The Tale of Two Andrews:

The Story of Andrew Schrock (1804-1855)
and his son, Andrew (1842-1925)

by Donna Schrock Birkey
Originally published in the Summer 2011 (Vol. XXXVIII  •  No. 2)
Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly (http://www.imhgs.org)
(Used with permission of original publisher)

This article, fourth in a series on descendants of Joseph and Maria Neuhauser Schrag (Schrack), highlights new information and expands on the dramatic reading presented by Debbie Birkey at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s Schrock Immigrant Day, June 18-20, 2010.

Andrew (André, Andreas) has been a recurring name given to Schrag males. The name shows up numerous times in my database beginning 1629, but in this direct Schrock line, our two main subjects are the first. One, adventurous enough to cross the ocean to a new land, marry and have a family, purchase acreage, conquer the prairie, and build a substantial landmark “fine brick house.” The second lost his father at age 13, was perhaps despondent about life, a loner and wanderer, and at times inconsistent and irresponsible. Many questions have remained about his later life and his death. Both Andrews came to a sad and dramatic end, but in totally different circumstances.

Andrew  (1804 – 1855) (André/Andreas).

1803 birth document of André Schrack, Gondrexange, Moselle, France

“Mayor’s office in Gondrexange, arrondissement of Sarrebourg, 14 Messidor XII of the French Republic [July 3, 1804], birth certificate of André Schrack, born the same day, about 8 a.m., son of Joseph Schrack, miller, and Marie Neyehouser, living at the said Gondrexange. The sex of the infant has been recognized to be male. The baby has been presented to me by the witnesses, Antoine Honquet, 36, mason, and Hubert Barthelemy, 40, school teacher, both living in the said Gondrexange. And following the declaration made to me by Joseph Schrack, father of the child, they have signed [the document]. Prepared according to law by me, Joseph Thiébeau, mayor of the community [commune] of Gondrexange, serving as public official for recording vital statistics of citizens [l'état civil].” ¹

About 30 years after his birth, Andrew was in America when his first child was born in 1835. We know Andrew was living near his two brothers in Dompcevrin, Meuse, in 1828 when he served as witness to the birth of brother Peter’s first child. Even though several descendants give his emigration date as either 1830 or 1831 and report he came with family, Andrew’s name is not on the Baltimore ship list as traveling in 1831 with his brothers Johannes and Peter, and sister Magdalena. His name has yet to be found on a ship list.

Sometime before 1835 and probably after arriving in America Andrew married Anna Oyer, daughter of Jacob Oyer (ca 1778 – 1885) and Suzanne Shertz (ca 1780 – 1829). Anna was born in Niderhof, Lorraine, France, and arrived with her parents in New Orleans on the ship Superior, December 4, 1830, after 53 days on the ocean. The Amish passengers, including the Oyer family, traveled on to Cincinnati, Ohio, arriving Christmas Day. Andrew and Anna’s first three living children were born in Butler County, Ohio. The family was in Illinois in 1842 for the birth of Andrew’s namesake.

Illinois Land Purchases.

Andrew may have first purchased land in Livingston County next to Waldo Cemetery², before settling in Tazewell County, Washington Township, about four miles west of Washington near today’s Sunnyland. However, on April 11, 1839, Andrew made his first purchase of land in Tazewell County—168 acres from Benjamin Rediger in the northwest corner of Section 18, Township 26N.³ The purchase price was $1000.

It seems the Minch family was selling off their land holdings in the spring of 1850. Adam Minch sold 40 acres to Andrew for $600; John Minch was paid $500 for 40 acres, excepting a small tract of land deeded to the Lutheran Church by George Minch. Later Adam’s wife Mary Ann sold Andrew another 80 acres for $100.

The Schrock family is named in the 1850 Federal Census: Andrew Schrock, age 45, born Germany, farmer, $2000 [of real estate]; Ann, age 35, b. Germany; Joseph 15, b. OH; Susan 13, b. OH; Anna 10, b. OH; Andrew 7, b. IL; Mary 5, b. IL; Peter 1, b. IL.

Twenty years later in early 1870, two children (Joseph and wife Mary Risser, Anna and husband Ludwig “Louis” Stalter) sold 240 acres to their mother Anna for $3200. Since both couples moved away from Tazewell County soon thereafter, they no doubt needed cash rather than the land they had inherited when Andrew died.

The 1873 atlas shows the owner of Andrew’s property to be A. Schrock—no doubt Anna, as head of family. Land deeds found⁴ show Andrew had purchased a total of 328 acres in Section 18, with the house towards the middle of the acreage. There was an orchard south of the house, a timber to the east, and a stream to the north.  Water and wood close by—necessities for a pioneer. But they had to drive or walk approximately ten miles to take a ferry to Peoria, the nearest larger town.

In 1877, all of the Schrock siblings agreed to sell 170 acres to David D. Augsburger for $1250. David was the husband of Magdalena, Andrew and Anna’s youngest child.⁵ On November 12, 1890, Peter divested his 120 acres to Louis and Katharina Reim and realized $5900.⁶   Two years later David Augsburger and his wife Magdalena sold 120 acres to William Keil for $8400. In 1893, parts of Andrew’s original acreage were owned by Louis Reim and D. D. Augspurger.⁷ Son Andrew was not named in any land transaction found, nor did the documents give a clue to the date of Anna’s death.

Perhaps it was after the 1890 sale that Peter and his wife pulled up stakes in Illinois and moved to Hamilton County, Nebraska, where all their children were married. Eventually they moved to California where both died.

Andrew’s oldest son Joseph married Elizabeth Rediger three years following his father’s death. Before long the family moved west to Kansas, then settled in California where most of his descendants live. According to Donald Roth, a Rediger researcher, Joseph fathered 17 children.⁸

Andrew began building a large brick home on his property before his death. It is told that his young children, Andrew and Mary, carried all the bricks for this home [from the banks of the stream on the property?].  One of the children in later years finished the house using the original plans that called for half of the second story to be used for church services.⁹

Cholera Epidemic.

Two Schrock families were torn apart by the cholera epidemic that invaded Illinois in 1855.

“…all four [died] of cholera in a short space of time, from Wednesday afternoon when Grandpa [died].  [He] contracted it in Bloomington the day before.  There was a funeral for him on Thurs. – the rest all well yet, but by Sat. night Grandmother went at 12 o’clock and Barbara a half hour later and John, 6 yrs. old Monday morning at 3 o’clock.  No funeral held for them.  The rest all sick with cholera.  Those who took sick at Grandpa’s funeral were Andrew Schrock, Grandma’s brother and Mrs. Ulrich. …This is the way my father [Peter Smith] gave it more than once and said how sad it was for them.”¹⁰

If we follow the chronology of this Oyer account, Andrew’s sister Magdalena’s family was stricken with cholera the first day of August 1855. Husband Christian Smith contracted it first, according to family tradition, after a trip to Bloomington. He died the next day, a Wednesday, and was buried on Thursday. Two days later (Saturday) Magdalena died. The following day Andrew, who had evidently become sick at Christian’s funeral and then stayed with his ailing sister on Friday, died on Sunday the 5^th of August.

The Smith family is no doubt buried in Slabtown Cemetery located near Congerville where the Smith’s lived. It is sometimes called Cholera Cemetery, but there are no Smith stones. Andrew, however, is buried near his farm in Guth Cemetery.

About six months after Andrew’s death, Anna signed away her right to administer her husband’s estate to Peter Guth (Good), but remains as guarding of the heirs. In his position as administrator, Peter’s opinion is that personal goods and chattels are valued at $275. A listing of personal property totals $1839, less the widow’s allowance of $691.50, equaling $1147.50.

One of the sale bills included in the probate file shows 9000 shingles sold to Lewis Tobias and Adam Keil for $858. A second bill was to Peter Guth for unnamed items, totaling $584.60.

During the personal property sale on March 15, 1856, items were sold to John Spring, Nicholas Roth, Joseph Onsecker (Unzicker), and Joseph Schick among others. Nicholas Roth served as one of the appraisers.

At the time of Andrew’s death Peter Guth owned the land on which the cemetery is located. It was a Guth family burying ground. Peter and his wife Susanna are buried there. Andrew’s wife, Anna, and Peter’s wife, Susanna, were sisters, and that family connection resulted in Andrew’s burial there. In 1873 the land on which the cemetery was located was owned by J. Oyer. This would have no doubt been Anna and Susanna’s father, Jacob Oyer, who died in 1885. In 1891 Christ Guth owned the land around the cemetery—most likely Christian, son of Peter and Susanna. Today, instead of being a small plot in a corner of Guth farmland, the cemetery is a fenced off area beside a busy road, surrounded by the commercial properties of Sunnyland Plaza.

Andrew  (1842 – 1925) (Andy). 

Andrew “Andy” Schrock

Andrew was the first of his parents’ children to be born in Illinois, on December 9, 1842. He grew up next to neighbors, Joseph Schick (1818 – 1898) and Magdalene Augspurger (1823 – 1893), who had a sizable farm and enough money to easily care for their large family of ten children. The father had served as a Pershing Army officer, was quite wealthy and loved his wine. He married his wife in Butler County, Ohio.

One of the Schick daughters, Magdalene, was a few years younger than Andrew and his sister Mary, and surely spent many hours playing with the two Schrock children by the stream that ran nearby. Perhaps she even helped the children carry the bricks for the house being built for the Schrock family before father Andrew died of cholera. Historical records indicate the Schick family worshiped with other Amish Mennonite families in the house after it was completed.¹¹

Marriage and Westward Movement.

Time passed and the children grew to adulthood. Eleven years after father Andrew died, Andrew and Magdalene were married in 1866. They were soon blessed with first child Magdalena, and with her in tow in 1868 they moved to Lamar, Barton Co., Missouri. Lamar was about 50 miles south of Cass County where an Amish Mennonite community had just developed; however, there is nothing to indicate the Schrock family had connections there. In two years little Elizabeth, “Lizzie” as she was called, joined the family. But trouble was brewing. As it turned out, Andrew wasn’t a very responsible husband and father. He came and went as he pleased and didn’t provide well for the family. There were some very lean years. With Andrew gone so much of the time, another child didn’t arrive until seven years later, when the first son Samuel was born; then Edward, and finally ten years later, Andrew, namesake of his father and grandfather.

The Andrew Schrock Family ca. 1902 Elizabeth, Magdalena, Andrew, Samuel, Edward Family tradition says Andrew and Magdalena did not want to sit close in this photo. Thus, son Andrew stands between them.

Magdalena Schick Schrock with her three boys ca. 1892: Samuel, Edward, Andrew

The family could not continue living with constant uncertainty, not knowing where money for food and clothing would come from. During 1888 the two girls were married to men from Nebraska—Edward King and William Unzicker—and so Magdalene decided to move with the children to Nebraska the next year. The girls and Magdalene rode in the passenger section of an immigrant train and the men rode in the baggage car. Andrew remained behind in Missouri where he worked as a blacksmith.

After the move Magdalene and the children seldom saw or heard from Andrew. He would occasionally visit them in Nebraska. At the end of one of those visits during the early 1920s the family told Andrew goodbye, he walked off down the road never to be heard from again. Magdalene’s playmate and husband had in reality abandoned his family years earlier, but it must have been painful to finally realize Andrew was never coming back.

Andrew the Wanderer. Finally some Answers!

Where was Andrew in the years after his family left him in Missouri? What sort of life did he lead? So far there are no clues for the decades of 1890 and 1900. But 1910 finds him in Nebraska.

The 1910 Federal Census lists Andrew Schrock, age 67 living in Medicine, Lincoln County, Nebraska; he was head of household and a farmer. Andrew had a farm free and clear, indicating he was able to earn enough money to acquire an asset. He told the census taker his father and mother were born in France and he was born in Illinois. Ten years later, in the 1920 Federal Census under the name Andy Schrock, he appears in Linn County, Paris Township, Kansas; 77 years old, head of household, widowed, and a farmer who [a second time] owns his farm.

Andy’s age, birthplace, and parents’ birthplace match known information for Andrew in both of these census entries. The fact that he is “widowed” sheds light on thoughts and feelings about his family—he seems to have “burned his bridges.”  Andrew never shows up in a later census.

At age 77 Andrew is no longer a young man, but family acquaintances reported he had gone to Portland, Oregon, in 1924. His family advertised for him in the Northwest but received no response.  In my first draft of this article the next sentence was, “What happened there we may never know.” However, that statement is no longer valid!

During the first week of June I was browsing the Find a Grave website for an unrelated person and on a whim searched the Schrock surname. A long list of names appeared that I began looking through. When I arrived at name number 47 I did a double take. The name—Andy Schrock! The place—Sacramento, California—close enough to Portland, Oregon, to make me cautiously optimistic and a bit excited.

I clicked on the Odd Fellows Cemetery link shown beside the name and called the phone number shown. I was told they had been given minimal information about the names of some persons buried in the historic Sacramento City Cemetery¹² and decided to put them on line along with their own burials. I would need to call someone within the Sacramento County offices to find out if this Andy Schrock was who I thought he might be.

After quite a few phone calls I arrived at the Public Information Office of the County and a very helpful person emailed me a list of possible contacts. After two more calls I hit pay dirt! The very helpful City Cemetery archives volunteers filled in the rest of the story:  the record showed that Andy Schrock of Illinois died February 7, 1925 in Sacramento County Hospital at 82 years of age of pulmonary tuberculosis. He was indigent/destitute, a transient with no home. Andy was buried in Sec. 5-B SSW Potters Field, Tier 1, Gr. 156, along with many others like him, and without a stone.

But then I was curious about the Potters Field burial site. Several days later I again contacted City Cemetery archives office asking if they could identify where on their map Potters Field might be. Their answer sent me back to Odd Fellows Cemetery,¹³ for I was told that Potters Field is actually there rather than in City Cemetery. Another call to Odd Fellows Cemetery finally answered all the questions. I was pointed to the area on the map of their cemetery called Potters Field, and Google Maps revealed the cemetery that you will see included at the end of this article.

My research continued in the main Sacramento newspaper to see if there might be an article revealing the details of how Andy entered the hospital.  When the microfilm for February 1925 arrived I spent several hours looking through the pages of the Sacramento Bee, but was unable to find any further information. However, Andy’s descendants can finally put to rest their questions about his death, even if not every detail is known.

Andrew II’s Son Samuel.        

Samuel Truman Schrock (1876 - 1975)

Andrew and Magdalene’s son Samuel was born in Lamar, Missouri, and hometown of President Harry S. Truman. He was given the middle name Truman for Harry’s father, John Anderson Truman. After moving to Holdrege, Nebraska at age 13 with his mother and siblings and then living on the farm in a sod house six miles north of town, Sam learned to love and master all aspects of farming. As a family they worked hard and knew how to make the most of what they had. In the first year they broke 15 acres of sod. Sam showed his mettle that first winter when there was no money to buy fuel. He took his two brothers and with their two little white mules gathered 15 wagon loads of buffalo chips and corn stalks in order for the family to survive the cold winter with a little bit of comfort. Sam was the very opposite of his father.

Samuel’s mother sent him to a sod schoolhouse two months in the spring and two months in the fall. Every morning he left home carrying his own chair, walking one mile in rain, snow, sleet, hail, blizzard, or Nebraska heat, to sit around a long wooden table in the center of the [school] room.

Sam always referred to his mother as “my poor widowed mother” and would often cry when he mentioned her. She was not actually widowed but instead left her husband in Missouri and came to Phelps County with her five children by Immigrant Train. Her husband stayed in Missouri, worked as a blacksmith, visited Nebraska, but never lived here. While here, he used to sit in Sam’s gas station, barefooted, much to his son’s irritation.¹⁴

“He [Sam] was one of the pioneer farmers of Holdrege and farming captured him the rest of his 98 years. In the Phelps County Courthouse cornerstone is “one perfect corn ear raised by Sam Schrock in 1910!”¹⁵

While Sam put down deep roots in Holdredge, his brother Ed went to live in Burley, Idaho. Next he tried farming in Colorado but lost his farm in the Depression. He tried to get some help from his brother Sam to pay taxes to keep from losing his land, but the $500 needed was not forthcoming and he lost 1000 acres. Ed struggled financially for the remainder of his life.¹⁶

“Sam’s two older sisters were big, strong, healthy women who lived in a dugout in Phelps County and later moved away from the area. Lizzie moved to Wyoming and Lena [after the death of her husband, William Unzicker] moved to Chappell, Nebraska. They farmed and raised their children by themselves.”¹⁷ Elizabeth “Lizzie” was married to Edward King in the famous brick house west of Washington,¹⁸ but at some point the couple divorced. One relative remembered that Lizzie loved men and had a house on the edge of Holdrege, possibly a house of “ill repute.”¹⁹  She later lived on a 1280-acre ranch twenty miles north of Cheyenne, Wyoming, managing a large herd of cattle.

“In 1903 Samuel married Helen Sauer, and they bought a 1000-acre farm near Holdrege. Sam used his good business sense again and again. He bought a grinder and mixed his own feed using a scoop of corn, a scoop of cobs and a bundle of atlas sorgo. Using this method his cattle feeding program continued to show a profit. The Great Depression didn’t seem to have a great effect on him.

“After moving to town by no means did Sam slow down. He built one of the first service stations, and the first locker plant for Holdrege. He used parolees from the penitentiary for farm labor, and the results were successful. Sam was good to them and one stayed on with him for five years. Sam was a ‘go getter’, thrifty, and seemed to know how to make things turn a profit. He thought about retiring, but he couldn’t just sit around, so he bought an old hotel in Ragan and one in Atlanta and used the lumber to build a large building in Holdrege, The Schrock Building, for many businesses.

Sam Schrock’s gas station in Holdrege, Nebraska

“Sam was a true entrepreneur. He bought the ice plant and delivered ice to the railroad so travelers would buy his ice. He built an IGA grocery store, and during WWII when housing was short, he remodeled many old houses and apartments. Then, when in his 60s and 70s, he went back to farming. One of his sons said, “When Dad moved to town, he quit raising pigs and raised little girls, but it doesn’t seem that Sam ever stopped farming a day in his [98-year] life.’”²⁰

Sam’s daughter, Violet, had some negative memories of her “controlling” father, but she said she never heard her parents quarrel, argue or fight. She remembers the huge house her father built in Holdrege where she was later married, and that house was later described in the Holdrege Daily Citizen as, “the house that Sam Schrock built in 1926, now a Bed and Breakfast.”

Son Sammy had very distinct impressions of his father, Samuel, Sr., “He was ornery and self-centered.” One of his earliest memories was riding to town with his father in the 1914 Republic truck around 1920. His feet couldn’t touch the floor. Sammy thinks the truck was actually a 1916 model but his father wanted it to coincide with the year of his son’s birth—he wasn’t above stretching the truth to fit his pleasure! He was flamboyant and larger than life. Sam, Sr. had a love for music and passed this love on to several in his family.

Sam Sr.’s children remember some of his quotes: “Style and education ruin the country;” “I can talk myself into trouble and I can talk myself out of trouble,”  (his wife, Helen, on the other hand used to say, “Silence is golden,” and be embarrassed at what her husband said); “Hello, I’m Sam Johnson.” (Everyone knew who he was—this was just part of his personality. Sam was a Democrat and of German descent, but he managed to live comfortably in Phelps County with its preponderance of Swedes and Republicans.)²¹

The “ranch” (the land 12 miles north of Holdrege) was always important to the family, but Samuel wouldn’t sell the property to his son and namesake. He was ready to sell to another party but his wife Helen stuck up for her family and wouldn’t sign the papers. About 20 years later Sam Jr. and his sisters approached their 94-year-old Papa and were able to buy it—at more than market value! About this same time Sam’s children (Sammy was appointed conservator) had to take over his affairs, and Sam was furious at this loss of control and never really forgave his children for doing this. Sammy once commented, “Papa used to brag about me to other people, but he never complemented me to my face.”  This caused Sammy to change his behavior with his own children. He put his sons in charge of the farming at an early age in order to teach them independence.

Dramatic endings.

The life of immigrant Andrew ended dramatically during the prime of his life. He acquired a good amount of acreage, a productive farm, reared seven living children and had a good wife. He planned for and was building a fine brick home for his family that included a large room on the second floor where church services could be held on Sundays.  As it turned out, Andrew did not realize his dream. Instead, a deadly outbreak of cholera snuffed out his life and left his family without father and husband.

However, as often happened in Amish Mennonite communities, relatives put themselves and their resources on the line and made sure Anna and her children were cared for. A Tazewell County document exists for the $10,000 guardianship bond for Andrew’s children, dated August 10, 1857:

“Know all Men by these Presents, That we Anna Schrock, Peter Guth, Johannes Schrock and Joseph Schrock…for the use of Anna Schrock, Andrew Schrock, Mary Schrock, Peter Schrock and Madaline Schrock, minor heirs of Andrew Schrock, late of said County, deceased….”

The document contains the signatures of Peter Guth and Johannes Schrock (Anna’s brothers-in-law), Joseph Schrock, her nephew; and the mark of Anna Oyer Schrock. 

In one document Anna signed with her mark

In another document Anna signed her name

Peter Guth’s signature, administrator of Andrew’s estate.

Five years after her husband’s death the 1860 Federal Census reveals that Anna was carrying on successfully as a widow. She is listed as head of household, 45 years old, a farmer with real and personal property totaling $7000. Born in France. Children listed as Susan 23; Ann 20; Andrew 17; Mary 13; Peter 11; Magdaline 4. Counted with the family is Lewis List, farmer, age 21. No doubt Lewis was a hired hand helping with the farm work. Anna’s real and personal property totaled much more than her neighbors’, and $5000 more than the family reported in the 1850 census.

Father Andrew’s legacy was his loyalty within the Amish community of Lorraine, France, and his determination to make a better physical life in a New World where there was also the opportunity to worship God unhindered, and serve his fellow believers at whatever cost. He knew the value of hard work—a value expressed in the lives of several of his children and grandchildren, but unfortunately not so much in the life of his namesake. He was a visionary in his own environment, but didn’t live to see that vision completed.

On the other hand, son Andrew’s life and death leave mostly conjecture.

Did he lead a life void of happiness? It seems he did not miss his family or wish to reconnect, but was a loner all his life, without a community of support. The two census records from Nebraska and Kansas indicate that Andrew may have in his later years settled down sufficiently to earn enough money to own his farms, but they also show he continued to move from place to place. One wonders if Andrew had any connection to a faith community. Perhaps at some point Andrew remembered the “faith of his fathers” and made it his own. His legacy was not positive, in that his children were determined not to follow in their father’s footsteps, but rather live their lives as their immigrant grandfather had. Andrew was known to have said, “When I feel I can no longer be of use on this earth, I’ll jump in the river.” Perhaps losing his father at such an early age affected him more than his family realized, for he was never able to meet the challenges of providing for and loving a family.  His oldest son Sam always believed Andrew drowned himself in the Columbia River. Now we know that didn’t happen, but what did was just as heart rending.

