See What Our Family Was Up to During

. . . America's Westward Expansion to Illinois

1763-1893

Day, Hudson, Rhoads, Van Meter, Watkins, Williams

This segment of the family history begins with Jacob and Alsey (Van Meter) Rhoads. Jacob, the son of a Revolutionary War soldier, originated in Pennsylvania. Alsey, possibly a nickname for Alcinda, came from Virginia and was of Dutch descent. The Rhoads and Van Meter families migrated, with Daniel Boone, to the area of Grayson and Hardin Counties, Kentucky. Here, Jacob and Alsey were married in 1785 and raised their family. One of their sons, Josiah, married Susannah Watkins, who was from Maryland. After Alsey died in 1828, most of the Rhoads family moved to Macoupin and Jersey Counties, Illinois.

In nearby Greene County, Illinois, David and Elizabeth (Williams) Hudson and their children had settled. One of David’s sons, Merritt, served in the Mexican War. He died in the Battle of Buena Vista in Mexico in 1847 leaving a young family. A nephew, David Hudson, went out west to California with the Forty-Niners in search of gold. After three years, he returned. David’s daughter, Martha, married Ira Day, a pioneer from Vermont. All of their children were born in Illinois.


Josiah Rhoads’ son, James, married Sarah Parker in Illinois and all of their children were born there. James’ son, Isaac, married Lydia Day, the daughter of Ira and Martha Day. All of their children were born in Illinois, one of whom was Lillie, who later settled in Oklahoma after her husband made the Great Land Run in 1893.

Image from https://nmwa.org/blog/2009/12/10/whats-going-on-in-this-picture/

See What Our Family Was Up to During

. . . America's Westward Expansion to Ohio

from Maryland and Virginia, 1803 - 1860

Hahn, Harless, Johnson, McNeely, Park, Tingley, Weisleder

The Hahn and Weisleder families migrated from Baltimore County, Maryland, to Columbiana County, Ohio. These people were still very much in touch with their German roots. It is said the Hahn immigrants came from Wurttemberg, Germany, during the Palatinate immigration. They most likely landed at the port of Baltimore, in the early 1700s because just prior to their move west, we find the family in Manchester, Maryland, in the late 1700s. Many children were born here and christened in German Lutheran and Reformed churches. All were born under German-spelled names. They most likely belonged to a tight-knit German colony. Some of the family may have spent some time in Frederick County, Maryland, and perhaps a short time in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, before migrating to Columbiana County, Ohio, in the early 1800s, where many Germans settled from Maryland and Pennsylvania.

Our direct ancestor, Adam Hahn, came to Columbiana County from Baltimore County in 1801, as soon as the land was opened up to settlement, and bought a section directly from the government; his brothers followed. Adam and his son, Andrew, set up a saw mill on Yellow Creek, and it was known as Hahn’s Mill for several years.

Adam and his brothers were quite prolific, and intermarried among the other pioneer families in the area. Andrew married in 1809 to Maria Magdalena  Weisleder, later known as Mary. The Weisleders were former neighbors in Baltimore County. Weisleder translated means Whiteleather, and some descendants later became known by that name. Still attending German Lutheran and Reformed congregations, the new generation of parents continued naming their children with German-spelled names. A German-language family Bible was acquired sometime after 1819 by Andrew Hahn (born Andreas), and all family entries were written in German. It is likely these German American inhabitants of Columbiana County were still speaking German.

Mary’s father, Andreas Weisleder, was a native of the town of Stiege, now within the state of Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. He was drafted into the army, and became one of the many thousands of Hessian soldiers sent to assist England in its war with the American Colonies. Finding himself a prisoner of war in Virginia, he determined none of his options were very good so he escaped and then deserted. Mingling in among the many sympathetic German settlers in the region, he made his way up to Manchester, Maryland, where he married Anna Maria Zentzin, of Swiss heritage. After having several children, they moved to Columbiana County in 1807 and purchased land from Adam Hahn.

When the War of 1812 broke out, a local militia was formed, and Andrew’s brothers, John and Adam, and a few of their cousins joined up. Andrew’s son, Samuel, a direct progenitor, moved on to Darke County, Ohio, on the western side of the state, in the late 1830s. Samuel’s cousin, also named Samuel Hahn, settled out there, as well. The Weisleders remained in Columbiana County and were very instrumental in its growth and progress. Our Samuel finding himself widowed with five children married Nancy Harless, herself a young widow, and from another prolific family, who had migrated over to Darke County from Virginia. 

