LANCASTER "GRAEFF/GRAFF" IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Source: iStock

Being a patriot did not always involve going into battle - it also involved giving supplies, money, medical help, and general support to the Colonial troops or individual soldiers.  Many Mennonite and Amish non-combatants can fulfill the description of patriot because they helped in other ways besides actually killing the enemy. 

If I ever get around to gathering together the documentation to file for "supplemental" patriots for my DAR lines I am currently aware of 6 - 8 "patriots" within my own family line - most were Mennonite and refused to actually kill other human beings but they valued their personal and religious freedom and did contribute to the cause.

There is now a wonderful book available "Revolutionary Patriot's of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania 1775-1783" by Henry C. PEDEN, Jr. published in 1998 by Family Line Publications.

On pages 105-106 are listed these GROF/GRAFF/GRAEFF men with brief descriptions of their service.  I have chosen to simply list the names.

GRAEFF, Frederick - soldier
GRAEFF, Jacob - soldier
GRAEFF, Samuel
GRAFF, Andrew - soldier
GRAFF, G. - boarded soldiers
GRAFF, Garret - soldier
GRAFF, George Michael -
GRAFF, Jacob - soldier
GRAFF, Jacob Sr -
GRAFF, John -
GRAFF, John -
GRAFF, John - soldier
GRAFF, John - soldier
GRAFF, Mathew - soldier
GRAFF, Matthias -
GRAFF, Samuel -
GRAFF, Sebastian - soldier
GRAFT, Phillip - soldier
GROFF, Peter -


The above Sebastian GROFF is probably the same man who was elected State Senator in 1790.  This same man in 1787 was also a delegate to the convention to ratify the Federal constitution and was also a delegate in 1789 to amend the constitution of Pennsylvania (Source: A Biographical History of Lancaster County: Being a History of Early Settlers..... by Alex HARRIS 1872, reprinted in 1989.

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

GROFF MISCELLANEOUS INFO

My GROFF line goes back to "Swamp John GRAF of Martic".  I greatly admire people such as Clyde and Walter GROFF and Jane Evans BEST who spent years, money, and probably frustration trying to separate and organize the GRAF/GROFF/GROVE/GRAEFF lines of Lancaster County into a reasonable pattern. I have both Vol 1 and 2 of the GROFF Book.  

I understand there are some mistakes, and disagreements with exactly who some of the people are and how they are related. It is certainly not a project I would want to take on. If nothing else, these books give a rational foundation and starting place for anyone searching for GROFF roots in Lancaster County, PA.

According to the GROFF Book Vol. 1 (pg. 1): the GRAF family was recorded as living in Bettswil, Switzerland in 1469. 

Source: iStock

In 1541 there are three GRAF families listed as living there.  I have seen previous articles that the GRAF and BARR/BEAR/BAHR/BARE families were from the same area and very interconnected, even to the point of traveling to colonial America on the same ships.  I do not claim to have done any research on the family prior to their arrival in colonial America and to date have depended on other people who have more time and financial resources than I do.

They may have converted to the Mennonite faith in 1525  when a traveling Anabaptist named Konrad GREBEL preached in the town church. The GRAF men are listed as teachers in the town documents.

 In 1651, a Jagli GRAF moved from Bettswil with his wife and seven children to Sinsheim in the Palatinate. With Jagli GRAF went Hans Jagli GRAF (brother??) and his wife and one child. Along with them went another man named Hans GRAF.

In 1656  a document naming an Anabaptist,  Jacob GROFF, a resident of Steinfurt in the domain of the Pfalz.