**************************************************************

Sam Schrock sitting at the grave of his ancestor Andrew

Sam and Sharon Schrock of near Holdrege,
Nebraska, were unable to attend Schrock
Immigrant Day in June 2010—they had
crucial irrigation work at that time. Instead,
they spent a day in Illinois during a longer
trip in August. I had the privilege of taking
them to visit many of the Schrock family sites.
Of special interest to Sam was the
gravesite of his ancestor, Andreas Schrack,
in Guth Cemetery. He mused, “I never
thought I would ever be able to see my
great-great-great grandfather’s grave.” –DB

 ENDNOTES

---

¹ Neil Ann Stuckey Levine was kind enough to translate for me the birth document of André Schrack. She made further comments: There is no signature or mark of Joseph Schrack at the end of the document—at least not on the scan I received—and yet the man is not described as having been unable to write. And the fact that the father had to tap non-relatives to witness this birth indicates, as so often, that he and his family may have been perhaps the only fellow believers in town at the time. [Joseph Schrack did,however, sign birth documents of other children. db]

² Donald Kaufmann’s Stalter information says the land next to Waldo Cemetery in Livingston County is farmland once owned by Anna’s family. Anna married Ludwig (Louis) Stalter.

³ The deed reads: Benjⁿ Rutiger to Andrew Chrag. Years later in August 1915 in an affidavit filed in Hamilton County, Nebraska, Peter Schrock affirmed that Andrew Chrag was indeed his father Andrew Schrock. The error in the last name, he said, “was probably made by the draftsman of the said old deed, who evidently was not familiar with the correct spelling of declarant’s father’s family name.”

⁴ Carol Dorward, Collections Manager/Archivist for the Washington Historical Society, was instrumental in finding and sending relevant land deeds at the Tazewell County Court House in Pekin for my research.

⁵ David D. Augspurger was an ordained minister. According to Schertz Family Descendants: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/e/m/Dennis-G-BeMent/GENE17-0004.html, David established a church in Goodland, Indiana, then conducted mission work in the Chicago area, and later established a church at Bethel, east of Pekin.

⁶ E-mail from Carol Dorward, Washington Historical Society, 25 May 2011. Louis and Katharina Rein, in turn, sold the property for $7000 to John Wenger on 1 December 1903.

⁷ The acres bought and sold as seen in the land records do not match. However, there may still be transactions that took place that have not been found.

⁸ Descendants of Johannes Rediger. Received from Donald W. Roth September 2005.

⁹ “Also, there is still a house standing which in the second story had a large room built for the purpose of serving as a Mennonite Church meeting place.  Families attending there were Schrock, Augsburger, Schick and Guth.  Other early names were Muench, now Minch, and Riech, now Rich.  Few of these names remain, their descendants have gone on to business or professions or to engage in farming in other parts of the country.”  History of Washington, Illinois, Sesquicentennial, 1825-1975, page 16.

¹⁰ Mary Smith Oyer’s account of her grandparents’ death: Magdalena Schrock (1811 – 1855) and Christian Smith (1810 – 1855).

¹¹ Ibid. History of Washington, Illinois, Sesquicentennial, 1825-1975.

¹² Much information can be found on line about this historic cemetery, begun in 1850 on land donated by John Sutter who laid out the city plan for Sacramento—a son of John A. Sutter of Sutter’s Fort—famous for its role during the California Gold Rush.

¹³ http://oddfellows-cmtry-sac.com/index.php.  The name of Andy Schrock will not be found in a search on this website.

¹⁴ Schrock Farms 1908-2008, compiled by Sharon Schrock and Nancy Morse.

¹⁵ Adapted from information given in the book, Schrock Farms 1908-2008.

¹⁶ Raymond C. Schrock e-mail, 2008.

¹⁷ Ibid. Schrock Farms

¹⁸ Johannes Schrock: His Children and Grandchildren. Unpublished manuscript by Willard Smith.

¹⁹Ibid. Schrock Farms.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Ibid.

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Map showing location of Odd Fellows Lawn Cemetery near City Cemetery

 

Map of Odd Fellows Lawn Cemetery that includes Potter’s Field

 

Goggle Maps aerial view of Potter’s Field—on the left ed

Celebrating Our Heritage

The following article was published by Masthof Press in the July 2011 issue of  Mennonite Family History, and is presented here with their permission.  (http://www.masthof.com/mfh/mfh.html)

Group photo of the Schrock family by Laura Birkey Photography: http://www.laurabirkey.com

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago, then President of Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society (IMHGS), Carolyn Nafziger, asked if I would consider presenting the Schrock family at one of the Society’s occasional Immigrant Day events. Yes, I was interested, but could not see it as a possibility for several years. Finally, in 2009, I was ready to commit to the following year.

In 2008, I had spent two weeks in France visiting villages and farms relative to the Schrock family and had also made connections with all five Schrock family lines. Now or never, I thought, and my husband, Del, gave me his “go for it” in January, even though we knew it would take large amounts of time. Unfortunately, I did not have his continuing support with the project as he rather suddenly passed away in May of 2009. But by that time plans were underway, and I preferred not to back out.

Everyone I contacted about the idea of a reunion expressed interest. Thus, a group of six “cousins,” representing three of the family lines, agreed to form the planning group and scheduled a first meeting for February 2009. My illness and a bad weather accident for another member kept two of us away, but the remaining members met at the IMHGS Heritage Center in Metamora with staff member Julie Hendricks and got the ball rolling.

I was unable to attend the next meeting in May because of my husband’s death, and so I felt rather behind the curve for the third meeting in August. Although I had been the one to initiate the process, it was certainly the combined efforts of the planning group that made it happen.

And happen it did on June 18-20, 2010. The three-day weekend event was more than worth all the effort for approximately 175 people who gathered together from fourteen states. We were delighted that even a distant relative and his wife from France could also attend. Schrock “cousins” dug deep into both their time and financial reserves, and we all agreed it was a pleasure to bring our own families and other relatives from across the U.S. to learn about and appreciate our Schrock heritage.

SCHROCK IMMIGRANT DAY & REUNION

The Schrock Immigrant Day & Reunion was a gathering for the descendants of Joseph Schrag (1772-1830) and Marie Neyhousser (1772-aft 1826), and their five surviving immigrant children: Johannes (1801-1875); Peter (1802-1887); Andrew (1804-1855); Magdalena (1811-1855); and Barbara (ca 1815-ca1836). Peter settled in Butler Co., Ohio, but the other four siblings migrated to the prairies of Illinois. Later some descendants scattered to other states.

Welcome sign.

The Heritage Center campus was an ideal venue for Schrock relatives to gather. Many family members live in that area and the rural farmland reflected the history of our ancestors. The Dienerversammlungen meeting of 1868 was held in the Sutter barn now on this property, although at the time it was in its original location near Hopedale, Illinois.

Schrock family members were welcomed on Friday evening (#3) and became acquainted with cousins they did not know they had, and found themselves on the family tree charts prepared for the reunion (#4). They were photographed in family groupings, (#5) with the oldest (Mae Schrock, age 106) and youngest (Anika Cisco, age 2) Schrock descendants identified. Charles “Chuck” Schrock was the third oldest at age 92. The second oldest living descendant was unable to attend, but Eddis Hasselman who was born in 1912 on the original Johannes home place, was publicly honored on her 98^th birthday on June 18.

Later in the evening everyone joined in singing hymns of our ancestors in the Sutter barn. The hymn sing was led by hymnodist Mary Oyer–one of the most memorable events of the evening. With twilight approaching and in the dimness of the historic barn, one could easily imagine former times when our ancestors were gathered to sing their familiar songs of the faith.

Hymns were selected from both the Apostolic Christian Zion’s Harp and the Amish Mennonite Ausbund.  We sang Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—the text: anonymous, Te Deum laudamus, late fourth century; Clarence A. Walworth’s English translation in 1853 based on Ignaz Franz’s German translation ca 1774 of Te Deum laudamus, alt.; and music from Katholisches Gesangbuch (Vienna, 1774).

Mary also explained the hymn O Gott Vater—the second song sung in every Amish worship service. After listening to a taped rendition, the group attempted to sing the tune from the Ausbund seventeenth century, and adapted by Mary Oyer. Another hymn was “Now Thank We All Our God,” with text and music from 1636 and 1647.

Following the hymn sing, everyone enjoyed kettle popcorn prepared by the Frank Kandel family before a rainstorm scattered the crowd. Saturday dawned bright and sunny with a presentation of the European ancestry of Joseph Schrag, followed by more presentations about each of his children.

European Ancestry (1500-1772)

On Saturday morning, I presented the probable early European ancestry of the Joseph Schrag family (see graphic), beginning with origins in the Swiss village of Wynigen where Schrag families were identified as “Anabaptists” as early as 1700. Joseph’s grandfather was Caspar Schrag, born ca1710 in Zweibrücken, Germany. Caspar’s son Caspar, born 1744 somewhere in Bavaria, was Joseph’s father. Since the reunion, I have been in touch with a Schrag descendant living near Wynigen, Switzerland. As a result, I have made adjustments to the graphic and am able to claim “almost certain” rather than “probable” Schrag ancestry.

By the time of Joseph’s birth, the family had migrated to the Saarebourg area of France, where Joseph and his family stayed most of their remaining years in Europe. Joseph died at Rhodes in 1830. There is no indication that Marie emigrated to America, but within a year of their father’s death, Johannes and Peter with their families and Magdalena as a single woman, arrived at the port of Baltimore on the same boat in the spring of 1831. Andrew and Barbara’s arrival has not yet been documented.

Family members viewing charts. Photo by Donna Schrock Birkey

Johannes Schrag (1801-1875)

Johannes Schrag (1801-1875)

The story of Johannes, oldest son of Joseph and Marie, was told by several of his descendants, including Don Schrock, Frank Kandel, John Cender and Justine Trout, in readings, conversations, and artifacts.

Johannes, a miller in Europe, continued that occupation in Butler Co., Ohio, for about 20 years before taking his family by riverboat to Illinois. His oldest son Joseph (1828-1901) at the age of 22, however, drove the horses and wagon by land. On the final night of the trip, he camped with his wagon under a large elm tree near his final Illinois destination. Years later Joseph’s son Jonathan (1861-1947) was able to point out that tree to his children.

Johannes’ family line produced several powerfully built men. Joseph grew to be well over six feet tall and weighed in excess of 250 pounds. His son Jonathan was able to heave a hundred pound sack of grain onto each shoulder and walk up the steps to the second floor of the granary. John, the youngest of Johannes’ sons, worked in saw mills, gristmills and brickyards. A newspaper account reports that John “carried from the saw mill every tie and plank for the first bridge over the Illinois River in Pekin—the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad Bridge. . . .They told of John Schrock that he could cut with an axe and rack five cords of wood in a day.”   Joseph’s family, and his sister Catherine’s family, ultimately left the Amish tradition and joined the Apostolic Christian Church.

Gold medallion, both sides. Courtesy: Brett Schrock

In the late 1920s the Prairie Farmer Master Farmer Award,
in the form of a gold medallion, was awarded to grandson
Edward Schrock for the excellent management of his grand-
father Johannes’ original homestead farm.

Perhaps due to the Amish aversion to photographs, of the
five children only Johannes left behind an image of himself.

Peter Schrag (1802-1887)

Peter’s life in Butler County, Ohio, was shown in pictures and stories from his family’s archives by way of Power Point. Peter purchased several different farms in the area near Trenton. Both brother Johannes and sister Magdalena purchased land adjoining Peter’s original farm before migrating to Illinois. An active member of the Amish branch of the Mennonite Church, Peter was at the meeting on May 8, 1835 when it was decided to divide the original Amish congregation into two– Augspurger and Hessian–due to the strife that developed with the newly arrived Hessians. Later that year, he was elected a minister of the conservative “hook and eye” Augspurger Church along with Jacob Augspurger.

Peter’s home had a “church room” that was used as a meetingplace before a “church house” was built. Quite a number of Peter’s children and grandchildren did not marry, resulting in a smaller number of descendants than most of his siblings.

Andrew Schrag (1804-1855)

Debbie Birkey, dressed as Andrew’s daughter-in-law Magdalena Schick, presented a dramatic reading about his life and that of his son Andrew Jr.  Andrew Sr. died in the cholera epidemic that hit Illinois in 1855, after visiting his sister Magdalena and her family, also afflicted with the dreaded disease. In the 1920s, his son Andrew Jr. walked away from his family and was never heard from again. His wife and five children had moved to Nebraska about 1900, where oldest son Samuel became a well-known farmer and entrepreneur in the town of Holderege. A few years later the family received word that Andrew was in Portland, Oregon, and they made attempts to contact him, but to no avail. It is commonly thought by his family that he may have ended his own life. Perhaps the early death of his father was traumatic enough to affect the rest of his life, leaving him unable to face the challenges of life and a family. Today many of Andrew’s descendants are part of the Methodist Church.

 Magdalena Schrag Smith (1811-1855)

John J. Smith told the sad story of oldest daughter Magdalena who became the wife of Christian Smith. They both, along with two of their children, died within days in 1855 during the Illinois cholera epidemic. The six living children were cared for by relatives and friends. It was a difficult time for the children, as some neighbors were afraid of catching the disease and therefore shunned them. Oldest son, Peter, died young at age 38, and his wife died six years later. Just 25 years after Peter was orphaned, his children aged 7-20 years, were orphans. Three of Magdalena’s children left the Amish church to join the Apostolic Christian church. Magdalena and Christian had purchased farmland in what later became Congerville, Illinois, and the family lived there until their untimely deaths from cholera.

Barbara Schrag Belsly (ca1815-ca1836)

Barbara and her family connections were finally more fully revealed to the Belsly family by Robert Belsly. For many years the family only knew Joseph Belsly’s wife and son Christian’s mother to be named Barbara—“possibly a Schrock.” Because Barbara died early in life, just after Christian’s birth, more was remembered about his stepmother than this birth mother.

Little information has been found about the life of Barbara Schrag, but she had an interesting burial. At the time of her death, she was buried on her husband’s farm. Later when her husband died he was buried in the same area. Even later, his second wife Barbara Engel, was buried there as well. After the death of all three, a larger cemetery was created on his farmland, and Joseph and his two wives were moved there. However, there are only two stones, one for Joseph and one for Barbara Engel. Oral and written Belsly family history records that both wives are buried in the same plot beside Joseph, with no mention of Barbara Schrag on the stone. Perhaps this is another reason why she was not well remembered by her husband’s family.

The Illinois Prairie

Prairie display arranged by Kathy Cender Martin. Photo by Kathy Cender Martin.

On display during the weekend were two prairie quilts (one made by a Schrock descendant, Alta Heiser Detweiler) and information about the Illinois prairie where so many of Joseph and Marie’s descendants settled.

Prairie enthusiast and descendant of Johannes, Kathy Cender Martin, provided information about the Illinois prairie in general and its impact on our Schrock families.

Our Schrock ancestors from France and Germany crossed the ocean and arrived in Tazewell County, Illinois, to find a sea of grass bordered by dense woodlands along the Mackinaw River, Dillon Creek, Springhill Creek, Panther Creek, and Mud Creek.

The five immigrant children of Joseph and Maria Neyhousser Schrag located their first dwelling places in the new country near woods and waterways where transportation, building materials, fuel, and sustenance were readily available. In time, they and their descendents would venture out onto the prairie grasslands in search of expanded space and cropland.  Here they discovered that the vast prairie soil held a wealth of richness upon which they built farms, churches, and thriving communities.

John Schrock (1862-1951), a grandson of immigrant Johannes, first broke the prairie sod near Fisher with a horse-pulled, hand-guided plow in 1890. He told how the land was wet and marshy and so full of snakes that he had to wear protective tall boots as he walked behind the plow. Today, a portion of this very same land that John Schrock farmed has been restored by his granddaughter, Alta Heiser Detweiler, as a two-acre prairie restoration area. This restoration supports a rich variety of plants including big blue stem, Indian grass, switch grass, prairie dropseed, blazing star, purple coneflower, compass plant, prairie dock, New England aster, rattlesnake master, spiderwort, and others.

On the grounds of the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center is another example of a restored Illinois prairie and a prairie grove. The Prairie Arboretum was planted with native prairie grasses and flowers in 1992. Trees native to Illinois have been planted nearby in the arboretum. It is a gift of descendants of Amish Mennonite preacher and pioneer farmer Christian Reeser (1819-1923). This Reeser prairie was available for exploration during the weekend event.

After lunch and at the conclusion of the presentations, Dr. Mary Oyer, hymnodist for many years at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, led the Schrock Family Singers in two songs of our ancestors as a fitting finale to the heritage stories we had heard. Then, as a welcome conclusion to a warm and wonderful day, everyone enjoyed a dish of ice cream before goodbyes were said.

For those who wished to participate further, a tour was led to various historic sites of the Schrock family in Illinois. Two buses made five stops over a 107-mile route to visit a church site, two cemeteries, two homesteads, and the town that was to be Schrock but was changed to Congerville. We visited sites described as follows.

Johannes Schrock Homestead

The Johannes Schrock homestead as it is today on the original land purchased in 1850 in Elm Grove Township near Pekin, Illinois. Photo by Donna Schrock Birkey

Guth Cemetery near Washington, Illinois

Not far from Andrew Schrock’s original farm is an old cemetery where Andrew and his daughter Susanna are buried. In addition to Andrew’s stone is a readable stone for Peter Guth (1806-1886), whose wife, Susanna Oyer, was a sister to Andrew’s wife Anna, therefore providing the Schrock family access to burial plots in the cemetery on land owned by Peter Guth. The plan was to stop at Guth Cemetery but unforeseen street repair caused a drive by only.

Village of Congerville, Illinois

Congerville plat. Courtesy: Don Schrock

The village of Congerville, begun in the spring of 1888 as a town named Schrock, is situated on a portion of Joseph Schrock’s farm. The History of Congerville tells the story of the town’s original intention to name the town Schrock and the ultimate decision to name it Congerville. In 1887, the Nickel Plate Railroad was being built from Bloomington to Peoria. According to legend and history, the contractors completed the railroad as far as Schrock’s farm when they were halted by the severe winter that year. They settled there to wait for winter to be over. Other people moved to the railroad community, many seeking to participate in the building job. With this development, a town was formed on the land owned by Joseph Schrock, oldest son of Johannes, and a plat was recorded January 7, 1888, naming the community Town of Schrock. The Schrock name was  attached to the town for only one or two years. Eventually the town was named Congerville after Ben Conger, an early settler who owned a considerable amount of land and had a reputation as a fine hunter. Today there are no Congers living there, but plenty of Schrocks! The suggestion was floated to petition for a reversal of name!

Joseph Schrock's house in Congerville. Photo by Donna Schrock Birkey.

Belsly Cemetery

The Belsly farm near Metamora, Illinois. has been in the family since the day Barbara Schrock’s husband purchased the land. It is considered to be the oldest one-family farm in Illinois. A family cemetery near the homestead on Lourdes Road contains the burial site of Barbara and her husband “Red Joe.”

Engel Barn  (The engraving of the barn was done by Jacob Faber in about 1891.)

Peter Engel log barn. Courtesy: Juliet Engel Schertz

Another tour stop was at the site of the Peter Engel log barn in Metamora, traditionally thought to have been the site of the first Amish church meetings as well as the first Apostolic Christian services in Illinoi

One of the first Apostolic Christian groups was known as the Partridge Prairie Apostolic Christian Church. This congregation often met in the barn on the Peter Engel farm in which the first service of the Amish Mennonite church had been held in 1833. When snow was knee deep in the winter and mud hub deep in the spring, this devout group would thoroughly sweep the barn, including the walls and rafters, and bake many loaves of bread in preparation for Sunday worship. Pieces of logs were carried into the barn and planks laid across the logs to serve as benches. Chickens sometimes wandered into the barn, and someone would quietly shoo them out if they became noisy. Families from Morton and Dillon walked 25 miles to services, leaving home at 2:00 a.m. in the morning to be at the church on time. At a service held at the Engel barn on July 1, 1866, there were 53 rigs in the yard for the morning service with still more persons attending in the afternoon.

The background given at this tour site provided a connection between the Apostolic Christian Schrocks and the Amish Mennonite Schrocks after a parting of the ways in the 1800s when some Schrock families left the Amish Mennonite churches to join the newly formed Apostolic Christian churches.

Schrock families able to stay until Sunday were invited to worship with the members of an Apostolic Christian Church in nearby Morton and enjoy a light lunch following the service.

Throughout this reunion, the staff of Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society handled the physical arrangements with efficiency. It is my hope this report of our experience will give other families the inspiration to do the same.

 (See three generations of Joseph’s family below)

Sources

Information about Johanes Schrag was compiled from French records and stories from various descendants.

Information about Peter Schrag was shared with me several years ago during a trip to Columbus and Butler Co., Ohio, by descendants and historians of the area and has been supplemented by French records.

Andrew Schrag’s story was developed from the book Schrock Farms, 1908-2008, compiled by Sharon Schrock and Nancy Morse, and from French records.

Don Bishop Smith supplied much of the information about Magdalena Schrag Smith and her descendants based on Oyer family notes, Willard Smith’s book, Mennonites in Illinois, and French research.

Robert Belsly provided details of the family of Barbara Schrag and her husband, “Red Joe” Belsly, and their only son, Christian’s family. Information is contained in the book The Descendants of Joseph “Red Joe” Belsly by Robert Belsly.

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 _{Joseph Schrag Family Genealogy}

Three Generations

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First Generation

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1. Joseph Schrag (Schrack). Born in 1772 in Bistroff, Meurthe, France, on Belgrade farm. Joseph died on 5 Apr 1830 in Rhodes, Meurthe, France. Resided in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, in 1799-1805, during the birth of four children, and at the time of his sister Catherine’s marriage; in Rimling, Sarrebourg, Moselle, France, in 1811, at the mill at the birth of Magdelaine; in Rhodes, Meurthe, France, in 1822, still in Rhodes in 1826, living at the mill at Bachats at the time of Johannes’ and Catherine’s marriage. Occupation: Miller In Gondrexange; and at Rhodes at the time of his death. In 1827, at the time of Peter’s marriage, he was listed as an unskilled laborer.

On 13 Aug 1798 Joseph first married Maria Engel, daughter of Christian Engel (about 1730-bef 1798) and Catherine Marie Ritzieker (1736-18 Mar 1798), in Gosselming, Moselle, France. Maria was born in 1774 in Gosselming, Moselle, France, at Alzing farm. Maria died about 1799-1800.

They had one child:

i.            Joseph. Born on 7 Jun 1799 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, and died in Gondrexange 9 Feb 1805 at age 5 yrs. 6 mo.

