Tag Archives: Joseph Kaser

Joseph Kaser 1842 Will

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My sister and brother and I enjoyed our family reunion/ancestor search trip 2 years ago so much that we are getting together for another ancestor trail trip this summer. In the fall of 2014, thanks to a cousin’s generosity, we had a family gathering at Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts. Sudbury was the home base for many of our maternal grandmother’s ancestors. Follow the link above, or search for “Howe” to find out about the branch of our family that helped build New England towns and fought in the Revolution.

Minutemen

At Minuteman National Park with our family descendants of Minutemen.

This summer, the three siblings are going to revisit ancestor’s territory in Ohio and Pennsylvania, giving us a chance to take a look at our father’s line as well as our mother’s.

In preparation for that trip, I’m taking another look at our Kaser ancestors (Our father) and hope that I’ll have time to look at the Anderson (Our maternal Grandfather) line also.  Both lines tend to disappear in Pennsylvania in the 18th century, before they moved on to Ohio.

Joseph Kaser 1776-1842

I’m starting by adding a piece of information to what I previously wrote about Joseph Kaser (B. 1776), our third great-grandfather.  Although I did not know a lot about him two years ago when I wrote his story, you may want to look at that linked post for reference. It puts in perspective the life of German immigrants and the hardships they faced that forced them every further west, until they settled with ‘their own kind in Ohio.’

Thanks to the new transcripts of probate records added to Ancestry.com in the last year, I can scratch Joseph Kaser’s will off my to-do list. Although this will is in English, I’m guessing there may have also been a version in German, since Joseph probably did not speak English.

Unfortunately, the will does not contain the detail that we’ve found in others. But here’s what Joseph had to say in October, 1842.

After the preamble, he specifies that his wife Elizabeth Kaser should get one stove and a cow, two beds and bedding and such other household and kitchen furniture as she may select, not exceeding eighty-dollars in value.

Comment:  Don’t worry, 80 dollars would be worth approximately $2350 in today’s money.

The rest of his property, he says, should be sold and the money realized “put on interest  for the use and support of my wife Elizabeth Kaser during her natural life and after the death of my wife Elizabeth then the money is to be divided equally amongst any children in such a manner that each of my sons receive twenty-five dollars more than any daughters.

Comment: “put on interest” was the term used in the 19th century for money invested or put in the bank to earn interest.  Why do his six sons each get $25 more than each of his two daughters? Perhaps he had paid $25 dowry for the daughters, or perhaps it is because the expectation is that their husbands will take care of them.

Finally, he appoints John Basto (Spelling?) and his son William Kaser as executors.

Comment: When the will was written, William, the youngest of the family, would be twenty-four years old, but he must have been considered responsible, as there is evidence that Elizabeth went to live with him after Joseph died.

The will, written out by a clerk at the court, notes “signed in German, Joseph Kaser.”

Grave of Joseph Kaser

Grave marker of Joseph Kaser 1776-1842. Photo by Glen Hammel at Find a Grave.

How I am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Paul Kaser, who is the son of
  • Clifford Kaser, who is the son of
  • Joseph Kaser II, who is the son of
  • George Kaser, who is the son of
  • Joseph Kaser

Notes on Research

  • Ohio, Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998, Record for Joseph Kaser, Will Records, 1825-1906; Index to Wills, 1825-1965; Probate Place: Holmes, Ohio
  • The “Kaser Genealogy” (aka Green Book) referred to is The Kaser History: A History of Dates and Other Interesting Facts (1994) edited by Deborah D. Morgan and others. Out of print. I obtained information from a cousin who owns a copy of the book.
  • Zions Lutheran Reformed Church, Zionsville, PA index of records at Ancestry.com)Unfortunately the website for the church has been updated and they no longer have the history page, but I have given you a link to the “wayback machine” where you can find the old page.
  • Birth and Death records from census and Find a Grave through Ancestry.com
  • Cemetery records from the New Zion UCC church (formerly German Reform) in New Bedford, Ohio.

52 Ancestors : #17 Catharine Sampsell, Surrounded by Kasers

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Catharine Sampsell Kaser (1828-1911)

Catharine Sampsell spent her life surrounded by family–her husbands’ family. Like her husband, Joseph Kaser, Catharine’s parents Samuel Sampsell and Susan Klunge Sampsell* came from Pennsylvania.  But they moved to Ohio before Catharine, their first child to be born in the new state, was born. When I talk about Catharine’s father later, I will explain a bit more about the lack of information on the Sampsell family.