The Harless family began along New River in Virginia with the arrival of the German immigrant, Johann Philip Harless, in the mid 1700s. His progeny quickly grew with the births of many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, in spite of the common childhood illnesses and Indian massacres. The area became known as the German New River Settlement and is said to be the first of its kind west of the Alleghenies.

As the settlement grew, young men found it necessary to move west. Some  Harlesses went to Tennessee and Kentucky; others went to Ohio. Among those were two brothers, Elias and Paul Harless, who arrived in Miami County, Ohio, in the mid 1820s. They later settled a little further west in Darke County. Distant  Harless cousins, also originating from the New River Settlement migrated to Miami and neighboring Preble Counties.

Our direct ancestor, Nancy Harless, was born in Giles County in 1822. In 1844 she married Samuel Hahn in Darke County. Although no records have been found mentioning her name prior to 1844, it is strongly believed she is the daughter of Paul Harless, based on extensive research of all Harlesses in Darke and Miami Counties.

The story of our Harlesses and their settlement in Ohio is a short one. The decade of 1820 saw Nancy’s birth in Virginia, the Harless family’s migration to Ohio, the death of Paul’s first wife, which would have been Nancy’s mother, and Paul’s remarriage. Then, Paul passed away sometime before 1840, while only in his forties. His older children were married; the younger children and Paul’s widow were divided up and lived among several family members. Nancy most likely lived with her uncle, Elias. When she was nineteen years old, she gave birth to a daughter, Delilah. This name occurred quite often in the Harless family. No record has yet been found of a marriage to Delilah's father, but when her little one was three years old she married the widower, Samuel Hahn.

In the early 1840s the Hahns were off again to a new frontier. Samuel Hahn and his new bride and their children moved on to the newly opened lands in northwestern Missouri, along with his parents and his brother's family. Many of the Harlesses  
remained in the Darke County area, some moving just over the state line into Indiana. 

The rest of our Ohio bound ancestors appear on the pedigree chart of lela Tingley. Clela’s grandparents, Jared I. Tingley and Sarah Ann McNeely, finally settled about 1860 in Williams County, on the western side of Ohio, after moving back and forth from Mercer County, Pennsylvania, to Iowa, to Williams County, to Illinois, and back to Williams County. Jared probably ties into the line of Palmer Tingley, of which much has been written.

Clela’s other set of grandparents, Oliver Johnson and Mary Jane Park, were married in Crawford County, Ohio, in 1860. Both were born on the east side of the state in Stark County. Oliver’s father was a native of Ohio and his mother was born in Pennsylvania. Mary Jane’s parents both came from Virginia, possibly Hampshire County. In his old age, Mary’s father, Amos, ended up in Williams County with her and some of his other children.

Oliver Johnson spent some time serving in the Union Army during the Civil War. One Johnson researcher says he received some land for his service. After the war, he moved his young family to the southeastern corner of Michigan, where his third child, Carrie, was born. While she was still a baby, her mother died. Shortly after, Oliver is found in Williams County with a second wife. Together they had four children, but only one grew to adulthood. Oliver died in 1902, succumbing to Tuberculosis.

Carrie’s older sisters married and moved to the northwest in the early 1900s for the logging industry. Carrie married in 1888 to Jared T. Tingley, one of twelve children. Immediately they homesteaded in Colorado. Two of Jared’s brothers lived in Colorado, as well. Oring moved his family out to Denver so his ill wife could benefit from the dry air. Warren, a Union veteran, wound up a miner in Creede.

Image from http://www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion

Adolphus and Lucretia

Adolphus Lutz was born in North Carolina and was the grandson of John and Sallie Frye Lutz. By the time Dolph was of marrying age, the Lutz family lived in Missouri. There he married Missouri-born Lucretia Boydston. I am curious about their given names.

According to Behind the Name, Adolphus is the Latinized form of the Germanic Adolf. Dolph's ancestry was indeed German, but why did his parents use the Latin version? It was most popular in 1893 when it ranked 330 in popularity. Dolph was 40 years old at this time.

Likewise, the name Lucretia is ancient Roman in origin. It was most popular in America in 1882 when it ranked at 205; Lucretia was 19 years old.

So both of these individuals were born before their names were trendy. Perhaps their parents helped to set the trend. Research has found that during the time these two were born, Americans were fascinated by ancient Rome. Classical style and philosophy seeped into their culture, and therefore their naming traditions.