Source: Free Images

On 2 March 1661 a group of Anabaptists attended an illegal meeting at Steinfurt near Sinsheim in the Kraichgau area of (now) Germany. According to the GROFF Book Vol. 1, there is no known surviving record that completely ties these GRAF's to those who later turned up in Lancaster County, but the same last names appear over and over again together in various documents. On the list for fines in regard to attending the above illegal meeting are found these Grafs:

Hans Jacob GRAFF of Venningen- church grounds keeper - with his wife and servant
Jacob GROFF of Steinfurt - five in all

Source for above: GROFF Book Volume 1 by Clyde GROFF, Walter GROFF, and Jane Evans BEST 1985

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

HENRY APPLEBACH (approx 1814-1878)

Henry APPLEBACH was the son of Henry APPLEBACH ( also known as Johann Heinrich AFFLERBACH - emigrant) and Anna Elizabeth (TRIEDE/TRUDE) APPLEBACH. At this point, exact years are conflicting and sketchy but it appears that he was born 1814-1817 and died sometime between 1870-1878.

#1. According to "Six Afflerbach Emigrants Who Came To Pennsylvania and their Descendants 1750-1930" by Jane K. THOMPSON, pg. 178 lists his siblings as:

Mary 1810-1883 - married to Jacob RORERBACHER

Henry (approx) 1814-1878 married to Catherine (Mary) STEHN/STAHR in 1840 and Ellen SHELLY after 1855.

Louise 1815- _____. Married to Mathias WEAVER

Susan 1817 - ____. Married to Joseph CLARK

William 1818 - _____.  Married to Elmira _________.

Charles 1825 - _______. Married Margaret __________.


According to the same source above, Catherine Mary STEHN/STAHR may be the one christened at St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Beaver Township in Clarion, PA on 10 July 1825 and that record says she was the daughter of Michael and Catharina.  Henry and Mary married 31 July 1840.

#2. According to THOMPSON pg. 178-179 and the 1850 census:

Henry is 36 and a laborer

Mary/Catherine is 34

Louise is 9 (dies in 1853)

William is 7

Catherine is 5

Sarah is 3

Abraham born in 1851

#3. After the birth of Abraham, Mary/Catherine drops from sight.  Did she die around the time of Abraham's birth? Did she abandon the family? Thompson appears to think it may be connected to Abraham's birth.  

I grew with my father telling me she had been killed by Indians.  However, as an adult, I think this is unlikely as eastern Pennsylvania was very settled in the 1850's and that the Indian story was simply a story - I think she probably died of illness or something connected to Abraham's birth. 

However, the truth is the children of this union were farmed out to others and Henry disappeared from sight. Or did he?

In the 1860 census for Monroe County, PA - Abraham is listed as living with Samuel and Harriet MULLENBERGER.  In the 1860 census Catherine is living with the George WEISS family as a servant. How were these families connected to Henry and Mary/Catherine APPLEBACH that they ended up with their children?  So far, I haven't located the other children in 1860.

According to THOMPSON, Henry APPLEBACH was living with a woman who is usually called Ellen SHELLY, but is also seen in records as having the first name of Sarah, Lanah, and Allina.  She was the daughter of John SHELLY and was from Hamilton in Monroe County, PA. It appears that they were living together (married??) from 1856 onward.  Ellen already had a daughter named Lucinda SHELLEY (whose father was probably George HOFFNER). According to the 1870 census for Carbon County, PA: Henry 55, boot maker
Allina 39
Lucinda 14
Julia (July?) A. 11
Ella 10
Ida 8
Margaret 4
Emma 11/12

Further speculation is made by THOMPSON:

The1880 census in Philadelphia are listed 2 nephews in the household of Henry APPLEBACH's brother Charles:
Frank 10
Charles 9

Could these 2 boys be the sons of Henry and Ellen being raised by Henry's brother after Henry disappears/dies?

#4. Mrs. Ellen APPLEBAUGH married Lewis LAUER on 1 Jan. 1877.  In the 1880 census are listed these children: Ellen APPLEBACH age 20, Ide APPLEBACH age 18, Mage age 14, Emma age 11, and Luwise LAUER age 1. If THOMPSON's research and speculation are correct, three children were born to Emma by her step-father between 1884-1892. Obviously while interesting, right now I am not on the trail of Henry's second family and will leave it rest for now.