At any rate,  around the time that Catharine was born, the Sampsells (or Sampsels or Samsels) moved into that same Coshocton County area where Joseph Kaser had joined so many German and Swiss immigrant families from Pennsylvania. Joseph and Catharine met–I would bet it was in church– and married in March 1847, when Catharine was 18, (according to the Kaser Family History I refer to as G.B.–the Green Book). Since her own mother does not show up on the 1850 census with her father, it is likely that Catharine’s mother did not live to see the wedding or her first grandchild.

In 1849, Catharine Sampsell Kaser and Joseph Kaser’s first child, Susan (or Susannah) was born. According to the 1850 census, which I have discussed at length before, their small farm was surrounded by Joseph’s  uncles and his father.  The young motherless bride Catharine would have had plenty of family aunties around to give her advice and help. Her first years of marriage were busy ones, with four children born between 1849 and 1855.  After a nine year lull spanning the beginning of the Civil War, Emma was born in 1864 and two more in the next four years. (The next to last was my grandfather Clifford Kaser.

Catharine, 43 in 1871 when her last child was born, and her two oldest had already left home–Cornelius working on a neighboring farm, and Susan no doubt also employed by another family.  According to the scant records I have, Susan probably married in 1874.

By the time that Catharine’s husband Joseph died in 1893 (if the G.B. is correct about the date), Catharine, now 67, had only two adult children still living at home–Emma (28) and Edward (21). These two, both quite late to marry, were still living with her when the census was taken in 1900. However, in typical Kaser fashion, two other sons lived nearby.

Emma Kaser Sutherland, circa 1910

Emma Kaser Sutherland, Clark, Ohio, circa 1910

Edward finally married about 1905. Emma, however waited until after her mother died to marry George Sutherland, a widower who lived practically next door to her mother’s farm near Clark, Ohio.

Catharine Sampsell Kaser died in Feburary 1911 when she was just a few months shy of 83 years old, and was buried in the Clark (Ohio) Cemetery– with Kaser family members all around.

HOW WE ARE RELATED

  • Vera Marie Kaser Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Paul Kaser who is the son of
  • Clifford Kaser, who is the brother of
  • Joseph Kaser II, who is the husband of
  • Catharine Sampsell Kaser

NOTES ON RESEARCH

*Susan’s mother’s name is given as Susan Klunge in the Green Book, but I have not yet verified that anywhere. I have found zero records for a Susan Klunge or Kluge.

More details on Catharine and Joseph Kaser’s children can be found in my article on Joseph, the Carpenter.

The “Kaser Genealogy” (aka Green Book or G. B.) referred to is The Kaser History: A History of Dates and Other Interesting Facts (1994) edited by Deborah D. Morgan and others. Out of print. I obtained information from a cousin who owns a copy of the book.

I verified Catharine’s death date and burial information from Find a Grave.com with information found at familysearch.org from Ohio Deaths 1908-1953. The Kaser Genealogy says she was born in Pennsylvania, but all census reports say she was born in Ohio.

Census records from 1850, 1870, 1880, 1900  found at Ancestry.com

Joseph Kaser, What Is Your Story?

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Joseph Kaser 1776-1842

[NOTE: Don’t miss the update to information on Joseph Kaser, added in February 2016. The additional post includes information about his will.]

Joseph Kaser, my 3x great grandfather, is the American patriarch of that extended Kaser family that we traced last week when I talked about his son,  George Kaser, moving from eastern Pennsylvania to Ohio.  This Joseph was the first of his Kaser family to be born in the United States.

Joseph was born on October 8, 1776, just three months after the United States declared independence from Great Britain. He died on Christmas day in 1842.

I like to find the story in my ancestors’ lives, but except for his interesting birth year and death date,  Joseph’s story is eluding me. So this is not a story. It is a collection of what I know so far.

The evidence for what I think I know about him is scanty, mostly coming from that pesky “Green Book” that I have referenced before–a Kaser Family genealogy that lacks evidence of its “facts.”  There are copious references to a Joseph Kaser in the church records of the Zionsville, Pennsylvania Lutheran Reform Church–mostly as the father of the baptized child. However, so far I have only seen the index, so don’t have enough information to swear that it is the Joseph we are looking for.

And there is a tombstone in the old cemetery of the Zion German Reformed Church (Now the Zion United Church of Christ)  at New Bedford, Coshocton Ohio.  The inscription would indicate his birthday was October 8, 1776, the year agreeing with the father of George Kaser according to the “Green Book.”

