Showing posts with label Ohio. Show all posts

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Don B Snyder. Part 12: Caving

Don B Snyder

This is Part 12 of a 13-part blog series sharing my Grand-uncle Don’s life story, in his own words, via an autobiography sent to me by Don’s grandson, Ron Oldfield, after Ron stumbled across one of my prior posts about his grandfather. It is shared with the permission of both of Don’s children and Ron Oldfield. [Note – Anything in brackets with green type is my added explanation of something in Don’s text.]

Don’s story:

Part 12 - Caving

Exploring caves became my next venture. I took an interest in the ‘wild’ caves. That is a cave that is not commercial. You should always explore with someone in case of an accident or getting lost. I didn’t care for that, so mostly I caved alone. I remember once I was in a wild cave alone and I couldn’t find my way out. Three other guys entered the room and were also lost. They went off and down a level. I’d go down a passage and it would end with a tight crawlspace. I’d go through this and end up where I started. I did this three times and was getting nervous. I thought I’d go down to a lower level. There were a lot of stalagmites in the room I was in. If I’d been experienced I’d have known that most stalagmites are in the upper levels because of water seeping down, forming them. Anyways, I had nothing to lose so I saw an opening to another lower level. I thought “I’ll follow the stream and see where it goes.” The water was above my knees and I hoped it wouldn’t get deep. It didn’t and after going a ways I went around a bend and glory be, I saw a pinpoint of light. Now I hoped it would be big enough to get out. It was and it taught me a lesson. After that, I’d put little cardboard arrows on rocks pointing out.

(from Pixabay.com)

There was a stream below Sandy Cave that went into a hill. The water reached the top of the rock and I couldn’t go in it. At the side of the hill, I found an opening maybe two feet high. It had about two inches of water in it. I crawled back in it to see if a cave was there. I didn’t see one, got nervous and crawled out. Dumb. If I’d have gotten stuck or a rock came down they never would have found me, just like Floyd Collins. Other times I took chances. Some paid off, some didn’t.

Cavers do a lot of climbing and repelling on ropes, 200 or 300 feet more or less. Sometimes at the bottom, one might find a new cave. I’ve only did a bit of that. Ninety feet is the most I’ve done. I had the karabiners etc. plus 80 feet of rope like they did in mountain climbing. It’s a kind of rope that is strong and won’t spin you around. Some cavers in our grotto think nothing of going down 300-400 feet. I knew one young fellow in our grotto who was hooked on repelling down and climbing up in pits. He really knew the caves and pits. One day we were out looking for caves and pits. He lived in Huntington, West Virginia with his father. He said, “let me show you our old family farm.” We went down a back road and he stopped and pointed to a house on a hill. No one was living in it, as his father still owned. He said there were two pits there about 50 or 60 feet deep. His great-grandmother and grandfather lived there. The grandfather was mean and had pushed someone or a relative down in one of the pits. Of course, it would kill him. It got his wife mad and one day she pushed him down it. Spider Hall went down all pits, so I asked him if he went down it. He said no and let the matter drop. Maybe he thought there were ghosts there as no one ever went down the pit. I wondered if the law ever investigated it. I doubt it as this was pretty hilly, boondock country and I rather doubt if the law paid too much attention to the area.

Sand Cave KY By Nicholas Frost
CC BY-SA 3.0, from Wikimedia Commons

I mentioned Floyd Collins. He was trapped in a cave in Kentucky. They tried to get him out but new cave-ins blocked the passage. It made all the papers countrywide. I was just a kid, but I remember, after dark, paper boys were going through the neighborhoods shouting “extra, extra, read all about it.” It was about Floyd Collins, but I don’t remember what it was all about. They had to call in the National Guard to keep order as crowds and a carnival attitude had gathered. This was hill country and there was a lot of moonshine in the crowd. One little reporter got to him and handed down some soup, etc. His feet were tied down by fallen rocks. More cave-ins stopped them from getting to him. Heavy equipment was called in and a parallel shaft was drilled to him but he was dead, having drowned from seeping water. His family had his coffin put in Crystal Cave, which they owned. I was in that cave once and have a picture of me standing by his coffin. Also a picture of me crouching down in the cave he died in. I kind of wanted to go in aways, but I decided no way.

