Bessie's Roots
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| Grandma Bessie Wolff Gallagher |
| Holding daughter Grace, ca 1926 |
This blog is focused on Bessie Wolff Gallagher's family line. It starts off looking at the Wolff family. The blog then goes back to Bessie's grandparents and looks at the two families that joined the Wolff clan when Julia Groner married Edward Francis Wolff. The result is a family tree that stretches back in time to more than a decade before the American Revolutionary War and the Declaration of Independence. First, the Wolffs:
The family chain…
Paulus Wolff Great Great Great Grandpa 1799-1845
Edward
Francis Wolff Great Great
Grandpa 1834-1900
Arthur Llewellyn Wolff Great Grandpa 1862-1929
Bessie Wolff
Gallagher Grandma 1892-1933
Ken Gallagher Dad 1920-2007
Paulus Wolff was born in Germany in 1799 (name of city/town unknown). He was a cloth maker in Germany. He immigrated to America on October 4, 1837 with his wife Erdmutha Caroline Schwalbe Wolff (Caroline) and seven sons
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Ship Manifest for the ship New York, arriving in New York, 1837 |
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Close up view of section of the ship's manifest that lists the Wolff Family Paulus, C (Caroline), and sons Paul, Ehrgott, Edward, Richard,Gustav, Julius and Louis |
They were from the Saxony area according to the ship manifests.
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Saxony is the area around Leipzig and Dresden, just to the right of "Germany" on the map. The yellow markers indicate the area where most of the Moravians come from. |
They arrived at New York and they were initially bound for Nazareth, PA. They eventually settled in the Newfoundland (literally, New Found Land) village, Dreher Township, Wayne County, Pennsylvania.
It is not known what brought these folks to
America. However, they were early
members of the Newfoundland Moravian Church.
Many Moravians came from the Saxony area of Germany. The Moravian Church, or Unitas Fratrum (Unity of Brethren), got its
start in present day Czechoslovakia when a group broke away from the Catholic
Church some 60 years before Martin Luther began his reformation. Due to persecution they moved to the Saxony
area of Germany in the early 1700s.
It is also possible that friends or even members
of the Wolff and Schwalbe families arrived earlier, again as part of the
Moravian Church. One possibility is that a
man named Traugott Schwalbe was a relative of Caroline. He arrived first in the Newfoundland area and
the Wolff family later went to Minnesota when he did. No proof has been found to confirm whether
Traugott and Caroline were related.
Unfortunately Paulus died on January 15, 1845. He was clearing land and a tree limb fell on him. It appears that this was not an uncommon form of death in this community. The German immigrants were unfamiliar with the task of chopping down trees to clear their land for farming (Paulus had been a cloth maker, not a farmer). Paulus is buried in the cemetery that is behind the Moravian Church.
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Cemetery at the Newfoundland Moravian Church. The picture is taken from Paulus' grave looking back towards the Church building. |
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Paulus' gravestone with text in German. |
It won’t be long before no
writing will be visible on it. This is
due to the fact that sandstone was used for the grave marker and the cemetery
has been subjected to flooding over the years, gradually eroding the writing on
the grave marker.
Caroline remained in Newfoundland until sometime before 1860. In the 1860 census she is living in Chaska, Minnesota with three of her sons.
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1860 Federal Census for Chaska, MN. Caroline is listed on line 32. |
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| Caroline's Journey from Newfoundland, PA to Chaska, MN Over 1100 miles in the late 1850's |
According to Pastor Greg Schaeffer of the Newfoundland Moravian Church (conversation in 2015), several members of that church were sent to Chaska in 1858 to found the first Moravian church in Minnesota. It is likely that she was part of this group. Seven of her nine sons went with her.
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The Nine Sons of Paulus and Caroline Wolff Picture provided by Roy Wolff of Chaska, MN; original source of picture is unknown. |
In 1861 Caroline acquired 40 acres of land in the Chaska area. This was during the administration of Abraham Lincoln. His name appears at the bottom of the Land Registration.
