AMERICAN REVOLUTION DESERTER?

Source: Bing clip art

AMERICAN REVOLUTION DESERTER?

If you have been doing family research for more than a few days, you have found interesting, funny, or ironic things. I recently ran across the "GRAFF" name in a book titled: He Loves a Good Deal of Rum...Military Desertions during the American revolution 1775-1783...Volume One 1775 - June 30, 1777 by Joseph Lee BOYLE. 

 The title alone caught my attention. Um...I had ancestors in the American Revolution. Would this book have anything about any of them? I flipped to the index and started looking for any familiar name: BOWMAN/BAUMAN, GROFF/GRAFF, BOEHM/BEAM, STOVER, WOLF, METZLER, MUSSELMAN, RESSLER. Some of the names I had to look for alternate spellings. 

Um....GRAFF, Jacob. Maybe a possibility?

The below had been published in the Pennsylvania Evening Post on May 13, 1777:

This is to certify that Frederick Shinkle and Jacob Graff, two militia men of this city, brought me a man named John M'Cartney, the 21st ult. 1777, as s substitute for them, agreeable to a resolve of the Hon. Continental Congress, but the said John M'Cartney proves to be a deserter from another regiment, and of course no recruit, there the said Frederick Shinkle and Jacob Graff can derive no advantage from the resolve of Congress - Joseph Wood, Col. Third P. R.

Could this be an ancestor? Maybe. There were Jacob GRAFF's in Lancaster County. But it will require more research and digging far deeper than I have time for right now.

Source: Bing clip art

However, it made me chuckle because I (actually all of us) have characters in our families that for one reason or another prove that people will try to get out of doing things they don't want to do.

As I dig around in family history, I find that a necessary tool is a sense of humor. While most of them are names and dates to us, they lived as real people with lives. Depending on the documents or memories available, I will never know how my ancestors thought or why they acted as they did. 

Our people were far from perfect. Neither am I. 

What happened to these two men after their "substitute" did not pan out? Would they fight in many battles? Would they just walk off and leave the militia behind? Would they get drafted again at some later date? Would they live thru the war and return home, or die forgotten in some field?

As for the book, it is a fascinating look at how people acted and descriptions of their clothing or personal items when they deserted. Many had rewards of a few dollars on their heads if found or arrested. Note: I found the book at a genealogy library, however, I found several books by this author, including this one, on Amazon.

Family history is not dry and dusty. It is full of people who have stories to tell us. 

All the content writing of this post is my own unless I state otherwise.

Update 03-04-2023 I checked the DAR website to see if Jacob Graff was there. There is a Jacob Groff listed as an ancestor from Philadelphia. Three of the five in the ancestor search are from Lancaster County, PA. This man is ancestor #A048820 with dates of 1751-1824. Probably not my direct ancestor, but he has been used by someone to get membership in the DAR.

RESSLER, DANIEL 1801/02 - 1901

RESSLER, DANIEL 1801/02 - 1901

Daniel RESSLER was the son of Jacob and Susanna (BOEHM/BEAM) RESSLER.  At the bottom of this post are several links to other posts on this blog with more info on them and their family.

I wanted to share a photo that I found posted on Ancestry this week titled "Daniel B. RESSLER before 1901".  I have never seen a photo of Daniel.  I wanted to believe it was really a photo of him, but I am all about "proving" it. 

Source: JD Ressler Ancestry family tree - titled Daniel B. Ressler before 1901

After comparing the photo to his son John both as a young man and as an elderly man, I do think that this is a photo of Daniel RESSLER.  Wow, what a find - thanks so much to the person who posted it.

To see his memorial on Find a Grave, go here.

Here is a photo of Daniel's son John both as a young man, and then as an elderly man with his living children in 1915.

Source: my personal collection (previously in the possession of Reba (RESSLER) GARNER)

Source: Personal Collection (previously in possession of Reba (Ressler) Garner)

Other posts with info about Daniel RESSLER:

https://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2012/11/resslerrossler.html

https://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2017/12/dar-application-accepted-ressler.html

https://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2019/01/revisiting-jacob-susanna-boehm-ressler.html

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

REVISITING JACOB & SUSANNA (BOEHM) RESSLER

In the January 1993 issue of Mennonite Family History Magazine was the below article on the family of Jacob & Susanna Ressler focusing on the line of Samuel Ressler (1804-1876). To be truthful, I am not very familiar with this line as I am descended through the next older boy, Daniel (1802-1901).  However, there are a couple things in the article I would like to correct or add to, so please continue to read below the nice article.

