Rittenhouse family

The big disadvantage to being descended from a younger son is that he doesn't inherit the family business! Colonial paper maker Wilhelm Rittenhouse had two sons [Nicholas and Gerhard] and a daughter [Elizabeth].
Nicholas/Claus inherited the paper mill on Wissahickon Creek near Germantown, PA. Gerhard/Garrett was farmer and grist miller on his property along Cresheim Creek.

The identity of Garrett's wife bcomes the Rittenhouse mystery. Early sources gave her name as Revacomb, probably from Revacombs being named as a "kinsmen" of Garrett. Later sources gave the name of Garrett's wife as either Mary Schumacher or Anna Umstatt.

To date no records have been uncovered to positively identify Mrs. Rittenhouse. She preceded Garrett in death, so was not named in his will.

Garrett fathered two sons, William and Peter. William had four daughters: Priscilla, Susannah, Anne & Hannah. Hannah was probably named for her maternal grandmother, Hannah Lakin. Peter also fathered four daughters: Mary, Barbara, Mary & Susannah.

William went on to be the founder of the New Jersey line of the family. His granddaughter, Elizabeth, married Cornelius Prall, Jr.

Whittaker Family

Next up on my family mysteries is the Whittakers. Edward Whittaker was the immigrant, arriving with Captain Broadhead's company to occupy the New Netherland/New York colony. To say that Edward had temper issues was putting it mildly. He had frequent run-ins with neighbors over the years, as well as the woman who worked in his tavern - Joanna/Hannah Wakeman Hackleton, his future wife. But that's another story - a really good one!

Among the gaps in the Whittaker story:
(1) The marriage date for Edward and Hannah. [If there was one, officially.]
(2) Hannah's death date.
(3) The death date and place of their son James.

The Kingston records are filled with details about the Whittakers. Hannah Wakeman's life was just as much of an adventure as Edward Whittaker's. They were an interesting match!

One of Those Wonderful Genealogy Moments!

The Genealogical Society of Marion County held its Feb. meeting at the Irvington Library. Our speaker was Bruce Oakley [Oakley-Hammond Funeral Home in Irvinton], who gave a superb and informative talk on funeral home records.

Early in his presentation, Bruce mentioned his early Marion Co. heritage through Lydia Faucett and Wilson McCalment in 1823/4. The Faucetts and McCalments  were pioneers in both Marion and Hendicks Counties. Lydia's parents were John Faucett and Eve Fry of Virginia.

Lydia's older brother, Joseph was MY ancestor. He had married Rebecca N. Hurin/Huron [Mahurin] in Warren Co., OH before the family relocated to central Indiana.

Who'd have thought that the speaker would turn out to be a 4th cousin?!

Christopher / Christoffels Family of Long Island & Staten Island

The Christopher/Christoffels family is aanother of my NY families with gaps in their history. Maria Christopher [c1674-c1711] was the 1st wife of Pieter Prall [1672-1748]. They were married about 1693/4. Notice the lack of definite dates!

Maria's parents were Hans Christopher and Tryntje Bernts Blom. The Christophers were possibly from Normandy or The Netherlands. A Christoffels family was reportedly on Staten Island before 1655 and stayed on after the massacre of that year [VanName]. A Johannes Cristoffels was a Staten Island patentee in 1661. There was also a Hans Christoffels Schaers/Schaets who resided in Flatbush during the 1660s [Stryker-Rodda]. Yet another Hans Christoffels was recorded on Kings Co. Assessment Rolls in 1675. [This was probably Maria's father.]

The last record of Maria was in 1711. Pieter Prall married two more times.

Tryntje [Barents Blom] Christopher, Maria's mother, may well have been the 2nd wife of Arent Jansen Prall, Pieter's father.. Arent's 1st wife, Marie Billiou, died about 1690, as did Tryntje's husband. In his 1699 will, Pierre Billiou stated that Marie had eight children. Arent father nine children, per his 1721 will. I believe that Tryntje was the mother of Johannes Prall. Arent named Stoffel Christopher [Tryntje's son] and Arent Prall
Jr. as caaretakers of Johannes, who had some sort of physical or mental malady that prevented him from caring for himself.

Welcome to my world of genealogical research! Anyone with clues to the Christopher clan, let me know.





































































































































































































































































































 Prall,                          asJr. as caretakers of Johannes,who had some sort of physical o

So much for Resolutions! Clark Family follow-up

Well, not writing a blog entry for two week wreaks havoc with my resolution to publish on a more regular basis! Sometimes you just put things off and forget to get back to them.

My Salt Lake trip answered some questions on my Clark line and left a few others in need of additional research.

I was able to narrow down Samuel Clark's death and am pretty well convinced that the Martha Partlow who was living with Isaac's family in 1850, was Samuel's widow. I was not able to determine Samuel's place of birth or his path to Ohio. For now, the bio of Isaac's grandson F.M. Clark will have to serve as the authority on Samuel. A trip to Butler Co., Ohio is needed for Clark research.

In the next few days, I'll need to examine the documents gathered in Salt Lake, and write up my findings and what else needs to be done.