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| Land registered to Erdmutha C. Wolff - 40 acres in Chaska, MN |
For some reason this was cancelled and re-issued in her name in 1870 under the administration of Ulysses S. Grant.
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| Land re-registered to Caroline |
It was re-issued in her
name even though she passed away in 1865 at the age of 66. She is buried in the Moravian Cemetery in
Chaska.
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Erdmutha Caroline Wolff 1799-1845 The words at the bottom read - "Blessed are those who die in the Lord" The scripture reference is likely John 11 & 13 |
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| The picture is labelled Francis Edward, but in most records he is shown as Edward. His grave has his name as Edward Francis Wolff. |
Her son, Edward Francis Wolff (1834-1900), was born in Germany and came with the family to America in 1837 when he was three years old. He was the sixth of the nine sons of Paulus and Caroline. He was one of two sons that stayed behind in Pennsylvania when everyone else went to Minnesota. In 1860, two years after other family members left, Edward has moved to Hamilton Township, Monroe County, some thirty miles south of Newfoundland.
He is listed in the census
that year as a blacksmith. He is single
and living as a boarder with the Jonas Altimore family.
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A page from the 1860 Federal Census for Hamilton Township, PA |
In 1861, Edward marries
Julia Ann Groner (1845-1923). He is 27
and she is 16 (more on Julia and the families she comes from later in this blog). She was from Stroud Township, Monroe County,
PA. Edward did not move to Minnesota
with the rest of his family. That could
have been due to Julia’s family being somewhat close and well established in
the area. Also, it appears that by the
1860 census, Edward was established as a blacksmith. He may not have wanted to leave if business
was good. The family members who did
leave were farmers. They may have moved
West in search of more land.
By the time of the 1870 census Edward and Julia have a home of their own and they have four sons Lewellyn (8), John (6), Horace (4) and Oliver (2). Edward is still working as a blacksmith.
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| A page from the 1870 Federal Census for Hamilton Township, PA showing Edward and his family |
He must be doing fairly
well as the census shows they have a domestic servant living with them, Ann
Keiper (16). In another ten years they
add five more children to their family for a total of nine. The 1880 census lists them as Elenora (9),
Edward (7), Oscar (6), Clara (4) and Jabez (1).
The oldest, Lewellyn, is now listed as Arthur L (18). All the boys over the age of 12 are working
on a farm.
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A page from the 1880 Federal Census for Hamilton Township, PA showing Edward (listed as Francis E) and Julia and all but two of their eleven children |
By 1900 Edward, 65, has changed his occupation to farmer. He and Julia are living with just one child, their eleventh (a tenth son, Rufus Albert, was born in 1881 but is not living with his parents by the time of the 1900 census). Son Archie is listed as being born in 1887. Even though he is 13, he does not have to go to work on the farm like his older brothers. He is in school. The 1900 census was taken in June of that year. In October Edward passes away.
He is buried in the Mt Zion Cemetery between Hamilton and Sciota, PA. The cemetery is not part of, or adjacent to, any particular city as one might expect. It is basically a little knoll or hill covered with grave makers. Edward is buried with his wife Julia. Their grave is on the right side of the hill as you look at it from the street. It is positioned just as the hill slopes downward.
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Right side of Mt Zion Cemetery in Sciota, PA. Edward Wolff's grave in the foreground, Highway 33 in the background. |
It must have been
quite the project digging the grave without slipping down the hill. Other graves are on the slope itself. How those graves were dug is a mystery. Edward’s grave has a view looking over Highway
33. The headstone is quite elaborate for
its time (picture below). He may have been well to do,
or some of his children were.
Edward and Julia had eleven children. Of those, Arthur Llewellyn (A.L.) Wolff was the oldest. He was born in 1862 in the Hamilton Township in Pennsylvania. By the 1880 census he is 18 and working on a farm, still at home in Pennsylvania. In 1900 he is listed as living in the Baker Township, Minnesota.
