Tag Archives: Harrison County

Where There’s a Will – Part One: 52 Ancestors – #45 Eve Manbeck.

Eve Ann Manbeck (Gutshall) 1806-1871

It is absolutely amazing what you can learn from an ancestors will. I lucked out with the Manbeck family, finding wills for three successive generations.

In the 18th and 19th century it was unusual for a woman to make a will, since men always assumed the role of money manager (as we will see strongly in the next two wills we look at). But this is the will of Eve Manbeck, one of the sisters of Ken’s great-great-grandmother, and sheds some light on the Manbeck family. It also prompted me to look longer and harder at the information available on this third great-aunt of my husband, Ken Badertscher.

Eve Manbeck Gutshall

Eve Gutshall -Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 10-20-1871 pg 1

Eve (or Eva), named for her mother Eva Haslett Manbeck, was born in Pennsylvania in 1806, before her father Jacob Manbeck moved the family to Ohio.  She was about ten years old when the family made that move, and her sister Margaret was just two years old. I can imagine her caring for her little sister, since her mother had her hands full with a family of nine (soon to be eleven). When the tenth child was born, Eve probably was a caretaker for him–George–as well.

I paid more attention to the proximity of Eve, Margaret and George, and thought about the chaos of moving such a large family from one state to another, after I read her will. Although all but one of her siblings were still living when Eve drew up her will in 1871, she leaves bequests only to George and Margaret among her nine surviving brothers and sisters. She also includes Margaret’s daughter and two of her own step daughters.

As I put together a timeline of Eve’s life, trying to understand why she chose the legatees that she chose, it became clear that hers was a life that had been haunted even more than usual for that time by death.

In the last half of the 1830s, her sister Margaret marries Eli Roser. (Eve, still single, would have been in her thirties.)  Soon after 1842, Eve marries Joseph Gutshall.  Joseph’s 42-year-old wife had died in 1842, leaving Joseph with six children still at home plus two older sons.  But soon the first tragedy strikes, and Joseph’s two oldest sons, Jeremiah and Solomon, die in 1848 and 1849. Jeremiah’s cause of death is listed as Bilious Fever. (Bilious fever is a not-too-helpful term applied to any disease consisting of high fever, diarrhea and vomiting.  It could have been typhoid fever, cholera, or malaria, for example.)

In 1850, Eve’s beloved sister Margaret loses her husband, who is only thirty-eight years old. Margaret is left with two children, son Benjamin and daughter Susan Isabella.

In 1853 and 1854, Eve and Margaret’s parents die, but the worst is yet to come.

In 1857, their brother Benjamin dies in Iowa. (He had married a woman named Gutshall–possibly a sister of Eve’s husband.)

In 1859, a typhoid epidemic sweeps through Ohio, and takes three Gutshalls. One is an infant girl, May, whose parents I have yet to identify, but one is the 26-year-old unmarried Hannah Gutshall, daughter of Joseph (and therefore Eve’s step-daughter). It is not hard to imagine many other people sick, and Eve, ever the caretaker, playing the role of nurse. Hannah died in August, and capping that terrible summer, in September, Joseph Gutshall, Eve’s husband dies as well.

Five years later, Eve’s sister Margaret is grieving the death of her son Benjamin, who was just 18 years old.

This litany of death explains to some degree the choices that Eve made, and even why she made a will at all.

After the formal preamble, Eve lists the following bequests. (I have simplified the language)

Item 1- To my beloved Step-daughters Anna Gutshall and Eliza Gutshall, all my real estate in the town of New Rumley, which consists of lots 27 and 28 with all buildings and appurtenances.

Note;  In 1860  Anna is still living with Eve. She marries John Epley in 1880, but he dies before ten years have gone by. Eliza never married, and worked as a domestic. After Eve died, three Gutshall sisters lived together–Anna and Eliza, listed as housekeepers and Rebecca, now married with a small child who is listed as a seamstress before her marriage in 1880. (I have not figured out where Rebecca’s husband is.) Anna and Eliza continue to live together the rest of their lives after Anna’s husband dies.

Item 2- To same…my household and kitchen furniture, namely cooking stove, parlor stove, clock, chairs, bedsteads, and carpets.

Item 3 – To sister Margaret Roser and Isabella Wilson–wearing appararel and bed clothing. Also to Margaret Roser $100.

As mentioned above, Isabella is the daughter of Margaret, and Margaret must have been Eva’s favorite sister.  Because her husband died in 1850, Margaret may have been having a hard time making ends meet, which would explain the bequest of $100.

Eve Manbeck Gutshall

Eve Gutshall -Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 10-20-1871 pg 2

Item 4- to brother George Manbeck–all the money remaining and I appoint Thomas Cunningham guardian of the money that I have willed to George Manbeck. It should be invested so George will get $4 a month and if he dies before the money is consumed, it is to go to his heirs.

This is the final bequest and Eve has left out most of her brothers and sisters and step-children. Why George? Even though I explained why she might feel close to George–as we saw when I wrote about the Manbeck family--he was late to marry and settle down and not particularly successful at any particular venture. The 1970 census holds the clue as to why his life pattern was what it was, and why Eve cares so much for him, and why there needs to be a guardian even though he is fifty years old.