About 1800 Joseph secondly married Marie Neuhauser, daughter of Nicolas Christian Neuhauser (1736-11 Mar 1798) and an unknown wife. Marie was born in 1772 in Gosselming, Moselle, France, and died sometime after 1826.

They had the following children:

2            i.            Johannes (1801-1875)

3            ii.            Peter (1802-1887)

4            iii.            André (Andreas) (1803-1855)

iv.            Anne. Born on 24 Dec 1806. Evidently died young.

5            v.            Magdalena (1811-1855)

6            vi.            Barbara (~1815-~1836)

Second Generation

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2. Johannes Schrock (Schrack, Gerrard). Born on 15 Jun 1801 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, according to his marriage record. Aug 17, 1801 has also been used. Johannes died in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL, on 21 Jan 1875; he was 73. Immigrated in the spring of 1831 via Le Havre to Baltimore, MD. On the ship list his name is recorded as Jno. Gerrard.

On 8 Apr 1826 when Johannes was 24, he first married Catherine (Elisabeth) Salzman, daughter of Michael Salzman (29 Sep 1779-30 Nov 1861) and Catherine Hergi (Hergy, Hirschine) (1780-5 Mar 1814), in Blamont, Moselle, France. Catherine was born on 27 Oct 1804 in Sarralbe, Moselle, France, and died in Mar 1858 in Tazewell Co., IL.

They had the following children:

7            i.            Joseph (1828-1901)

8            ii.            Catherine (1829-1906)

iii.            Johannes (Died as Infant). Born on 11 Jul 1834, died on 12 Oct 1835.

iv.            Jacobina (Died as Infant). Born on 23 Aug 1836, died on 12 Sep 1837.

9            v.            Peter (1839-1922)

10            vi.            John (1843-1935)

11            vii.            Magdalena (1845-1914)

On 1 Feb 1861 when Johannes was 59, he second married Jacobina (Phebe) King, daughter of Johannes King (24 Jun 1791-17 Jul 1860) and Jacobina “Phoebe” Reidiger (23 Oct 1794-19 Jul 1869), in McLean Co., IL. Jacobina was born on 14 Sep 1814 in Baden, Germany, and died in Livingston Co., IL, on 21 Mar 1896; she was 81.

3. Peter Schrock (Schrack). Born on 15 Jun 1802 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, and died in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, on 7 Sep 1887; he was 85. Immigrated in 1831 to Baltimore, MD. Arrived in the spring with his wife and first two children, along with brother Johannes and his family, and the Michael Salzman family. Also included in the group was Jacob and Betsy [Barby] Zimmerman, his wife’s parents. Peter resided in Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH, in 1832, was naturalized on 8 Oct 1855. Occupation: apprentice miller at Robert-Espagne in 1827; miller at Cheppe near Dompcevrin, Meuse in 1828. In Butler Co., OH, Peter was a farmer.

On 25 Aug 1827 when Peter was 25, he first married Magdalena Zimmerman, daughter of Jacob Zimmermann and Elisabeth Becker (Bacher or Baechler), in Robert-Espagne, Meuse. Magdalena was born on 17 Apr 1801 in Emmendingen, [Grand] Duchy Of Baden. Magdalena died on 31 Dec 1862; she was 61.

They had the following children:

12            i.            Peter (1828-1905)

13            ii.            Magdalena (1830-1878)

14            iii.            Maria (1836-1868)

iv.            Anna. Born on 6 Dec 1839, and died on 6 Sep 1864; she was 24.

v.            Frana. Born on 17 Jun 1841, and died on 29 Mar 1860; she was 18.

15            vi.            John (1843-1886)

vii.            Elizabeth. Born on 15 Aug 1846. Elizabeth died on 1 Apr 1862; she was 15.

viii.            Christian. Born on 6 Sep 1849, and died in Butler Co., OH, on 5 Apr 1867; he was 17.

Peter secondly married Magdalena Rediger, daughter of Christian Rediger (5 Jun 1805-Mar 1860) and Magdalena Stalter (10 Dec 1805-5 Jan 1877), in Butler Co., OH. Magdalena was born on 25 Oct 1829 in Germany, and died in Gridley, McLean Co., IL, on 23 Apr 1896; she was 66.

4. André (Andreas) Schrock (Schrack). Born on 3 Jul 1804 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, and died in Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 5 Aug 1855; he was 52. Andre resided in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, in 1828, and in Butler Co., OH, from about 1835-1840; he went to Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, bet 1837-1842.

Sometime before 1835 André married Anna Oyer, daughter of Jacob Oyer (ca 1778-14 Nov 1885) and Suzanne Shertz (ca 1780-2 Jul 1829). Anna was born on 31 Aug 1815 in Niderhof, Lorraine, France, and died after 1880.

They had the following children:

i.            Andrew (Died as Infant).

16            ii.            Joseph (1835-1920)

iii.            Susannah. (1837-1863)

17            iv.            Anna (1840-1874)

18            v.            Andrew (1842-?)

19            vi.            Mary (1846-1945)

20            vii.            Magdalena (1847-1946)

21            viii.            Peter (1849-1940)

5. Magdalena Schrock (Schrack). Born on 10 Apr 1811 in Rimling, Sarrebourg, Moselle, France, and died in Congerville, Montgomery Twp., Woodford Co., IL, on 4 Aug 1855; she was 44. Buried in Woodford Co., IL. Immigrated in 1831 with brothers Johannes and Peter. Magdalena resided in Wayne Co., OH, about 1832, then in Butler Co., OH, after 1832; in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, in 1838.

About 1833 Magdalena married Christian Smith (Schmitt), son of Joseph Schmitt (26 Apr 1777-) and Freni/Veronique Gerber (28 Feb 1781-), in Wayne Co., OH. Christian was born on 31 May 1810 in Bisping, Moselle, France, and died in Congerville, Montgomery Twp., Woodford Co., IL, on 2 Aug 1855; he was 45. Buried in Woodford Co., IL.

They had the following children:

22            i.            Mary S. (~1833-1896)

ii.            Barbara. (1835/36-1855)

23            iii.            Peter (1837-1875)

24            iv.            Anna (Nancy) (1840-1861)

25            v.            Magdalena S. (1841-1916)

26            vi.            Joseph (1843-1889)

27            vii.            Christian (1846-1924)

viii.            John. (1848-1855)

6. Barbara Schrock (Schrack). Born about 1815 in France, and died about 1836.

About 1832-35 Barbara married Joseph “Red Joe” Belsly, son of Christian Pelsy (2 Jul 1772-10 Jun 1837) and Catherine Verkler (Wirckler) (1 Jan 1778-4 Apr 1860). Joseph was born on 28 May 1802 in Hellocourt, Rhodes, Meurthe, France, and died in Spring Bay, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 24 Dec 1872; he was 70. At his death he was one of the richest farmers in the county.

They had one child:

28            i.            Christian (1835-1917)

Third Generation

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7. Joseph Schrock. Born on 17 Mar 1828 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, on 28 Dec 1901; he was 73.

On 8 Jun 1852 when Joseph was 24, he married Magdalena Guingrich, daughter of Joseph Gingerich (15 Dec 1804-6 Mar 1875) and Magdalena Guerber (22 Nov 1807-1847).

They had the following children:

i.            Catherine (1853-1944)

ii.            John (1855-1930)

iii.            Lidia (1857-1885)

iv.            Joseph S. (1859-1936)

v.            Jonathan (1861-1947)

vi.            Magdalena (1864-1938)

vii.            Mary (1867->1900)

viii.            David (1869-1948)

ix.            Susanna (Susan) (1872-1944)

8. Catherine Schrock. Born on 18 Dec 1829 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL, on 10 May 1906; she was 76. Buried in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL. Old Apostolic Cemetery.

About 1848 Catherine first married Joseph Oyer, son of Catherine Oyer (11 Jun 1796-aft 1860) who married John Schrock.

They had the following children:

i.            John

ii.            Joseph

iii.            Lena

iv.            Catherine (Katie) (1856-1936)

v.            Mary

vi.            Peter Charles (1862-)

On 12 Mar 1865 when Catherine was 35, she second married Christian Kauffman, in Tazewell Co., IL, who was born on 25 Jan 1825 in Switzerland.

They had the following children:

i.            William (1867-1868)

ii.            Samuel (1869-1870)

iii.            Benjamin G. (1871-)

iv.            Emma Rebecca

9. Peter Schrock. Born on 1 Aug 1839 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL, on 5 Apr 1922; he was 82. Buried in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL. East Bend Mennonite Cemetery.

On 8 Jan 1860 when Peter was 20, he married Anna (Nancy) Garber, daughter of John Garber (25 Jul 1788-27 Jul 1845) and Eva Caroline Paithe (20 Mar 1799-26 Nov 1874), in Tazewell Co., IL. Anna was born on 30 Apr 1839 in Wayne Co., OH, and died in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL, on 3 Feb 1902; she was 62.

They had the following children:

i.            Katherine (Katie) (1860-1861)

ii.            John (1862-1951)

iii.            Samuel (1864-1943)

iv.            Joseph (1866-1947)

v.            Lydia Anna (1868-1938)

vi.            Moses (1870-1879)

vii.            Ella (1876-1951)

viii.            Magdalena Matilda (Lena) (1885-1950)

10. John Schrock. Born on 26 Mar 1843 in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, and died in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL, on 20 Apr 1935; he was 92.

On 3 Dec 1865 when John was 22, he married Barbara Rediger, daughter of Joseph Rediger (31 Jan 1796-9 Feb 1852) and Anna Schmidt (2 Aug 1808-30 Aug 1876), in Pekin Twp., Tazewell Co., IL. Barbara was born on 29 May 1844 in Washburn, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL, on 3 Aug 1911; she was 67.

They had the following children:

i.            Peter (1867-1942)

ii.            Catherine (1868-1951)

iii.            Daniel (1869-1937)

iv.            Bina (1871-1942)

v.            Sarah (1872-1941)

vi.            Ida (1874-1945)

vii.            Frances (1875-1968)

viii.            Edward (1877-1964)

ix.            John William (1880-1948)

x.            Margaret Isabel (Belle) (1882-1954)

xi.            Barbara (1885-1980)

xii.            Aaron Lester (1888-1889)

11. Magdalena Schrock. Born on 23 Apr 1845 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Feb/Mar 1914.

On 18 Dec 1866 when Magdalena was 21, she married Joseph Yoder, in Meadows, McLean Co., IL. Joseph was born on 18 Dec 1841 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, and died in Goodfield, Woodford Co., IL, on 18 Jun 1928; he was 86.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary (1868-1952)

ii.            Daughter (~1870-1873)

iii.            Christian (1877-1893)

iv.            John M. (1871-1944)

v.            Joseph M. (1874-1939)

vi.            William (1885-1942)

12. Peter Schrock, Jr. Born on 5 Dec 1828 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, on 5 Mar 1905; he was 76. Buried in Trenton, Butler Co., OH.

On 13 Mar 1856 when Peter was 27, he first married Elizabeth K. (Lizzie) Augsburger, daughter of Joseph Augsburger (17 Mar 1806-29 Jan 1869) and Magdalena Kennel (9 Mar 1811-12 Oct 1902). Elizabeth was born on 26 Jan 1837, and died in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, on 28 Aug 1874; she was 37.

They had the following children:

i.            Joseph Albert (1857-1945)

ii.            John (1859-1859)

iii.            Maria A. (1860-1875)

iv.            Magdalena A. (1862-1932)

v.            Veronica A. (Fanny) (1866-1944)

vi.            Samuel A. (1869-1932)

vii.            Sarah Anna (1873-1942)

On 14 Jan 1875 when Peter was 46, he second married Elizabeth Augspurger, in Butler Co., OH. Elizabeth was born on 27 Aug 1844, and died on 16 Feb 1912; she was 67.

13. Magdalena Schrag. Born on 7 Jun 1830 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Butler Co., OH, on 27 Jan 1878; she was 47.

On 13 Nov 1853 when Magdalena was 23, she married Joseph Arthur (Otto) Salzman, son of Andre’ Saltzman (about 1799-3 Nov 1876) and Anne Catherine Hodler (10 Oct 1801-14 Dec 1891), in Butler Co., OH. Joseph Arthur was born on 25 May 1825 in Blamont, Moselle, France, and died in Butler Co., OH, on 1 May 1871; he was 45. Buried in Trenton, Butler Co., OH.

They had the following children:

i.            John (1854-1937)

ii.            Christian (1856-1910)

iii.            Peter (1858-1939)

iv.            Joseph Arthur (1862-1932)

v.            Anna M. (1864-1949)

vi.            Mary B. (1865-1946)

14. Maria Schrag. Born on 6 Sep 1836, and died on 18 May 1868; she was 31.

On 5 Mar 1861 when Maria was 24, she married Christian Kinsinger, son of Rev. Joseph Kinsinger (19 Aug 1801-16 Dec 1857) and Magdalena Augsburger (13 Dec 1809-), in Butler Co., OH. Christian was born in 1836, and died in 1874.

They had the following children:

i.            Veronica Ellen (1862-1876)

ii.            Lisetta (1865-1937)

15. John Schrock. Born on 28 Aug 1843, and died on 12 Mar 1886; he was 42. Buried in Trenton, Butler Co., OH.

On 12 Nov 1867 when John was 24, he married Emelia Augsburger, daughter of John Augsburger (19 Jul 1819-) and Jacobina Holly. Emelia was born on 8 Feb 1849, and died on 21 Dec 1928; she was 79.

They had the following children:

i.            Christian (1868-1942)

ii.            Otellia (1869-)

iii.            Arthur (Twin) (1879-)

iv.            Alvin (Twin) (1879-)

v.            Oscar (1880-2929)

vi.            John (1882-)

vii.            Stanley (1870-)

viii.            Maria (1871-1874)

ix.            Albert (1873-1884)

x.            Otto (1875-1876)

16. Joseph Schrock. Born on 21 Jun 1835 in Butler Co., OH, and died on 5 Aug 1920; he was 85.

On 25 Nov 1858 when Joseph was 23, he first married Elizabeth Rediger, daughter of Benjamin Reidiger (1786-3 Dec 1848) and Barbara Ehresman (27 Aug 1797-31 Aug 1861), in Tazewell Co., IL. Elizabeth was born on 5 Sep 1839, and died on 25 Mar 1861; she was 21.

They had the following children:

i.            Anna (1859-1883)

ii.            John (1861-1861)

Joseph second married Mary Risser.

They had the following children:

i.            Andrew

ii.            Joseph

iii.            Mary

17. Anna Schrock. Born in 1840 in OH, and died in 1874 in IL.

On 11 May 1861 Anna married Ludwig (Louis) Stalter, son of Magdalena Stalter (1808-). Ludwig was born in Nov 1841 in Bavaria, Germany, and died in 1914.

They had the following children:

i.            Joseph

ii.            Lena

iii.            Anna

iv.            Peter

v.            Lewis

vi.            Elizabeth (Died as Infant)

vii.            Mary (Died as Infant) (-1874

18. Andrew Schrock II. Born on 9 Dec 1842 in IL.

On 25 Oct 1866 when Andrew was 23, he married Magdalene Schick, daughter of Joseph Schick (26 Dec 1818-6 Jun 1898) and Magdalene Augspurger (23 May 1823-11 Apr 1893), in Tazewell Co., IL.  Magdalene was born on 10 Jan 1849 in IL, and died in 1941 in NE. Buried in Holdrege, NE.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary Magdalena (Lena) (1867-1948)

ii.            Elizabeth “Lizzie” (1869-)

iii.            Samuel Truman (1876-1975)

iv.            Edward Bruner (1879-)

v.            Andrew T. (1889-)

19. Mary Schrock. Born in Jun 1846 in IL. and died on 11 Dec 1945 in Bruce Lake, IN. Buried in Logansport, IN. Mt. Hope Cemetery.

On 5 Jan 1879 Mary married Henry Hoffman, in Tazewell Co., IL. Henry was born in Feb 1857 in Germany, and died on 18 Mar 1924 in Bruce Lake, IN. Buried in Logansport, IN. Mt. Hope Cemetery.

They had the following children:

i.            Charles (1879-1964)

ii.            Annie M. (1881-)

iii.            Kate (1885-)

iv.            Amelia (1888-)

20. Magdalena Schrock. Born on 30 Jun 1847 in IL, and died on 10 Dec 1946; she was 99.

On 31 Dec 1874 when Magdalena was 27, she married David D. Augspurger, son of David Augspurger (1823-1895) and Elizabeth Schertz (1826-1895), in IL. Davie was born on 16 Oct 1852, and died on 21 Jul 1935; he was 82.

They had the following children:

i.            Samuel J. (1877-)

ii.            Daniel A. (1879-)

iii.            Sarah

iv.            Lydia Mae (1889-)

21. Peter Schrock. Born on 8 Jun 1849 in Peoria, IL, and died in Upland, San Bernardino Co., CA, on 27 May 1940; he was 90.

On 13 Nov 1873 when Peter was 24, he married Magdalena (Lena) Unzicker, daughter of Valentine Unzicker (15 Aug 1823-11 Oct 1881) and Magdalena Schertz (10 Sep 1827-9 Dec 1899). Magdalena was born on 19 Dec 1853 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Upland, San Bernardino Co., CA, on 14 Oct 1930; she was 76.

They had the following children:

i.            Frank William (1875-1957)

ii.            John Edward (1878-1961)

iii.            Matilda Ann (Tillie) (1881-1980)

iv.            Emma (1883-1972)

v.            Katie M. (1885-1973)

22. Mary S. Smith. Born about 1833 in Butler Co., OH, and died in 1896 in Harper, Harper Co., KS

On 7 Dec 1858 Mary S. married Frederick Fellrath, in Peoria, Tazewell Co., IL. Frederick was born in 1836 in Alsace, and died on 21 Nov 1894 in Harper, Harper Co., KS.

They had the following children:

i.            Magdalena (1861-~1921)

ii.            Louis Hubert (1865-1929)

iii.            Ida (1871-1928)

iv.            George

23. Peter Smith (Schmitt). Born on 1 Jun 1837 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Livingston Co., IL, on 17 Nov 1875; he was 38. Buried in Flanagan, Livingston Co., IL. Waldo Cemetery. Served in the Union Army.

On 3 Feb 1861 when Peter was 23, he married Barbara Neuhauser, daughter of Peter Neuhauser (20 Feb 1796-23 Jul 1889) and Anna Maria (Mary P.) Schmidt (Peterschmidt) (22 Jul 1807-2 Feb 1884). Barbara was born on 21 Feb 1840 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Livingston Co., IL, on 24 Mar 1881; she was 41.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary (1861-1955)

ii.            Anna (1863-1949)

iii.            Magdalena (1865-1947)

iv.            Christian H. (1867-1958)

v.            Peter (1870-1936)

vi.            John J. (1874-1924)

vii.            Elizabeth (Died as Child)

24. Anna (Nancy) Smith. Born in 1840 in IL, and died in 1861.

On 28 May 1858 Anna (Nancy) married John M. Garber, son of John Garber (25 Jul 1788-27 Jul 1845) and Eva Caroline Paithe (20 Mar 1799-26 Nov 1874).

They had the following children:

i.            Peter

ii.            David

iii.            Eva

iv.            Anna (Died as Infant)

25. Magdalena S. Smith. Born on 11 May 1841 in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 14 Apr 1916; she was 74.

On 21 Oct 1860 when Magdalena was 19, she first married Peter Neuhauser, son of Peter Neuhauser (20 Feb 1796-23 Jul 1889) and Anna Maria (Mary P.) Schmidt (Peterschmidt) (22 Jul 1807-2 Feb 1884). Peter was born on 8 Jul 1838 in Butler Co., OH, and died on 26 Aug 1864; he was 26.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary Ann (-1864)

ii.            Peter (-1865)

iii.            Samuel (-1877)

On 11 Oct 1866 when Magdalena S. was 25, she second married Valentine (Valtin) Damien Maninger, in Bloomington, McLean Co., IL. Valentine was born on 26 Sep 1835 in Dittwar, Baden, Germany, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 4 Jul 1913; he was 77.

They had the following children:

i.            John L. (1867-1944)

ii.            Frank (1869-1946)

iii.            August “Gus” (1872-1938)

iv.            Emma Rebecca (1874-1944)

v.            Joseph (1876-1915)

vi.            William Lee (1879-1951)

vii.            Edward Jennings (1880-1932)

viii.            Frederick Albert (1886-1941)

26. Joseph Smith. Born on 22 May 1843 in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 3 Jan 1889; he was 45.

On 18 Dec 1863 when Joseph was 20, he married Barbara Roth, daughter of Nicholas Roth (24 Mar 1815-3 Feb 1894) and Katharine Habecker (-2 Dec 1888), in Tazewell Co., IL. Barbara was b orn on 25 May 1847 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 1 Sep 1920; she was 73.

They had the following children:

i.            Andrew (1864-1951)

ii.            Katherine (1867-1891)

iii.            Christian (1871-1933)

iv.            Joseph (1873-1951)

v.            Magdalena (1875-)

vi.            Mary (1877-)

vii.            Rena (1880-)

viii.            Emma (1882-1967)

27. Christian Smith. Born on 18 Jan 1846 in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, and died in 1924.

On 13 Feb 1873 when Christian was 27, he married Phoebe Sweitzer, daughter of Jean Suisse (Sweitzer) (29 Sep 1807-28 Jan 1885) and Marie Engel (1 Dec 1807-17 Feb 1888). Phoebe was born on 12 Jun 1847, and died in 1912.

They had the following children:

i.            William Arthur (1873-)

ii.            Frederic Albert (1879-)

28. Christian Belsly. Born on 31 Jul 1835 in Partridge Twp, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Deer Creek, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 5 Mar 1917; he was 81. Buried in Deer Creek, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL. Mt. Zion Cemetery.

On 18 Nov 1856 when Christian was 21, he married Mary Magdalene Schertz, daughter of John Schertz and Catherine Engel, in Trenton, Butler Co., OH. Mary was born on 3 Mar 1837 in Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH, and died in Deer Creek, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 28 Nov 1911; she was 74.

They had the following children:

i.            Catherine (Died as Infant) (1857-1857)

ii.            Anna (Died as Infant) (1858-1858)

iii.            Catherine (1860-1926)

iv.            Joseph (1861-1937)

v.            John Rudolph (1863-1943)

vi.            Samuel L. (1864-1928)

vii.            Anna Rose (1866-1932)

viii.            Mary Magdaline (1868-1941)

ix.            Barbara Louise (1869-1953)

x.            Franklin Louis (1873-1936)

xi.            Emma Josephine (1877-1934)

xii.            Thorasia Victoria (1879-1880)

Johannes Schrack (Schrag)
Johannes Schrock (1801-1875)
and his descendants

This material was used in the Johannes Schrock presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.