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A page from the 1900 Federal Census for Baker Township, Minnesota A.L. Wolff is listed on line 16. |
That is a distance of some 1295 miles from Hamilton, PA. The 1900 census also indicates that he has been married eleven years to Mary Peterson (born 1861) and that they have six children. The oldest son Edward was born in 1889 in Minnesota. So it is likely that Arthur met Mary in Minnesota in the late 1880's. Between 1900 and 1910 they move to Grand Prairie Township in North Dakota, a distance of about 181 miles.
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A.L.'s journey from Pennsylvania to North Dakota ca 1880-1910 |
It is possible that farm land was offered free or very cheap to those willing to homestead there. The writer’s uncles used to say that A.L. had a large farm and he was one of the first to have tractors on his farm in the area. From the map the writer found (below), it appears that he owned, either by himself or with someone else, over 500 acres, though not all contiguous.
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Grand Prairie Township A.L.'s land can be found in Sections 7, 18 and 19 on the left above. |
Unfortunately the family is said to have lost the farm in the Great Depression that started in October, 1929. A.L. never lived to see the Depression. He passed away in April of that year at age 67.
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A.L.'s death certificate |
His wife, Mary Peterson Wolff, had passed away three years earlier in 1926, age 65.
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Mary Peterson Wolff's death certificate Note that her father and mother are listed as "Pederson." That is incorrect. It should read "Peterson." |
They are both buried at the Hillside Cemetery in Valley City, North Dakota. Their grave markers are behind a head stone that has the Wolff name on it.
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| Wolff family plot |
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| Back of plot marker with grave markers visible |
Unfortunately there is
not more known about Arthur and Mary.
Also, the writer is not aware of any pictures of them.
A.L. and Mary had six children. Bessie Wolff was the third oldest and was born in 1892 in Minnesota. She married Lawrence Patrick Gallagher in Chokio, MN in 1914.
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| Lawrence Gallagher's and Bessie Wolff's marriage certificate |
Not sure why the wedding
took place there instead of closer to the family home in North Dakota. It is possible that there were members of the
Wolff family in that area. It is where
Bessie’s brother Henry Bernard Wolff was born in 1896. The other possibility is that maybe Minnesota
law at that time allowed cousins to marry.
North Dakota banned marriage of cousins in 1860. Minnesota did not ban it until sometime in
the decade from 1910 – 1919. Bessie’s
mother was Mary Peterson. Lawrence’s
mother was Lena Peterson. They
apparently were sisters.
The Groner Family
Solomon Groner 4th Great Grandfather 1782-1858
Andrew Groner 3rd Great Grandfather 1815-1857
Julia Groner Wolff Great Great Grandmother 1845-1923
Now let’s go back a bit on the Wolff family tree and look at another family that married into the Wolff family. As mentioned above, Edward Francis Wolff, Bessie's grandfather, married Julia Groner. Not a lot is known about her father’s family line. Family trees on Ancestry.com (admittedly not always reliable) indicate that her father’s family came to the US from Germany some time before 1782 when Solomon Groner was born in Pennsylvania. It is not known where in Germany they came from and very little was found about Solomon's father. The family name may have been Kroner when they were in Germany (more research is needed on this and on Solomon himself). The name changed to Groner with Solomon’s generation.
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| Stroud Township is the area on the right in the red outline. |
Solomon Groner (abt. 1782-1858) lived in Stroud Township, PA (above). At the time of the 1830 census (below), he and his wife, Maria Frederick (or possibly Friederich; 1778-1838), had ten children. They had three under the age of five, two between five and nine, two between ten and fourteen, two between fifteen and nineteen and one between twenty and twenty nine. Solomon was forty-eight and Maria was fifty two.
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| 1830 Federal Census for Northampton County, PA Solomon is the third from the bottom |
Eight years later Maria has passed away. By 1850 only one daughter (Susan, 33) and one son (David, 23) are still with Solomon. According to the 1850 census (below) his occupation
was that of a “cooper.” A cooper is someone who makes
wooden, staved vessels, held together with wooden or metal hoops and possessing
flat ends or heads. Examples of a cooper's work include casks, barrels,
buckets, tubs, butter churns, and vats.
