FAMILY ITEMS AT OUR HOUSE

Growing up, there were many family items that had been passed down and were around our house.  I remember a large family Bible and Blue Willow dishes that we used for good - both of these items came to us via Grandma Jennie Applebach. There was a wool handwoven rug that I was told had been made by my gr-grandma Bertha Findley (I have this item now). There were cookie cutters and all kinds of glass "dust catchers" from my Grandma Reba Garner, and many of these are now in my home.

I recently was able to get a copy of Jennie Applebach's will, and in it she gave the family Bible to my father.  The Blue Willow dishes were also in the will as going to my cousin Keith.  I do not know how those dishes ended up at our house, so hopefully the next time I go to Lancaster, I will be able to ask Keith how that came about.

I remember the Bible as being a large book that usually sat on the coffee table in the living room.  It had several pages with writing in the front. It was "delicate" and we rarely opened it or used it - I remember the Christmas story being read from it for many years. There was no real reason to use it as we all had our own Bibles.  My father had many Bibles that seemed to be all over the house.

The dishes fascinated me though as they were so obviously handmade.  They rippled a little at the edges, and the painted scenes were not exactly the same on any of the plates.  There were bowls, cups, small plates, dinner plates, and I believe a large platter. Someone told my mom that they were very valuable because they were made in the 1800's but we continued to use them for holidays.

I have no idea what happened to the Bible or dishes as I have not seen them since 1980 when my father packed up many things from out house into his car and headed east to Lancaster.  When he returned, none of those items were with him and he refused to admit what he had done with them. I have wished many times over the years that I had copied what was written in those pages so that those at least would not have been lost.

DAR APPLICATION - 1968 - JOHANN "JOHN" ROESSLER/RESSLER (Pg. 1 - 10)

My grandma helped her cousin Nina do this back in the 1960's so that Nina could join the DAR - at that point she was the only person in the DAR with John Ressler as her patriot ancestor (I am the second person to use him - 50 years later). Anyway most of this I already had as it was in with Grandma's papers, however, I didn't know how complete it was so I ordered the application papers from the DAR last year and was surprised to find out that I actually did have most of these papers already. However, I am posting what was in the DAR packet because all the papers are included.

Nina was descended thru Daniel's son Christian, I am descended thru Daniel's son John. Daniel was the son of Jacob and Susanna (Boehm/Beam) Ressler, and the grandson of John Ressler.

A side note: I have never seen or heard what Johann "John" Ressler's wife name was and she does not appear in any documentation I have ever seen.  My grandmother stated on several occasions that the wife never made it to the Colonies from Germany.  Considering she was very interested in her family  history, and knew most of it by heart, I have to believe that she honestly did not know what happened to her.  I have heard 2 versions of said story: 1) she died when Jacob was young and Johann brought Jacob to the Colonies to start a new life. 2) She died on board the ship on the crossing from Germany. I cannot prove or disprove either theory, or maybe neither theory - that is another research project to add to an already long list.

That being said, there are 33 pages of records in the original packet, which covered about 200 years in Nina's paternal line. At this point, everyone in her records is dead and I am going to post them to help anyone else in John Ressler's line who would like to simply have the information.

Pg. 1

Pg. 2

Pg. 3

Pg. 4

Pg. 5

Pg. 6

Pg. 7

Pg. 8

Pg. 9

Pg. 10

DAR APPLICATION - 1968 - JOHANN 'JOHN' ROESSLER/RESSLER (PG. 11-19)

My grandma helped her cousin Nina do this back in the 1960's so that Nina could join the DAR - at that point she was the only person in the DAR with John Ressler as her patriot ancestor (I am the second person to use him - 50 years later). Anyway most of this I already had as it was in with Grandma's papers, however, I didn't know how complete it was so I ordered the application papers from the DAR last year and was surprised to find out that I actually did have most of these papers already. However, I am posting what was in the DAR packet because all the papers are included.

Nina was descended thru Daniel's son Christian, I am descended thru Daniel's son John. Daniel was the son of Jacob and Susanna (Boehm/Beam) Ressler, and the grandson of John Ressler.