The presentation was made by Justine Detweiler Trout, John Cender, Don Schrock, Frank Kandel, and Kathy Cender Martin, direct descendents of Johannes.
The material was compiled by Kathy Cender Martin.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

Introduction: A Letter:  Searching for Schrock History (read by Justine Detweiler Trout)
More than 30 years ago, a great-great-granddaughter of Johannes Schrock, Alta Heiser Detweiler, my mother, began trying to connect with her Schrock cousins by writing a letter and sending it out to the various addresses she had.  In this letter she was searching for stories and history of the Schrock family:

“Dear Cousins:
Several years ago I became interested in tracing the Schrock family history back several generations, and I wrote to you asking for any information you might be able to give me.  I had no intention of writing anything authentic, but just what I could find to further satisfy my own curiosity.  I have worked on this now and then for several years and haven’t found very much information.  I have wished so many times that I would have listened more carefully and written down some of the things I used to hear Grandpa and Grandma talk about.  But that opportunity is gone.  Now I have to pick up these stories bit by bit, and piece by piece.  It is so fascinating to me to think about the past lives of my ancestors, that I would like to share what I have with you.  As you read this, please correct anything that you know to be a mistake, or add anything that you can and let me know about it.

Some time ago I visited with Naomi Schrock of Congerville, Illinois, who is the daughter of Jonathan Schrock, who was the son of Joseph Schrock, who was the brother of Peter, your grandfather and my great grandfather. [Joseph and Peter were both sons of immigrant Johannes.] She gave me copies of some newspaper articles written about her grandfather Joseph, and the beginning of the town of Congerville, and also some about her father Jonathan.  She also gave me a copy of a write-up of John Schrock of Pekin (who was a brother of grandfather Peter), [John was another son, the youngest, of Johannes] at the time of his death. I am sending you a little history of these men that I have taken from the information Naomi gave me.  I don’t have much official information on Peter, other than what I remember. I was eight years old when he died.  One of the things I really want to do is to visit each of you and share pictures and memories.  It shouldn’t be too hard to arrange, but I’ve been working on it for some time, and can’t seem to accomplish it.”

From this letter you can see that these two women, Alta (descendent of Peter Schrock) and Naomi (descendent of Joseph Schrock) were both amateur family historians trying to piece the Schrock family story together and keeping the family connections strong. Alta visited Naomi when she was still living in the old house in Congerville built by her grandfather Joseph.  Alta showed Naomi an old picture of a man she couldn’t identify, and lo and behold! Naomi had one just like it and said it was of Johannes Schrock, probably a passport picture [it was not a passport picture—db] taken in France, the only known photo of our patriarch who we celebrate today! One mystery was solved that day as the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to come together.

Today, we have continued with Alta’s earlier quest by letter searching for information on the Schrocks.  In preparation for this day, we have searched—mostly by email letters—all over the world, trying to locate lost cousins and to fill in the gaps in our family histories.  What a contrast between the letter Alta wrote, sending out carbon copies by slow postal mail and the instantaneous email messages we have been sending to multiple people and receiving replies on the same day and often within a few minutes!  We thank all the people who have contributed photos and information, even if they couldn’t be here in person.  Alta and Naomi would be so pleased with all we have discovered, and they would be very happy that Schrock descendents are gathered here today.  We are excited to share with you some of the fascinating information and interesting artifacts we have found about Immigrant Johannes Schrock and his descendents.

Immigrant Johannes Schrock (read by John Cender)

My great-great-great grandfather Johannes Schrock was born in Gondrexange, Moselle, France in August 1801 of Swiss-German ancestry, and was educated in French.  He was the oldest of the five children of Joseph and Marie Neuhauser Schrag.  Johannes married Catherine Salzman, who was born in Sarralbe, Moselle, France in October 1804.  Johannes was a miller by trade.  While living in France, Johannes and Catherine had two children named Joseph and Catherine. The year after Johannes’ father Joseph died Johannes decided to move to America with his wife and the two young children. He packed up his trunk and left the port of Le Havre in 1831. It was a long ocean journey—44 days on the ship—and near the end their food supply was exhausted. According to family legend, they had to boil leather straps from the ship’s riggings to make some broth in order to keep strength for the remainder of the trip. They finally arrived and disembarked in Baltimore, Maryland. Another family story tells that tragedy struck while checking their trunks and belongings amidst the large crowd.  Somehow they lost younger brother Joseph who had traveled with them from France. We don’t know how old Joseph was or exactly how he got lost, but we can imagine the chaos of humanity at the docks and the confusion and babel of languages. They looked endlessly for the boy and waited several agonizing days, but finally had to give up and reluctantly traveled on to Lancaster, PA. [This oral tradition has never been verified by documentation, thus remains a tradition only—albeit one found in every family line. – db] A year later, in 1832, Johannes left Pennsylvania and moved to Butler County, Ohio, where he bought land near his brother Peter and his father-in-law, Michael Salzman.  He established a successful milling business—his work in the old country as well. For almost 20 years Johannes stayed in Butler County.  While in Ohio, he and Catherine had five more children; two died in infancy, but Peter, John, and Magdalena survived to adulthood along with the two older siblings, Joseph and Catherine. Today, we will look briefly at what we know about the lives of all five of these children of Johannes and Catherine Schrock.

Johannes Schrock and Catherine Salzman had seven children:

Joseph Schrock 3-17-1828 to 12-29-1901
Catherine Schrock 12-18-1829 to 5-10-1906
Johannes Schrock 7-11-1834 to 10-12-1835
Jacobina Schrock 8-23-1836 to 9-12-1837
Peter Schrock 8-1-1839 to 4-5-1922
John Schrock 3-26-1843 to 4-20-1935
Magdalena Schrock 4-23-1845 to 1914

In 1850, Johannes began to look for land in Tazewell County, Illinois.  It’s interesting to wonder why he considered moving from his successful milling business in Butler County. His sister Magdalena had married Christian Smith in Butler County where they stayed for a few years and then moved to Illinois and purchased land.  His other sister Barbara had married Red Joe Belsly and they too moved to Illinois, but Barbara died in 1836 and Joe remarried.  Johannes’ brother Andrew was also living in Tazewell County, Illinois. So it’s likely that Johannes heard from his siblings of this growing new land where acres were cheap and crops were abundant. And since Johannes found Ohio to be pretty well settled, he decided to take three horses and travel from Trenton, Ohio, to the Pekin area to look at this new West. He liked it, purchasing 161 acres from the Neukirk family for $12.50 an acre. The Neukirk’s lived catty corner from the present location of the Bethel Mennonite Church in a house that once served as a stagecoach depot. Johannes left one horse in Illinois and drove the other two back to the Buckeye State. He told his anxious wife, “We’re moving to Illinois.”

In preparing to move to Illinois, Johannes gave his oldest son, 22 year old Joseph, the important responsibility of driving through with the horses and cattle and what goods they had. Imagine what that overland trip must have been like crossing the vast prairies and through the woodlands! Many years later, Joseph showed his children and grandchildren where he had camped out under his wagon the last night of his trip from Ohio to Pekin under an American elm tree along the road west of Bloomington.

Father Johannes and Mother Catherine took the rest of the family to Cincinnati where they boarded a boat. Their oldest girl, Catherine, was 20; Peter, my great-great-grandfather, was 11; John was 7; and little Magdalena was 5. They boarded the boat and traveled down the Ohio River to Cairo, then up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Pekin, Illinois. Imagine what that riverboat ride must have been like! How many days would it have taken?  When they finally arrived at their destination, Amish Mennonite families and friendly neighbors welcomed them. They established a temporary home in a log cabin on Andrew Ropp’s (now the Allen Miller farm) farm five miles east of Pekin. The main Ropp house is still standing and was traditionally a first stop for many Amish Mennonite families moving into the area. Later, Johannes moved his family to his purchased acres a few miles away where he had built a house that became the family homestead. This house and farm eventually became a showplace under the maintenance of Johannes’s grandson Edward, when he inherited the homestead from Johannes’ youngest son John, Edward’s father.

Johannes and Catherine lived out their lives in Tazewell County, Illinois. They were members of the Amish church. Catherine died in 1858 at the age of 53.  Johannes took a second wife, Jacobina Phebe King, in 1861. They had no children. Johannes died in Tazewell County in 1875 at the age of 73.

Focusing on Johannes and Catherine’s Three Sons (and a few other descendents)

1. Joseph, Johannes’s oldest son, as well as Joseph’s son Jonathon who lived in Congerville.
2. Peter, Johannes’s second son, as well as Peter’s son John who lived in Fisher.
3. John, Johannes’s youngest son, as well as John’s son Edward who lived in Pekin.

We will also mention some of the other descendents of each of Johannes’ three sons.  They all had interesting lives and we wish we had time to include more details about all of them and we will briefly discuss Johannes’ two daughters, Catherine and Magdalena. We want to make it clear that we are not male chauvinists, intentionally slighting the women.  Although we tried to find more information on the daughters and their descendents, we were unable to find more than a few names and dates and regretfully, no photos.  Unfortunately, it is often the case that details about the women have been left out or lost in many histories. We are sure, however, that the women were interesting personalities and were crucial to the survival and success of their families.

1. Oldest son of Johannes, Joseph of Congerville (read by Don Schrock)

My Great-Grandfather Joseph was the eldest son of Johannes and Catherine Satzman.  He was born on March 17, 1828, and came to this country from Lorraine in 1831 with his parents and sister when he was three years old.  The Schrocks were powerfully built people.  Joseph grew up to be well over 6 foot tall and weighed in excess of 250 pounds.  His son, Jonathan, was able to heave a hundred pound sack of grain onto each shoulder and walk up the steps to the second floor of the granary.  And you heard about how Joseph, single-handedly at age 22, moved his family’s possessions and livestock from Ohio to Illinois.  Almost a year later, on June 8, 1852, he married Magdalena Guingrich.  He was 24 years of age and she was 22.

Magdalena’s father had gone west to Oregon during the Gold Rush.  He soon gave up mining for gold and began transporting and selling supplies to the miners.  His descendants came to know him as ‘Gold Rush Guingrich’. He was paid in gold dust and nuggets which he exchanged for Double Eagle $20 gold coins at the federal mint in Denver. Returning to Illinois with $18,000 in gold coins, he invested in farmland for his seven children. These coins weighted 56 pounds.  At today’s prices, the gold would be worth over one million dollars.  The Schrock homestead was a part of Joseph Guingrich’s land purchase.

Joseph and Magdalena lived on a farm in Montgomery Township that was the beginning of a town called Schrock.   A railroad line going west was being built from Bloomington to Peoria but the tracks were laid only as far as the Schrock farm when the work was halted by a severe early winter.  Railroad workers and contractors built housing at the end of the tracks to wait out the winter.  Others eventually moved in hoping to work for the railroad when the winter was over.  The settlement was platted as the Town of Schrock in 1888 but was eventually re-named Congerville, purposely after an early settler and landowner. An inside story of the name change suggests that it may have had something to do with the division between the Amish Mennonites and the New Amish or Apostolic Christians.

Joseph and Magdalena were among the earliest converts in the New Amish movement that was first called ‘Evangelical Baptist’, and later was called the Apostolic Christian Church.  They were both impressed when the Apostolic minister, Joseph Virkler, came visiting from New York and inspired a revival with his preaching.  Later, Benedict Weyeneth, who had been ordained by Samuel Froehlich, the founder of the Apostolic Christian faith in Switzerland, came to reside in Illinois. Weyeneth held services at Dillon, which was near Tremont, and at Partridge Prairie, near Metamora.

Each of these places was 22 miles from where Joseph and Magdalena lived, but they were eager to attend Sunday services. They would start off at four in the morning, driving a team and wagon the 22 miles, returning the same day.  Each Sunday, they alternated the 22 miles, either to Dillon or Metamora.  They forded the Mackinaw River since there wasn’t any bridge.

During this time period, it is thought that both Amish Mennonite and New Amish/Apostolic Christians gathered at Peter Engel’s barn for their separate church meetings on Sundays.

An except from the diary (Sunday, July 1, 1866, Metamora, Illinois) of  Brother Henry Geistlich (elder of Meilen, Switzerland), regarding Partridge Prairie reads, “Today there was church in Peter Engle’s barn.  It was clean and had planks for seats.  When the chickens got noisy, they were chased out.  There were 53 horse drawn rigs in the yard.”

Joseph Schrock and Magdalena Guingrich had nine children:
Catherine Schrock Zimmerman 22-17-1853 to 6-16-1930
John Schrock 3-30-1855 to 6-16-1930
Lydia Schrock Roth 1-1-1857 to 5-25-1885
Joseph Schrock 10-21-1859 to 3-12-1936
Jonathan Schrock 12-2-1861 to 12-3-1947
Magdalena Schrock Sutter 2-18-1864 to 12-19-1938
Mary Schrock Gudeman 1-15-1867 to after 1900
David Schrock 4-14-1869 to 12-5-1948
Susannah Schrock Gerber 5-20-1872 to 12-20-1944

Joseph’s son, Jonathan, was born Dec 2, 1861 and married Naomi Gerber in 1890. Naomi was from the same area of Lorraine as Johannes and Catherine.  As a young man of 21 years of age, Jonathan Schrock went to Kansas to live with his brother, John Schrock.  He possibly would have remained there but he received word from home that his parents wanted him to come back to Illinois and help with the farming.

Jonathan would later tell his children of his conversion to the Apostolic faith at a singing that John Schrock’s wife, (Rosa Witmer), gave on two hymns in rather close succession.  One was “Der Weg und das Ziel” which means “Two Ways O Man are There for Thee.”  The other was “Die Erbarmung,” or “Boundless Mercy.”  Jonathan was so convicted that he left the room, went outside and threw away what remained of a plug of tobacco.  He recalled that when he was baptized ice was floating on the Mackinaw River.  At times, they would chop holes in the ice to baptize converts.

Jonathan didn’t marry until he was 28 years old.  Jonathan and Naomi lived the early years of their married life in a little house on the site of Jonathan’s Aunt Magdalena Schrock Smith’s cabin.  Here they had their first four children.  When Joseph Schrock died in December of 1901, Jonathan and Naomi moved to the house a hundred yards or so to the south that Joseph had built in the early 1880s, and where Jonathan’s mother Magdalena was still living. She had an addition built on the west end of the house where she reserved two rooms for herself, but had her meals with the family.  Her grandchildren had fond memories of visiting with her and reading to her out of her German Bible.  She passed away in 1922.

Jonathan lived on this Schrock farm until his death in 1947 at the age of 86.  At that time, the whole south end of Congerville belonged to the Schrocks, including five houses and an office building.  The orchard they had planted was called ‘Schrock Orchards.’ Jonathan’s two youngest sons, Joseph and Alvin (A.J), started the Schrock Hybrid Corn Company in 1947 and Schrock Fertilizer Company in 1951. These companies became known throughout the Midwest. A.J. went like a freight train and Joseph kept putting on the brakes. They were a good team.

Jonathan’s brother David, who lived on the northwest edge of Congerville, had a daughter Loretta, who married Art Baum.  They owned the Baum Chevy dealership in Carlock, the next town east of Congerville. The Baum’s son, Dick, later moved the dealership to Clinton.

Jonathan’s daughter, Mae Schrock, was born May 1, 1904.  She is 106 years old this year and is living in Eureka.  Mae is the great–granddaughter of Johannes.  We honor her today as the oldest living descendent of Johannes.

Many more stories are found in letters that Jonathan wrote that we don’t have time to read. I’ll just mention some of what they contain:  One letter contains orders for 50 barrels of wine; Jonathan’s family had many vineyards and shipped wine all around the state. They also had acres and acres of orchards. The letters also mention their Percheron horses, big powerful animals.

2.  Second son of Johannes, Peter of Fisher (read by Justine Detweiler Trout)

My Great-Great Grandfather Peter Schrock was born to Johannes and Catherine Salzman Schrock in Butler Co., Ohio on August 1, 1839.  Johannes and Catherine had their first two children in France (Joseph and Catherine) and then two more were born in Ohio, but both died in infancy:  A boy, Johannes, born in 1834, died at 15 months, and a girl, Jacobina, born in 1836, died at 11 months.  So you can imagine how precious this baby Peter was. Peter was 11 years old when his father Johannes decided to move from Ohio to Illinois.  Their family journey on the riverboat must have been an exciting one for a boy of eleven.  Peter became an adult on the farm in Tazewell Co., Illinois, and in 1860 he married [a neighbor girl] Anna (Nancy) Garber.  They were both 21 years old.

Peter Schrock and Anna (Nancy) Garber had eight children:

Katherine Schrock 9-30-1860 to 8-2-1861
John Schrock 5-28-1862 to 7-28-1951
Samuel Schrock 7-16-1864 to 12-31-1943
Joseph Schrock 8-18-1866 to 4-14-1947
Lydia Schrock Eicher 3-26-1868 to 4-14-1947
Moses Schrock 4-26-1870 to 12-12-1879
Ella Schrock 11-7-1875 to 2-8-1951
Magdalena (Lena) Schrock 8-20-1885 to 6-27-1950

Peter was different from his two brothers who survived to adulthood. You just heard the story of Joseph, the elder brother, who married money and had a town named after him.  You will soon hear about John, the younger brother, who stayed on the home place for many years and turned it into a showcase farm.  And now I’ll tell you the story of Peter, the middle brother. He wasn’t rich but he had a big heart and gave generously to help those in need.

As a young father, Peter spent much time fishing and hunting in the woods of Tazewell County with his three boys, John, Sam and Joe.  One day while cutting wood in the woods, the youngest son Joe accidentally chopped off one of his fingers with the axe.  Because they were quite a distance from home, father Peter wrapped what was left of the finger with his red bandana to stop the bleeding, then picked up the piece of finger and put it in his shirt pocket.  That evening, when the day’s work was finished, they went home, washed the wound and put the finger back in place and wrapped it.  The finger grew back and when Joe was an old man you couldn’t tell which finger had been cut.

When his children were grown Peter moved across the Grand Prairie to Fisher to be near his oldest son John who had moved there in 1891 with his wife and family. Peter’s wife, Anna (Nancy) died in Fisher in 1902 and is buried in East Bend Cemetery. Alta Heiser Detweiler, great-granddaughter of Peter, writes the following about her ancestors:  Soon after his wife’s death, Peter and two of his sons were persuaded by a fast-talking, high- pressure real estate agent to purchase some farmland in Michigan, near Fairview.  The two sons, Samuel and Joseph and their families, and Peter and his two unmarried daughters, Ella, 28, and Lena, 19, decided to leave their homes and move to Michigan in 1904. Grandpa Peter went on ahead and sometime later Sam and Joe and their families chartered a freight car and traveled to Michigan. Sam and Joe, their livestock and furniture, rode in the freight car. The women and children rode in a passenger car. Sam’s home was three miles south of Fairview. On the north side of the small buckwheat field was the Sam Schrock house and on the south side was the Joe Schrock house. There were beautiful big rainbow and speckled trout in great abundance in the Au Sable River about two miles south of their house, and many smaller speckled trout in the creek that ran through their land. Fish and buckwheat cakes were two important items in the Schrocks’ diet. The land in Michigan was uncleared timberland.  They slowly cleared a few acres to farm the first year, then for several years more they struggled to make a meager living.  Uncle Sam’s wife Ellen and daughter Katie, and Great Grandpa Peter’s daughters, Ella and Lena, all worked for other people as much as possible. The younger children went to school. Times were very hard. They ate fish that they caught in the river nearby, buckwheat cakes (buckwheat was their only crop), and a few squirrels they managed to kill.  Wild huckleberries grew in the woods and the adults picked them.

Pete Jr., a grandson and namesake of Peter writes in his book, Just Pete, about some memories in Michigan:  One time Pete, Jr. remembers his mother and sister being gone.  His father Sam got some bacon and fried it.  “It sure tasted good after eating fish all the time.” It was such a treat that they invited Joe’s three girls, Nettie, Frances, and Lorine to eat with them.  To this day when the cousins get together, they talk about how good that bacon tasted. Joe’s daughter Lorine remembered that life in Michigan was difficult but she remembers them as the best years of her life.  She said she was outside all the time helping her dad with the stock.  He gave her the dickens for playing with the bull she had raised up from little—she would sit on top of the fence and play with its horns—her dad used a pitchfork.

After a few years they realized this land purchase was a mistake.  So in 1907, Peter, Ella and Lena moved back to their house in Fisher; Sam and his family went to Thurman, Colorado, where his wife’s family lived, and Joe’s family went to Defiance, Ohio, where their oldest daughter, Nettie, was planning to live after her marriage to Homer Culbertson.

Back in Fisher, Peter raised pigs, had a cow, and kept 10-15 hives of bees.  He also grew big delicious watermelons.  He had a jack knife with the words, “Peter Schrock, Fisher, Illinois,” on the handle.  He probably used that knife to split open those ripe, juicy watermelons, and he also cut his chewing tobacco with his jack knife.  He often whittled with his knife as well.  He passed the knife to his namesake and grandson, Peter. Jr.

Peter’s oldest son John, my great-grandfather, had taken up farming 80 acres near Fisher. John was also a carpenter and painter and he built and painted his own houses and barns as well as many barns and cribs in the community. John married Mary Birky in 1885 and they had two children, Albert and Fannie.  After Albert married Josephine Yordy, John built a house for his son just a quarter of a mile from his own house.  But Albert died of tuberculosis in 1917, leaving his wife and two children, and a third unborn. A sale of some of his farm animals and implements a few years before his death raised needed cash for his family and perhaps helped fund the family’s stay at the tuberculosis sanitarium in La Junta, Colorado.  John’s daughter Fannie married J. A. Heiser and they had five children.  J.A. became minister and later, bishop, of East Bend Mennonite Church, chosen by lot in 1918 by the voice of the church.  John Schrock soon turned over his farm and house to his daughter Fannie and son-in-law Bishop Heiser, and John built a grossdaddy house next door.  In this way, John Schrock and his wife Mary would live between their daughter’s family and their son’s widow and family so they could help the two families with farm work and help raise their grandchildren. As bishop and pastor, J.A. had many duties in the church and community, as well as the work of raising a large family and helping his widowed sister-in-law on her farm nearby.  Together, these families supported each other in daily tasks of milking, carrying water, washing, gardening, canning, caring for livestock, butchering, threshing, wheat binding, and oat harvesting.  In every way, Grandpa John Schrock was a faithful and constant figure of support to these families.  In addition to earning income by painting in the community, he painted and repaired at home, worked in the gardens, and kept busy doing useful things.  He loved working with wood and made fern stands, stools, the bench we are sitting on, shelves and cupboards, doll beds and darning tools.  When he could no longer work in the community, he would sit under the shade tree at home on a bench he had made and whittle, just like his father Peter.  He made whistles and toys for his grandchildren.

