52 Ancestors: #43 Daniel Bair and Elizabeth Manbeck- Iron Rich?

I am continuing to search for my husband Ken Badertscher’s ancestors.  The present task is to keep peeling back the layers to find out where the Bair ancestors came from before Tuscarawas County, Ohio. I am not have a lot of luck getting into the 1700’s with the Bairs, but I did learn in today’s research that Ken’s 2nd great-grandfather’s farm may have been more valuable for the minueral rights than the farming.

We have established that his mother’s father, the ill-fated Adam Daniel Bair married Ken’s grandmother Helen Stucky and lived in Wayne County, Ohio.  However, Adam grew up in a family of Bairs that clustered in Tuscarawas County, after the family came from Germany by way of Pennsylvania. In the last two weeks, I have talked about Adam’s  mother, Carolyn Limbach and her family. It appears that Ken’s grandfather Adam was named for Caroline’s father, Adam Limbach. I am still hoping for more information about Caroline’s father and mother.

I also introduced Daniel Manbeck Bair, Grandfather Adam’s father.  Now it is time to take a look at the next generation–Ken’s 2nd great-grandfather, another Daniel Bair, and Ken’s great-grandmother, Elizabeth Manbeck. I’ll be pursuing the Manbeck clan as far as possible, because besides the fact that Ken’s great-grandfather, Daniel Manbeck got his middle name from them, they are proving to be very interesting.

Daniel Bair 1802-1869 and Elizabeth Manbeck 1812-??

Daniel Bair married Elizabeth Manbeck in 1831.  Elizabeth was born in Pennsylvania, and Daniel might have been born in either Pennsylvania or Ohio. While it is usual to be able to trace men more easily than women in the family tree, in this case I have scanty verifiable information about Daniel–partly because there are so many Daniel Bairs.

Although I am not sure when they first moved to Ohio, I know that their oldest daughter Sarah was born in Ohio in 1835, and from then on until Daniel died the family lived in York Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio. Since many of Elizabeth’s sisters and brothers later lived in Ohio, Iowa and Indiana, it is possible her family moved to Ohio before she met Daniel.

Nine Bair children followed the marriage quickly, as was the custom with farm families in the early 19th century.

  • 1833: Sarah
  • 1835: Eva A.
  • 1836: Catherine
  • 1839: Adam D.
  • 1842: Mary Ellen
  • 1844: Jonathan
  • 1848: Alexander
  • *1850: Daniel Manbeck (Ken’s Great-grandfather)
  • 1853: Margaret Elizabeth

When Daniel and Elizabeth celebrated (if they did indeed celebrate such things) their 29th wedding anniversary, they still had six children living at home: 21-year-old Adam, 16-year-old Mary Ellen, and Johnathan (14), Alexander (13), Danield Manbbeck (10) and Elizabeth (7).

Although there are so many Adam Bair/Bear s in the records, I believe that this Adam Bair, was a private in the Civil War.  It will take some more detective work to be sure of that fact, but he certainly was the right age to enroll in 1862. Although I may not pursue this because although he is the namesake for Ken’s grandfather and uncle,  he is not a direct ancestor. However I am definitely curious about whether service in the Civil War might have hastened his death, since he died in 1875 at the age of 36. The other sons in the family were probably too young for service–definitely Ken’s great grandfather Daniel , who was only 12 in 1862 could only play at marching and fighting.

After a lifetime of farming, the father of this brood, Daniel, died at the age of 60, on September 9, 1869.Although I have not found the actual will, I do have estate papers and some newspaper articles referring to the administration of the estate. Through a newspaper article, I learned that in 1868, Elizabeth and Daniel sold ore (presumably iron ore) and coal rights on the farm. Presumably, Daniel’s health was failing, and he could no longer actively farm the land, so selling mining rights provided an income. After his death, the settling of the estate included a public sale of the land (excluding the mineral rights) in April 1870. One of the main objectives of these German immigrant farm families was to accumulate land to hand on to their children. That did not happen in Daniel’s case.

Daniel’s wife, Elizabeth at least for a time, continued to live on the farm. In 1870 the census reports that the widow (58 years old) is head of the house with her son Daniel M. (19) and daughter Mary E.[Elizabeth] (17) living with her.

But by 1880, at the age of 68, she has moved in with her older daughter Catherine, now married to George Ginther, living in Stow, Ohio in Summit County, just north of Tuscarawas County. At that point I lose track of her, and have not found a death certificate or burial place.

I’m hoping that someone or something will help me break through the brick wall I run into with Daniel, and lack of concrete birth and death information about Elizabeth.

How Ken is Related

  • Kenneth Ross Badertscher is the son of
  • Agnes Bair Badertscher, who is the daughter of
  • Adam Daniel Bair, who is the son of
  • Daniel Manbeck Bair, who is the son of
  • Daniel Bair and Elizabeth Manbeck Bair

Notes on Research

United States Federal Census Reports: 1850, 1860, 1870  (York Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio) Daniel Bair and Elizabeth Manbeck Bair; 1880 (Stow, Summit County, Ohio) Elizabeth Manbeck Bair

Selected U.S. Federal Census Non-Population Schedules, 1850-1880, Census Year: 1870; Census Place: York, Tuscarawas, Ohio, Elizabeth Bair

Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998, Probate Records, 1810-1906; Probate Place: Tuscarawas, Ohio, Ancestry.com, 2015

Web: Ohio, Find A Grave , 1787-2012, Daniel Bair.

“Ohio, County Death Records, 1840-2001,” database with images, , Adam Limbach Sr., 05 Jul 1874; citing Death, York Township, Tuscarawas, Ohio, United States. (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F6J4-45S) : accessed 16 October 2015. FHL microfilm 890,361.

 

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