A side note: I have never seen or heard what Johann "John" Ressler's wife name was and she does not appear in any documentation I have ever seen.  My grandmother stated on several occasions that the wife never made it to the Colonies from Germany.  Considering she was very interested in her family  history, and knew most of it by heart, I have to believe that she honestly did not know what happened to her.  I have heard 2 versions of said story: 1) she died when Jacob was young and Johann brought Jacob to the Colonies to start a new life. 2) She died on board the ship on the crossing from Germany. I cannot prove or disprove either theory, or maybe neither theory - that is another research project to add to an already long list.

That being said, there are 33 pages of records in the original packet, which covered about 200 years in Nina's paternal line. At this point, everyone in her records is dead and I am going to post them to help anyone else in John Ressler's line who would like to simply have the information.
Pg. 11

Pg. 12

Pg. 13

Pg. 14

Pg. 15 

Pg. 16

Pg. 17

Pg. 18

Pg. 19

DAR APPLICATION - 1968 - JOHANN "JOHN" ROESSLER/RESSLER (pgs 20-33)

My grandma helped her cousin Nina do this back in the 1960's so that Nina could join the DAR - at that point she was the only person in the DAR with John Ressler as her patriot ancestor (I am the second person to use him - 50 years later). Anyway most of this I already had as it was in with Grandma's papers, however, I didn't know how complete it was so I ordered the application papers from the DAR last year and was surprised to find out that I actually did have most of these papers already. However, I am posting what was in the DAR packet because all the papers are included.

Nina was descended thru Daniel's son Christian, I am descended thru Daniel's son John. Daniel was the son of Jacob and Susanna (Boehm/Beam) Ressler, and the grandson of John Ressler.

A side note: I have never seen or heard what Johann "John" Ressler's wife name was and she does not appear in any documentation I have ever seen.  My grandmother stated on several occasions that the wife never made it to the Colonies from Germany.  Considering she was very interested in her family  history, and knew most of it by heart, I have to believe that she honestly did not know what happened to her.  I have heard 2 versions of said story: 1) she died when Jacob was young and Johann brought Jacob to the Colonies to start a new life. 2) She died on board the ship on the crossing from Germany. I cannot prove or disprove either theory, or maybe neither theory - that is another research project to add to an already long list.

That being said, there are 33 pages of records in the original packet, which covered about 200 years in Nina's paternal line. At this point, everyone in her records is dead and I am going to post them to help anyone else in John Ressler's line who would like to simply have the information.

Pg. 20

Pg. 21

Pg. 22

Pg. 23

Pg. 24

Pg. 25

Pg. 26

Pg. 27

Pg. 28

Pg. 29

Pg. 30

Pg. 31

Pg. 32

Pg. 33

GROFF NEWSLETTER - Dec. 1992

This is the last newsletter that I have for the Groff's.  If anyone out there is has more of these and is willing to share them on here, please contact me via the comments below.


As these images loaded, I was once again poking around on-line to see if I could find anymore of these newsletters.  Actually, I found a link that might be more interesting, apparently the Lancaster Co. Historical Society has many of the Clyde Groff papers.  The link is: https://www.lancasterhistory.org/finding-aids/groff-clyde-groffs-research-series-2-subject-files/

GROFF NEWSLETTER - Dec. 1987

This is the last one from the 1980's that I have found:

GROFF NEWSLETTER - Aug. 1987

Another issue of the newsletter......does anyone out there have more issues of this publication that they would be willing for me to share on here??  If so, please contact me thru the comment box, and I will get back to you.

GROFF NEWSLETTERS - July 1987

There are only a few issues of this newsletter that I found.  I don't know if there were more sent out, or if it was a very sporadic publication. I have not been able to find anything on-line indicating that anyone is still putting it out.

GROFF NEWSLETTERS - Feb. 1987

Many years ago there was a newsletter about Groff info and the Groff - Eshleman Burying Ground in Lancaster Co., PA.  Below is the oldest issue I found in among a pile of old letters.