(Watch a three-minute news report on The Unfortunate Fate of Floyd Collins)

I’ve sometimes wondered why anyone would take the chances of exploring caves. I’ve heard of people asking “why do you like that?” The reply is “if you have to ask, you wouldn’t understand,” and I believe it. If one couldn’t cave anymore, one would enjoy just being near the entrance, it being quiet, hearing only the dripping water, etc.

One time I met two guys (not cavers) and we went into Sandy Cave together. At the back end of the cave (one-quarter mile back) were two pools of water separated by a mound of dirt. In the right pool was a mudslide down and a little tunnel to the left. They stayed standing above the slide looking down. I told them I was going to check it out to see if it connected with the cave on the other side of the hill. I took off most of my gear as the tunnel was too small. I crawled about 20 feet and found a tunnel (same size) going to my left. I went that way and came to a tunnel going right again. I went in that and it ended in about 15 feet. I looked down and found a flashlight which meant someone else had been there. All of a sudden I discovered it was my flashlight. Then I remembered. Above the left pool was a small tunnel and I had crawled back in it the year before. Then I went back to the pool, went around it and over the mound of dirt. There were the two guys I had been with, looking down the slide. They were probably wondering what had happened to me. I got an idea. I quietly came up behind them and yelled “hey!” They almost jumped out of their shoes. I remember it well and I bet they still do. We left the cave and I never saw them again.

(from Pixabay.com)

I’ve heard an old tale of using a divining rod to find water. You take a coat hanger one wire in one hand and one wire in the other. Walk slowly and when you get over water it will bend down. I tried it at home and it worked. We tried it on a hill. I walked with it and it went down. I didn’t know of any water there but I remembered it was over a cave.

I’ve caved several times with an elderly lady named Sarah Corrie in our grotto. Although up in years she loved to climb ropes. As a caver, she was almost a legend in the caving circles. Small but agile. I’ve known her to repel several hundred feet. Her one ambition was to repel down Angel Falls in South America. No one had ever done that, as it is I think over a thousand feet. I think she could have done it but, unfortunately, she got sick and died of cancer.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Don B Snyder. Part 11: Barber

Don B Snyder

This is Part 11 of a 13-part blog series sharing my Grand-uncle Don’s life story, in his own words, via an autobiography sent to me by Don’s grandson, Ron Oldfield, after Ron stumbled across one of my prior posts about his grandfather. It is shared with the permission of both of Don’s children and Ron Oldfield. [Note – Anything in brackets with green type is my added explanation of something in Don’s text.]

(I'm sorry, I've tried and tried to fix the fonts and line spacing on this post, and it's all okay until it posts, then it goes haywire and just won't conform. I've tried for an hour. I'm giving up. What is, is. )

Don’s story:

Part 11 – Barber

I have often thought how foolish that was. I was a top worker on a top job, tire builder as well as inner tube splicer (putting the two ends of the tubes together, plus the valves). I soon realized that jobs were scarce and I couldn’t find one. I took a job sailing on ore boats on the Great Lakes. I kind of liked it but didn’t like being away from my family. One day I was on a detail while leaving Duluth, Minnesota. There was a cold wind and of course, the water was very cold. I asked what we were doing, putting a cable from the bow to the stern. I was told it was a lifeline that you hooked on to as in the fall sometimes it got pretty stormy and the water comes over the sides. I thought “hmm.” After the job was done I went to the captain’s office and told him I would be getting off at Toledo. He was a nice old man and he replied “oh no.” I said “oh yes,” and I did. At that time you could leave any time and it was not held against you. (See a 2:25 minute YouTube video “Shipping Iron Ore on the Great Lakes, 1955”)

Next I worked in the auto plants in Toledo, driving 100 miles round trip each day. Getting laid off, as I had no seniority. One time I got a job with the Gandy Dancers railroad crew. There were about 30 blacks and myself plus another guy my size. They treated us fine. One time I passed a big guy who never talked. He looked at me and said, “you’re going to get schotted.” I wasn’t going to take any crap from him and I said: “what did you say?” He repeated it and I did too. My buddy got nervous and spoke quietly to me “I think he means scorched.” I was bare from the waste up and it was hot. I said, “you mean scorched.” He said yes and we both laughed.

