2024 Prompt - Heirlooms - Blanche L. Wilcox

Heirlooms that were Blanche L. (Wilcox) Miller 1881-1961

 

*Nancy A. Simmons

**Josephine Blanche Martin - mother

***Edward J. Martin - grandfather

****Nina P. Wilcox - great grandmother

**** Blanche L. Wilcox- Nina's sister, my great-great aunt

 

Antique Mission Rocking Chair

I consider my Wilcox family Bible and my many old family photos my heirlooms. treasure them. But I have two precious heirlooms I really value. I received an old mission rocking chair from my mother and an antique chocolate carafe from my grandfather. They are two very treasured heirlooms that both belonged to my great-great-aunt Blanche Wilcox. 

 

Blanche L. Wilcox
Picture taken about 1900

The rocking chair belonged to my great-great-aunt Blanche. My mother, Josephine Blanche Martin, was named after her great aunt. My great-great aunt Blanche was the youngest child of Jacob and Margaret Wilcox, born September 15, 1881. She had three older brothers: Hubbard, Isaac, and Harry. And three sisters; Nina Pearl, my great grandmother, Theresa, and Eunice.

Blanche(Wilcox) and George Miller
50th Wedding Anniversary Announcement
October 1952

At the age of twenty-one, Blanche married George Dale Miller, October 22, 1902, in Dundee, Michigan.  Blanche's mother died January 26, 1900, and her father died June 23, 1901. She was just in her early 20s when her parents died and was very close to her older sisters, Nina and Teressa. After they married, Blanche and Dale moved to Detroit where her older sisters lived, and Dale got a job as a machinist in the auto-industry. On June 29, 1909, Blanche gave birth to their only child, a son Clyde Osborne who later died in 1955.

Blanche with sisters Teressa and Nina and son Osbourne, also several cousins
picture taken about 1915

 

I am not sure how or when my mother ended up with the rocker since I don't remember it in our home when I was growing up. I do remember my great aunt sitting in it when we would visit her. My earliest memory of my aunt is about 1957 when I was ten years old. My mother took me and my two sisters to visit Aunt Blanche and Uncle Dale. I was so impressed because they lived on the second floor in an old apartment house at 3935 Porter Street near Clark Park in Detroit. We walked down a long hallway and entered their apartment and saw them sitting in chairs overlooking a bay window that looked out on the street. One of those chairs was the mission rocker. The apartment consisted of a small living room, a small bedroom and a very small kitchen. My mother did the talking and my sisters and I sat on the floor and just observed. They had no television and would spend the day watching people out on the street. I believe the rocker was purchased in the early 1900s, maybe shortly after Dale and Blanche were married.

 

Antique Chocolate Carafe

The antique chocolate carafe also belonged to my great-great aunt Blanche. When she and her husband passed away in the early 1960s my grandfather was the administrator of their estate. My mother and my sisters returned to the apartment in 1961 to help my grandfather clean out the apartment. When my mother was about ready to leave my grandfather asked my sisters and I to pick something out of Aunt Blanche's china cabinet. I selected a tall pink floral chocolate carafe. It now sits in my china cabinet and reminds me of many memories of my mother, grandfather, and my great-great aunt.

The Christmas of 1974 I was married and 6 months pregnant with my first child, my mother gifted me her aunt's old mission rocker. I covered the 16-inch spring seat and added a matching cushion to the back of the rocking chair. I rocked all three of my babies in that rocking chair in the coming years and my daughter rocked her babies in it for several years. The chair now graces my living room and I find myself gravitating to it to read a good book. I can sit in this beautiful 110-year-old mission rocker and admire the chocolate carafe on a shelf in my china cabinet! I treasure these two heirlooms since they remind me of many sweet memories.

2024 Prompt- Immigration - Johann Georg Odewalt

 Johann Georg Odewalt 1724-1792

*Nancy Simmons

 **Paul Simmons - father

***June Putman - grandmother

****Ernest Putman - great grandfather

*****Mary Putman - 2nd great-grandmother

******Elizabeth Slusher - 3rd great-grandmother

*******Mary Odewalt - 4th great-grandmother

********George Odewalt - 5th great-grandfather

*********Johann Georg Odewalt - 6th great-grandfather

18th Century Immigration

You would think after years and years of researching my family I would have found many immigration records. My mother's family is a combination of 19th century Irish immigrants and deeply rooted New Englanders and I have not found any immigration records for them. Now, my father's family is deeply rooted in 18th century German immigrants, and I have been able to find a few Oath of Allegiance records that are used as immigration records.