1. The first couple paragraphs is about Johann Heinrich ROSSLER/RESSLER and his immigration. “He was accompanied on the ship by two other ROESSLERS: Johann Georg ROESSLER and Conrad ROESSLER”  Per the response to a Nov. 1963 letter of Nina BRIEDENTHALL (translated by E. JAEGER) asking about the ROESSLER roots in Wunsiedel, Germany “I would guess that the 3 brothers ROESSLER, that came 1750 to America, were descendants of Pastor Christoph ROESSLER in Kirchenlamits…” I have posted the translated letter in its entirety the blog here:  (http://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2018/07/breidenthall-letters-concerning-ressler.html). Per METZGER (pg. 5) the 3 brothers came to America on the ship Priscilla which went from Rotterdam to Cowes, England and arrived in Philadelphia on Sept. 12, 1750. All 3 took Oaths of Allegiance as required.

2. The list of children of Jacob & Susanna basically matches what I have from Grandma GARNER.  However, here is where I want to make the correction: their son Daniel was born March 24, 1802 (METZGER pg. 16 and RESSLER pg. 1) and died Dec. 18, 1901 (not 1875 as per the 1993 MFH article).  In the 1900 census he was living with single daughter Hettie (who died later that same year) and was listed as 98 years old. He is memorial on FAG #61218182.  Here is his obit from the Intelligencer (Lancaster, PA) on Thursday Dec. 19, 1901 – on the front page:

3. Children of Daniel & Mary (METZLER) RESSLER, who married Dec. 12, 1833 (RESSLER pg. 1-2, METZGER pg. 154 – 171, and RESSLER article above): 

Child	Born	Died	Spouse
Hetty	Oct. 6, 1834	Oct. 11, 1900	Single
Amos	April 7 1836	March 28, 1862	Unknown
Barbara	Nov. 6, 1837	1889	Jacob F. ANDREWS
Henry	Aug. 4, 1839	Feb. 8, 1925	Annie LEFEVER
Christian	May 10, 1841	April 13, 1915 (not 1951 as in 1993 article)	1) “Lizzie” C. MILLER 2) “Sally” PARKER
Martin	Dec. 18, 1843	Oct. 1, 1847	Single
Maria	July 6, 1846	Sept. 16, 1926	Single
Susan	March 14, 1848	Feb. 22, 1923	Single
John	Nov. 28, 1850	March 31, 1925	Anna Elizabeth YOST
Emma	Aug. 15, 1853	March 23, 1873	Single

On a personal level, I am descended thru Daniel and Mary's son John.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

BREIDENTHALL LETTERS CONCERNING RESSLER FAMILY

1970 pg. 1

1970 pg. 2

I found the above translation of a letter about the RESSLER family in among Grandma Garner's papers.  Over the years I have also seen it in other places.  I have never seen the letter that this is the response to or the original German version. I believe Grandma had this because she helped her cousin Nina BREIDENTHALL gather together all the documentation that Nina needed to join the DAR back in the 1960's.  However, in the same envelope were the following pieces of paper, obviously some kind of continuing correspondence regarding family history. Remember to click on the image to make it easier to read.

DAR APPLICATION ACCEPTED - RESSLER

I got the news this week that my DAR application for John Ressler passed and that I will be sworn in as a member at the meeting later this month.  

I find this exciting, not so much for me personally, but because of all the work the DAR does and has done to preserve the records and genealogy of descendants of the American Revolution veterans. I am very patriotic, and it thrills me every time I go to a DAR meeting and there is such a spirit of patriotism for this great (not perfect) country. 

So without going into all the documentation at this time, I would like to go through the generations from John Ressler to me with a few basic facts:

(1.) Johann "John" ROESSLER/RESSLER was an immigrant from Germany where he was born. Depending on the source, I have seen his birth date listed anywhere from about 1715-1740 (and this will require further research on my part).  He served with Capt. John LUTT's 5th Company and with the Lancaster County militia. He died after Feb. 1805. I do not believe I have ever heard or seen his wife's name.  It is thought that his son, Jacob, was the only child of this union.

(2.) Jacob RESSLER was born Nov. 16, 1767. He married Susanna BOEHM/BEAM on May 22, 1793 (she was born June 7, 1775). Their known children:

• John - born 1794
• Jacob - born 1795
• Benjamin - born 1797
• Susana - born 1799
• Daniel - born 1801 or 1802 (depending on which source)
• Samuel - born 1804
• Mary - born 1806
• Elizabeth - born 1809
• Magdalena - born 1811
• Martin - born 1816
• Ann - born 1820 

Jacob died Dec. 1843 and Susanna died April 1848 - both are buried Strasburg Mennonite Church.  It is believed that  Jacob and Susanna are buried next to "John" RESSLER, however the small stone is unreadable.