Climbing My Family Tree: Railway workers drag a railway cross tie using tie tongs, Practical track maintenance, Track series, vol. II, Railway educational press, inc., 1916

Railway workers drag a railway cross tie using tie tongs,
Practical track maintenance, Track series, vol. II, Railway Educational Press, inc., 1916

Since I couldn’t seem to find a good steady job, I built 250 small lawnmower engines from the castings and assembled them. My neighbor was an engineer and I enjoyed working for him. My wife Ardith suggested I go to barber school. Me! A barber, no way. However, I did change my mind and went to Andrew’s Barber School in Toledo under the G.I. Bill. They paid for my schooling and compensation besides, as I had a combat disability. We had classes for half a day and cut hair the other half. We all seemed to like it and felt sort of bad when we graduated, as we knew we wouldn’t see each other again.

Barber Pole (from Pixabay.com)

The new students started in the back room where we had about six or seven chairs. Haircuts were 25¢ and facial shaves free. That was not hard to figure as the razors were very sharp and we nicked a lot and sometimes cut a guy. Of course, most of them were down and out on the streets and felt it was nice getting out of the cold and being treated nice. A lot of them got pimples removed (accidentally). Doctors get paid for that but we didn’t.

One time a middle-aged woman came in and sat in my chair. I asked her what she wanted and she replied “a haircut.” I’d never cut a woman’s hair but I hacked, thinned, cut, and sheared till I had hair all over the floor. She paid her 50¢ and didn’t complain, for which I was glad.

Barbershop (from Pixabay.com)

I was interviewed by a barber who had a five-chair shop. I worked for him for nine years. Then I took over another shop where two guys had failed. I made it for nine years and later started another shop. I later moved to Florida where I had a shop. When my wife died I got lonely and moved back to Toledo.

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Don B Snyder: Part 2 – Athletic Show in the Great Depression

Don B Snyder

This is Part 2 of a 13-part blog series sharing my Grand-uncle Don’s life story, in his own words, via an autobiography sent to me by Don’s grandson, Ron Oldfield, after Ron stumbled across one of my prior posts about his grandfather. It is shared with the permission of both of Don’s children and Ron Oldfield. [Note – Anything in brackets with green type is my added explanation of something in Don’s text.]

Don’s story:

Part 2 – Athletic Show

Climbing My Family Tree: Athletic Show Boxing Poster

Athletic Show Boxing Poster (in public domain)
Click to make bigger

On the athletic show we traveled with a truck and a car. The Greek that owned the show had a wife and a young daughter that traveled with him. We had a tent with the ring inside. Our dressing room was a canvass in one corner. The Greek was 52 years old and he would wrestle anyone in the crowd. He was short and stocky, but he knew wrestling. He had once trained Joe Savoldy, a heavyweight world champion when wrestling was real. Next was ‘Speedy’ Martin, about six feet tall and about 180-190 pounds. The ‘boxers’ (I prefer the word ‘fighter’) were Paul Reese, about 145-150 pounds, and I, at 135 pounds. Paul would take on anyone. I’d take on anyone up to 150 pounds, with no scales. To familiarize it, we had the tent, ring, and ‘bally’ stand. This stand was in front of the tent on the midway. It was about three feet by 12 feet and stood about three feet high. When it was show time we would get on the bally stand. [The bally stand is a platform in front of a fair or carnival sideshow tent on which sample of the show may be performed in order to lure spectators inside.]

