THE EMIGRATION
FROM LEHIGH CO. PA
TO SENECA CO. OHIO
The following story appeared in the Allentown, Pennsylvania, Free Press
on September 3, 1879, and was reprinted in the Tiffin, Ohio, Evening Herald
on September 6, 1879.
It was written at a time when about 700 people came from Allentown to
Tiffin with the Liberty Fire Company. The week was filled with tournaments,
contests, parties, and all other things that would go along with a fireman's
convention.
Although the city of Tiffin was expecting only about 254 people, they
somehow made accommodations for 700. The result was an event which proved
to be a raving success.
For our purposes, the most important thing about this article is that
it deals specifically with the ongoing emigration from Lehigh County, Pennsylvania,
to Seneca County, Ohio, in the old Northwest Territory, during the years
that followed the War of 1812. After 1845 many of these people used the
railroad, but most continued to travel over the hills of Pennsylvania,
and into Ohio on ox drawn carts, which were large enough to carry many
of their belongings. Many cherished items, though, had to be left behind
for want of space. Of these emigrants, some eventually continued west while
many remained in the young Ohio county. Of those who continued west, many
returned to Seneca County in future years, as was the case with my ancestor,
Reuben Hartzell, and his family. They went west, to Indiana in 1868, only
to return in 1875 and live out the remainder of their years in Seneca County,
Ohio, the place they had come to call home.
Allentown Free Press
September 5, 1879
"THE GERMAN PEOPLE"
Of the nearly 700 People who left Allentown on Sunday night with the
Liberty fire company's excursion to Tiffin, Ohio, there were few who did
not have some relative or acquaintance in the Ohio town which with its
vicinity was long the destination of all Lehigh County people who went
west. Tiffin is a prosperous and growing town in a progressive farming
district, where agriculture is carried on with all the improved facilities
for money making; the farmers are rich, and, we must admit it, there are
some particulars in which they, as Pennsylvania Germans have advanced far
ahead of those left behind them when they bid adieu to the Delaware, the
Lehigh and the Schuylkill.
It has frequently been remarked with truth that nothing can excel the
value of the Pennsylvania German to the country to which he emigrates.
Retaining all the inherited industry of his ancestors in a new country,
he affords a rare combination of careful thrift regulating a liberal enterprise.
He seems to have broken through the conservative hands that restrain him,
and to have taken a spirit of progressiveness which send him easily to
the front. He builds the schoolhouse, is forward in improvements of all
kinds, and while spending money freely for public and private benefits,
he pays as he goes in both a public and private capacity.
It is as though a solid, long unused, but accumulating increasing fertility
and richness through the passing years had felt the first tickle of tile
hoe and had pushed into blossom a variety of energies which it is not supposed
to possess. and this figure leads to an explanation of why the same men
do not do at home what they accomplish with such signal ability and power
in other localities. They are the same heads and hearts and hands, in one
place as another. But in the past it has been true that all the splendid
natural faculties of the Pennsylvania German at home have been held in
obevance by the fact that he spoke a language without grammar or literature
of any kind, which concealed from him the channels in which he might compete
for the lead among men; and which did not inform him of the methods by
which men achieve distinction and power and build up the highest material
prosperity.”
THE LEHIGH EMIGRANTS
The following is a listing of the families that are known to have settled
in Seneca County, Ohio, once residents of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.
It should be noted that some of these people did not come directly to "the
Sandusky Country", or more specificly Seneca Co., but lived for a time
elsewhere. This steady stream of emigrations continued for at least 75
years. The reasons for this trend early on was likely cheap land and the
opportunity to start fresh and earn a better livelyhood. Also word of mouth
and the press played a big role in the continuation of this striking trend,
which was repeated again and again as young America continued to "Go West".
Rev. Eli Keller was one of these emigrants, and he wrote the following.
"The movement was not a hasty one, but one matured and carried out after
long consideration. It was well understood that there was better land westward,
which could be cultivated with more ease and better results; that the use
of lime on the land, so peculiarly galling to them, could be dispensed
with. It was also understood that in the State of Ohio education, morality,
and religion stood on a higher plane."
The date of the first appearance known by me is given.