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1850 Census for Stroud Township, PA Solomon Groner is listed on line 2. |
In the 1800s in Europe as well as in the US a man skilled at making barrels was an important person. Many goods were shipped and stored in barrels (also called casks, tuns, kegs or hogsheads depending on the area of the world and the size of the container). All sorts of foods were stored in barrels. Sauerkraut was fermented and stored in them. Fish, meats and some vegetables were dried and salted then stored and transported in them. Most any item that could be stored for a length of time would be stored in a barrel to keep out vermin. Fragile items such as eggs would be packed in them among layers of straw to keep them cooler as well as to keep them from breaking (information on “Cooper” from Wikipedia and bakerblockmuseum.org).
Solomon’s third child was Andrew Groner (1813-1856). Andrew was married to Susan Marsh (1816-1905) and they had ten children (more on Susan below). The 1850 census indicates that Andrew was a farmer. Like his father, he lived in Stroud Township, PA.
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1850 Federal Census, Stroud Township, PA Andrew Groner is listed on line 20, next to the number "340" |
Andrew was only 42 when he passed away in 1856. It is not known why he died at such a young age. He is buried in the Cherry Valley United Church Methodist Cemetery in Monroe County, PA.
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Andrew Groner's grave |
Cherry Valley United Church Methodist Cemetery in Monroe County, PA
Julia Ann Groner (1845-1923) was Andrew and Susan’s third child. She was born on January 16, 1845. Her father passed away when she was twelve years old. In 1861, at the age of 16 she married Edward Wolff. As mentioned above, they were married 39 years until Edward’s passing in 1900. By the time of the 1910 census, Julia is still living in Hamilton, PA, but not on her own. She has moved in with her daughter Nora and her husband William Harps, the proprietor of a local hotel, and their five children.
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1910 Federal Census for Hamilton Township, PA Julia is listed on line 22 |
By 1920, something happened. Maybe Julia wore out her welcome. Maybe her children were taking turns taking
care of her. Hard to know exactly. But she shows up in two different places in
the 1920 census. The first appearance is
in the part of the census started on January 17, 1920. Julia is living with her son Edward, his wife
Cora and their three children on a farm in Kellersville, PA. Kellersville is all of two miles from Hamilton
Township, so that was an easy move.
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1920 Federal Census for Hamilton Township, PA Julia is listed on line 63 |
Julia’s next appearance is in the part of the census completed five days later on January 22, 1920. She is shown as living with her daughter Clara in Meshoppen Township, over 75 miles to the northwest from Kellersville.
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Clara and her husband, Delbert Vosburg only have two children, so they may have had more room for the mother-in-law.
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1920 Federal Census for Meshoppen, PA Julia is on line 13 |
Julia is no longer
living on a farm. Delbert runs a general
store. The census shows him working on
his own account, so he is likely the owner of the store. Clara is listed as a dressmaker and she is
working out of her home. Julia passes
away in 1923 at the age of 78. As
mentioned previously, she is buried with her husband in Sciota.
The Marsh Family
David Mersch 6th
Great Grandfather 1730-1798
Abraham Marsh (Mersch) 5th
Great Grandfather 1760-1847
Isaac Marsh 4th
Great Grandfather 1791-unknown
Susan Marsh 3rd
Great Grandmother 1816-1905
Julia Groner Wolff Great
Great Grandmother 1845-1923
Julia’s mother was Susan Marsh. Susan is also descended from a long line of
German ancestors. From on-line sources
at Ancestry.com, it appears that the name was Mersch when the family was in
Germany. Mersch in German means
“marsh”. The family eventually changed the name to
Marsh.
David was born in Germany in 1730. The exact city or area is unknown. He arrived in the US sometime before his second son, Abraham, was born in 1760. It may even have been some time before 1753, as there is a land warrant with that date granting David Marsh twenty acres of land in Northampton County, PA.
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Grant of 20 acres in Northampton County, PA |
If this is the correct David Marsh, then it means he would have come to this country at least by the age of 23. This is the earliest known arrival of any of the writer’s ancestors. It places David in this country a good fifteen to twenty years prior to the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1775.