The Greek was a master showman. We would hit a brake drum with an iron bar that you could hear all over the midway and the people would all come to see what was happening. I remember a girlie (dancing) show across from us. They drew a lot of people but not as many as we did. One time there was not too many people around. He got on the bally stand in his tights. Seen about four or five girls coming. He raised his arm limp, shoulder high and looked at it, pretending he had muscle. They stopped, looked and laughed and said “you haven’t got any muscle.” He would look serious and pretend to show that he did. First thing you know people would stop to see what was going on. The more they stopped the bigger the crowd. Then we would get on the bally stand with him and challenge the crowd. Sometimes we couldn’t get anyone to come up. Then he would apply some heat, get them a little mad and finally someone would come up and we would start. It cost those who came in to see it 10 cents. They would have to stand and of course the ring was about three or four feet high. If nobody came up he would try some more heat. He might look at a young couple and say, “what’s the matter, are you afraid?” They might be, but in front of their girlfriends they would often come up. I think when the people saw they didn’t hurt bad, others would get on the bally stand. You had to remember not to apply too much heat, like saying they were yellow or farmers. These shows were at county fairs, homecomings, etc., so you had to be careful. I’ve heard more than once that the crowd got mad and tore the tent down. These smaller towns usually didn’t have any boxers or wrestlers, maybe one. They didn’t want to get shown up so often fighters would come around when people were not there. They would hint or come right out and say that they wanted to work. By that I mean take it easy, pull your punches and make it look good. If he would draw or maybe even maybe win, he’d be popular and later could tell his grandkids. It saved us a lot as we might have to fight two to six times a day. Sometimes in the dressing room I’d ask him, “Do you want to work or shoot?” If I thought he was a nice guy I’d explain it to him. If not a nice guy I’d say never mind and go in and fight. Once in Napolean, Ohio a kid seemed nice so I explained it to him. He said yes. I left openings and WHAM! I got a hard one. I thought it was a mistake, but he did it again so I let him have a few. I went to the dressing room and he was in there crying. I felt bad and said “you tried to take me.” He said “no.” I felt bad and said “let’s do it again and do it right.” He said “O.K.” and we did it twice more. He was happy and the people liked it. When I told him he tried to take me, he said “no.” I told him “don’t try to kid me buddy, I do this every day and I know.” Anyways, it came out all right.

Climbing My Family Tree: Midway Boxing Bally Stand (England, off copyright)

Midway Boxing Bally Stand (England, off copyright)
Click to make bigger

Sometimes things happened that were really funny. One time we were at a town that had a good heavyweight wrestler. He came and ‘worked’ with Speedy Martin. His name was ‘Killer Briner’. Speedy thought that he was working too stiff (rough). The Killer would just laugh. One day the crowd had thinned down so the Greek, being the showman he was, said, “I’ll put both boxers along with Speedy against the Killer.” The crowd piled in. I heard Speedy tell Paul “now is the time we can get him.” I wanted no part of that, as I liked him. They started and Speedy got a half-Nelson on him with his head sticking out. Paul took aim, and WHAM hit him hard on the nose. I saw a little blood come out. He let out a roar like a wounded bull. Paul got out of the ring fast. I couldn’t as he had a hold of Speedy and his big legs around my neck and quivering. I couldn’t breathe. I think he saw that and felt I was not in on it and let me loose. I didn’t waste any time getting out of the ring. Then he worked Speedy over. Speedy got a good lesson and the crowd got their money’s worth.

One other thing was funny. The Greek’s wife took in the money. Paul told me to watch her counting the money for the days take. He said occasionally she would raise her dress and shove some bills in her pocket and to let her notice I was watching and it would pay off. I did watch her and sure enough, she did that and saw me looking. I noticed a few extra dollars in my pay then.

At that time some men worked for a dollar a day. Trouble was we had to eat out and that took most of our money. After fighting, we would take a bucket bath in our dressing room. Then we would gather in the front of the ring and shoot the breeze with each other or with fighters or wrestlers from the area. At the Bucyrus, Ohio, fair Speedy had kinfolk from nearby Galion, Ohio. They brought hogs to the fair. Usually, we would crawl under the ring, drag out our blankets and sleep in the ring that we had fought in that day. Believe you me, it was a pretty rough life. Especially as I was only seventeen. Back to Speedy. He wanted me to go the barn where his kinfolk had their hogs. I said O.K. and when it came to sleeping we laid on the top of a bunch of straw about 10 or 15 feet high. Did I say sleep? Hardly. Them darn hogs squealed and snorted all night. Then in the morning, I was embarrassed as the farmers came in early to see the hogs. And there we were in our underclothes and I thought “boy! Never again.” But how many people can say they slept with the hogs, yeah! And who would want to?

Climbing My Family Tree: Sleeping pigs (Pixabay.com)

Sleeping pigs (Pixabay.com)
Click to make bigger

I hurt my leg hitting a sharp tent stake. With all the fighting it became badly infected and I left for home. It looked almost like gangrene had set in. Mom would put a tobacco poultice on it in the daytime as it was strong and would burn the flesh. At night she would put on a poultis (these were wet) of bread and milk. Well, that’s one old-fashioned remedy that done the trick and it healed good. [How to make a milk and bread poultice, HERE] I might add sometimes I’d step barefooted on a nail sticking up. This old remedy always did the trick.