Jacob & Catherine (Block) Hill - June 1823
Charles, Reuben, James, Wm., Daniel, Christina, Elizabeth & Melinda
Hill - c/o Jacob & Catherine - 1823
William & Sarah (Johnson) McEwen - 1923
James Burnside - 1823
George & Mary (McEwen) Saul - 1826
Henry & Hannah (Swander) Hall - 1828
Solomon & Catherine Robenalt - 1828
James & Mary (Brobst) Swander - 1830
Josias "Jesse" & Susanna (Fry) Romig - 1830
George & Anna Elizasbeth Burger - 1830's
John & Sarah (Boyer) Burger - 1830's
Casper Dick - 1831
John & Mary Barbara (Diehl) Bowerman - 1831
Henry & Christina Neff - 1832
Andrew Martin & Leah (Neff) Meyer - 1832
Sarah German (later Kirschner) - 1832
John & Salome (Kistler) German - 1832
Harriet (German) Kistler - 1832
Michael & Mary (Hoppes) Kistler - 1832
Johann Henrich Kistler - 1832
Thomas & Sarah (Blair) Swander - 1833
Peter & Maria Magdelina (German) Wuchter - 1833-38
Joseph & Mary (Rary) Hilsinger - 1835
Henry & Susanna (Roesser) Moore - 1836
John & Elizabeth (Kopp) Moore - 1836
Jacob Moore - 1836
Henry & Phillipina (Fenstermacher) Bennehoff - 1836
Johannes Peter & Catherine (German) Hensinger - 1837
John Henry & Rebecca (Linebaugh) Briney - 1838
John Shidler - 1838
Jacob Shidler - 1838
Solomon & Anna (Rader) Bennehoff - by1840
Edward H. & Mary (Trexler) Swander - 1840
John Sr. & Elizabeth (Glick) Swander - 1842
Solomon & Salome (Litzenberger) Glick - 1842
Samuel & Lydia (Shellhammer) Pontius - 1842
Francis & Estella (Swander) Trexler - 1842
William & Sarah (Swander) Burkhalter - 1842
William & Mary Ann (Swander) Snyder - 1842
Caroline (Swander) Sohn - 1842
Nathan & Susanna (Meyers) Butz - 1843
Peter & Sarah Elizabeth (Harpster) Bennehoff - by 1844
Edward & Elizabeth (Swander) Knauss - 1844
Phillip Wehr - by 1845
Lucy Ann (Wehr) Schock - by 1845
Nathaniel & Lidia (Swander) Glick - 1845
Augusta & Hanna (Strauss, Benninghoff) Schiffert - 1845
Stephen & Lavina (Kaul) Strauss - 1845
Henry W. & Hannah (Swander) Kunkle - 1845
Mary Anna (Wuchter) Meyers - 1845
Nathan & Leah (Wagner) Meyers - 1845
John & Elizabeth (Eisenhard) Myers - 1845
Henry Strausbaugh - 1847
John Henry (Henrich) - 1847
Joseph Henry (Henrich) - 1847
Lewis & Esther Shubert - 1847
Daniel Shubert - 1847
Reuben & Sarah (Schiffert) Hartzell - 1847
James H., Harrison W. & Hiram L. Hartzell - 1847
Solomon & Judith (Cook) Litzenberger - 1847
James & Catherine (Meyer) Hartzell - 1847
Paul & Carolina (Steinberger) Hartzell - 1847
Henry Strauss - 1847
David & Mary (Derr) Strauss - 1847
Jacob & Elmira (Litzenberger) Eisenhart - 1847-48
Isaac & Judah (Stienberger) Strauss - 1848
Edward Wenner - 1848
John H. & Ellenore (Stein) Glick - 1848
Uriah Huber (adopted son of John H. Glick) - 1848
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John Joseph & Mary Ann (Acker) Woodring - 1848
Alvin Acker - 1848
Henry and Christina (Glick) Bacher - 1848
Abraham & Mary A (Bacher) Honsberger - 1848
Daniel & Mary Ann Swander - 1848
George Swander - 1848
Isaac & Catherine (Billig) Wannamaker - 1849
Asia & Eliza (Kaull) Rohm - 1849
William Rhoads - bef. 1849
Joseph & Christina A. (Brinkerhoff) Swander - 1849
David & Sarah (Ritter) Bunn - by 1849
David B. & Lydia (Litzenberger) Burger - 1849
James A., Charles & Edward Milton Burger - 1849
Thomas Dixson - by 1850
William & Clarissa Schmoyer - 1852
John & Barbara Hartzell - 1852
Samuel Swander - 1852
Tilghman & Hanna (Lineberger) Litzenberger - 1853
Lavina (Schiffert) Wiese - 1854
Abraham Knappenberger - 1854
Daniel Hartsell - 1855
William H. Glick - 1855
John & Catherine (Swander) Glick - 1855
A. L. Gangwer - ca. 1855 (later to Kansas)
Jacob & Mary (Litzenberger) Samsel - 1856
Rev. Eli Keller - 1856
David George - by 1857
Harrison Benjamin & Eliza Amanda (Hiskey) Acker - 1858
Jacob Sell - by 1859
Henry & Henrietta (Strauss) Fatzinger - 1859-61
Martha Fatzinger - 1859-61
Jacob Derr - 1860
Edwin & Sarah Ann (Troxell) Frey - 1863
Charles & Susannah (Frack) Troxell - 1863
Alfred W. Troxell - 1863
Charles D. & Louisa (Gensenlither) Gangwer - 1864
Jonas Romig - 1865
Samuel & Mary A. (Meitzler) Horne - 1865
Benjamin Horne - 1865
Mr. & Mrs. Benjamin Meitzler - 1865
Reuben & Elizabeth (Potteiger) Conrad - 1865
William & Mary (Stopp) Wenner - 1867
William & Ellen (Raub) Transue - 1867
John Henry Frey - by 1870
James F. & Polly Ann Focht - 1870
William Wayne Winch - 1870
Francis Frederick Winsch - 1870
John A. Miller - 1870
Emeline (Keisberry) Luman - by 1871
James Seislove - 1871
Albert & Elizabeth (Werner, Schaefer) Goetz - 1875
James Oliver Haines - 1875
Jacob D. & Mary Ann (Zellner) Ehrhardt - 1876
William Henry & Sarah Ann (Kratcher) Bastian - 1876
Alfred W. & Mary (Seiberling) Bastian - 1877
George Hartzell - 1877
Alvin Jacob & Susannah Hartzell - 1877
Edgar Hartzell - 1877
Walter H. Hartzell - 1877
William H. Hartzell - 1877
Dr. B. F. Hittel - 1878
Oscar & Elizabeth Anna (Gachenbach) Groman
Obidiah Jacob Gernert - 1881
Barner) Smoykafer - 1881
John Smoykafer - 1881
Stephen Harrison Barner - 1881
Albert T. Lazarus - 1882
Morris Robert Groman - 1883
George Harrison & Mary (Hepp) Kichline - 1899
Ruth S. (Spatz) Mergenthaler - mid 1900's
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DATE UNKNOWN
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