sailed to America in October, 1883 with his family: dad Casjen, mom Kunna, brother Gerd, sisters Entje and Hilka and older sister Yevkea and her husband Joost Reents. The shipped was named America, it left from Bremen, Germany and landed in Baltimore, Maryland. The passenger list shows their destination was Iowa. Yevkea and Joost had one piece of luggage, the Frerichs family had 4.

Frerichs arrival 1883

Arrival in Baltimore. Iowa was their destination.

Probably through a network of German immigrants and friendly strangers, Enno and family made their way from Baltimore to Butler County, Iowa- 1000 miles total. Imagine that journey. The Frerichs family set up their home in Jefferson Township, between Allison and Parkersburg, Iowa. They cleared land, built houses, barns, fences, planted gardens and fields and their community of German Americans built a church, Ebenezer Lutheran Church.

Frerichs, Enno and Annie

Enno and Annie Hinrichs Frerichs

Enno married Annie Henrichs on May 26, 1890 in the Ebenezer Lutheran Church. 50 years into the future on May 30, 1940 Annie and Enno celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends. Enno and Annie’s 10 kids attended, all were in the area, furthest away was daughter Martina, married to Hobart Vance,  they lived in Dallas County, Iowa.

Enno died in 1944 and is buried in Butler Center Cemetery, very near where Ebenezer Lutheran Church used to be.

Sources