John Schrock was remembered by Jennie Schrock, Pete, Jr.’s wife, as a man “with kindness wrinkles all over his face, and very soft spoken.” His granddaughter Edna Heiser Cender wrote that Grandpa John Schrock “was neat and meticulous in all his work.  There were never any complaints about his painting jobs in the community.   He never left any splatters on windows or sidewalks and he was careful of flowers or shrubbery around homes.  Once when painting at Ores Foster’s home, he accidentally bumped a cactus plant in the flowerbed and broke off one of the young plants.  He apologetically told Mrs. Foster, who said he should just take it home.  He soon had it thriving and it reproduced many times, blooming beautiful, pink, trumpet-like flowers.  All of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren have cactus plants that come from that original Foster plant.”

Peter’s three daughters, Ella, Lena, and Lydia, lived in Fisher where Ella and Lena ran a boarding house and hotel on Sangamon Street.  They also operated the town telephone switchboard. Lydia married Chris Eicher and had two girls. Great Grandpa Peter lived nearby in a smaller house until his death in 1922. The house that was used as a hotel still remains next to the Methodist Church.  Peter’s house was on Third Street, north of downtown Fisher, in the spot where the Baptist Church now stands.

Peter Schrock was not as successful financially as his two brothers.  At the time of his death in 1922, he owned only the modest home in Fisher, plus the farm in Michigan that didn’t yield enough to pay its own taxes. After all bills were paid there was nothing left for distribution to his heirs. But we know that Peter must have been a very kind man, considerate of others and willing to lend a helping hand. We know this because he handled the affairs of his sister Catherine after her husband died in Pekin leaving Catherine with several young children.

Catherine was Johannes’ oldest daughter. She married Joseph Oyer and he died sometime before 1865.  They had six children: Joseph, John, Peter, Lena Oyer Bloom, Katie Oyer Staker, and Mary Oyer Coswell. Later, Catherine re-married to Christian Kauffman. In addition to his kindness toward this widowed sister, Peter also assisted his wife’s brother who had failed financially and had lost all he owned. These two facts about the life of Peter Schrock tell us that he was kind and generous, and it doesn’t matter that he wasn’t rich.

Magdalena was Johannes’ youngest daughter. Little is known about her except that she married Joseph Yoder and had six children:  John, Joe, William, Mary Yoder Pepper, and two other children who died. Persistent research by various historians has revealed a few basic facts about Catherine and Magdalena and their descendents gleaned from census records, obituaries, and newspaper articles.

3. Third son of Johannes, John of Pekin (read by Frank Kandel)

John Schrock was the youngest son and sixth child of Johannes and Catherine Salzman Schrock.  Born March 26, 1843 in Butler Co., Ohio, he was named Johannes after his father and he was the second child in this family to be given exactly the same name.  His older brother named Johannes had died at the age of 15 months.  The father, wishing a namesake, named this newborn boy by the same name as the one who had died.  Later this son named Johannes went by the anglicized name of John.

John was eight years old in 1851 when the family came by riverboat from Ohio to Pekin, Illinois.  He often remembered that trip.  As he grew older, he worked in sawmills, gristmills and brickyards.  He could do a tremendous day’s work even in the day when a big day’s work was expected of all men.  He, himself, carried from the sawmill every tie and plank for the first bridge over the Illinois River in Pekin—the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad Bridge.  Three men would be assigned to such a job nowadays and work only half as many hours.  A newspaper article at the time of his death told of John Schrock, “he could cut with an axe and rack five cords of wood in a day.  Four men wouldn’t want to do that today.”

In December 1865, John Schrock married Barbara Rediger and they had twelve children:

Peter Schrock 1-29-1867 to 6-28-1941
Catherine Schrock Ropp 6-23-1868 to 10-18-1951
Daniel Schrock 1-18-1869 to 1-15-1937
Bina Schrock 4-19-1871 to 10-30-1942
Sarah Schrock Ringwald 11-15-1872 to 6-23-1941
Ida Schrock Gueber 3-25-1874 to 2-13-1945
Frances Schrock 10-25-1875 to 4-7-1968
Edward Schrock 12-1-1877 to 11-15-1964
John W. Schrock 6-24-1880 to 8-10-1948
Margaret Isabel (Belle) Schrock Thode 7-1-1882 to 1-10-1954
Barbara Schrock Heisel 1-27-1885 to 4-1980
Aaron Lester Schrock 9-25-1888 to 3-18-1889

John and Barbara Schrock established one of the most respected homes in the county.  In 1876, John Schrock bought the home east of Pekin and that place became known as the old family homestead.

After leaving the farm, John Schrock lived in Pekin in a house his sons built for him on 714 South Ninth Street until he died in 1935 at age 92.  The big house still stands on 9^th street, but the porch is gone.  John’s wife, Barbara, preceded him in death in 1911.  At that time, John was near 70, but he lived for 24 more years.  On his 89^th birthday he spaded in his garden.  On his 90^th birthday the family gathered for a great reunion and celebration, but he took pneumonia that day.  None expected him to survive, but he lived another three years, even weathering another bout of pneumonia.  At the time of his death, the Pekin newspaper wrote of him, “He was a man of excellent character, good habits, and moral strength, and to this is attributed his long years.”

John’s son Edward bought the family farm from his father. Edward, Sr. was President of the Farm Bureau and one of the founders of Pekin Auto Insurance Company.  In 1953 Edward Jr. sold the family farm. Ed and his family moved off the farm because he favored his work at Keystone Steel and Wire, a manufacturing company in Pekin, over farming. Ed’s daughter, Eddis Schrock Hasselman, who lives in Morton was born in 1912 in the original home place and lived there until she married in 1936. She turned 98 years old yesterday [June 18, 2010]!  Eddis is the great-granddaughter of Johannes.  We honor her today as the second oldest living descendent of the Johannes line and we wish her a very happy birthday and continuing good health. She remembers her Grandfather John as a big man with a long white beard.  He loved gardening; he kept his horse shining and his buggy glistening.

Eddis relates:  “In the late 1920s after Mom had died, Dad, (Edward Schrock, Sr.) was awarded the Prairie Farmer Master Farmer Award.  Two men came down from WLS in Chicago and stayed overnight.  He was given a gold medallion that he passed on to Ed, Jr., whose son Brett in California has it now. “

“In 1953 Dad sold the farm to a Bill Long.  Bill said that he always wanted to buy that farm because it was always so neat.   Dad told me later that he mustn’t have realized how much work it took because it went downhill after the sale.  Before it really had been a show place.

“When I was six or seven Grandpa John wanted to go to Fisher to visit his brother Peter. His children told him he was too old to go alone so me and my little brother Ed Jr., and my Mom Nellie went with him on the train. The train had cane seats and it stopped and started with a jerk and Ed fell off on the floor, but Mom told him he’d be allright and to get back up and sit down. When Grandpa saw his brother Pete they both cried. Peter lived in a small house in Fisher with Ella and Lena (Ella’s health was not too good at the time) and a lot of people came to the house to visit Grandpa.  I remember hearing Lena say to Ella she didn’t know what to do because she didn’t have enough food in the house to feed everybody.  One lady suggested serving lemonade and cookies so that’s what they did. We spent two or three days in Fisher.”

Imagine that house in Fisher and many people coming to visit and socialize with cousins from a distance.  I’m sure there was laughter amidst the tears and sharing of memories. Don’t you wish we could have heard the stories they were telling?

In some ways, this reunion is a natural extension of that visit in 1918—almost 100 years ago—when brother John of Pekin traveled by train to Fisher to see his brother Peter.  They probably hadn’t seen each other in many years and when they met they felt those strong emotional bonds that bring tears of joy.  Today that universal longing to re-connect calls us together to share stories, memories, and common values.  In that spirit, let us continue our fellowship and conversation with each other today.  What memories have come to your mind about the Schrock family as you’ve heard these stories? What will our descendents remember about us?  What stories do we have in common?

Closing Conversations

Frank:  Don, Do you remember your ancestors having a strong work ethic?

Don:  Yes, in fact my Grandfather Jonathan had a favorite saying, “Don’t be idle or I’ll have you picking hairs off grasshoppers!”  They all worked hard.  And they had some amazing skills.  Grandfather Jonathan could walk through an oat field and bind up the oat shocks without string.  He strolled along, picked up some oats straw and started walking to the next bundle.  By the time he reached the bundle, he had twisted the straw into a rope and wrapped the straw rope around the bundle, ready to move on to the next bundle.

Kathy:  Our Great Grandmother Mary Schrock would gather herbs and make effective herbal concoctions and salves for many ailments. She was very artistic as well as a little bit cantankerous, but Great Grandpa Schrock in his calm manner was always able to keep the peace with her.  She designed and sewed many dresses and hundreds of quilts, painted flowers and birds on recycled jars, created intricate hair flowers and beautiful paper flower bouquets for many weddings.

Don:  My Great Grandmother Magdalena baked bread in an outdoor oven on a brick floor covered with clay.

John:  Great Grandpa John Schrock would save every piece of string and wrap it around a corncob.  He saved potato peelings with eyes to plant in his big garden. Talk about thrift! They knew how to make ends meet!

Justine: Great Grandpa John Schrock told how he visited his cousin Jonathan in Congerville a number of times. He was so impressed with the large orchards of fruit trees that Jonathan cared for.  In fact, on one of those visits, Jonathan gave him a sweet cherry tree that he happily planted in his daughter’s (Alta’s – my mother’s) orchard, and we enjoyed sweet cherries for many years.  And so we come full circle as we reconnect with our cousins here today and fill out the branches on our family tree.

Sources

Birkey, Donna Schrock. 2002.  Immigrant Johannes Schrock, 1801-1875, of Illinois. Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly, Vol. XXIX, No. 4. Also available on line at http://birkey.org/2009/02/24/immigrant-johannes-schrock-1801-1875-of-illinois.

Cender, Edna Heiser. “Grandpa,” Memoirs (1990), typed manuscript, in possession of Kathy Cender Martin,
St. Joseph, Illinois.

Detweiler, Alta Heiser. “John Schrock,” Biographical Data, typed manuscript, in possession of Justine Detweiler Trout, Loda, Illinois.

Detweiler, Alta Heiser. The Family History Book: A Genealogical Record, in possession of Justine Detweiler Trout, Loda, Illinois.

Estes, Steven R. 1984. Living Stones: A History of the Metamora Mennonite Church, M & D Printing, Henry, IL.

Kandel, Frank.  Interviews with Eddis Schrock Hasselman, Morton, IL, January 14, 201 and May 29, 2010.

Kandel, Frank. Interview with Lola Pardee, daughter of Nettie Schrock Culbertson, Defiance, OH, 1995.

Schrock, Alvin J.   Joseph Schrock Reunion of 1976, typed transcript of speech given at the reunion.

Schrock, Don.  Grandpa Jonathan Schrock (2010), typed manuscript, Morton, IL.

Schrock, Pete and Jennie. Copyright 1980.  Just Pete, The Print Shop, Fort Morgan, CO.

Schrock Immigrant Day is history and the event was successful according to many comments received. Here is a sampling of reactions:

A member of the planning group said, “I was surprised by the many positive comments on Saturday about the Day, and the thank you e-mails I received. I’m impressed when people take the time to send such messages. I heard people comment that the music alone, on Friday, was worth coming for the evening.  The popcorn event made for a family atmosphere.” Another planning group member commented, “The best outcome [of the event] was getting over 100 people together to remember each of the [five] immigrants.”

“The content of this reunion was just superior! Also, I must hand it to Frank [Kandel] especially for moving things along.  It takes a lot of energy and smarts to keep a large body of people happy and on schedule and he did it with elan. I loved it that we ate in the [farm museum] shed.  The popcorn and ice cream were such droll additions. I think we absolutely got our money’s worth. Thank you for a job well done and for the memory of this occasion that we will all value in the years ahead.”

“What a great reunion!  Thanks for all the effort and planning.  Your daughter-in-law’s [Debbie Birkey as Magdalena Schick] drama was a highlight.”

“All [the] years of research, [the] days and nights of planning for this weekend paid off in over 100 of near and far cousins enjoying a thoroughly delightful weekend.  [My husband] said this weekend should be the model for family reunions–guided information, lots of printouts, activities, a hospitable setting, perfectly coordinated timings for events like meals, ice-cold delicious ice cream.  So many times almost strangers gather and find they have lots of empty time and not much to say to each other.  This event was perfect!   Thank you so much for the gift of this weekend.”

“[Please] forward a big thank you to all the responsible people who made the Schrock Immigrant Day so enjoyable & successful (I’m not good with e-mail).  We certainly appreciated it all and had a wonderful & educational time with our many cousins.  Words simply can not repay all of you for all your hard work & efforts, but may God richly bless you all for what you have done on our behalf.”

” [We] really enjoyed our quick trip out to Illinois [from the east coast] this past weekend and want to thank [everyone] for all the hard work and attention to detail. It was a most memorable time! Thank you.”

“Thanks again for all the work [everyone] put into researching our family history and for the recent event.  I do not think any of the others of us could have done what [was done] but all our family has benefited from the greater knowledge of our past.  I sure wish I was confident this generation will pass on to future generations the blessings we have inherited.”

This is the Zehr Family Ancestry Chart

This is the Schrock Family Ancestry Chart

The article is made up of three parts:

Part 1
From Ancient History to Switzerland and France

Part 2
The History of the Family of Peter Yordy (1815-1897)
The Yordy Siblings of Central Illinois—Peter Yordy, Christian Yotty, and Jacobina (Philabena) Yordy

Part 3
Yordy Addendum
French Birth Records and Ancestry of Peter Yordy

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  . .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .

Part 1
From Ancient History to Switzerland and France

By Gary L. Yordy
Originally published in the Fall 2007 issue (Vol. XXXIV, No. 3)
Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly (http://imhgs.org)
(Used with permission of the author and original publisher)

Introduction

This document explores the ancient and historic roots of the relatives and descendants of Peter Yordy (1815-1897) of central Illinois. The surname “Yordy” is the Americanized form of the surname “Jordi.” While the surname itself can be traced to Switzerland, this article will begin by citing the probable origins of the family long before the surname came into existence. By combining information from the historic disciplines of anthropology, archeology, paleontology and etymology with recent developments in genetics, Part 1 of this article postulates the movements of the Yordy ancestors from pre-history until the arrival of Yordy families in America.

It is difficult to imagine that the ancestors of the peace-loving Mennonites and Amish were at one time violent warriors; or that the docile farmers whose lives are tied to an agricultural lifestyle are descendants of hunters who survived by eating what they could find or kill; or that the ancestors of those who shun makeup and ornaments were tattooed and wore many “magic” objects to fend off evil spirits; or that those who treasure their relationship with one God descended from those who worshiped many gods and feared as many evil spirits. Yet every scientific and social discipline indicates this to be the case.

The newly completed genome project offers that somewhere in the relatively small group of early humans was a many-times great grandfather of today’s Yordys. He could be identified by a unique part of his Y chromosome known as “Haplogroup I”.

As segments of peoples began to spread farther from their origins, a mutation in the Y chromosome of our ancestor (then living in north central France) occurred—the development of the haplogroup “I1c.” This change would have been unnoticed at the time, but its significance cannot be discounted, for it is this change that allows us to “track” our ancestor using modern genetic investigation.¹

Arrival in Switzerland

“The Helvetii ² were the Celtic inhabitants of modern Switzerland and to a larger extent Southern Germany. They were described by Julius Caesar in his De Bello Gallico. Under pressure from Germanic tribes in their home territory, they were planning to migrate into Gaul (France) with their entire tribe under the command of Orgetrix. According to his own account, Caesar was called upon by the Gauls of the province of Gallia Narbonensis, which had already been conquered and organized, to defend them from the invading Helvetii. Caesar, at the time, commanded six legions comprised of nearly 29,000 men. The Helvetii, according to Caesar’s writings, had 370,000 people (including children and women), but only 110,000 men-at-arms. Caesar hastily recruited two more fresh legions in preparation. By the time the tribe began its march, Orgetorix had died. Before leaving, the Helvetii burned their villages and destroyed what foodstuff and other commodities they could not take with them so they could not turn back. Lured to a disadvantageous position with the Romans taking the high ground near the Aedui capital of Bibracte, the Helvetii were attacked by the superior Roman forces that managed to kill nearly sixty percent of the tribe and capture another twenty percent as slaves. The remaining Helvetii were driven back into their old lands, Helvetti.” The Romans then began an occupation of the Helvetti lands (in what is now Switzerland) that would last 400 years. It is thus virtually certain that at the time of the birth of Jesus, our ancestor was also living under Roman rule, but far to the north of Bethlehem, in the area that today is far southern Germany or northern Switzerland.

If our ancestor was a Helvettian, he was one of the few to survive the ill-fated encounter with the Roman armies. But our ancestor may have been a member of a tribe located in southern Germany—the Alemannians. “The Alemannians crossed the fortified northern Roman boundary and settled in the area. German became the language of lands occupied by the Alemannians.”³ Of course, the populace had to deal with all of the daily dangers of accidents, diseases, including plague, and the impacts of weather on their lives. Our ancestor, like others of the time, presumably lived in a very humble thatched stone or sod home. He may have had a small plot of land on which to raise grains for bread.

Whether a surviving Helvettian, or a recently transplanted Allemanian, our ancestor’s life was greatly influenced by the Roman Empire. Between 900 and 1490, the lands of modern Switzerland that were once part of the Holy Roman Empire were divided among various Germanic rulers. In 1191 the city of Berne, Switzerland, was founded by Duke Berchtold V of Zharingen. In 1218 municipal rights were confirmed on the city by King Freiderich II of the German empire. At about this time, as with the rest of Europe, men were forced to adopt surnames. Precisely when this happened in Switzerland is unclear. The bulk of European surnames in countries such as England and France was formed in the 13th and 14th centuries. The process started earlier and continued in some places into the 19th century, but the norm is that in the 11th century people did not have surnames, whereas by the 15th century they did.

During this period, the Catholic Church slowly expanded its influence among the locals. One of the many indirect impacts was to influence “given names.” Converts began to give their children “Christian” names––names for early saints or biblical names. Our ancestor lived in close proximity to the first Roman Catholic bishop of Octodorus, named St. Theodore, in the Martigny-Valais district of southern Switzerland. In Swiss, he was called “St. Joder.” Sometime around 1100-1200 our ancestor chose or was assigned the surname “Joder.” Most of the descendants of this ancestor would come to be known as “Yoder” in America. Recent findings in Y-DNA tests confirm that the Yoders who originated in Switzerland and are found scattered throughout America today, and the Yordys from Switzerland, shared a common ancestor some 600 years ago. The first historic record of a man with the surname “Joder” is found in 1260 when Peter Joder from Joderhubel (“Joder Hill,” two kilometers west of Schangnau, Switzerland) is identified in a civil document. ⁴

Whether the surname was selected in honor of St. Joder, or whether it was derived from the residence of our Joder ancestor is unknown. Numerous places and geographical features bear the name Joder, such as the mountain called the Joderhorn in the French-speaking Alps; the small mountain church Saint Joder at Altzellen between Stans and Engelberg; and Joder Spring and Joder Pass in the high Alps of the French-speaking region. In the village church at Niederwald in Canton Valais there is a lovely ceiling painting with the legend, “How Saint Joder [Theodore] Multiplied the Wine.” All these may be taken as signs of the antiquity of the Joder family and the fact that Volume 4 of the Historical–Biographical Lexicon of Switzerland lists “JODER—very old, settled clan from Steffisburg,” speaks for itself.

Our Joder ancestors were not mere peasants and breeders of livestock. They were involved in commercial ventures: grain mills, tanneries, sawmills, brick factories, oil mills, fulling mills [for making felt], and stamping mills. They are also represented from early on in high offices of the regional and village administration.

“There is no doubt that Joders living in the Huttwyl and Joders in the Steffisburg-Amseligen-Thun and Sigriswil areas are a single clan from the earliest Middle Ages.”⁵ While most of the American Yoders appear to have emanated from the Steffisburg Joders, it is probable that the Huttwyl-area Joders are more closely related to the American Yordys.

Beginning around 1300, the city of Bern expanded its governmental control over surrounding lands. By 1328 the expansion had included the purchase of the city of Thun and in 1353 Bern became a “Canton” and joined the Swiss Federation. The lands encompassed by Canton Bern were areas where the Joder clan lived.

At some point between 1250 and 1530, one Joder man who lived in Canton Bern (probably in the area of Eriswil or Huttwyl) had the spelling of his surname changed from Joder to Jordi. Whether this name change was volitional or the result of spelling errors on the part of some bureaucrat is unknown. But the name change persisted. In 1530 a man named Jordi (no given name) is identified in Gondiswil. In 1550 his son, Johannes or Hans Jordi, was born in Gondiswil, and in 1554 a second son, Balthasar Jordi, was born there.⁶ It is possible that one of these brothers was the progenitor of the Anabaptist and Mennonite Jordis, though no direct link has been proven to date. Balthasar had fifteen children; most stayed in the Gondiswil area for generations. In the 1840s one descendant joined the Mormon Church and emigrated to Utah.

Although Canton Bern, Switzerland is the birthplace of the name Jordi, there were at least three other areas of Europe where a similar name originated. In Spain and in southern France two biologically unrelated families chose the surname “Jordy,” and in the Netherlands a family adopted the surname “Jorda.” These families selected the name after a different saint—St. George. These Jordy and Jorda families are mentioned because some members of the families subsequently emigrated to America and [very few] had their names Americanized to Yordy; however, the vast majority maintained the native spelling of their surname.

The earliest Swiss Jordis were members of the Catholic Church as were virtually all people of Switzerland before 1520. In 1519, John Calvin and Ulrich Zwingli, former priests and political leaders in Zurich, began the Protestant Reformed Church. Within five years of the initiation, several members split from the church over the issue of infant baptism. These “Anabaptists” became known as the “Swiss Brethren.” The first congregation of historical record was found in Zurich in 1525 and was the congregation that later became known as “Mennists,” and shortly thereafter, Mennonites, after Menno Simons.

Reformation spread rapidly and on February 7, 1528, the Protestant Reformed Church became the state church of Canton Bern. The Anabaptist movement followed almost immediately in the Canton. The following 200 years saw multiple efforts on the part of the government and the state church to eliminate the Anabaptist movement. These efforts have been extensively chronicled in the history of the Mennonite Church.