#5. Years ago I stumbled upon a Lancaster County directory (below) for 1877-78.  I was looking for Abraham and did not pay attention to the name below Abraham until I obtained the THOMPSON book and realized I needed to look at Henry too.  Henry did not have a son named Henry, so it is likely that the Henry in the directory is Abraham's father,  but why that date and place?

Lancaster Directory 1877-1878

Abraham and Elizabeth (LITTLE) had married in 1872 and by 1877 there should have been children, so why was Abraham boarding in the Eagle Hotel? Did he board closer to his job and go home on weekends? Were Abraham and Elizabeth separated? In my own mind it was one of the first two situations.  But, what if Abraham's father Henry - now an old man (kicked out by 2nd wife?  Run off by man who replace him as new husband/step-father?) had no where else to go? Or Henry was visiting his youngest son and more or less moved in, and Elizabeth refused to put up with it and both men had to leave? Is it possible that Henry died and is buried somewhere in Lancaster, PA?

How much contact was there between Henry and his first family? Was he not able to care for them properly when Mary/Catherine died, or did he simply dump them with whoever would take them, and then take up with another woman and have a second family?

When it comes to Henry, I have many more questions then answers.  I am speculating that he may be buried in Lancaster County somewhere and have died 1877-78. If so, was he buried quietly (cheaply) in a pauper's grave and any records have disappeared?  Or could he have been making some sort of circuit visiting each of the children of his first marriage, and died along the way?

According to THOMPSON, she has not found any death or burial records. She has also not found a marriage record for Henry APPLEBACH and Ellen SHELLEY - is it possible they just lived together and had a family? If so, could he have deserted them or could Ellen have thrown him out? She legally married Lewis LAUER on 1 Jan. 1877, so where was Henry?

In answer to the question, how sure am I that this Henry is actually Abraham's father?? Besides the records available, I think a big clue is that Abraham was trained as a shoe maker.  In Lancaster, he seems to have taken up the occupation of wagon driver between Lancaster and Philadelphia.  However, the thread of shoemaker between Abraham and Henry tells me there is a very real chance that they were father and son.  It also tells me that they may have been some form of interaction between them, even when Abraham was young.  Is it possible that the two of them maintained some sort of relationship even when Henry had gone on to have another family? If so, is it possible that when Henry was old/sick/injured/unwanted that he would turn to the (now) adult child he had a relationship with?

I may never know, or I may stumble upon answers - as yet, Henry APPLEBACH remains a mystery.  I do have to wonder how much the possible instability of Abraham's family life growing up lead to the instability of his own children (drunks, multiple marriages, illegitimate grandchildren) and then to his own grandchildren.

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

THE DIRTY 30'S

I recently read a book "The Worst Hard Time" by Timothy EGAN that was eye opening to me about the Dust Bowl years. 

Source: Amazon

Growing up in the wheat and cattle areas of Montana and North Dakota, I remember people mentioning the Dust Bowl and how it changed farming methods in the western plains.  But I never really connected it to my own family - after all, in the 1930's my parents and their families were in Lancaster County - the Dust Bowl was half a continent away.

After reading this book, and finding and watching the 1936 film, "The Plow That Broke the Plains" the light bulb suddenly went off in my head. My grandparents would have read articles in the newspaper and listened to news broadcasts on the radio that included references to the Dust Bowl. 

So... fast forward to 1960 when my father announced he was going to Bible college in Omaha, Nebraska, and he and mom would be moving.  To my maternal grandparents, this was not only an awful sin by removing family members from being within a few miles of each other, but for them (both from farming families) it would have brought back the awful news headlines they saw about the Dust Bowl.

It also explains to me why they made frequent drives from Lancaster County out to see us wherever we happened to be that summer: Montana, North Dakota, Idaho, or Nebraska.  Did we have enough to eat, what was our clothing situation, how far away was the doctor, etc.??? 

It explains Pappy talking to farmers in the area, looking and feeling the dirt, and staring at the wide distances of grass and sky.  He was fascinated with the openness of the prairies, Grandma found it very scary. Aunt Emma rode out with them one summer and could not believe we actually had running water and a toilet in our house.