George cannot read or write, is married, and has four children between 5 and 12 years old. The census lists him as an “Idiot” and says his right to vote is suspended for some reason. “Male Citizen of U.S. of 21 years and upwards whose right to vote is denied or abridged on other grounds than rebellion or other crime.” Further, Census Agriculture reports show that he is living on a few acres and has only a pig and a cow and a few acres of corn and some fruit trees–not enough to make a living.

Item 5 – Eve appoints her neighbor, a school teacher, Rudolph Graybill as the Executor.

The final surprise of the will comes when I notice that Eve has “made her mark” rather than signed for herself.

Eve Gutshall Will

It is not a particular surprise that she did not get schooling.  Among the German immigrants, boy’s education was more important than girls, and even that took second place to farm work.  Although none of the census reports admitted that she could not read and write, she is obviously illiterate.  I can’t help thinking how brave she had to be to cope with all the business of the farm, her husband’s death, and then making her own will, without being able to read or write.

How Ken is Related

  • Kenneth Ross Badertscher is the son of
  • Agnes Badertscher, who is the daughter of
  • Adam Daniel Bair, who is the son of
  • Daniel Manbeck Bair, who is the son of
  • Daniel Bair, who is the husband of
  • Elizabeth Manbeck (Bair) who is the sister of
  • Eve Manbeck (Gutshall)

Research Notes

Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998, Probate Court (Harrison County); Probate Place: Harrison, Ohio , Will Record, Vol A-C, 1813-1878, pgs 503-504. Will of Eve Ann Gutshall, New Rumley, Harrison County, Ohio, Probate date: October 20, 1871

U.S. Federal Census Reports: 1850, Rumsley, Harrison County, Ohio; 1860, New Rumsley, Harrison County, Ohio (Eve Manbeck Gutshall)

1850, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1910 (Rumley, Harrison, Ohio): Anna Gutshall Epley, Eliza Gutshall

1850, 1860, 1870, (Rumley, Harrison, Ohio); 1880 (Perry, Carroll, Ohio): George Manbeck

U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885, National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Non-population Census Schedules for Ohio, 1850-1880; Archive Collection: T1159; Archive Roll Number: 29; Census Year: 1859; Census Place: Stock, Harrison, Ohio, Joseph Manbeck, September 1859, Died of Typhoid Fever.

Web: Ohio, Find A Grave, Eva Manbeck Gutshall,    Hannah Hagey Gutshall,   Anna Gutshall Epley,    Eliza Gutshall

52 Ancestors: -#44 Jacob Manbeck and Eva Manbeck Out of PA.

Jacob Manbeck 1773-1853 and Eva Haslet (?) 1777- 1854

When I was researching my father’s German ancestors, I learned that many of them setttled in Pennsylvania before moving farther west.  This is true of the parents of Elizabeth Manbeck Bair, Ken’s 2nd Great Grandmother. I am fascinated (on the edge of obsessed) with the movements of people across the country, and this family did move.

Jacob was born just eight years after his parents arrived in North America in Pennsylvania, and Eva was also born during Revolutionary times in Pennsylvania, in what was to become the United States of America.

They were married in 1800 and had nine children by 1815 and two more by July 1921.They started in eastern Berks County, where Jacob was born, but their third child, Benjamin was born in Cumberland County, closer to central Pennsylvania.

Children of Jacob and Eva Manbeck

  • 1801: John Manbeck (named for Jacob’s oldest brother)
  • 1803: Peter Brown Manbeck
  • 1805: Benjamin Manbeck
  • 1806: Eva A. Manbeck (Gutshall) (named for her mother)
  • 1809 Susann Manbeck (Heidy)
  • *1812: Elizabeth Manbeck (Bair)
  • 1814: Michael Manbeck
  • 1815: Maragret Manbeck (Roser)
  • 1817: George Manbeck (named for the 2nd oldest brother of Jacob)
  • 1818: William Manbeck
  • 1821: David Manbeck

Perhaps thinking that their child bearing years were over in 1817, after their ninth child, George was born in March, they moved over the Ohio River from Pennsylvania,  to Harrison County, Ohio. ( The county east of Tuscarawas County, which is circled on this map of Ken’s relatives in Ohio). Jacob and Eva’s tenth child, William was born in 1818, and their eleventh and last child, David, was born in 1821 in the Manbeck’s  new home in Harrison County, Ohio.

Ohio Counties

Ohio Counties Labeled, from Wikimedia Commons

The middle daughter, Elizabeth, from whom Ken is descended, may have been the first to separate from the family.  About 1831 she marries Daniel Bair and settles in York Township, Tuscarawas County–not far away, but not clustered with the others in the family, either.

By 1837, their son Michael is living in Montgomery County, Indiana, hugging the Ohio River. By 1844, the youngest, David has moved to Harrison County, Indiana, where he marries Sophia.