Historically, Lucretia was a legendary ancient Roman woman whose tragic fate set in motion a revolution that removed the Roman monarchy sometime in the 500s BC and replaced it with a republic. Lucretia was ever after honored for her sacrifice.

As for Dolph, perhaps his parents wished to bestow a name reminiscent of his German culture. Adolf means noble wolf and was borne by several Swedish kings. Latinizing the name brought it to current cultural standards.

It will be interesting to notice how many other names in the family history were influenced by Roman Classical interest.

John and Sallie Frye Lutz, mentioned at the top of this post, are my husband's 3rd great grandparents.

Meaning of the Surname Hahn

Hahn is a German word for rooster.  Back in the day, a long time ago, a man might have been nicknamed Hahn if he was conceited or cocky.  Or it may have become a surname if a man had a rooster painted on a shingle above his door because he may have become known as the man at the sign of the rooster.  So Ijust thought I would mention that little tidbit.  It is so fun to decorate my kitchen with roosters and to know that they represent my good name.

Single, With Dependents

A while ago, I found my dad's World War II Enlistment record on Ancestry.  At the bottom of the form was a sweet piece of information noting that my dad, in 1946, was single, with dependents.  He was just 17, but I smiled when I remembered that I had been told long before that he had an allotment taken from his Army check each month and sent to his widowed mother.

Today I just discovered that Uncle Jack (Jack R. Hahn) also enlisted in the military during World War II when he, too, was just 17 years old.  Like my dad, he was single, with dependents.  I have no idea who is referred to by the word dependents.  They may have been his siblings, the youngest one twelve. Or the word dependents may have referred to his half-siblings, all of whom were younger than twelve.  Perhaps his wife, Ethel, was the dependant.  They were not quite married at the time, but very soon to be.  Or, his dependants may have simply been his parents, farmers trying to recover from the depression of the 1930s.  Whoever they were, I am left with feelings of admiration for Uncle Jack, who took upon himself, at such an early age, the financial support of someone else.

http://www.realnews247.com/wwII_soldiers.jpg

Roots of Patriotism Run Deep

   
 It has been fascinating to find similarities among various people from one lineage, especially since these people sometimes span several generations.  For instance, my husband, by nature, is very interested in politics.  He keeps informed of current events.  He loves this country and his freedoms, guaranteed by the Constitution written long ago by his heroes, the Founding Fathers.  Somewhat of a rebel, he is not afraid to voice his political opinion, even if he is surrounded by people with opposing views.  Interestingly, his ancestry is filled with frontiersmen, rebels and patriots--men just like him.
     One such patriot was Capt. Henry Rhoads.  History records that Capt. Rhoads served with Gen. Washington and spent that awful winter with the general at Valley Forge.  Capt. Rhoads later settled the frontier of Kentucky and represented his area in the state legislature.  My husband really admires this particular ancestor of his.  He feels connected to him.  Imagine his pleasure when I discovered that he and this forefather, whom he so admires, share the same day and month of birth!
   

Reading Old Newspapers

At Chronicling America, old newspapers from Holt County, Missouri have been digitized .  Our direct ancestor, Samuel Hahn, left the county in the mid-1860s, but much can be learned about his brothers, Richard and Daniel Hahn, who remained in the county until they died.  Trying different search terms has produced many articles that help to piece together Daniel's very large family.  The articles also open a peek into the daily life of Daniel Hahn, one the county's first and respected citizens, a successful and wealthy farmer, who lived to be 83 years old.  You can read some of these articles at Daniel Hahn (1813-1897).

Mormon Pioneers in the Family

Tarlton Lewis was a member of Brigham Young's first company of saints to arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. That company consisted mostly of men, their families remaining behind in Nebraska until the next spring. Sure enough, Tarlton was crossing the plains again in 1848, this time with his wife and two small children. Mary Younger Mayberry and her husband and two grown sons were also in the same company with the Lewises. In 1846, Haden Wells Church joined the Mormon Battallion in Nebraska, but didn't make it all the way to San Diego as planned. Instead, he became part of a detachment of sick soldiers who wintered over in Pueblo, Colorado. When the weather cleared, the soldiers, in company with saints from Mississippi, headed north to the Mormon Trail and then continued on into the Valley on the heels of Brigham Young's first company. None of these are direct ancestors but rather, close relatives just the same--just many generations removed.