I personally have many good memories of growing up "out West" during my childhood. The vastness, the blue sky, the wildness and individuality of people, the beauty of the plains and Rocky Mountains, etc. 

Yes, I saw the lack of trees. Yes, I saw the dirt blowing around on really windy days but to me the Dirty 30's were of little interest in my day-to-day life. But now I understand my grandparents concern about our life away "out West".

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

FRANK RESSLER'S SONS COMMENT ABOUT PTSD

FRANK RESSLER'S SONS COMMENT ABOUT PTSD

Frank & Bertha RESSLER had 4 sons: Clarence, Andy, Victor, and Charles and all saw battle - I believe in WWII. They all married, had jobs or their own businesses, and seemed to have adjusted to civilian life fine - at least from what I could see. None were drunks, drug addicts, wife or child beaters, etc.  They just seemed to be settled, responsible community members.

Source: personal collection

During my teen years in the 1980's when Vietnam and Vietnam vets were still spoken of as if they were curse words, I was privileged to overhear a few comments by my gr-uncles as they discussed "the war". 

When there was a break in their conversation, I quietly asked what did they think the cause was for the Vietnam vets coming back and having such adjustment problems back into "real" life? By the looks on their faces, this was something they had discussed among themselves before.  

Uncle Andy was the spokesman for the response, which started as "troop ships" and continued from there when I said I did not understand. Uncle Andy explained what a troop ship was and basically said that they blamed the majority of the "battle fatigue" (now PTSD) issue on the soldiers being flown back from the war and dropped back into civilian life and just told to adjust. 

They felt that the benefit of troop ships was that the soldiers were with others who had experienced the same or similar things while in the war, and because the trip across the ocean took a week or two, the soldiers were able to cry, weep, scream, be angry, be scared, occasionally have minor fist fights, etc. with others who completely understood.  

The soldiers were counseling themselves and able to get much of the emotions out before they were returned to "real" life. Was bringing back soldiers on troop ships a cure all? "Absolutely not" was the response, but they felt it was a big help to both the soldiers and their families when comparing WWII vets to Vietnam vets.

Source: National Archives

Another thing they pointed out was that America as a whole was proud of its' soldiers from WWI and WWII. Vietnam vets are/were looked at by many as being somehow not really soldiers or maybe even as just plain killers. The attitude was different, and they felt that also made it hard for Vietnam vets to adjust back into life.  

I wish I could have recorded the entire conversation. I never heard any of the four speak of their time in the military again and they are all dead now, but I am so thankful they took time to answer a curious teenager's questions about something that I really had no understanding of.

This conversation changed my view entirely about being patriotic to America and viewing all veterans as people and thanking them for their service to our country every chance I can.  

This is also why I refuse to watch NFL or knowingly buy products from their sponsors - those spoiled bratty NFL players would not have the right to be disrespectful to our country and our veterans if those same veterans had not fought so the NFL players could have the right to kneel during America's national anthem. 

Yes, it is a quiet protest, but they need to be thankful and respectful for those who shed their blood or gave their lives so that they can act like spoiled 3-year-olds fighting over toys in a toy box. 

Personally, it is my right to state that if the NFL players cannot be respectful to this country and our veterans, then I think they should be fired.  Believe me, they are lucky to be in America because no other country would tolerate their crap.

It cannot be stated enough: Thank the veterans you know for the rights you have and for their sacrifices to maintain your rights.

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

RESSLER, JACOB - HIS WILL

1843 - PG. 1

1843 - PG. 2

Source: METZGER, Madeline M.    The RESSLER Family: descendants of Johann Heinrich ROESSLER, born in Germany ca. 1730.  Published 1994.  This book is available from the LDS Family History Library or I physically was able to use it for research at the Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society in 2017.

RESSLER, JOHANN (JOHN) - HIS WILL

Source:
METZGER, Madeline M.  The RESSLER Family: descendants of Johann Heinrich ROSSLER, born in Germany ca. 1730  published 1994. This book is available thru the LDS Family History Library, or I physically was able to use the book for research at the Lancaster Mennonite History Society in 2017.