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Johann Jakob Schneider (1792 – 1871) and Eva Maria Haumann (abt 1802 - ?), my 4th great-grandparents

Climbing My Family Tree: Modern Map of German States

Modern Map of German States
Hesse is in blue & we are from the far south portion of Hesse
Map is n the public domain
Click to make bigger

As I explained earlier my second great grandparents were both Snyders. I was told that both John and Katharine were from unrelated Schneider lines which originated in different areas of Germany. I now know each family immigrated to the United States (to Ohio) in different decades, but my research so far has shown both sides originated from the southern portion of Hessen, Germany. I did a post on my second great-grandfather, John Snyder’s father, Johannes Schneider, earlier this year (See HERE), and I did Katharine’s parents last month (see HERE).

My 4^th great grandfather Johann Jakob Schneider, was born 1 October 1792, in Hohenstadten, in an area of Hesse-Darmstadt (pre-Germany) which stores its records in Reichenbach, Starkenburg, Hesse, Germany to Johann Georg Schneider (abt 1760 - ?) and Elisabetha Catharina Bauer (1765-1810). He was the second oldest of six children (that I know of): Johann Georg (1783-1867, m. Anna Maria Moesinger), my 4^th great-grandfather Johann Jakob, Anna Margaretha (1798-1852, m. Johann Peter Keil), Johannes (1800-1858, m. Elisabetha Katharina Hoffmaenn), Anna Barbara (1802-1865, m. Johannes Gersich), Anna Katharina (1805-1827) and Johann Michael (1808-?). Their mother died in 1810 when Jakob was 18, and his youngest brother was two years old.

When Jakob was 26, he married Eva Maria Haumann on December 6, 1818, in a Protestant church in Reichenbach, Starkenburg, Hesse-Darmstadt. The marriage record indicated that Jacob was 23 years old and his parents were Johann Georg Schneider and Elisabetha Katharina Bauer. His bride, Eva Maria, was 16 years old and her parents were Johannes Hausmann and Anna Elisabetha Heldman.

Climbing My Family Tree: Map of Hessen, Germany

Map of Hessen, Germany
Jakob and his family lived in the purple part.
Click to Make Bigger.

They had five children that I’ve found all born in the same area of Hessen-Darmstadt. There are long enough gaps in their birthdates that I wouldn’t be surprised if they had other children that I haven’t found yet. Their first daughter, Anna Maria, was born about a year after their marriage on 26 November 1819 and she was baptized in the church her parents married in, but she lived only a little over three years and died on 31 January 1823. Their next child, Eva Maria, was born a little over nine months later on 8 November 1823 in Gadernhein, Hessen (m. Johannes Allmann 20 Jan 1853 and dd. 17 Nov 1866.) Their third daughter, Elizabetha Katharina, was born three years later on 1 February 1826. My 3^rd- great-grandfather, Johann Philip, was next, born on 10 January 1831 (his story is HERE). The youngest child, Johann Georg, was born 11 October 1837.

I haven’t found a marriage for their third daughter, Elizabetha Katharina, but I did find a daughter born to her in Hesse, on 24 January 1854, named after her mother, Eva Maria Schneider.

The Hessen Archives has an online database listing those who emigrated from Hesse; it indicates that Johann Jakob Schneider emigrated from Darmstadt in 1854 to America. Notes indicated that he was traveling with his children. It does not mention Jakob’s wife so I think she had died prior to the time the family left for America. I’ve looked through the Germans to America Indices, and through several passenger list websites, but haven’t yet find found any of the family (for certain) so I don’t know when they actually traveled to the U.S.A. or on which ship(s), or at which port(s) they arrived.

Many of the farmers and craftsmen and shopkeepers who came to America from the German States in the mid-1800’s were disturbed by the collapse of the Industrial Revolution in Germany, agricultural reform, overpopulation, crop failure (potatoes), a lack of land in their homeland to expand, and the collapse of the 1848 March revolution in the southwestern Germanic states. Those farmers, fearing a loss of their land to government confiscation, opted to sell their land, ironically at higher rates than usual since the land was so scarce, and move to America where land was known to be cheaper and more abundant.