Haden Wells Church-->Abraham M. Church-->Thomas A. Church
Daryl E. Hahn-->Hazel R. Lutes-->Robert E. Lutes-->Tennessee E. Younger-->Mary E. Church-->Charles C. Church--Thomas A. Church

Tarlton Lewis-->Neriah Lewis-->David Lewis
Nancy E. Thaden-->Nannie I. Moore-->William H. Moore-->Melvina Murphy-->Elizabeth Alexander-->Elizabeth Lewis-->David Lewis

Mary E. Younger-->Thomas Younger
Daryl E. Hahn-->Hazel R. Lutes-->Robert E. Lutes-->Tennessee E. Younger-->John W. Younger-->James N. Younger-->Thomas Younger

Daughters of the Confederacy Need Not Apply

I've just had myself a good chuckle. In researching for another book project, I ran across information about the Union Veterans Union (UVU), which was organized in 1886 for Union veterans, who did not necessarily agree with the practices of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), also organized for Union veterans. Even though the UVU was also open to sons of the veterans, membership eventually fizzled out. In honor of Union veteran ancestors, the UVU has been re-formed.

Check out these membership requirements: "We do not seek your affiliation if you belong to any organization which has been recognized as racist, white supremacist, or divisive in their practices or teachings. This includes, but is not limited to, the Sons of Confederate Veterans, the Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), the League of the South, the Southern Party, the Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW), Confederate Reenactors Assoc., KKK, National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), or other Southern "Heritage" group which may support the principles of any racist organization or those principles of any other such organization as may have been identified by the Southern Poverty LawCenter and listed in their current annual 'Intelligence Report.' "

Whew! This means if I become a member of the UDC, I will not be welcomed in the UVU. While membership in the SCV and UDC requires a direct or colateral kinship to a Confederate veteran, everyone can belong to the UVU as long as they are not racist. This is interesting because the original UVU did not even include all veterans; only combat veterans were welcomed. Membership requirements in the Confederate groups do not include a list of organizations I can not belong to. The UVU's objection to the SUVCW, what should be their sister group, is that they supported South Carolina's right to fly the Confederate flag on the State House. This is what started the war in the first place, the issue over states' rights. It sounds like the UVU is practicing their own version of discrimination.

Has anyone told the UVU that the war is over? We're just all trying to get along now as fellow Americans. Besides, like myself, many of us are descendants of both Yankees and Rebels.

See "History of the UVU," http://www.uvuinc.4t.com/about.html
and "History of the Union Veterans Union," http://www.unionveteransunion.org/4_1UVU_HISTORY.html

The Rebel Yell

Have you ever heard of the Rebel Yell? Have you ever wondered what it really sounded like? Go to You Tube's Confederate Rebel Yell.

Genocide During the Civil War

Though the term genocide did not exist before 1944, I do believe General Sherman was trying to commit just that on the Southern population during his famed march to the sea. His comments to his wife and fellow soldiers are no secret. They have been published often and show that he was certainly bent on destroying the people of the South.

I have brought up this notion of Sherman and genocide to a couple of people in my circle, whom I consider to be very intelligent. Both hesitate to strap the already shameful Sherman with the crime of genocide.

Consider the definition of genocide as was adopted in 1948 by the United Nations in the wake of the Jewish Holocaust.

[G]enocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
(a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.[1]

After conducting a study of Sherman’s war practices enacted upon his enemies, there can be no question that Sherman would have been tried as a war criminal had he dared to carry out his campaigns today. Even his own fellow generals abhorred his tactics.

As recently as 2008, one scholar likened Sherman’s practices to “war crimes and probably genocide.”[2] It is obvious that Sherman’s army killed and wounded Confederate soldiers. But, with the able men off in other places fighting the war, Sherman rampaged his way through the South. It is no secret that Sherman encouraged his men to destroy everything in their path after they had foraged for themselves. This left the women and children and old men with no food, no livestock, no crops, no cotton bales (a source of income), no valuables for which to sell, and in many instances, no homes. Such destitution brought about starvation, a sure way to prevent the births of anymore Southerners.

One might argue the last element of the definition—that of forcibly transferring children of the group to another group. While it is true that Sherman did not remove the children from their Southern parents, he did cause that the children were forced from their homes, with their parents, while carrion from the north moved in. This resulted in the desired outcome of watering down the Southern population.