Johann Georg Odenwald - 1724  Baptismal record
Note : various spelling of the surname - Odenwald, Odewalt, Otewalt 

 

Through my paternal grandmother, June Putman, I have ancestor Hans Georg Odewalt born October 22, 1724, in Neckargemund, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He immigrated to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the ship the Janet and signed an Oath of Allegiance on Monday October 7, 1751, at the Courthouse at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

 

In the 18th century when many Germans were fleeing from Germany they would travel down the Rhine to Rotterdam, take a ship to England and then leave from a British port for the British colonies.

Germans would travel down the Rhine to Rotterdam,
take a ship to Great Britain, and then sail for the British Colonies

In 1727, Pennsylvania Governor Patrick Gordon warned the legislature that the "large numbers of Strangers" entering "daily" could endanger Pennsylvania's "peace and security." The Governor and the council then required all foreign males age sixteen and over to take an oath of allegiance to the King of Great Britain. Thus, when Hans Georg Odewalt arrived in October 1751 he signed an Oath of Allegiance. He must have traveled alone or with friends because he is the only Odewalt male over 16 that signed the oath.

Hans George Odewalt
1751 Oath of Allegiance to King George II
Immigrated from Great Britain to Philadelphia on the ship Janet

 

By 1756 Hans Georg Odewalt had settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and married Elizabeth Magdalena Deyl on August 10, 1756, at Trinity Lutheran Church. Baptismal records show that he and Elizabeth had eight children from 1758 - 1773. My 5th great-grandfather Johann George Odewalt was their fifth child and was born December 7, 1765, and baptized December 25, 1765 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lancaster..

 

The last records I found of Hans Georg Odewalt are his will and a cemetery record. The will was written and signed Hans Georg Otewalt on February 5, 1792, and probated April 10, 1792. The will names his wife Elizabeth, sons; Christian, George, and John and daughters; Dorothe, Catherine, Christina, and Maria. The cemetery record states that Georg Odewalt died in the month of February 1792 and was buried February 13, 1792, in the Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

1792 Will of George Odewalt, signed February 5, 1792
Lancaster, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
Lancaster County Will Book F, pages 344-345

 

Hans Georg Odewalt was born in 1724 in Neckargemund, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, part of the Holy Roman Empire. He immigrated to the British colony of Pennsylvania in 1751 and made Oath of Allegiance to King George II of Great Britain. Hans Georg died in 1792 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania as the newly formed country of the United States elected George Washington for a second term.

Trinity Lutheran Church Cemetery
1751 Original Cemetery
Dedicated to unmarked stones

2024 - Prompt - Earning a Living - Rexroad Family

 

Recksrodt, Rexroth, Rexroad Family of Blacksmiths 1620-1933

*Nancy Simmons

**Paul Simmons - father

***Walter Simmons - grandfather

****Andrew Simmons - great-grandfather

*****Aaron Simmons married to Phebe Rexroad - great-great-grandparents

******John Rexroad - 3x great-grandfather

*******Johann Georg Rexroad - 4x great-grandfather

********Johann Zachariah Rexroad – immigrant ancestor - 5th great-grandfather 

*********Johann Balthasar II Rexroth - 6th great-grandfather

**********Johann Balthasar I Rexroth - 7th great-grandfather

***********Wenzelslaus Recksrodt - 8th great-grandfather

************Johannes Recksrodt - 9th great-grandfather

Village Blacksmith - Library of Congress photo collection

The Rexroad family earned their living relying on the occupation of blacksmithing for at least seven generations. My great great-grandmother, Phoebe Rexroad, married Aaron Simmons in 1859. She was the daughter of John Rexroad and Phebe Arbogast. John Rexroad, his father, as well as several brothers were all skilled blacksmiths. As I researched the Rexroad family back into the 18th and 17th century, it came to light that many of the Rexroad family were employed as blacksmiths for over 200 years.

 

As early settlers in New England and Virginia were fighting with native Americans in the 1600s, my German ancestors were engaged in the Thirty-Years War 1618-1648 in Europe. This conflict started as a religious war called the Bohemian Rebellion. From 1620-1629 Catholic forces dominated the Protestant efforts and captured Bohemia. Bohemia lost 50% of their population with over 100,000 Protestants fleeing to neighboring regions. YES! Our German ancestors were refugees.