Both David and his son Abraham served in the Northampton County (Pennsylvania) Militia during the Revolutionary War. David served from about 1778 through 1782, so he would have been 48 years old when he first started serving and was discharged in 1782 at the age of 52.
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| Burial card for David Marsh |
He served under a Captain William Kromer of the 4th Company and then later under a Captain John Deter of the 3rd Company. His son Abraham would have been between the ages of 28 to 32 if he served during the same time frame.
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Headstone application for Abraham Marsh |
It does not appear that these militia units
served in any major battles. For a
summary of information on Revolutionary
War militia battalions and companies the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum
Commission has a good one at:
Revolutionary War Militia Overview | Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
David’s occupation is not known for certain. He may have had his own farm. A tax roll for Northampton County in 1789 shows him owning 100 acres, two horses and three head of cattle. Those are the only items that required a tax according to this document, so that is all that is listed.
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Northampton County tax roll, 1789 Abraham and David are the third and fourth names from the bottom |
The 1790 Census shows David
living in Moore Township, Northampton County, PA with four males and six
females (the early US Census records only name the head of the household). Sons David and Abraham are living on their
own at this time, so they are not included in these totals.
In 1798 David passed away at age 68. He is evidently buried in the Zion’s Stone Church Cemetery.
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Zion's Stone Church and Cemetery |
According to the record of his burial his grave is in the “Old Section” but its exact location is unknown (see burial card above). His name is listed on a monument next to the church that the DAR set up to honor veterans of the Revolutionary War.
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Revolutionary War Veterans' Monument |
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| David Marsh is listed on the far right, fifth name from the top. |
A copy of his Will is available on Ancestry.com. Unfortunately it is written in German.
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David Mersch/Marsh's Will 1798 |
Abraham Mersch (1760-1847) was
the second child of David Mersch. The
tax roll shown above lists Abraham as a weaver.
He owns no land and just one horse (his transportation no doubt) as of
1789. He was 29 at the time.
In the 1800 Federal Census his
last name is still Mersch. So he still
has not changed his name. The census
only indicates the number of people living with him. There are a total of eleven people in the
household. Only two of them are over 25
years old (Abraham and his wife most likely).
There are also four boys and three girls under ten (yikes!), and there
is one boy and one girl between the ages of ten and fifteen. Must have been a very busy household. They are living in Hamilton Township, PA
which is about 20 miles northeast of where Abraham grew up in Moore
Township. It is not known why Abraham
moved.
In the 1810 Federal Census there are now fourteen in his household. The list includes Abraham and his wife, three girls under the age of ten, one boy and two girls between ten and fifteen, and four boys and two girls between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five. That is one full house, but hopefully the older boys and girls were of some help.
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The 1810 Federal Census Abraham is next to last on the list, his first name is abbreviated. |
After this Abraham drops out of sight. He is not listed as a head of household in
the 1820, 1830 or the 1840 Federal Census records. By 1820 he was 60 years old. It is likely that Abraham and his wife are
living with one of their children at that time.
In 1839, his wife passes away. In
1847 he passes away at the age of 87.
Isaac Marsh (1791-1863) was the
second oldest child of Abraham Mersch. He
married Mary Catherine Williams (1795-1873) presumably before their first child
was born in 1814. No record of their
marriage has been found yet.
Isaac first appears by name in the 1830 Federal Census. He is the head of a household in Hamilton Township, PA that includes three children under five, two from five to ten years, two from ten to fifteen years, two from fifteen to twenty years old (that’s four teenagers!) and one person who is between twenty and thirty years old in addition to his wife and himself.
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1830 Federal Census for Hamilton Township Issac is third on the list. |
Isaac and his wife are just under forty years
old at this time. It appears they may
have had ten children. Only seven have
been discovered at this time and two of those were born after this 1830 census. It is possible that some of the older
individuals may have been boarders. The
1830 census just counts individuals in the household. It provides no information on the
relationship between the individuals.
Move forward ten years and Isaac
is still living in Hamilton Township. He
and his wife are now just under fifty years old. Their household has one person under the age
of five (Catherine), one from five to ten years old (Sophia), two between ten
and fifteen (Isaac and Mary Ann), three between fifteen and twenty (Amos and
two unknown) and one between twenty and thirty (unknown). Another daughter, Susan, was married and
living with her husband in a separate household.