(3.) Daniel RESSLER was born in March of 1801/1802.  He married Mary METZLER (daughter of Rev. Henry and Esther METZLER) in Dec. 1833. Their children:

• Hetty - born 1834
• Amos - born 1836
• Barbara - born 1837
• Henry - born 1839
• Christian - born 1841
• Martin - born 1843
• Maria - born 1846
• Susan - born 1848
• John - born 1850
• Emma - born 1853

Daniel died in 1901 and is buried at Strasburg Mennonite Church.  Mary (born 1814) died in 1889 and is also buried at Strasburg Mennonite Church.

Here is Daniel's obituary:

(4.) John RESSLER was born Nov. 28, 1850 and died March 31, 1925. He married Anna Elizabeth YOST in ___________ and they had these known children:

• Harry - born 1877
• Mary E. - born 1878
• Daniel Y. - born 1880
• Frank Y. - born 1882
• Omar - born 1884
• Estella M. - born 1890

Anna Elizabeth Yost was the daughter of Henry and Barbara (CASKEY) YOST, and was born Sept. 2, 1855 and died April 21, 1925. Both are buried in New Providence Mennonite.

(5.) Frank Yost RESSLER was born Feb. 7, 1882 and died Aug. 23, 1979.  I was in my early teens when he died and do remember him. He married Anna Bertha "Bert" FINDLEY in Feb. 1903 - she was 17 and pregnant. She died in Feb. 1953. Their children:

• Mary E. - born August 1903
• Emma M. - born 1906
• Anna V. - born 1908
• Martha L. "Marty" - born 1911
• Mabel Reba "Reba" - born 1913
• Clarence W. - born 1916
• John A. "Andy" - born 1919
• Victor E. "Vic" - born 1922
• Charles F. - born 1925

Here are their obituaries:

 

(6.) My grandma Reba RESSLER (she hated the name Mabel and always went by Reba) married Ralph Groff GARNER March 30, 1935 in Carlisle, PA. They were a huge part of my life. Their children:

• Pauline R. 1937 - 2016
• Jerry R. - born 1942
• Darlene M. 1945 - 2004
• Cheryl - born 1948
• Gloria - born 1951

Here is their marker at Conestoga Memorial Park, Conestoga, PA:

(7.) Pauline Reba GARNER was born in Lancaster, PA July 30, 1937.  She married James S. APPLEBACH on Sept. 1, 1957. They had 3 children - Yvonne, Melody, and Matthew - all still living. 

She married Robert HAHN in March 1984 in Billings, MT. He died in 1996 and Pauline remained a widow.

Here is Pauline's gravestone in Minnesota: 

 

(8.) Which brings you to me, the current keeper of the family photos and documents.

PLEASE NOTE: 
ALL PHOTOS AND WRITTEN CONTENT ARE MY OWN UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.

RESSLER/ROSSLER

RESSLER/ROSSLER:

According to a letter that was written by William Breidenthall of Emmaus, PA in June 1963 he was doing some research on the Ressler/Rossler family and was able to establish that Christian M. Ressler (a brother of my great-great-grandfather John M. Ressler who was born 5/1841) was the son of Daniel Ressler (born 3/24/1802 died 12/18/1901) who was the grandson of Johann Henrich Rossler that arrived in Philadelphia on Sept. 12, 1750.  No ship name is mentioned in the letter, nor the source for the ship information.

 According to the letter mentioned above, Mary Metzler was the daughter of John H. Metzler (b. 1775) and Mary Bradley.  This Mary Bradley was the daughter of Henry Bradley (b. 1745) and Esther Shelley - will continue research.

According to the booklet," The John M. Ressler Family" the Daniel Ressler mentioned above was born 24 March 1802.  He married Mary Metzler on 12 Dec. 1833 (1814 - 1889) and died on 18 Dec. 1901.  Both he and Mary were buried at the Strasburg Mennonite Cemetery.

According to the above booklet, Daniel and Mary had 10 known children:

Child:	Birth	Death	Spouse
Hetty Ressler	06 Oct. 1834	11 Oct. 1900	Single
Amos M. Ressler	07 April 1836	28 March 1862
Barbara Ressler	06 Nov. 1837	05 Feb.1889	Jacob Funk Andrews
Henry Ressler	04 August 1839	08 Feb. 1925	Annie Lefever
Christian M. Ressler	10 May 1841	13 April 1915	Lizzie Miller
Martin Ressler	18 Dec. 1843	01 Oct. 1847
Maria Ressler	06 July 1846	16 Sept. 1926
Susan Ressler	14 March 1848	22 Feb. 1923
John M. Ressler	28 Nov. 1850	31 March 1925	Anne E. Yost
Emma Ressler	15 Aug. 1853	23 March 1873