Wenzelslaus Recksrodt was born in Smirice, Hradec Kalove, Bohemia
German spelling of Smirice is Smirschitz

My 8th great grandfather, Wenzelslaus Recksrodt 1621-1705, was born in Smirschitz, Koniggrate, Bohemia. The Bohemian spelling of the surname was Recksrodt, the German spelling was Rexrodt, and the Anglican spelling was Rexroad. Records state Wenzelslaus Recksrodt was born in Smirshitz, Bohemia. The German name for this village is Smirshitz but the Bohemian spelling is Smirce. This village is located in the present-day Czech Republic.

 

Wenzelslaus’ father was Johannes Recksrodt born in 1590 in Wanfried, Cassel, Hessen in Germany and was a blacksmith and weaponsmith. He fought in the Battle of White Mountain near Prague on November 8, 1620. This battle marked the first major victory of the Roman Catholic Hapsburgs over the Protestant Union, an alliance among the Protestant states of Germany.

Battle of White Mountain - November 8, 1620
near Prague in Bohemia
Painting by Peter Snayers - Wikipedia

Shortly after the birth of Wenzelslaus’ son, Johann Balthasar in 1645, Wenzelslaus returned to Erbach, Odenwald, Hessen, in present day Germany, with a count in the Imperial Austrian Service. He served as a Hut-und Waffenschmied (German for ferrier and armor). A ferrier did many things that were necessary for horses. Their activities included making horseshoes and nails and caring for the welfare of the horses. An armor is one who repairs and replaces worn parts of firearms. If you needed someone to make a weapon, the blacksmith was the man to see. Blacksmiths were highly trained men who worked at their craft for their entire life. Johann Wenzelslaus died in Erbach on June 21, 1705.

Death document of Johann Wenzel Rexsrodt
Archion website: Erbach, Erbach, Beerdigungsregister 1600-1674, page 289, image 204

Translation: 1705 - On 21 June dies M. Wenzel Rexsrodt, citizen and master blacksmith here, was buried according to Christian custom on the 25th of the same month. Age 84 b. 1821

Hut-und Waffenschmied
Ferrier and Armorsmith

The Recksrodt family would branch out in the Odenwald, Hesse area and develop what was then called iron hammers or forges. They eventually had a monopoly of the iron-making trade in the Odenwald area. According to his death record Wenzelslaus Rexerodt died June 21, 1705, at the age of 85 in Erbach.

Route from Smirschitz, Bohemia to Erbach im Odenwald
380 miles

Wenzelslaus' son, Johann Balthasar Rexrodt 1645-1694, had many children including seven sons. In 1669 two of his sons were named as a master blacksmith in the guild book. His son Johann Balthasar Rexrodt II, born in 1673-1734, attained status of Schmiedemeister (master smith).

 

Going to another generation, Johann Balthasar Rexrodt II's son, Johann Zachariah Rexroad, was born in 1725 in Erbach and immigrated in 1749 to Pennsylvania. There he married Anna Marie Vogelin 1751 at Stouchsburg, Lancaster County (later Berks County), Pennsylvania. According to Morton’s History of Pendleton County, Zachariah settled in Pendleton County in the early 1770s near Brandywine with a blacksmith shop where he made excellent bells. Zachariah died in Pendleton County, Virginia (now West Virginia) in 1799.

 

Zachariah had nine children and his second child, Johann George Rexroad, is my 4^th great-grandfather. He was born about 1754 in Berks County, Pennsylvania and he married Elizabeth in 1791 in Pendleton County, West Virginia. Johann George Rexroad, as well as his son John Rexroad born about 1790, were also blacksmiths. This takes us to the next generation when my great-great grandmother Phebe Rexroad was born in 1833 in Pendleton County and she married Aaron Simmons in 1859 in Ritchie County, West Virginia.

 

For over 250 years from John Rexroad born in 1833 back six generations to Johannes Recksrodt born in 1590 we have seven generations of Rexroad men that earned their living by being blacksmiths.

 

 

Pedigree Chart 
 Johannes Recksrodt to his 10th great granddaughter, Nancy Simmons 

SOURCES-

* Banse, Heidi, Vorfahren der Familie Banse, http://www2.genealogy.net/privat/h.banse

* Eye, Walter, The History of the descendants of Zachariah Rexroad, of Pendleton County, VA. (WV)  

* Moeck, Mary, Rexroad Book, FamilySearch.org, Books

* Rexroad, Wm. D., A Line of  Rexroad in America, FamilySearch.org, Books

* Rexroad, Wm. D., Johann Zacharias Rexroth: the Pioneer, FamilySearch.org, Books