Precisely when our ancestor joined the Anabaptist movement is unclear. By 1597, at least some Joders from the area of Thun had joined the movement. “According to the Thun Urbar of 6 April 1597, the mother-in-law of Jakob Joder in Amsoldingen (Frau Neuschwender) was served with a confiscation order in the amount of two hundred pounds, merely because she was Mennonite and would not recant. Her daughter’s husband, Jakob Joder, signed a warrant for this amount, for which both his brothers-in-law were guarantors. Two hundred pounds was, in today’s currency value, a huge sum. The Jakob Joder family had an especially large and well-located forest of fir trees that was coveted by a Bernese patrician councilman who sought it out for a summer residence he wished to build. The Bernese councilman believed that he could now get his hands on this fir forest on foot of the fine warrant, but the sons of Jakob Joder confounded his scheme by cutting down eight hundred of the most beautiful trees in a few days. Heini Joder, the eldest son of Jakob Joder, was punished for this by being forced to do ‘bell work . . . .’ ” ⁷

Between 1550 and 1700, the Jordi families were living within about a 20-square-mile area of Canton Bern. Civil documents reveal the families to be living in the communities of Durrenroth, Eriswil, Gondiswil, Huttwyl, Ochlenberg, Wiler bei Utzenstorf, and Wyssachen in Canton Bern. These areas are located in the Oberaargau in the Swiss Plateau and are primarily agricultural communities. To date, the historical record suggests that most of the Jordi families remained affiliated with the Protestant Reformed Church. A few retained their Catholic ties. But by 1700, at least one Jordi family had joined the Mennonite movement. This occurred during a time of extreme persecution that included, among other things, confiscation of property and banishment from the country.

Arrival in France

As a result of the persecution, some members of the Jordi family left Switzerland. Around 1680, Johan Georg Jordi emigrated to Oberbetschdorf, Alsace-Lorraine, France. His religious affiliations in Switzerland are unknown, but in France he and his family joined the Lutheran Church. By 1712, at least two members of the Mennonite Jordi family, Jakob Jordi and Peter Jordi, abandoned Switzerland. It is uncertain how these men may have been related, but it is probable they were siblings. They were part of the second major emigration of Mennonites from Switzerland to escape religious persecution. The refugees traveled “down the Rhine to Alsace and the Palatinate on both sides of the Rhine, as well as certain adjoining territories such as Durlach or Zweibrucken. Since the earlier Anabaptists in these territories were almost completely wiped out by 1600-1630, all the later Mennonite settlements in these areas were made by emigrants from Switzerland. The heaviest movement was in 1650-1690. Some Bernese Anabaptists migrated to the Jura region of the Bishopric of Basel early in the 18th century, and about 1711 some emigrated to Holland. In 1714 the Anabaptists were ordered expelled from Alsace, and many left to found the community in Montbeliard, France, at that time ruled by Wurttemberg.”⁸ Montbeliard is located close to the Swiss border and about 12 kilometers north of the community of Belfort, France.

It appears that Peter Jordi went to Holland from Alsace about this time. From there he joined Dutch Mennonites on a trip to America in 1717. The immigrants traveled at the invitation of William Penn and settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. When they arrived, Peter’s name was spelled phonetically. Since the German letter “j” is pronounced similar to the English “y,” Peter Jordi became Peter Yorde, and later, Peter Yordy. He was the progenitor of the Pennsylvania Yordy families that later lived in Ohio, Kentucky, Illinois, Nebraska, and other western states. One of his descendants, Sam Yorty, became mayor of Los Angeles, California, a California congressman, and in 1972, unsuccessfully sought the nomination for President of the United States. DNA studies have closely linked this Peter Jordi with Peter Yordy who would emigrate from Bavaria to Tazewell County, Illinois in 1839. These studies indicate that Peter Jordi of Pennsylvania and Peter Yordy of Illinois shared a common ancestor, probably around 1700.⁹

Peter Jordi’s presumed brother, Jakob Jordi, remained in Europe. In 1715, he is identified as a member of the Amish congregation in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines near Belfort. It appears that some of Jakob’s sons stayed in the area of Belfort where some of his descendants remain to this day. At least two sons, Hans Jakob Jordi (1708-1752), and Ulrich Jordi, moved northeast into Germany. In 1732, Hans Jakob, his wife, and one child were living in Heppenheim.¹⁰ Hans Jakob Jordi appears to be the progenitor of all the Jordi (sometimes spelled “Jordy”) families from the area of Zweibrucken. Ulrich Jordi and his family left for the “New Land” in 1749 according to information found in the Palatine Mennonite Census lists.¹¹ However, to date, no additional information on Ulrich Jordi has been identified.

As noted, at least one of the sons of Jacob Jordi remained in the area of Belfort. He was apparent ancestor of Peter Yordy (born 1815) who would emigrate to Illinois in 1838.

Endnotes

¹ Family Tree DNA – Genealogy by Genetics, Ltd. 1919 North Loop West, Suite110 Houston, Texas 77008, USA
² http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetii
³ http://www.worldcoincatalog.com/CX/Switzerland/Switzerland.htm
⁴ Yoder Newsletter
⁵ http://www.yodernewsletter.org/nonamish/chronik.html
⁶ Genealogical record of the Jordi family of Gondiswil, Kt. Bern, Switzerland, abt. 1550-1905, compiled by Julius Billeter (1869-1957), p.60 ff., Family History Library International Film 128058, Item #3.  Original records in possession of Ruby M. Lee, 956 S.500 E., Orem, UT 84057.
⁷ http://www.yodernewsletter.org/nonamish/chronik.html
⁸ Krahn, Cornelius, Harold S. Bender and John J. Friesen. “Migrations.” Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 4 January 2007
⁹ Family Tree DNA analysis of descendants of Peter Yordy of Pennsylvania and Peter Yordy of Illinois, 2006.
¹⁰ 1732 Mennonite Census List Reconstructed, URL unknown.
¹¹ Guth, Hermann, et. al., “Palatine Mennonite Census Lists, 1664-1793”, pub. Mennonite Family History, 1987.

Part 2
The History of the Family of Peter Yordy (1815-1897)

The Yordy Siblings of Central Illinois—Peter Yordy, Christian Yotty,
and Jacobina (Philabena) Yordy

By Gary L. Yordy and Carol Yotty Heilman
Originally published in the Winter 2007 issue (Vol. XXXIV, No. 4)
Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly  (http://www.imhgs.org)
(Used with permission of the author and original publisher)

The following is an overview of the lives of three siblings who arrived in Tazewell County, Illinois from Bavaria between 1839 and 1842: Peter Yordy, Christian Yotty, and Jacobina (Philabena) Yordy. The family surnames are “Americanized” versions of the family surname, Jordi (Switzerland) and Jordy (France and Germany). In review of many historical documents in Illinois, a total of 32 different spellings of the surnames was identified.

I. Peter Yordy

Peter Yordy was born July 12, 1815 in France.1 His birth name may have been Peter Jordy or Pierre Jordy or Peter Jordi. It is most likely that his actual surname was “Jordy,” an Anabaptist name in the region and one that originated in Canton Bern, Switzerland. In Peter’s case, the surname Jordy was “Americanized” to “Yordy” when he emigrated to the United States.

At the time of Peter’s birth in 1815, the Napoleonic wars had just concluded, and by 1816 emigration restrictions in Europe had eased. Despite the end of the Napoleonic wars, 150,000 English, Prussian, Austrian, and Russian troops occupied the area around Belfort, depleting the crops and supplies of the residents. Then extremely prolonged, hard winters in 1816 and 1817 destroyed crops and widespread famine ensued.² These severe weather years were the result of the eruption of the Mt. Tambora Volcano in Indonesia in 1815. As a result of the eruption, an ash cloud spread around the world causing widespread weather disruption and the worst famine of the 19th century. 1816 was known in many parts of the world as “the year with no summer.”³ Presumably as a result of these factors, in 1817, when Peter Jordy was two years old, his family moved to Bayern (Bavaria).⁴ He stated he grew up “about 20 miles south of Munich.”⁵

Nothing is known of Peter’s early years. Peter apparently decided to leave Bavaria for America around 1837. A review of ships’ records of all ships landing in New Orleans in 1837 and 1838 reveals no evidence of Peter on any passenger list. This suggests that Peter may have come to America as a “stowaway” and entered the country as an “illegal immigrant”. The exact date that Peter arrived in the U.S. in 1838 has yet to be ascertained.

In 1839, “Peter Yorte” arrived in Tazewell County and settled on Partridge Creek (near Metamora).⁶ There is no known record of Peter’s life immediately after his arrival in Illinois in 1839. It is likely that he worked as a laborer.

On February 9, 1847, Peter married Mary Birky, an Amish woman with a nine-year-old son.⁷ The couple was married in the Dillon Creek Amish Congregation in Tazewell County.⁸ Mary Birky was born in Bavaria on April 16, 1816,⁹ the daughter of Christian Birki and his first wife, Mary, whose surname is unknown. Mary Birky Yordy’s first son, John, was born October 23, 1838, in Bavaria. Presumably, he was born out of wedlock.

On June 17, 1844, the ship Baltimore arrived in New York from Havre. Five people from Bavaria were traveling together:¹⁰

Peter Zerr 25
Joseph Burger 26
Catharina Kunder 27
Mary Burger 28
Johann Horn 6

It is believed that the persons written on the passenger list shown above were later known by more familiar names:

“Peter Zerr” = Peter Zehr. Probably the son of Daniel Zehr II and Magdalena Unzicker. Born 30 Dec 1818 in Mannreid, Bavaria, Germany (he would have thus been 25 in 1844). Married Elizabeth Oyer on 12 Aug 1845.

“Joseph Burger” = Joseph Birkey, second oldest child and oldest son of Christian Birki; brother of Mary Birky. Born 1818 in Bavaria.

“Catharina Kenntner” = Catharina Kettner, daughter of George Kettner and Marie Birky Kettner, and first cousin of Mary Birky Yordy. She may have been traveling as a chaperone for Mary Birky and her son on the voyage. She apparently returned to Bavaria and emigrated with her father and siblings in 1849.

“Mary Burger” = Mary Birky, oldest daughter of Christian and Mary Birki and future wife of Peter Yordy.

“Johann Horn” = John Birky Yordy, son of Mary Birky. He was raised as a foster child by Peter Yordy and changed his name to John B. Yordy.

One family legend indicates that John’s biologic father was a German army officer. [It is possible that John B. Yordy’s relationship to Peter Yordy as a “foster son” would have remained a family secret were it not for the fact that John’s daughter, Fannie Yordy decided to marry Peter Yordy’s nephew, Joseph Yeackley (see Jacobina Yordy, below). As a result, it was made clear that John Birky Yordy was not the biologic son of Peter Yordy, and thus was not related by blood to Fannie Yordy.]

In the 1900 US Census, Mary stated that she immigrated in 1847 and had “resided in this country for 53 years.”¹¹ However, according to her son, John, they arrived when John was age six—1844.

After his marriage to Mary Birky, Peter Yordy became the foster father of John Birky. Although there is no record that Peter adopted John Birky, John went through life as John B. (for Birky) Yordy. In 1850, Peter (35), Mary (34), and children, John (12), Christian (2), and Mary (1), were residing on a rented farm in Tazewell County.¹²

Historic records indicate that Peter bought his first land in America on January 30, 1852, when he purchased three properties located in Tazewell County from Abner Hodgson. The properties totaled 145 acres: two plots in south central Groveland Township (today located on the northeast corner of Allentown Road and Rowell Road) totaling 85 acres; and a 70 acre plot, about four miles south of the other two, in north central Elm Grove Township. Peter paid $1400 cash for the land. On April 17, 1854, Peter sold 25 acres of the land in Groveland Township to his brother-in-law, John Ackerman (husband of Mary’s sister, Magdalena) for $300.¹³

On February 28, 1854, Peter’s brother-in-law, George Yeackley (husband of Peter’s sister, Jacobina), died. Peter was named the administrator of Yeackley’s estate and the guardian ad litem for his four children.¹⁴ Five months later, on June 12, 1854, Jacobina Yeackley married Henry Raab.¹⁵ Raab died unexpectedly in early 1860 and left his family with a significant mortgage. When the mortgage holder foreclosed on the property, Peter purchased it for the cost of the mortgage ($620.15). On September 18, 1860, Peter entered into a “land swap” with a man named August Knoll. Peter sold Knoll the Yeackley farm land for $2000 and purchased a house in the city of Pekin from Knoll for $700.¹⁶ This house was located on the northeast corner of Sixth and Ann Eliza Streets. Peter apparently did this because Jacobina needed a place to live with her small children. In the 1861 Pekin City Directory, Jacobina and children were living at this address.

In 1860, the Yordy family included Peter (54), Mary (49), John (21), Christian (11), Mary (10), Jacob (7), Elizabeth (4), Phillip [Peter, Jr.] (5), and Joseph (2). They were residing on the Elm Grove Township farm.¹⁷ In 1863, Peter paid the US Government $100 to purchase the release of his step-son John from service in the army during the Civil War.¹⁸

On February 10, 1865, “Peter Yordy of Tazewell County” purchased 80 acres of land in Nebraska Township, Livingston County, from Thomas Kinnahaw.¹⁹ This farm was located on the northeast corner of what is now the town of Flanagan. There is no evidence that Peter moved to Livingston County at the time. It appears from the record that Mary’s son, John Birky Yordy, moved from Tazewell County in 1865 and resided on the farm until about 1871 (John’s children, Peter [b. 1866], Simon [b. 1868], and John [b. 1869] were all born in Livingston County, near Flanagan).²⁰ When Peter’s daughter, Mary, was married in 1872, she and her new husband, Daniel Orendorff, moved to the farm near Flanagan while John B. Yordy and his family moved to Lombardville, Illinois. On February 28, 1874, Peter transferred title to the land near Flanagan to Daniel and Mary Yordy Orendorff.²¹

In 1867 (a year after the death of his father-in-law, Christian Birky) Peter and his family moved to Woodford County where he had purchased a 200-acre farm from Andrew Johnson. This farm was located about three miles east of Roanoke, on Panther Creek. At the same time, he rented additional nearby land.²²

It is stated that, “He arrived from the Dillon Creek congregation and that he joined the Roanoke Mennonite Church, but was [also] active in the Panther Creek Church of the Brethren.”²³ This is apparently partly due to the proximity of the Panther Creek Church to his domicile. The Panther Creek Church of the Brethren is located about 1/4 mile from the Peter Yordy farm, while the Roanoke Mennonite Church is located almost six miles away. According to local historian, Ken Ulrich, it was not uncommon for Mennonites located a distance from the Roanoke church to be active in the Brethren church, which was apparently the case for Peter Yordy. Another explanation for this dual church attendance may be that when Peter moved to Woodford County, the Panther Creek Church of the Brethren was an established church, having been built in 1852. The Roanoke Mennonite Church did not form until 1875, eight years after Peter settled in Woodford County. At the time of his death, Peter was a member of both churches. Peter’s great-great-grandson and namesake, Rev. Peter Yordy, is currently (2007) the pastor of the Panther Creek Church of the Brethren.

Peter’s farm in Roanoke Township was located approximately 3 ½ miles north of a farm owned by “Christian Yotty” in northern Olio Township. On March 15, 1867, Peter and Christian Yotty were co-signers of a note to Jacob Gangloff in the amount of $800 bearing 10% interest.²⁴ The reason for the indebtedness is not stated on the note.

When Christian Yotty died in 1870, his estate showed a debt to Jacob Gangloff of $946.74, an amount consistent with the unpaid principal and interest on the $800 note.²⁵ This would suggest that Peter signed as a guarantor for a loan made to Christian.

In 1868, the Woodford County Tax Records record the following on Peter Yordy:
“YORDY, PETER, farmer; Secs. 13 and 24; P.O. Roanoke; was born in Alsace, France (now Germany), June 12, 1815; he married Miss Mary Burky Feb. 9, 1847; She was born in Germany in 1816; they had eight children, seven living—Christian, Mary, Jacob, Elizabeth, Peter, Joseph, and Barbara; he lived in Alsace two years before moving to Buron [sic], in Germany; lived there until 1838, when he came to the United States; in 1839, he came to Illinois, settled in Tazewell Co., followed farming; in 1867, he came to Woodford Co., and settled on his present place; he came to the United States without any capitol; he now owns 200 acres in this township.”

In 1870, Peter and family were still in Roanoke Township²⁶ where he was farming in sections 13 and 24.²⁷ In 1870 and 1871, Peter hosted a private school where Amish children were taught English by Christian Ehrisman.²⁸ The 1880 census shows Peter, Mary, and children, Elisabeth, Peter (Jr.), Joseph and Barbara, still on their farm in Roanoke Township.²⁹

In April 1880, Peter Yordi, et. al., filed two lawsuits in the Woodford County Court against Peter N. Vance, et. al., and W.M. Meek, et.al. Both suits sought declaratory relief and an injunction. According to the records of the Court of Chancery in Woodford County, the cases revolved around a tax issue. In 1879, the Woodford County tax collector sought to collect $7000 from the village of Roanoke. The city refused to pay. The tax collector then tried to collect the monies from individual landowners within the city boundaries. Peter Yordy was one of the landowners. He owned one acre of land that he had purchased in order to donate it to the local school district to build a school within the town. Peter and the other property owners of Roanoke sought a restraining order claiming the County could not turn to individual municipal property owners if the city government refused to pay required County taxes. The court agreed and held for the plaintiffs. The County appealed and the appellate court held that the original restraining order was erroneously filed and dismissed the case. Peter and the others filed a second suit for a restraining order.

That case was also dismissed and no relief was obtained by Peter.³⁰ As a result, the 43 property owners were required to each pay a prorated portion of the $7000. Recognizing that Peter had only purchased his property to donate for a school, the other property owners paid Peter’s share of the property tax.

Between 1875 and 1890, Peter bought additional land in Livingston County. In July, 1885, Peter transferred an 80-acre farm in Livingston County to his son Jacob. This farm was located in Waldo Township, five miles south of the town of Flanagan on what was referred to as “the Gridley Road.” Peter also purchased 80 acres of land in western Rooks Creek Township that was transferred to his son, Joseph. Joseph sold the property to Valentine Augstein on October 17, 1885.³¹ Joseph used the proceeds to purchase land in Nebraska Township near Flanagan from Serratus Holt in 1883³² and additional land from Ezra Winn in 1885.³³

Peter apparently retired from active farming in 1883-84. Peter, 70 years old at the time, and Mary, left their “home place” near Roanoke and moved in with Daniel and Mary Orendorff near Flanagan. At that time, Peter’s son, Christian, and his family moved from Livingston County to the “home place” near Roanoke. A second house was built on the “home place” and Peter, Mary, Peter Jr. and Barbara, returned to occupy this residence. On October 13, 1889, “Peter Yordy and his wife, Maria, of Nebraska Township, Livingston County” deeded eight acres in Woodford County to their son Peter Jr.³⁴ This transfer of title was apparently done to avoid estate probate.

Thus, land records indicate that Peter divested himself of all of his property prior to his death and that he transferred all of it to his children, likely in exchange for an agreement to care for Peter and Mary in their old age, and to care for Peter, Jr. and Barbara, both of whom were mentally challenged. In so doing, Peter and Mary avoided the requirement for a will.

Peter Yordy died on July 2, 1897, in Woodford County. He was survived by his wife, Mary, who died May 13, 1902. Both Peter and Mary are buried in the Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery.³⁵ To date, and in keeping with their faith, there has been no will or estate record found for either Peter or Mary—nor has there been an obituary identified for either.

Following the deaths of Peter and Mary, their two mentally challenged adult children, Peter, Jr. and Barbara, were cared for by their siblings. In 1901, shortly before the death of his mother, Peter, Jr. became the ward of his brother-in-law, Christian Bachman.³⁶ In the guardianship record, Peter, Jr. is described as “distracted.” Barbara (also described as “distracted”) subsequently became the ward of her brother, Christian Yordy. When Christian died, Barbara’s guardianship was transferred to Christian‘s son, Amos Yordy, and later, to another nephew, Ezra Yordy.³⁷

Children of Peter Yordy (12 Jun 1815-2 Jul 1897) and Mary Birky (18 Apr 1816-13 May 1902)

A. John Birky Horn Yordy (23 Oct 1838-31 Dec 1906) m. Magdalena King (13 Dec 1842-11 Feb 1927) (John was the biologic son of Mary Birky. His biologic father is unknown. He was raised by Peter Yordy.)