Many Germanic immigrants had only limited financial resources and/or followed friends and family as they first moved into established rural settlements, and certain cities. The mid-west was the most popular American region for Germanic immigrants to settle in. Wisconsin, Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio had similar climate and geographical conditions to that of Central Europe, making farming there more familiar to the Germanic settlers. This may explain why Jakob and his family ended up in northwest Ohio.

German Immigrants to North America (1853)
Click to Make Bigger

Climbing My Family Tree: Settlement Patterns of German Americans, based on the 2000 Census

Settlement Patterns of German Americans, based on the 2000 Census
Click to make bigger

While Jacob immigrated to America with most of his family, his daughter Eva Maria stayed in Hesse with her husband Johannes Allmann, who she had married on 20 Jan 1853. They had his first grandchild, Anna Elisabethe, on 29 Aug 1853. Sadly, she died on 24 July 1854. I don’t know whether Jakob was still there when his granddaughter died. I don’t think he ever saw his daughter again after he emigrated. She and her husband had two more children, sons Georg Phillip (I think she missed her brothers), born 16 Nov 1856 and Johann Peter, born 19 June 1861. They would never have known their grandfather or maternal aunt and uncles.

I know that Jakob and his family were in Hancock County, Ohio, USA, by 1860, when he was 66, because they are listed in the 1860 Census, in Union Township. He had anglicized his name to Jacob Snider. Living with him are his daughter, Elisabeth (age 33), and her daughter Mary (age 6); his son, Philip (age 29) and his wife, Hannah (age 26), [my 3^rd great-grandparents] and their first two children, Catherine (age 2) and Frederick Nicholas (listed as Nicholos, age 5/12) ; and his youngest son, George (age 22). The Census indicates that Jacob, Elisabeth, Philip, George, and Mary were born in Hesse, Germany; Hannah was born in Pennsylvania; and Catherine and Nicholos were born in Ohio. Jacob was working as a day laborer and Philip was a carpenter. All the adults (over 20) could read and write.

The next year the Civil War erupted in their new country. German Americans who arrived in the 19^th Century overwhelmingly fought for the Union, over 200,000 of them, while thousands of Germanic Americans who arrived in Pennsylvania earlier in the 18^th Century and whose families migrated to North Carolina chose to fight for the Confederacy.

Climbing My Family Tree: Ohio Civil War Recruitment Poster

Ohio Civil War Recruitment Poster
Click to make bigger

Jacob’s youngest son, George, joined the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company A, as a private, under an act passed on April 27, 1861, for the defense of the state because Ohio was a border state and thus in danger of invasion. The 21^st was ordered by General McClellan on July 3, 1861, to Ravenswood VA to reinforce other troops, and drove Confederates back at Ripley VA. On July 11, 1861, it became part of General Cox’s brigade and participated in the Battle of Scary Creek in West VA. George mustered out at the end of the first enlistment period, of the 21st Ohio Volunteer Infantry, on 12 August 1861.

In the latter half of the 1860s, mail from home would have brought Jacob sad news. His sister Anna Barbara Gersich died on 4 June 1865. Next, the daughter he had left behind, Eva Maria Allmann, died on 17 Nov 1866, leaving her two young sons motherless. Finally, his oldest brother, Johann Georg, died on 19 April 1867.

By 1870 Jacob, now 77, his sons, and Philip’s family had moved to Madison Township in Hancock County, Ohio, near the village of Arlington, about ten miles from the county seat, Findlay. (I lost his daughter Anna Katharina and her daughter Eva Maria after the 1860 census.) The family now spelled their last name “Snyder”. The property the family lived on belonged to Philip, now 39. He and his wife, Hannah, 35, had six children at home: Catherine (12), Nicholas (9), George (8), Elizabeth (5), Philip (2), and John (6/12, born in February). Jacob’s youngest son, George (32) also lived in the household. Philip’s children Catherine, Nicholas, George, and Elizabeth attended school. Philip was now a millwright and a farmer. Jacob is listed as a retired farmer and George as a farmer.

Jacob died the next year, on 21 October 1871, at age 79. He is buried in St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery, in Arlington, Hancock County, Ohio, USA. His gravestone bears a lengthy inscription, in German.