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1840 Federal Census, Hamilton Township, PA Isaac is seventh on the list |
Fast forward another ten years to the 1850 Federal Census and Isaac’s household continues to thin out. Fortunately this census gives us more information on who is in each household.
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1850 Federal Census, Hamilton Township, PA Issac and family are listed near the bottom across from the number 136 |
He is still living in Hamilton Township. He is 59 and his occupation is listed as
farmer. His wife Mary is 55. Five children are still living at home. Amos (25) is a blacksmith, MaryAnn (24),
Isaac (21) is a laborer, Sophia (18) and Catherine (15) is attending school.
By 1860 Isaac and his wife Mary
are living on their own. He is 69 and
she is 64. His occupation changed after
1850 as he is now listed as a blacksmith.
This would have been on the eve of the Civil War. At 69 Isaac is likely too old to serve, so he probably was
not able to follow in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps in serving in
the military. At least no record of military service has been found for Isaac.
It is unknown exactly when Isaac passed away. It is also unknown where he and his wife are buried. There are several Isaac Marsh gravesites in Pennsylvania, but so far none of them can be tied to this family's Isaac.
Susan Marsh (1816-1905) was the second oldest child of Isaac and Catherine Marsh. She first shows up in the 1850 census when everyone is listed by name. By then she is 33 and married to Andrew Groner, a farmer.
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| 1850 Federal Census for Stroud Township, PA Susan is listed on line 21 |
They are living in Stroud Township, Monroe County,
PA, which is about 7.5 miles northeast of Hamilton Township where Susan was
raised. She and Andrew have six children
between the ages of four months and twelve years old. Ultimately they go on to have ten children in
total. Interestingly only the twelve year
old, a son named Peter, is in school.
The next two oldest Sally Ann (7) and Julia (5) are not attending
school. The census indicates that Susan
herself cannot read or write. Seems to
indicate that there wasn’t any great concern about educating girls within this
German community.
In June 1857, Susan’s husband
Andrew dies (cause unknown). He was
three months shy of turning 42 years old.
Susan is left with ten children.
The oldest is 19 and the youngest is only 3 years old. Six of the children are under the age of ten.
In the 1860 Federal Census (below) Susan is shown as living
with a David Groner and his family.
David was one of Andrew’s younger brothers. He also lived in Stroud Township and worked
as a farmer. Oddly enough there is no
trace of Susan’s children in this census.
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1860 Federal Census for Stroud Township Susan is listed as Susannah Groner at the bottom, line 24. |
Ten years later in 1870, Susan has moved back to where she was raised in Hamilton. She is living with two of her children, Charles (25) and Ellen (15). They are likely living on a farm owned by Charles. His occupation is listed as farmer and he is shown as owning about $2300 in real estate which is comparable to other individuals listed as farmers.
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1870 Federal Census for Hamilton Township Susan is listed on line 24 |
According to the 1880 Federal Census, Susan has moved again, this time to Jackson Corner, Monroe County, PA. She is living with her daughter Mary Elizabeth, Mary’s husband Freeman Werkheiser and their five children ages two to twelve.
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1880 Federal Census for Jackson Corner, Monroe County, PA Susan is the next to the last name on the list. She is listed as a mother-in-law to Freeman |
It is highly likely that Susan moved in with
them to provide assistance as a care giver.
One of the children. Eugene age 10, is listed as disabled and bedridden. On top of that, Freeman, though he is listed
as a laborer by occupation, is also listed as insane and “brain affected.” The census notes he has been unemployed ten
months, so his health may have taken a turn for the worst back in 1879. He only lived another seven years following
the census, dying at the age of 44.
After this census there is no
trace of Susan until her passing in 1905.
Susan is buried near her husband Andrew in the Mount Zion Cemetery in
Sciota, Monroe County, PA (picture of the grave below). It is amazing to think that she lived almost
50 years more years after the passing of her husband.
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