1. Fannie (5 Mar 1863-31 Oct 1955) m. Joseph Yeackley (15 Feb 1848-18 Jan 1940)
2. Samuel (22 Dec 1864-10 Jun 1865)
3. Peter E. (12 Mar 1866-23 Mar 1951) m. Annie Meeker (17 Dec 1868-13 Mar 1967)
4. Simon (14 Feb 1868-23 Oct 1953) m. (1) C. Knidelberger, (2) Katie Reinhart, (3) Amelia Schoenberg (Jan 1868-23 Apr 1945)
5. John E. (25 Dec 1869-7 Dec 1943) m. Alvina Lange (25 Mar 1870-21 Jul 1964)
6. Emma (23 Oct 1871-8 Nov 1958) m. Peter Swartzendruber (16 Dec 1869-3 May 1939)
7. Bella (24 Aug 1873-7 Oct 1962) m. Joseph Schrock (17 May 1852-6 May 1943)
8. David (16 Jan 1875-30 Oct 1934) m. Sarah Stauffer (18 May 1882-3 Mar 1957)
9. Jacob(15 Sep 1876-24 Aug 1883)
10. William (4 Sep 1878-23 Aug 1887)
11. Francis (4 Aug 1880-5 Dec 1898)
12. Mary (24 Jul 1882-27 Mar 1929) m. Joseph E. Zimmerman (19 Mar 1880-15 Dec 1949)
13. Elizabeth (1 Nov 1885-21 May 1965) m. Samuel Erb (22 Oct 1872-Aug 1938)

B. Christian Yordy (29 Jul 1848-10 Jul 1922) m. Salome Slagel (6 Sep 1855-21 Feb 1838)
1. Lydia (1876-1876)
2. Maria (7 Jan 1878-21 Mar 1880)
3. Daniel (1879-7 Apr 1880)
4. Salome (1 Feb 1881-28 Jul 1968) m. (1) Fred Woodward (1 Dec 1874-1922), (2) Edwin P. Burcky (21 Apr 1875-2 Feb 1962)
5. Joseph (1882-1882)
6. Amos (10 Jun 1884-1 Dec 1966) m. Jessie Switzer (21 Feb 1887-March 1977)
7. Joel (21 Nov 1886-9 Sep 1951) m. Prudence Bollinger (9 Dec 1886-July 1974)
8. Leah (12 Sep 1886-15 Mar 1976) m. (1) Unknown, (2) Stephen Armstrong (18 Apr 1886-9 Jan 1952)
9. Laura (Jan 1891-1 Jun 1929) m. Elbert Bryant (1887-6 Nov 1928)
10. Elizabeth (1 Jun 1896-Oct 1984)

C. Mary Yordy (19 Oct 1849-8 Feb 1923) m. Daniel Orendorff (8 Nov 1848-14 Jan 1918)
1. Elizabeth (24 Dec 1872-26 Feb 1960) m. John Roeschley (25 Aug 1859-24 Nov 1947)
2. Katherine (12 Jun 1874-1 Feb 1958) m. Christian M. Conrad (26 Mar 1873-6 Mar 1954)
3. Mary (1 Feb 1877-7 Nov 1908) m. John Zehr (31 Mar 1872-28 Dec 1916)
4. Emma (11 Mar 1880-11 Oct 1969) m. John D. Conrad (25 Oct 1878-28 Apr 1958)
5. Benjamin (21 Aug 1884-19 Sep 1885)
6. Amos (17 Mar 1887-23 Dec 1893)
7. Ada (12 May 1890-21 Jan 1984) m. Aaron C. Good (25 Jun 1881-29 Jun 1978)

D. Magdalena Yordy (Jun 1851-1854)

E. Jacob K. Yordy (8 Mar 1853-29 Nov 1930) m. Cathrien “Katie” King (17 Oct 1858-2 Feb 1918)
1. Edward P. (12 Mar 1879-31 Aug 1960) m. Mary Beller (10 Feb 1886-2 Apr 1977)
2. Maude (10 Jun 1880-12 Oct 1904) m. William Schertz (1 May 1879-19 Dec 1966)
3. Lidia (14 Feb 1882-14 Feb 1882)
4. Ida (13 Feb 1883-23 Jun 1947) m. Samuel Albrecht (31 Aug 1883-25 May 1947)
5. Noah (30 Jan 1885-15 Oct 1967) m. Mary Ringenberg (18 May 1886- 11 Aug 1969)
6. Lucy (30 Jan 1887-4 Jun 1967) m. Simon Beller (21 Mar 1881-2 Feb 1949)
7. Hattie (25 Sep 1889-9 May 1970) m. Albert Durre (8 Feb 1883-8 Apr 1955)
8. Mable (3 Aug 1891-6 Oct 1941) m. Elmer Augsburg (3 Feb 1890-8 Feb 1966)
9. William (18 May 1893-21 Jan 1974) m. L. Mae Saltzman (20 Nov 1896-30 Mar 1996)
10. Raymond (20 Oct 1895-10 Aug 1976) m. (1) Martha Horsch (3 Nov 1898-27 Nov 1924), (2) Almeda Shettler (24 Aug 1906-19 Jan 1980)
11. Minnie (18 Oct 1897 27 May 1981) m. Raymond Slagell (2 Jun 1897-10 Sep 1968)
12. Edna (19 Oct 1899-10 Oct 1995) m. William Stalter (25 Jul 1896-19 Nov 1971)
13. Amsy (2 Apr 1901-9 Dec 1980) m. Ella Zehr (28 Nov 1903-14 Mar 1994)
14. Erma (20 Feb 1904-14 Aug 2002) m. Arthur Guth (30 Oct 1895-8 Sep 1966)

F. Elizabeth Yordy (6 Dec 1854-28 Jan 1928) m. Christian Bachman (7 Mar 1857-19 Sep 1934)
1. Phoebe (24 Oct 1881-24 Dec 1971) m. William Kane (1 May 1884-6 May 1949)
2. Joel (5 Oct 1885-22 Nov 1977) m. (1) Anna Slagel (3 Mar 1887-2 Jan 1961), (2) Edna Oyer (25 Apr 1898-13 Oct 1998)
3. Mary (15 Apr 1890-22 Apr 1935) m. John Bachman (16 Dec 1889-7 Feb 1972)
4. Solomon (2 Sep 1893-6 Sep 1950) m. Emma Crawford (25 May 1897-Mar 1973)

G. Peter Philip Yordy (29 Feb 1956-4 Jun 1909)

H. Joseph Yordy (7 Nov 1857-19 Feb 1925) m. Elizabeth Roeschley (20 Jul 1861-3 Feb 1953)
1. Ellen “Ella” M. (29 Mar 1883-16 Jan 1960)
2. Anna M. (9 Mar 1885-18 Jan 1975)
3. Josephine L. (14 Aug 1886-3 Jan 1977) m. Albert E. Schrock (13 Jan 1886-9 Jan 1917)
4. Aaron A. (16 Mar 1888-7 Nov 1957)
5. Ezra B. (6 Apr 1892-9 Nov 1980) m. Carrie E. Good (2 Jan 1893-24 Jan 1993)
6. Walter E. (6 Dec 1895-25 Feb 1976) m. Alma Eigsti (13 Apr 1896-21 Jun 1972)
7. Jonas E. (9 Jan 1899-May 1984)
8. Alvin R. (8 Jan 1902-29 Dec 1979) m. Leah Erb (5 Aug 1907-20 Dec 2004)
9. Lewis J. (17 Sep 1905-10 Feb 1932)

I. Barbara Yordy (18 Dec 1860-20 Sep 1943)

**********************************************

II. Christian Yotty

It is believed that Christian Yotty was the brother of Peter and Jacobina Yordy. To date, no document specifically stating that has been located. However, there is very strong circumstantial evidence to support the inference that Christian Yotty and Peter Yordy were brothers whose original surname was Jordi or Jordy. That evidence includes:

A) The fact that they are of similar ages (Peter is five-seven years younger than Christian).³⁸
B) They both appear in central Illinois at about the same time (1839-40).³⁹
C) At one time or another they both shared the same last name (Yotty, Yordy).⁴⁰
D) Both are Amish Mennonites who emigrated from Bavaria, Germany.⁴¹
E) According to Glendon Albrecht, great-grandson of Peter and the oldest known living descendent of Peter Yordy, at age 93 years in 2002, “Them Yotty’s from Roanoke were all related to us Yordy’s. But we never knew them too well. They was Yordy’s at one time, but somehow, their name got changed.“ When asked if he knew how that happened, he said, “No, but I remember Grandpa (Jacob Yordy) talking about it sometimes.”⁴²
F) They were co-signers on a note to Jacob Gangloff for $800.⁴³
G) Peter supplied part of the Administrative Bond for the estate of Christian in 1870.⁴⁴
H) Their farms were located about three miles apart in Woodford County.⁴⁵
I) They are buried near each other in the Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery.⁴⁶
J) Peter’s daughter, Barbara, was the maid of honor/witness to the marriage of Christian’s son, Jacob Yotty, and Annie Bachman in 1882.⁴⁷
K) Peter’s son, Christian, had financial dealings with Christian Yotty’s son, Joseph as evidenced by documents in estate file of Joseph Yotty.⁴⁸
L) In 2006, Y-DNA studies were performed on descendants of both Peter and Christian. Those tests showed that Peter and Christian were very closely related—most probably siblings.⁴⁹

One issue in considering Christian and Peter as brothers is the fact that Peter consistently listed his place of birth as “France” while Christian listed his place of birth as “Germany”⁵⁰ and “Baden.”⁵¹ (A number of documents of Christian’s children refer to his birthplace as “France.”) It is possible that if they were brothers, their parents lived in “Baden” in 1809 when Christian was born, then moved to the area of France in 1815 when Peter was born, then moved again to Munich around 1817. The probability is that the Yordy family remained in the same locale when the children were young, but political control of the area changed from German to French during that period.

Christian’s precise birth year is uncertain. According to immigration records, he was born in 1810-11; according to the 1860 census, he was born 1809-10. Christian Yotty (“Christ Jody”), age “28”, arrived in New Orleans on December 26, 1839, on the ship “Alexander Toussin.” He came from Bavaria via Le Havre, France and Havana, Cuba. He was traveling with Catherina Stalter (age 30), her children, Johan (age 5) and Maria (age 3), her sister, Magdalena Stalter (age 24), and a man named Jakob Stalter, possibly her brother.⁵² Two days after arriving, Catherina gave birth to her third child, Henry (b. December 28, 1839 in New Orleans).

Catherina (a.k.a Katharina and Catherine) Stalter Yotty was born ca. 1809 in Gern near Munich, Germany. She was the daughter of Heinrich Stalter.⁵³ Heinrich was an estate holder in Gern who immigrated to Illinois about 1842-43. According to the 1850 census, 74 year-old “Henry Stalder” who was born in Germany, was residing in the Christian and Catherina Stalter Yotty home in Woodford County.⁵⁴

Originally, it was assumed that Christian and Catherina were married prior to arriving in America, and it was a puzzle why she would have used her maiden name and the name “Stalter” for her children in immigration records. Y-DNA tests were performed on descendants of her sons, John, Henry, and Jacob, in 2006 to determine if there was a genetic connection between the Yotty, Yordy, and Yoder surnames. Those studies indicated the descendants of John Yotty and Henry Yotty were not a match to either the Yordy or Yoder surnames. Jacob Yotty’s descendant did match both the Yordy and Yotty surname Y-DNA. Thus, the DNA match of Jacob Yotty’s descendant proves that Christian Yotty’s original surname was Jordy, and that he was closely related to Peter Yordy—genetically consistent with a sibling. It is further presumed that John and Henry (and presumably Catherina’s daughter, Mary/Maria) were fathered by someone other than Christian Yotty. It is unclear whether Catherina Stalter Yotty was married prior to her marriage to Christian. Christian raised John, Mary, and Henry as his own and they adopted the Yotty surname.

It is unknown when and where Christian and Catherina were married. No marriage certificate has been found in Illinois. It is possible that they were married either in New Orleans, or at some point between New Orleans and Tazewell County, Illinois. According to Mary Yotty Klopfenstein’s obituary, “When she was two years of age with her parents, one sister and four brothers, she came to the United States and they settled on a farm in Germantown, west of Metamora in 1838, known then as Black Partridge.”⁵⁵ Although the obituary is inaccurate as far as Mary’s age and the number of siblings traveling with her to America (since her sister and three brothers were born after the group arrived in America), the implication is that
the group was a “family unit” prior to their arrival in Illinois.

Christian Yotty arrived in Tazewell County in 1840 and settled on Black Partridge Creek where he became a member of the Partridge Creek Amish Congregation.⁵⁶, ⁵⁷ There, three children were born to Christian and Catherina (Joseph in 1845, Catherine in 1848, Jacob in 1853).

The family moved to Olio Township in Woodford County between 1853 and 1860. In 1857, Christian bought 163 acres of land in section 3 at the far north edge of the township, about two miles north and four miles east of Eureka, Illinois.

Christian died on November 7, 1870, without a will. The administrator named to the estate was his widow, “Katharina.” His son John, and brother, Peter Yordy, posted the Administrative Bond for the estate. Catherina Stalter Yotty died on October 3-5, 1894, in Woodford County.⁵⁸ Catherina and Christian are buried in unmarked graves next to their son, Joseph Yotty, in the Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery, Roanoke, Illinois.⁵⁹

Children of Christian Yotty (abt. 1810-7 Nov 1870) and Catherina Stalter Yotty (1809-4 Oct 1894)

A. John B. Yotty (2 May 1834-26 Aug 1916) m. Josephine Phillips (1846-1894)
1. Katherine S. (16 Dec 1869-3 Oct 1942) m. Arthur S. Philp (1870-16 Jul 1948)
2. Joseph H. (29 Jul 1872-29 Dec 1938) m. Lodycie Eastman (13 Nov 1878-15 Jul 1932)
3. Anna (19 Apr 1874-26 Oct 1941) m. Edward Everett (27 Nov 1876-21 Dec 1952)
4. Edith (20 May 1875-15 Sep 1900) m. John Strickler (11 Jul 1871-1900)
5. Albert J. (21 Jan 1877-1 Nov 1958) m. Anna Walker (29 Sep 1896-2 Jul 1959)
6. Frank (Dec 1878-19 Oct 1933)
7. Phoebe (23 Jan 1881-29 Oct 1953) m. John Kyle (30 Jul 1878-16 Sep 1964)
8. Christopher D. (30 Dec 1883-29 Oct 1952)

B. Maria Yotty (23 Mar 1836-24 Jan 1926) m. Joseph Klopfenstein (31 Jul 1829-9 Dec 1909)
1. Catherine/Kathryn (1858-bet.1880 and 1900) m. Mr. Burwell
2. Christian (1860-bef. 1880)
3. Joseph Jr. (Nov 1867-21 Aug 1949) m. Emma Zeigle (Apr 1869-31 Jul 1932)
4. Josephine (16 Nov 1867-9 Jan 1939) m. (1) Joseph Schumacher (d. bef. 1900), (2)
James Carney (16 Apr 1865-21 Jun 1917)
5. Julianne/Annie (1870-1896)

C. Henry Yotty (28 Dec 1839-9 Feb 1886) m. Mary Alice Hoover (17 Sep 1847-20 May 1914)
1. Lydia (23 Feb 1871-Feb 1922) m. (1) Lytle Jones (b. 23 Jul 1880), (2) George Riggins (b. 1854)
2. Emma (9 Sept 1873-21 Mar 1965)
3. Jessie (9 Jul 1875-1920) m. Fred Dehm (b. 1865)
4. Mary (4 Aug 1876-30 Jul 1949)
5. Daniel (22 Jun 1879-4 Apr 1925) m.(1) Lulu Sutton (1888-1909), (2) Sarah Donnelly (Mar 1882-9 Apr 1959)
6. Ida E. (b. 10 Aug 1881) m. Bertram Brooking
7. Jacob Harry (12 Feb 1883-26 Nov 1926) m. Catherine Reeves (28 Jan 1890-20 May 1940)
8. Bessie (20 Jun 1889-29 Sep 1985) m. Edward Moore (31 Mar 1878-19 Jan 1962)

D. Joseph Yotty (27 Nov 1845-11 Apr 1932)

E. Catherine Phoebe Yotty (Feb 1850-1912) m. Christian D. Ehrisman (1844-21 Aug 1920)
1. John H. (10 Aug 1871-12 Jun 1959) m. (1) Etta Foster (4 Oct 1876-
1 Dec 1917), (2) Ruth Weeks
2. Albert J. (2 Dec 1874-1929) m. Evelyn Schuck (1877-1934)
3. Mary E. (Oct 1877-8 Apr 1894)
4. William D. (Dec 1879-1882)
5. Susan K. (1883-1883)
6. Joseph W. (4 Dec 1885-10 Nov 1939)
7. Clara M. (20 Mar 1889-17 Sep 1959)

F. Jacob C. Yotty (27 Apr 1853-23 Aug 1920) m. Anna Bachman (3 Dec 1858-18 Dec 1933)
1.Christian H. (19 Dec 1882-2 Aug 1953)
2.Elizabeth A. (29 Aug 1884-14 Mar 1957) m. John H. Speas (18 Nov 1882-18 Oct 1974)
3.Jacobina C. (19 Mar 1890-6 Feb 1958) m. Jacob Speas (19 Jan 1887-25 Dec 1954)
4.Bartholomew (26 Mar 1895-11 Mar 1956) m. Mary Ellen Yoder (20 Apr 1899-9 Mar 1980)

******************************************

III. Jacobina (Philabena) Yordy

Jacobina was born in Munchen (Munich), Bayern (Bavaria) on June 24, 1819.⁶⁰ She is named as the sister of Peter Yordy in family documents and the George Yeackley estate papers.⁶¹ She was apparently married to Johan George Yeackley before 1842 in Bavaria. George Yeackley was a Catholic.

“John Jeckle“, age 28, and “Jacobina Jeckle“, his 24-year old “wife,” arrived in New Orleans from Bavaria via Le Havre, France, on the ship “Governor Davis” on January, 5, 1842.⁶² On April 22, 1842, “George Yakely” and “Jacobina Yeartey” received a marriage license in Woodford County⁶³ and on April 26, 1842,” George Yakely” married “Jacobina Yerkey” in Woodford Co. in a civil ceremony.⁶⁴

The reason for the apparent duplicate marriage ceremonies in Bavaria and Illinois is unclear. Several possible explanations exist. It is known that George and Jacobina raised their children in the Catholic Church.⁶⁵ Their daughter Catherine was born in January 1842, in New Orleans, shortly after the couple arrived. Perhaps in order to have Catherine baptized in the Catholic church, the couple needed to provide some proof of the validity of their marriage but lacked adequate documentation from Germany. Or perhaps Catherine was conceived out of wedlock and the couple merely traveled under the name “Jeckle”, waiting to be married until after they arrived in Illinois.

In September, 1850, “George Ackerly” was living in Tazewell County, Illinois, with his wife, “Pena,” and children, Catharine, Elizabeth, Joseph, and Pena.⁶⁶ George bought 80 acres of land from David Alexander for $878 on April 18, 1853. This land is located two miles northwest of Groveland.

On February 28, 1854, George Yeackley died in Tazewell County. Peter Yordy was named administrator of his estate and guardian ad litem of his four children, Kate, Lizzie, Joe, and Phoebe.⁶⁷ This assignment of guardianship was presumably done to prevent the children from being taken from Jacobina.

On July 12, 1854 (five months after the death of her first husband), Jacobina Yordy Yeackley married Henry Raab in Tazewell County.6⁸ A son, Henry Raab, Jr., was born 1855-57 (his headstone in the Craft Kimmel Cemetery says 1855; US Census data suggests 1856-57). In 1856, Henry Raab, Sr. purchased the land owned by the estate of George Yeackley for $8.50 per acre, and in 1857, he became co-guardian of Jacobina’s children.⁶⁹ The land was subject to a mortgage. In late 1859, Henry defaulted on the mortgage. Henry Raab, Sr. died sometime between February and June 1860. Jacobina’s brother, Peter Yordy, purchased the farm from the mortgage holder and later traded the farm for a house in Pekin and cash for Jacobina and the children (see under Peter Yordy, above).

On August 14, 1862, twice widowed Jacobina married Christian Krug⁷⁰ (b. Hanseldorf Baiern, August 1,1825).⁷¹ Their son, Louis Krug, was born August 30, 1868, in Groveland.⁷² On July 19, 1870, Christian Krug was living in Tazewell County, Pekin Township, with wife “Phillipina,” and sons, Henry Krug (Raab) and Louis, and Joseph Jeckel (Joseph Yeackley) and Jacobina Jaeckle (Phoebe Yeackley).⁷³ On June 10, 1880, “Christ” Krug was living in Groveland Township, Tazewell County, with wife, “Pena,” son, Louis, and Henry Rabb (Henry Raab, Jr.).⁷⁴

Jacobina Yordy Yeackley Raab Krug died on December 16, 1883, and was buried in the Craft Kimmler Cemetery in Groveland, IL. Christian Krug died in Groveland on October 31, 1890, and is buried next to “Phillipine” (Jacobina Yordy).⁷⁵

Children of Jacobina Yordy (24 Jun 1819-16 Dec1883) and Johan George Yeackley (1816-28 Feb 1854)

A. Catherine Yeackley (17 Jan 1842-18 Jul 1932) m.
Adam Hoffman (1836-1897)
1. Fred W. (2 Jun 1864-2 Oct 1936) m. Catherine Zendner (Oct 1874-14 May 1963)
2. Emma (1866-bet. 1870-1880)
3. Mary (b. Jul 1869)
4. Katherine (b. 1871)
5. Liza (b. 1876)

B. Elizabeth Yeackley (7 Mar 1845-30 Jun 1931) m. Louis Winkel (Oct 1844- bet. 1900-1910)
1. Frederick (Jan 1866-21 Aug 1947)

C. Joseph Yeackley (15 Feb 1848-18 Jan 1940) m. Fannie Yordy (5 Apr 1863-31 Oct 1955)
1. Elizabeth (10 Sep 1885-16 Apr 1974) m. Leander Eicher (28 Aug 1883-25 Jun 1931)
2. Phoebe (11 Apr 1887-27 Mar 1975) m. Joseph E. Zimmerman (19 Mar 1880-15 Dec 1949)
3. Fred (17 Nov 1888-11 Nov 1980) m. Lydia Saltzman (20 May 1889-5 Feb 1960)
4. John (23 Dec 1889-9 Mar 1988) m. Sarah Stutzman (21 Feb 1896-6 Jun 1940)
5. Emma (1 Dec 1891-20 Dec 1996) m. Edward Roth (23 Mar 1890-5 Sep 1977)
6. George (13 Apr 1900-10 Dec 1993) m. Sarah Hers Berger (17 Aug 1901-17 Jan 1951)
7. Eva (15 Oct 1901-22 Feb 1995) m. Fred Reeb (18 Dec 1895-22 Nov 1984)
8. Elsie (21 Oct 1903-23 Jun 1991) m. Bert Stutzman (7 May 1904-10 Oct 1989)

D. Emma Yeackley (1850-1851)

E. Peter Yeackley (1853-1854)

F. Phoebe Yeackley (3 Jun 1853-14 Dec 1933) m. Joseph C. Bishop (1850-20 Sep 1896)
1. Ella E. (b. 1873) m. Daniel Freidinger (15 Aug 1872-Feb 1965)
2. William H. (14 May 1879-22 May 1970) m. Emma Freidinger (17 Nov 1883-17 Oct 1941)
3. Joseph B. (11 Aug 1881-12 Jan 1948) m. Edna (?) (23 Apr 1883-Nov 1972)
4. Lillian (21 Jun 1887-Jun 1987) m. (1) Joseph S. Powell (1885-26 Mar 1920), (2) Robert Brown (20 Jul 1882-Sep 1967)

Children of Jacobina Yordy Yeackley and Henry Rabb (d. 1860)

G. Henry Rabb Jr. (bet. 1855 and 1858-10 Dec 1933)

Children of Jacobina Yordy Yeackley Rabb and Christian Krug (1 Aug 1825-31 Oct 1890)

H. Louis Krug (30 Aug 1868-13 Nov 1943) m. (1) Anna Hagney (Oct 1877-5 Mar 1902), (2) Anna Dully (13 Mar 1870-18 Apr 1948)