The same source (Green Book) lists his children, and many (at least the males) appear on census reports living close together, evidence that they are indeed members of his family.  And some of the names of those children show up on the Zionsville Reformed Church records with birth and baptism records.  But for some of the children, I have not discovered even that scant amount of evidence.

And I am totally at sea as to who his parents were. There are two possibilities, so I may not be writing about that for a while.

If the Green Book (G.B.) is correct, Joseph married Elizabeth Stahler,[ UPDATE 2018:  I now doubt that Elizabeth’s maiden name is Stahler, and am working on finding out who she really was.] probably about 1798, as their first child, George Kaser, was born in February 1800. The Green Book says that they couple had nine children, all born in Pennsylvania. It seems that the children moved with them to Ohio by 1824 and all but three stayed in the area of Clark Ohio. Here’s why I’m not jumping to conclusions–the sources I have for each child include sometimes church records from Pennsylvania, Find a Grave or New Bedford cemetery records, and a few census reports–or the Green Book. [Note: in 2021, I found more records and am writing about each of Joseph’s children, my great-great aunts and uncles.]

1800: George Kaser (G.B., Census reports 1840-1870)

1802/3: Elizabeth Kaser born (according to G.B. No other evidence yet.)

1806: Jonathan (Find a Grave–buried in New Bedford, OH; 1860 census)

1807: Lydia Kaser (Church birth and baptism dates)

1808: Joseph Kaser, Jr. (Census records and Find a Grave , buried at New Bedford, Ohio)

1810: Anthony (or Andrew?) Kaser ( Church birth records)

1814: Nathan Kaser (Church records; some census records. Died in Indiana. )

1816: Timothy Kaser (Church birth records; Find a Grave–died in N. Liberty,St. Joseph County, Indiana)

1818: William Kaser (Church birth records; Find a Grave–died in St. Joseph County, Indiana)

In addition to these nine children, the Green Book lists a ‘Tom’ with unknown birth date and a child whose name and birth date are unknown.  It is possible these could be infant deaths, but again, I have no proof.

I believe the image below this is the correct Joseph on the 1840 census in German Township, Holmes County. I think of these early census reports as the “chicken scratch” censuses.  Even though the census reports before 1850 list by name only the head of household, and that complicates life for the researcher, a little detective work indicates that this George Kaiser and the nearby Joseph Kaisers are George Kaser, his son Joseph and his father Joseph. The columns represent ages 0-5;6-10;11-15;16-20;21-30;31-40;41-50;51-60;61-70;71-80;81-90;91-100;100-upwards. The first half of the page counts males the second half females.

Joseph Kaser

1840 United States Census, German Twp, Holmes County, Ohio

The bottom Joseph Kaser shows a male (left half of the page) of between 60 and 70 and a female of the same age.  That matches Joseph and his wife Elizabeth.  The second male is between 20 and 29.  Sons George, Joseph, Timothy and William are all accounted for on this same census.  Andrew (or Anthony) would be thirty or over.  That leaves Nathan, who would have been 26 years old.  From other data, I know that Nathan lived at home and did not marry until in his 30s, so I conclude that the third person in “grandpa” Joseph’s household is his son Nathan. [Note: September 2021–Nathan was living with brother William in 1870 I’m Indiana].

It is possible that this Joseph is also listed on the 1830 census in the same location, but the chicken scratches are a bit more difficult to convert into real family members in that census, so I’m holding off on using that.

If I’m tracking the correct Joseph Kaser, born in 1776, then this must be his tombstone in the Zion Reform Church in New Bedford, Ohio (Now Zion U.C.C.).

Grave of Joseph Kaser

Grave marker of Joseph Kaser 1776-1842. Photo by Glen Hammel at Find a Grave.

I am hoping that more cousins may see this and may be able to add more definitive information.

How I Am Related

  • Vera Marie Badertscher is the daughter of
  • Paul Kaser, who is the son of
  • Clifford Kaser, who is the son of
  • Joseph Kaser II, who is the son of
  • George Kaser, who is the son of
  • Joseph Kaser

Notes on Research

  • The “Kaser Genealogy” (aka Green Book) referred to is The Kaser History: A History of Dates and Other Interesting Facts (1994) edited by Deborah D. Morgan and others. Out of print. I obtained information from a cousin who owns a copy of the book.
  • Zions Lutheran Reformed Church, Zionsville, PA index of records at Ancestry.com )Unfortunately the website for the church has been updated and they no longer have the history page, but I have given you a link to the “wayback machine” where you can find the old page.
  • Birth and Death records from census and Find a Grave through Ancestry.com
  • Cemetery records from the New Zion UCC church (formerly German Reform) in New Bedford, Ohio.