I do not know whose idea it was to move to Ohio, or what motivated the move–perhaps Pennsylvania was getting to crowded and the near wilderness of the fairly new state of Ohio seemed to hold more promise.  At any rate, by 1850, besides the parents,  sons John, George, William, Benjamin, and daughters Eva, now married to Joseph Gutshall, Susan, married to Thomas Heidy, and Margaret–whose husbamd Eli Roser died that year– have settled in Harrison County Ohio, where they had moved as children.

George (33) and William (32) still live with their parents in Rumley Township, Harrison County in 1850.  William has married and his wife and 10-month-old son are also listed as part of the Jacob Manbeck household.

At some point before 1850, David and Sophia have moved from Indiana to Iowa, where their children are born. Benjamin, David’s older brother, also lives in Iowa by 1856. No doubt one of them went to the new state at the recommendation of his brother. David and Sophia live for a time with their daughter Mary Vida and her family in Iowa. When Sophia dies and Mary’s family moves to Oregon, David  goes with them. His cross country journey completes in 1911, when he dies in Oregon, his fourth state.

When Jacob and Eva die in 1853 and 1854, their son George marries late in life, but is still living in Harrison County in 1860,now listed as a Laborer rather than a farmer.  George seems to have trouble getting settled and he moves to Perry Township of Carroll County, Ohio  by 1880–just north of Harrison County where his parents died and he is back to farming. His move to Carroll County puts him close to his older brother Peter, who moved to that township and county before 1850 when the rest of the family was settling in Harrison County.

This map summarizes their moves.

Jacob Manbeck migration

Pattern of migration of Jacob Manbeck and family.

  • 1773-4: Jacob is born and grows up in Berks County, Pennsylvania
  • 1805: Jacob and Eva have moved to central Pennsylvania.
  • 1818: Jacob and Eva move their family to Harrison County, Ohio
  • 1837: Michael is in Harrison County, in southern Indiana, where he dies in 1858.
  • 1844: David is also in Harrison County,  Indiana
  • 1850: David has moved to Montgomery County in northern Indiana
  • 1856: David is living in Polk County Iowa, and his brother Benjamin has moved from Ohio to Iowa, where he dies in 1857
  • 1900: David is living in Warren County Iowa
  • 1910: David is living in Douglas County, Oregon, where he dies in 1911.

David made a step-by-step move completely across the country, one brother lived and died in Iowa and one in Indiana. The rest stayed in adjacent counties in Ohio. This family does not seem to have lived very far apart. But it is important to remember that their parents came from Germany, and they were raised in a close-knit German community in Pennsylvania. Ohio was certainly not very civilized by 1817, so even though they stayed in counties that hugged the Pennsylvania-Ohio border, that was an adventurous move.

And when daughters or sons married and moved to a different township–even a neighboring township–they were still getting around with horses and carriages, so a visit would take a day of travel. The sons who moved further west, may have had trouble even getting home for their parents funerals. Once they moved, they were pretty much isolated from family. It is interesting to see David moving to states where another brother lives (or persuading them to join him), and then going to Oregon because his daughter’s family moves there. Even he seems closely tied to at least some family.

Their adventures, however, were nothing compared to what their parents went through, and next we’ll take a look at the immigrants of the Manbeck family.

How Ken is Related

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

Notes on Research

United States Federal Census ReportsOhio

1850 (Rumley, Harrison, Ohio) Eva and Jacob Manbeck, Margaret Manbeck Roser;

1850,1860, 1870 (Rumley, Harrison, Ohio) John Manbeck, Susan Manbeck Heidy, George Manbeck;

1850, 1860, 1870  (York Township, Tuscarawas County, Ohio) Daniel Bair and Elizabeth Manbeck Bair;

1880 (Stow, Summit County, Ohio) Elizabeth Manbeck Bair.

1850, 1860, Eva Manbeck Gutshall,( Rumley, Harrison, Ohio)

1850, 1860, 1870,1880 (Perry, Carroll, Ohio) Peter Brown Manbeck, William Manbeck. (Also 1880- George Manbeck)

1850 (North, Harrison, Ohio) Benjamin Manbeck

Other States:

1850 Harrison County, Indiana, Michael Manbeck

1850, Franklin, Montgomery, Indiana, David Manbeck

1860, Allen, Polk,Iowa, David Manbeck

1900, Warren, Polk, Iowa, David Manbeck
West Roseburg, Douglas, Oregon,.

Indiana, Index to Select Marriages, 1780-1992, November 1837, Michael Manbeck, Ancestry.com

Indiana, Marriage Index, 1800-1941, March 1844, David Manbeck, Ancestry.com

Iowa, State Census Collection, 1836-1925, Benjamin Manbeck, David Manbeck 1856, (Allen, Polk Iowa)

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

Find a Grave, Jacob Manbeck,  Eva Manbeck. Benjamin Manbeck (Iowa),  Michael Manbeck (Indiana) David Manbeck, (Oregon)

U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970, Volume: 278, membership for William Manbeck Peeler, descendant of Jacob and Manbeck and Rudolph and Christina Manbeck.