Grave of Jacob Schneider, in St. Paul's Cemetery, Van Buren Township, Hancock County OH
posted with permission of C.H. (I do not own copyright & cannot give permission for its reuse.)
Click to make bigger.

My cousin Steve, who, thankfully, is fluent in modern and old German, translated the inscription on Jacob’s gravestone, for me, from the above photograph, although part of it was obscured by a plant: “Jacob Schneider born in Hohenstadten, Hessen Darmstadt Germany on the 1st of December 1792. In the year 1808 he became a soldier in the German Army and participated in the campaign against Napoleon the 1st. With his [illegible] he was awarded a medal by his [illegible] and in the year 18[illegible] on the 21st of December his life ended.”

It looks like there are quite a few clues on that gravestone (and would be more if that plant wasn’t there!), but it confused me more than it enlightened me. The inscription indicates that when Jacob was approximately 16 he was fighting with the German Army against Napoleon and got a medal for it. I’ve been reading many synopses of the history of the Duchies/Landgraviates of Hessen in the process of writing my last several posts and I think I’m going to have to study a bit more in-depth to figure out how he fought against Napoleon in the German Army in 1808, since at that point in time most of the Hessen-Darmstadt troops were fighting with the French Army - on Napoleon’s side (1806-1813). It wasn’t until 1813 that Hesse-Darmstadt joined the allies (Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and several other German states) and fought on the side of the 6^th Coalition against France & Napoleon, which succeeded in pushing France out of Germany in 1814.

Either Jacob’s surviving family misremembered the date he fought in the army, or he was in the army in 1808 but was fighting FOR Napoleon and the story morphed over time since Napoleon not only wasn’t the good guy, but he lost. Or it’s also possible Jacob joined the Prussian Army which had a part in the Peninsular War (initially Napoleon/the French Army and Spain vs. the Sixth Coalition for control of the Iberian Peninsula, 1807-1814, until in 1808 when France turned on its former ally, Spain, as well). I’ve been trying to figure out what medal Jacob was awarded as that might pin down where he fought and against whom but have had no success because I really need to know where he fought and against whom first to have a chance at finding more information on the medal.

If anyone reading this has any suggestions that might help me solve the puzzle of who Jacob fought for in the Napoleonic Wars and what medal he received, or on what ship/when he immigrated to America, please

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Hessen Baptismal records and Marriage records, Ancestry(.)com indexes; 1860 & 1870 U.S. Censuses; Hancock County, Ohio, Cemetery Inscription, Orange and Van Buren Townships, Hancock County Genealogical Society (1995); History of Hancock County [Ohio] from Its Earliest Settlement to the Present Time, Together with Reminiscences of Pioneer Life, Incidents, Statistical Tables, and Biographical Sketches, by Daniel Barna Beardsley (Springfield, OH, Republic Printing Company. 1881.); History of Hancock County, Ohio, Containing a History of the County, Its Townships, Towns ... Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men, Biographies, History of the Northwest Territory, History of Ohio, Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., by (Chicago. Warner, Beers & Co. 1886.); https://arcinsys.hessen.de/arcinsys/detailAction.action?detailid=v3826624 (Source: M.d.I. Abl. 11, Konv. 58 II (Part.V) Film 12 No. 476); https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Fourth_Coalition; https://www.britannica.com/place/Hesse-Darmstadt; http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/FeaturesEurope/GermanyHesse_History01.htm; http://www.many-roads.com/2013/12/26/hesse-prussia-genealogy-research/ ; http://www2.needham.k12.ma.us/nhs/cur/kane98/kane_p3_immig/German/germany.html; https://www.geografox.net/GermanCommunities/immigration.html; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Americans_in_the_American_Civil_War

Climbing My Family Tree

Pages 2

Pages 1

Saturday, April 21, 2018

Don B Snyder. Part 12: Caving

(Watch a three-minute news report on The Unfortunate Fate of Floyd Collins)

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Don B Snyder. Part 11: Barber

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Don B Snyder: Part 2 – Athletic Show in the Great Depression

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Johann Jakob Schneider (1792 – 1871) and Eva Maria Haumann (abt 1802 - ?), my 4th great-grandparents

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