MARY IDA (WOLF/HAHN) STOVER'S ESTATE SETTLEMENT

My paternal gr-grandmother was Mary Ida (WOLF/HAHN) STOVER.  She was born in Lancaster County, PA on Feb. 22, 1864 to Lazarus and Elizabeth (NEWPHER/NEWFER) WOLF. Her first husband was Jacob HAHN - they had one son Irvin. Her second husband (my gr-grandfather) was John J. STOVER - they had 6 known children (one daughter died before her).

By family accounts, John and Mary did not have a happy marriage and it is thought by the current living members of my family that they may have spent the last 10 - 15 years of their marriage living separately.  My grandma (Jennie) told her own children that she was in her teens before she remembered meeting her father.

Above is Mary's death certificate - she is listed as married, and her youngest daughter filled out the info on the death certificate.

Mary STOVER died on Dec. 17, 1924.  Here is her obit in the Lancaster newspaper. She was survived by 6 children and 10 siblings. No husband is listed in the obit, even though he was still living.

Her estate was settled in Jan. 1925 (#25 January 1925).  I obtained this from the Lancaster Archives. The person who signed for the intestate papers for the estate to be settled was Ray GRUBE - the husband of her daughter Elasta. In fact, John STOVER is not mentioned in the papers at all.

Page 1

Page 2

Notice that on page 2, listed are her children and where they live is listed - I already knew who the children were, but I did not know where all of them lived so this helped me locate some other information.

Page 3

On page 3 the children had to sign all signed to renounce their right to be the administrator of the estate, so I now can see their signatures.

Page 4

Page 4 shows that Mary (WOLF/HAHN) STOVER had no property and nothing else of value either.

I have not found any photos of Mary, and no family members admit to ever having seen one.

Below is the photo of her gravestone in Terre Hill Cemetery, Terre Hill, PA

Photo Source: Find A Grave
Memorial # 103007174

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

RUNNING WATER

I was recently reading an article titled "Running Water" in A Simple Life (Summer 2019, pages 66-72) The article talks about running water and indoor plumbing in rural America, and some basic facts of when it came about. It reminded me of a couple things to do with my Grandma Reba (RESSLER) GARNER.

Grandma's usual response to the question of "Did you have running water when you were growing up?" was "Yes, it just depended on how fast we ran from the pump with it."

The second thing was the indoor bathroom my grandparents had at 1747 Temple Ave. in Lancaster, PA.  When Pappy and Grandma (Ralph & Reba GARNER) bought this house in 1937, I believe the sale price was $4000 because Pappy told me once that with interest it ended up being $6000, which he found shocking for a house.  

My mom (Pauline GARNER/APPLEBACH) HAHN was the oldest kid and she well remembered the inside bathroom being built - she was 14.  It was summer and hot.  The kitchen was at the
back of the house and a single story (the living room and dining room each had a bedroom above them). 

Source: Bing clip art

Anyway grandma and mom were pressure canning green beans.  The workers had stopped for lunch, but the roof was open to the sky as the roof was being changed to a flat frame of rafters to build another room (actually a small bedroom and the bathroom).  The canner malfunctioned and blew up sending glass and green beans everywhere. My mom still could vividly describe the beans all over the kitchen, especially hanging from the new rafters. She was equally amazed that no one was hurt.

Source: Pinterest

Despite the canner malfunction, the workers were able to complete the project and so came to be a small bedroom and a small bathroom.  I remember the claw foot bathtub.  I also remember that a person could not wait too long to use the bathroom because steep steps had to be climbed to the upstairs bathroom.  Years later a hand held shower would be installed as well.

Pappy kept the outdoor privy in the garage working and usable up until he died.  I have no idea if it was still a working privy when the house was sold by Grandma in 1996.

Source: Bing Clip art

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

DAUGHTER OF JOHN AND IDA (WOLF) STOVER: ELASTA 1897 - 1973

One of the daughters of John and Mary Ida (WOLF/HAHN) STOVER was Elasta Gustava STOVER who married Ray Y. GRUBE.