In my opinion, there is no doubt that General Sherman was trying to rid the country of Southerners through criminal means. It is true that war is hell and many unfortunate things happen to the innocent. However, there is a moral code most men live by but Sherman was dispossessed of any morals. He was not the great military mind his fans set him up to be. The hero they worship was nothing short of a war criminal, a disgrace to his uniform, no one to be lauded or honored.


[1] “What is Genocide?” United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. 4 May 2009. 13 Jul. 2009
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/article.php?lang=en&ModuleId=10007043, par. 4

[2] Allan D. Cooper, The Geography of Genocide, University Press of America, 2008, p. 150

The Other Side of the Coin

As I read stories and watch movies about the War Between the States, I am disappointed that the full story is not told. Reference is often made to the Union prisoners’ awful conditions at the Andersonville prison, but I’ve never heard mention of Rock Island prison, home to 12,000 Confederate prisoners. Complaints among Andersonville inmates included lack of food and medical care. It should be noted that the Confederate soldiers guarding that prison, and serving elsewhere suffered from the same lack of food and medical care. They couldn’t offer their prisoners what they themselves did not have. The Union Army had done an excellent job of cutting these necessities off from the South. Not only did the tactic succeed in crippling the Confederacy, it also starved their own men. The excuse at Rock Island? Rations were cut, as ordered by the U.S. government in response to the treatment of Union prisoners at Andersonville.[1]

In the end, 17% of the Confederate prisoners died at Rock Island compared with the 27% of Federal prisoners, who died at Andersonville.[2] If those numbers lessen the severity of Rock Island Prison, consider a lesser know prison camp in Federal territory that has been conveniently swept under the rug by the very critics of Andersonville, who also point out that Andersonville prisoners were cruelly mistreated. Camp Douglas was located in Chicago and had the highest mortality rate of all Union prisoner of war camps.[3]

"Prisoners were deprived of clothing to discourage escapes. Many wore sacks with head and arm holes cut out; few had underwear. Blankets to offset the bitter northern winter were confiscated from the few that had them. The weakest froze to death. The Chicago winter of 1864 was devastating. The loss of 1,091 lives in only four months was heaviest for any like period in the camp's history, and equaled the deaths at the highest rate of Andersonville from February to May, 1864. Yet, it is the name of Andersonville that burns in infamy, while there exists a northern counterpart of little shame."[4]

The next time you read a book or watch a movie that mentions Andersonville, remember Camp Douglas.


[1] Brenda Smelser Hay, “Rock Island Civil War Prison,” http://www.censusdiggins.com/prison_rock_island.html, 2008, par. 5.
[2] Ibid, par. 8.
[3] Brenda Smelser Hay, “Camp Douglas Prison,” http://www.censusdiggins.com/prison_camp_douglas.html, 2008, par. 1.
[4] Ibid, par. 3. See also “Camp Douglas” at http://geocities.com/BourbonStreet/2757/issues/camp.htm. Though the author of this web page seems to have had some trouble mastering HTML, his material appears to be well researched. After reading this account of Camp Douglas, Andersonville will not seem so unique.

Soldier and Patriot

Capt. Henry Rhoads is the 6th great grandfather of Michael Hahn and one of Michael's ancestral heroes because of the patriot he was during the Revolutionary War. Isn't it special then that Henry and Michael both share the same birth date of June 5th.

Image posted at FindAGrave.com, Memorial #11345940, by JYOAKE.

The Uncivil War Within

Yesterday, I discovered another Civil War soldier in our family history. John W. Younger served in Co. I of Missouri's 13th Cavalry. This Confederate unit was made up of Southerners from the Ozark Mountain area of Missouri. What is so poignant about this discovery is that it was made right after I extracted, from a biographical sketch of Oliver Johnson, sergeant in an Ohio unit in the Union Army, an account of his military service, which included many battles and injuries.

Our family history will not be complete without a study of our ancestors' involovement in the War Between the States; however, I find myself hesitant to begin because of the sadness of it all.

Could they have possibly seen far enough into the future to understand that their descendants could quite possibly be a mixture of the Blue and the Gray?

The Tragedies of War

I recently ran across some detailed information regarding Oliver Johnson's service in the Civil War. He was living in Tuscarawas, Ohio, when he went up to Norwalk to enlist in the Union Army October of 1861. He served for four years. He was wounded three times, the last time being at Resaca, Georgia. The Army of the Ohio was under the command of General Sherman when he began his march to the sea in the spring of 1864. The Rebels put up a good fight there at Resaca. While learning earlier about the atrocities inflicted on my civilian ancestors during Sherman's march, I developed much contempt for the man.