So far, I have been unable to locate photos of her.

She was born Feb. 1, 1897 and died Feb. 3, 1973. She is memorial #99097373 on Find A Grave.

What I have found (for no reason I can figure out) is that she got 2 delayed birth certificates, one in 1942 and one in 1957.

1957 Delayed birth certificate:

1957 pg. 1

1957 pg. 2

The people affirming her birth are Lizzie MULL, Irwin HAHN, and B. Sylvester STOVER:

Elizabeth "Lizzie" MULL was a maternal aunt (younger sister of Mary Ida WOLF).

Irwin (or Irvin) HAHN was the son of Mary Ida (Wolf) and Jacob HAHN - hence a half brother to Elasta.

B(arton) Sylvester STOVER was a full brother of Elasta G. STOVER.

The 1942 delayed birth certificate:

1942 page 1

1942 page 2

The people affirming her birth are Mrs. T. APPLEBACH, Mrs. T.J. GEIST, and Mrs. Howard MULL.

Mrs. T. APPLEBACH was her sister Jennie.

Mrs. T. J. GEIST was her sister Lottie.

Mrs. Howard MMULL was her maternal aunt, Elizabeth "Lizzie" (WOLF) MULL.

Source of documents: Lancaster County Archives

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

MEMORIES OF DEC.7, 1941

Source: Personal collection

MEMORIES OF DEC.7, 1941

Source: Bing clip art

Pauline (GARNER/APPLEBACH) HAHN was about 4 1/2 yrs old when the attack on Pearl Harbor, HI occurred.  Years later she was able to tell people that while she was too little to really understand what had happened, she knew the radio broadcast was bad. 

She remembered sitting beside her mom (Reba RESSLER) GARNER listening to the radio at their home on then West Chestnut Ave (later Temple Ave) in Lancaster, that the black-out shades were closed. While Pappy (Ralph GARNER) shook his head in disbelief, her mom cried.

Her memories of the actual war years were vague and mostly what others in the family had told her about that time, but her memories of the radio announcement of Pearl Harbor did not dim over the years.

Source: Personal collection

Both of the photos on this post were taken when Pauline was 4, so 1941-42. This was what she looked like when she heard the Pearl Harbor radio announcement.

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

OBITS OF DANIEL & MARY RESSLER'S CHILDREN

OBITS OF DANIEL & MARY RESSLER'S CHILDREN:

So far these are the only obits I have personally or have been able to get copies of.

New Era (Lancaster, PA) Sept. 17, 1926

Lancaster Examiner-New Era Feb. 23, 1923

New Era (Lancaster, PA) April 13, 1915

New Era (Lancaster, PA) Feb. 9, 1925

New Era (Lancaster, PA) April 1, 1925

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.

GROFF, CORA M. 1887-1973

My gr-grandmother, Cora M. (Groff) GARNER was a descendant of "Swamp" John GROFF. Her parents were Joseph GROFF (1856-1926) and Josephine (MYERS) GROFF (1866-1934). It is believed they married about 1884 but I have not really looked for records yet.

Both my mom and I called her "Grammie GARNER" when talking to her or about her. She married Benjamin F. GARNER, the son of Charles and Elizabeth (MUSSLEMAN) GARNER in the April of 1906 per the marriage license #1625. As discussed on an earlier post:
https://lancastercountyfamilyties.blogspot.com/2012/01/marraige-certificate.html
Cora was pregnant and that child was born in Aug. 1906.

 I've noticed in Ancestry that at least one of the family trees lists the first child as born in 1907 - which is a mistake.  The oldest child was Ralph who was born in Aug. 1906.

 In the 1900 census for Colerain Township in Lancaster County, PA:

Joseph GROFF is 43 and Josephine is 34. The children listed are: Charlie (15), Cora (12), *Abram (9), Harry (7), Earl (4), and Clara (2).

I do not know the story of how Cora and Ben met, or even what their parents may have thought about the marriage.

* His death cert lists his name as Edgar Abram GROFF

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