In the same source where I found Oliver's military information, there was a reference to Hiram Johnson. He enlisted in the same place, a day later than Oliver. I feel he is the same Hiram listed as Oliver's brother on the 1850 census of Stark County, Ohio. I was stunned to learn that Hiram was killed at Resaca. Suddenly I don't have contempt anymore, just deep sadness.

Harless Hardships

I recently transcribed the pension applications for brothers, Ferdinand, Daniel, and Philip Harless of Giles County, Virginia. At this time, the area was on the very edge of civilization. The Harless family was part of the German New River Settlement. The boys were sixteen to 22 years of age when they first volunteered. They served six months out of every year for four years at a couple of forts. They were under the command of Captains and Colonels. They also served as spies to trace the movements of the Indians lurking about. Sometimes there were not enough volunteers from the backwoods to properly man the forts so men from nearby counties were drafted to help out.

In their applications the brothers recounted the depredations brought upon the settlers by the Indians. They told of families who were attacked, and some members were murdered while others were carried away captive. Their own father, Martin Harless, was chased through the woods for three or four miles before he found safety. Ferdinand recalled a ". . . Daughter of Lybrooks was skelped and beate on the head with a war club and found living next morning and when she was found asked for a drink of water and soon after expired."

Apparently their service in the Revolutionary War was not recognized by the war department; thus, their applications were denied. No, they did not belong to the Continental Army, and they did not engage the British in battle. Their service was in protecting the frontier families from the British allies so in my book they were war heroes.

Misinformed through the Internet: A Case Study in the Identity of Joseph Daniel Haun or Hahn

I have just finished a case study into the identity of one Joseph Daniel Haun or Hahn, who appears as one of Samuel Hahn's children in genealogies published on the internet. It is satisfying to know I can confidently conclude he does not belong to Sam's clan but has a family of his own. You can read my entire article here.

Scots-Irish vs. Scotch-Irish

We hear both terms, but which is correct? I have chosen to use the term Scotch-Irish. The current popluation of Scotland prefers to refer to themselves as Scots. But, they have very little if anything to do with those people from Scotland, who moved to Ireland and later to America. The term Scotch-Irish was used in America as early as the mid-1700s to describe a certain segment of the American population, and as one scholar on the subject suggests "...in this country [USA], where they have been called Scotch-Irish for over two hundred years, it would be absurd to give them a name by which they are not known here... Here their name is Scotch-Irish; let us call them by it." (qtd. in Wikipedia and attributed to Wayland F. Dunaway, The Scotch-Irish of Colonial America, University of North Carolina Press, 1944.)

Read this essay, "Scotch-Irish or Scots-Irish: What's in a Name?", for a deeper look into the reason why Scotch-Irish is the correct term.

Read About the Scotch-Irish

Here are links to a articles about the Scotch-Irish.

Why You Need to Know the Scots-Irish
Scots-Irish
The Scotch-Irish in America

Lutz and Younger

I have been working on two families at once lately. From the Younger researcher, which I mentioned in the last entry, I received the research of Wilma Norton. So far I am very pleased with her work. She has listed numerous sources and seems to have been as thorough as possible. From her research, I have learned that our Youngers came to Missouri from North Carolina. Prior to migrating to North Carolina, they lived in Viginia in the 1700s along the tidewater riverways on tobacco plantations. Land records show they owned fewer than a thousand acres, so their plantations were small compared to others. This opens a new window into the lives of some of our colonial ancestors and beckons me to learn what I can about the early Virginia plantation lifestyle.
Regarding the Lutz family, I have discovered a book written by Margaret D. Lutes in 1983. Her work contains no speculation, but only facts extracted from primary sources. Her information covers the immigrant ancestor, Johannes Georg Lutz, from his entry into Philadelphia, through to his descendants. Johannes did not live long after arriving in America. Two of his sons migrated to North Carolina and became known among the family as Pioneer George and Pioneer Jacob. Many descendants still live in North Carolina and strong family traditions regarding the family history are still alive. Eventually, John and Sarah Lutz moved out west to Missouri. These were the parents of Joe Lutz, who made the Great Land Run into Oklahoma in 1893. Unfortunately, Mrs. Lutes' information regarding this line of descendancy ends with the family's removal to Missouri and does not cover the exciting time of the land rush. Should there ever be an addendum written to this book, I hope to be a contributor.