SOURCES
¹ Headstone, Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery, Roanoke, IL.
² Joseph Staker, The Staker Family, Amish Mennonites in Tazewell County, Illinois.
³ “The Year With No Summer,” Wikipedia, 2006.
⁴ Woodford County Tax Records, 1868.
⁵ Information from Marvin Yordy, Roanoke, Illinois, based on notes written by his father, Amos Yordy.
⁶ Centennial History of The Mennonites In Illinois, Harry F. Weber, 1931.
⁷ “Peter Youghter” married “Mary Birkey“; Marriage License, Tazewell County, IL.
⁸ History of the Roanoke Mennonite Church . . . 125 Years, 1875-2000. Understanding of the Past. A Guide to Our Future. Compiled by Ken Ulrich for Roanoke Mennonite Church. 2000.
⁹ Headstone, Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery.
¹⁰ New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1844, June 17, Baltimore, p. 4.
¹¹1900 US Census, Illinois, Woodford County, Roanoke Twp.
¹²1850 US Census, Tazewell County, (as “Peter Yatty).
¹³ Series of Deeds found at Tazewell County Courthouse by Carol Heilman, 2006. Copies on file.
¹⁴ Probate record of George Yeackley, Tazewell County Probate Court.
¹⁵ Illinois Regional Archives and Depository – Volume A, p. 254, License #2389.
¹⁶ Series of Deeds found at Tazewell County Courthouse by Carol Heilman, 2006. Copies on file.
¹⁷ 1860 US Census, Illinois, Tazewell County, Elm Grove Township, (as “Peter Yorty”).
¹⁸ The Yordy Story, 1815-1971.
¹⁹ Livingston County Deed Book Z, page 286.
²⁰ Obituaries of Peter, Simon, and John E. Yordy.
²¹ Livingston County Deed Book 61, page 229.
²² History of the Roanoke Mennonite Church . . . 125 Years, 1875-2000. Understanding of the Past. A Guide to Our Future. Compiled by Ken Ulrich for Roanoke Mennonite Church. 2000; Woodford County Deed Book T, p. 547.
²³ Ibid.
²⁴ Estate of Christian Yotty; November, 1870, Woodford County Probate Court, Eureka, IL.
²⁵ Christian Yotty estate file located at the Woodford County Courthouse.
²⁶ 1870 US Census, Roll 295, Book 1, page 468a (as Peter Yottey).
²⁷ Woodford County Tax Records, 1868.
²⁸ History of the Roanoke Mennonite Church . . . 125 Years, 1875-2000. Understanding of the Past. A Guide to Our Future. Compiled by Ken Ulrich for Roanoke Mennonite Church. 2000.
²⁹ 1880 US Census, Illinois, Woodford County, Roanoke Twp., (as “Peter Yordie”).
³⁰ Woodford County Clerk of the Court Docket Book, 1880.
³¹ Livingston County Deed Book 87, p. 383.
³² Livings^{ton County Deed Book 75,p. 45.
33} Ibid.
³⁴ Woodford County Deed Book 61, p. 161.
³⁵ Headstones at the Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery.
³⁶ Woodford County Guardianship Proceedings.
³⁷ Ibid.
³⁸ US Census Data, Tazewell and Woodford County, 1850 and 1860.
³⁹ Centennial History of The Mennonites In Illinois, Harry F. Weber, 1931.
⁴⁰ US Census Data, Illinois, 1850-1880.
⁴¹ Ibid.
⁴² Phone conversation between GLY and Glendon Albrecht, December, 2002.
⁴³ Estate File of Christian Yotty; Woodford County Courthouse. Case File 701, Microfilm Roll 106.
⁴⁴ Ibid.
⁴⁵ Plat maps of Woodford County, 1868 and 1870.
⁴⁶ Personal observation, 2003.
⁴⁷ Marriage License of Annie Bachman and Christian Yotty, per Carol Heilman.
⁴⁸ Estate file of Joseph Yotty, Woodford County Illinois Courthouse.
⁴⁹ Family Tree DNA results on Doug Yotty and Gary Yordy. Copies in author’s personal file.
⁵⁰ 1850 US Census, Illinois, Tazewell County.
⁵¹ 1860 US Census, Illinois, Tazewell County.
⁵² Information from ships passenger list found at LDS Family History Library in Wilmington, NC. FHL #0200147; NARA #M259-19.
⁵³ Guth, Hermann, Amish Mennonites in Germany, p. 248.
⁵⁴ 1850 Federal Census, Illinois, Woodford County.
⁵⁵ Mary Yotty obituary, Woodford County Journal, January 28, 1926.
⁵⁶ Coming of the Mennonites to Illinois, by Weber, 1939, page 90.
⁵⁷ Centennial History of The Mennonites In Illinois, Harry F. Weber, 1931.
⁵⁸ Obituary in the Metamora Herald, October 11, 1894.
⁵⁹ Information from Carol Yotty Heilman.
⁶⁰ Headstone, Craft Kimmler Cemetery, Tazewell County, Illinois.
⁶¹ The Yordy Story, 1803-1971.
⁶² Passenger Manifest of the ship Governor Davis, LDS FHL microfilm # 0200150.
⁶³ Wedding License copy on file.
⁶⁴ Illinois Marriages Before 1850, Genealogy.com.
⁶⁵ The Yordy Story, 1803-1971.
⁶⁶ 1850 US Census, Illinois, Tazewell County, entry 462, Roll 129, Book 1, page 33 at Genealogy.com.
⁶⁷ George Yeackley Estate Papers, Tazewell County Estate Files, Box 52.
⁶⁸ Illinois Statewide Marriage Index.
⁶⁹ George Yeackley Estate Papers, Tazewell County Estate Files, Box 52.
⁷⁰ Christian “King” m. Jacobina “Yekel,” Vol B, page 250 Tazewell Co., IRAD.
⁷¹ Christian Krug’s headstone in Groveland, IL. Tazewell County Cemeteries Vol. 4.
⁷² Obituary of Louis Krug, Pekin Daily Times, Nov. 13, 1943.
⁷³ 1870 US Census, Illinois, Tazewell County, Pekin Township.
⁷⁴ 1980 US Census, Illinois, Tazewell County, Groveland Township.
⁷⁵ Tazewell County Cemeteries, Vol. 4., headstone inscriptions.

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Yordy Addendum:
French Birth Records and Ancestry of Peter Yordy

By Gary L. Yordy
Originally published in the Spring 2008 issue (Vol. XXXV, No. 1)
Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly  (http://www.imhgs.org)
(Used with permission of the author and original publisher)

Within weeks following the publication of “The History of the Family of Peter Yordy (1815-1897)” in the winter issue of Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly, additional information on Peter and his family was discovered. It is both additive and corrective to the original article.

Peter Yordy was born July 12, 1815 in France according to his headstone in the Roanoke Mennonite Cemetery. However, the author discovered his birth registration that contradicts some of this data.

Peter was born in a tiny village of Jaegerthal, France (very near Windstein) on July 26, 1815 at 3 a.m. to Jacques (Jacob) Jordi, a 37-year-old laborer, and Catharine “Schauin” (Schantz). The birth was witnessed by Jean Walter and Pierre Mathis. Despite the fact that Peter’s parents were German, because he was born in France (as opposed to Germany), his birth name was recorded as “Pierre Jordi.”

In addition to Peter’s birth register, the register of his sister, Jacobina, was discovered. According to her birth data, she was born July 29, 1818 in Jaegerthal. Her parents were listed as Jacques Jordy, a 41-year-old “cultivateur,” and Catherine Schantz. The birth was witnessed by Joseph Schertzinger and Jacques Kunz. Because the birth occurred in France, her birth name was registered as “Jacquees” Jordy.²

Note that the authorities spelled the surname “Jordi” on Peter’s register and “Jordy” on Jacobina’s register. Peter’s father actually signed his birth register and did so using the “Jordi” spelling. The civil registrar signed Jacobina’s register on behalf of her father.

No other birth, death, or marriage information was identified in the Jaegerthal/Windstein records for this family. Specifically, no birth registry for Christian or any other children have been found. It thus appears that the family arrived shortly before Peter’s birth and left for Bavaria shortly after Jacobina’s birth.

The identification of the parents of Peter Yordy coupled with prior research by Hermann Guth ³ allows us to tie together many more generations of Peter’s ancestry.

As noted in Part 1 of the series on Peter Yordy, Jordi ancestors left Canton Bern, Switzerland at the beginning of the 18th century. Jakob Jordi Sr. is believed to have gone from Switzerland to Ste. Marie-aux-Mines with other followers of Jakob Ammann around 1700. In 1712, French King Louis XIV expelled all Anabaptists from France. Most of the Amish around Ste. Marie-aux-Mines (possibly 60 families and 400-500 individuals) relocated to nearby estates. At the time, Alsace and the adjacent area called the Palatinate consisted of numerous feudal domains that retained much autonomy.⁴

Jakob Jordi did not initially go far from Ste. Marie-aux-Mines. In 1715, he is identified as a member of the Amish congregation in Belfort, France, some 75 miles south of Ste. Marie-aux-Mines. Jakob Jordi of Belfort and his wife (identity unknown) had at least three sons:
a) “C.” (full given name is unknown, but thought to be Chretien Jordi) remained in the area of Belfort. Most of this son’s descendants left the Amish and Mennonite church. Some joined the Lutheran church and some returned to the Catholic church. Ancestors remain today in Belfort and several small adjacent villages.

The other sons of Jakob Jordi of Belfort made different choices. The counts Palatine of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld, as owners of the County Rappoltstein, had initially objected to the expulsion of the Anabaptists from France. Having acquired rule over Zweibrucken in 1731, these members of the Palatine branch of the powerful House of Wittelsbach remained well-disposed toward Mennonite leaseholders and encouraged their resettlement in areas where they had influence…most notably Hesse-Darmstadt, Waldeck and the Kingdom of Bavaria.⁵

It was a principle of the Amish at the time to not own land––rather to lease land for a period of time (this was based on Acts 4:32-35). Most Amish and Mennonite farmers signed a customary lease for six or nine years.⁶ Thus it was that two other sons of Jakob Jordi of Belfort left France for more welcome lands in the mid-1730s. They were:
b) (Hans) Jakob Jordi. He married, left Belfort and traveled 200 miles north into Germany, settling at Heppenheim auf der Wiese in 1731. This is a community located west of the city of Worms. It is about 25 miles northeast of Hohenecken. In 1732, he was in Heppenheim with one child. His birth year was given as 1708. Their family was one of 42 families that belonged to the Gerolsheim Amish Mennonite Congregation.⁷ In the 1738 census, he was living in Heppenheim with his wife, five children, one farmhand and one maid.⁸ In the 1743 census, Hans Jakob was still at Heppenheim auf der Wiese with his wife, three sons, four daughters, and two farmhands. ⁹
Two of Hans Jakob’s sons were Jakob Jordi II and Ulrich Jordi. In 1746, brothers Jakob Jordi and Ulrich Jordi left Heppenheim and moved 23 miles north with their families where they were employed on the Haeusserhof at “Oberamt Oppenheim Nieder-Ingelheim,” an estate of Lady von Haxthausen located just east of Ingelheim. The estate was a former monastery that had been founded in 1190. It was taken over by the Haxthausen family in 1650. Today, the remnants are known as “Haxthaeuserhof.”¹⁰ In 1749 Ulrich Jordi and his family left for the “New Land.” Efforts to locate immigration data on Ulrich Jordi from 1749 have been unsuccessful. His fate remains unkown. Jakob Jordi II died on the Haeusserhof on September 10, 1752. His wife, three sons and four daughters remained on the estate until at least 1753.1¹ Their names are unknown.

c) Jakob’s third son was (Jean) Johannes Jordi. In 1735, Johannes Jordi arrived in Hohenecken, Germany. (This information came from a much later census.)¹² Hohenecken is located approximately two miles west of Kaiserslautern. It is unknown if he was married when he arrived. In 1753 Johannes was on the Lichtenbrunnerhof near Kaiserslautern with a wife, two children and one farmhand. According to the census data, he had lived there for 18 years.¹³ The two children were Anna and Johannes/Jean. By 1759 Johannes was a temporary tenant with Franz Dellmuth on the Bremerhof estate (on the south edge of Kaiserslautern). With him was his wife, Verena Lang, two sons (Jean/Johannes – 8 ½, and Jakob – 2 ½) and two daughters (Anne – 12, and Verena -5).¹⁴ By 1765 Johannes and family had relocated to Eselsfurth on the northeast edge of Kaiserslautern where their fifth child, Magdalena, was born.¹⁵

1) Anna Jordy was born 1747. She was the third wife of Jakob Muller of the Münsterhof estate at Dreisen, Kirchheimbolanden. His first two wives had been first, Elisabeth Schenk (Edenbornohof near Kirchheim-Bolanden) and second, Anna Brenneman. In 1753 he was in Morzheim near Landau “with wife and three sons, 7,4, and 3 years of age” (Guth p. 200 citing Palatine Mennonite Census Lists). He was one of the original three Anabaptist leasors of the Münsterhof in 1764 and must have been at least two decades senior to Anna.
2) Johannes (Jean) Jordy
3) Verna Jordy was born in 1752. She married Christian Eyer, son of Rudolf Eyer and Veronika Kurtz.
4) Jakob Jordy was born in 1755. He married first, Magdalena Imhof, daughter of Peter Imhof and Veronica Rocke of Hochspeyer. They had three children: Johannes (Jean) (b.12/23/1784); Elisabeth (b. 12/4/1785); and Jakob (Jacques) b. 7/22/1787. After Magdalena’s death on 10/17/1787, Jakob married Veronika Habecker, daughter of Johannes Habecker and Veronika Imhof of Hofstatten. Jakob and Veronika had a son, Christian (Chretien) Jordy (b. 1790). Jakob lived his entire life on the Wilensteinerhof near Trippstadt. After he died in 1794, his widow, Veronika, and her step-son, Jakob, and son, Christian, moved to Windstein, France, near her brother, Johannes Habecker, and sister, Katharina Habecker Roggy, both of whom lived near Lembach.
5) Magdalena Jordy was born in 1765 in Eselsfurth near Kaiserslautern. She married Johannes (Jean) Imhof, son of Peter Imhof and Katharina Roggy of the Aschbacherhof.

Johannes (Jean) Jordy was born in 1750, probably on the Lichtenbrunnerhof near Kaiserslautern. He married Barbara Eschem (Esch or Oesch). Her ancestry is unknown. The family moved from the Trippstadt, Germany area, to Windstein, Alsace, France, some 50 miles to the south. The timing of this move is uncertain. It is clear that their children were born on the Wilensteinerhof near Trippstadt, and that the family was in Windstein, France before Johannes died in 1803. The couple had three children:

A) Jakob (Jacques) Jordi born 1778;
B) Magdalena (Madeleine) Jordy born 1779 in Wilenstein. She died unmarried in Windstein on 12/12/1816. Her death was reported by Jacques Kuntz and Louis Epigage and her parents were identified as Jean Jordy and Barbara “Eschem”;¹⁶
C) Catharina Jordy born about 1781 in Wilenstein. She also died unmarried in Windstein on 6/9/1817.¹⁷

Jakob Jordy’s German name was translated in French to “Jacques Jordi” by authorities in Windstein. He apparently adopted part of the French version as he signed his name “Jakob (German) Jordi (French).” It is interesting to note that his cousin (son of Jakob Jordy and Magdalena Imhof) who was also named Jakob Jordy and lived in Windstein, signed his name “Jakob Jordy“ with a “y,“ perhaps to differentiate the two Jakob Jordy’s.
With the exception of the years 1814-1818, little is known of the lives of Jakob Jordi, son of Johannes Jordy and Barbara Esch. Birth records of his children tell us that he was married to Catherina Schantz. Her ancestry is uncertain, but she may have been a daughter of Christian Schantz and Anna Rubi of the Heiligenbrunerhof near Lembach. To date, no historic record of the marriage of Jakob and Catherina has been located. We also know that through this period, the couple lived at Jaegerthal, France.

Jaegerthal is the site of an iron foundry (first built in 1602) and an adjacent estate. It could not even be called a “village.” It would more appropriately be referred to as a commune located approximately one mile south of the village of Windstein, France. It appears that Jakob Jordi began as a day laborer on the estate at Jaegerthal. He apparently worked in the agricultural endeavors at Jaegerthal (rather than the foundry) as he was described as a “cultivator” or farmer on Jacobina’s birth registry.

Jaegerthal was controlled by the Dietrich family. Protestant Jean Dietrich purchased the foundry in 1685. He obtained contracts to provide weapons for the French army, gaining favor with the Catholic king. This helped to protect the rights of Protestants in the Strasbourg area, and provided a modest start to the industrial family’s later fortune. In 1761 the family became nobility, changing their surname to ‘de Dietrich.’ They helped finance the War of Austrian Succession (1741-48) and the Seven Years War (1756-63). Much of the land around the Jaegerthal foundry was owned by a competing family, and eventually the de Dietrichs chose other locations to ensure supplies of wood. By 1789 they employed 1,000 workers and owned more land than any other family in Alsace. Philippe-Frédéric de Dietrich, a son of Jean, became the Royal Commissioner of Mines and the first mayor of Strasbourg before meeting the guillotine in 1793. Despite reverses, family fortunes revived under Napoleon. They later expanded into railroad construction, automobiles, manufacturing, and chemicals as the conglomerate De Dietrich & Cie. The foundry is now a ruined brick shell, and Jaegerthal is part of Windstein.¹⁸

From the historic records thus far identified, it appears that Jakob and Catharina resided somewhere other than the Jaegerthal/Windstein region prior to 1814. During this time, their son, Christian, and possibly a son, Jakob (father of Barbara Yordy Eigsti), were born. The historic record suggests they left Jaegerthal shortly after the birth of daughter, Jacobina, in 1818. According to their son, Peter Yordy, they moved to a location “about 20 miles south of Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Though the sight has not yet been located, Peter’s immigration record suggests it may have been near Starnberger See (Lake Starnberg).

Yordy Family Bavarian Residence and Peter Yordy Immigration

Peter apparently decided to leave Bavaria for America around 1837. Family legend recounts that he came to New Orleans, then up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, arriving in Tazewell County as Peter himself said, “with no capital and a head full of lice.” However, this is apparently incorrect. A review of records of all ships landing in New Orleans in 1837 and 1838 revealed no evidence of Peter on any passenger list.

In December 2007, genealogist Joseph Staker discovered the historic record of Peter’s immigration to America.¹⁹ Twenty-three-year-old “Peter Jordte” or “Jodte” from France emigrated to New York. He arrived on the packet ship, Charles Carroll, which arrived from Le Havre on September 17, 1838. This individual’s name falls directly in a crease in the paper, making it difficult to read clearly.

On the passenger list immediately before Peter’s name is the name of Joseph “Heser” (20) and Andrew Burkey (29) and his wife, Barbara (29) and son Joseph (2). These people are thought to be Joseph Heiser; Andrew Burcky (son of Andrew Birki and first cousin of Peter Yordy’s future wife, Mary Birkey Yordy) and his wife, Barbara Eyer/Oyer and their son, Joseph. Joseph Heiser had lived at Hanfeld, and Andrew Burcky had lived at Söcking.²⁰ The two villages are adjacent and the town squares only two miles apart, very near Starnberg, and approximately 20 miles south of Munich. The fact that Peter, Joseph, and Andrew emigrated together suggests that they knew each other prior to the trip. Further credence is leant to this theory by their actions after arriving in Illinois. In the 1855 Tazewell County Census21 and the1860 US Census,²² Peter, Joseph, and Andrew were all next-door neighbors in Elm Grove Township, Tazewell County.

Thus, historic documents and Peter’s own testimony indicate that the family of Jakob Jordy and Catharina Schantz relocated from Jaegerthal, France to somewhere around Hanfeld or Söcking, Germany. Unfortunately, few historic documents are available from these locations and thus far, none have confirmed their residence.

Mary Birkey Yordy in Tazewell County

Peter Yordy’s wife, Maria Birki (Mary Birkey), and her six-year-old son, John Horn, emigrated in 1844. They traveled with Mary’s brother, Joseph, their cousin, Catherine Kettner, and Peter Zehr on the ship, Baltimore, which arrived in New York from Le Havre on June 17, 1844.²³

On February 9, 1847, two and one-half years after arriving in America, Mary married Peter Yordy. That marriage occurred within the Dillon Creek Amish Congregation in Tazewell County, Illinois. A recently identified 1845 Tazewell County Census sheds light on her life between her arrival in Illinois and her marriage to Peter.

In 1845, thirty-year-old Mary “Burgie” resided with a male under 10 years of age (John Horn Birkey) as the head of the household in Tazewell County. Also in the household are a female aged 10-20 and a female under 10 years of age.²⁴ The identity of these two females is unknown. It is probable that the two women were boarders. The listing of Mary as the “Head of Household” suggests that Mary emigrated with significant funds consistent with the relative wealth of her father, Christian Birki. Triangulation of neighbors suggests that after their marriage, Peter and Mary lived in the home where Mary was living in 1845.

ENDNOTES

¹ Registres de l’etat civil, 1793-1882, Windstein, Alsace, France. LDS Family History Library microfilm #1069482.
² Ibid.
³ Guth, Hermann, Amish Mennonites in Germany, Their Congregations, The Estates Where They Lived, Their Families, p. 193-4, pub.1995 by Masthof Press.
⁴ Ibid., p.4.
⁵ Ibid., p.5.
⁶ Ibid.
⁷ freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~kmiller/miller/d54cen1732.pdf, “1732 Reconstructed Census of Mennonites.” p. 6.
⁸ Guth, Hermann, Archive 77/4237, folio 76, “Palatine Mennonite Census Lists, 1664-1793,” p. 37.
⁹ Guth, Hermann, Archive 77/4238, folio 31-44, “Palatine Mennonite Census Lists, 1664-1793,” p. 46.
¹⁰ Guth, Hermann, Archive 77/4239, folio 196-198, “Palatine Mennonite Census Lists, 1664-1793,” p. 67.
¹¹ Ibid.
¹² Guth, Hermann, Archive 77/4239, folio 155, “Palatine Mennonite Census Lists, 1664-1793,” p. 64.
¹³ Ibid.
¹⁴ Guth, Hermann, “Amish Mennonites in Germany”, p.193.
¹⁵ Ibid.
¹⁶ Registres de l’état civil, 1793-1882, DécPs 1793-1862 (LDS FHL INTL Film #1069486).
¹⁷ Tables décennales 1813-1862 Naissances 1793-1862 (LDS FHL INTL Film #1069482).
¹⁸ Personal communication from Joseph Staker, December 2007.
¹⁹ New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 (1838 September 17) Charles Carroll at ancestry.com, 2007.
²⁰ Personal correspondence with Joseph Staker, December, 2007.
²¹ 1855 Tazewell County Illinois Census, p.1 (LDS Family History Library Film # 977062).
²² 1860 U.S. Census, Illinois, Tazewell County, Elm Grove Township, p. 176.
²³ New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957, 1844, June 17, Baltimore, p. 4.
²⁴ 1855 Tazewell County Illinois Census, p.1 (LDS Family History Library Film # 977062).

by Donna Schrock Birkey
Originally published in the Winter 2002 issue (Vol. XXIX, No. 4)
Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly (http://www.imhgs.org)
(Used with permission of original publisher)

(Additional information has been found about the Johannes Schrock family since this 2002 article and that information is reflected in other sections of the website.)

As I became interested in genealogy twenty-some years ago I realized that both of my parents’ histories were waiting to be found. My mother’s Park family came from England. However, the little information I had ended in Missouri and was sketchy at best. My father’s Schrock ancestors were all Swiss German Anabaptists, but I was not aware that my immigrant third great grandfather Johannes had ever been traced beyond his 1801 birth somewhere in France. Now, after some serious searching, help from many “cousins”, the Internet, and LDS films, I ‘ve become acquainted with my Park relatives back to Sir John Park who was married in Frith, England and died in 1606; and the Schrock connections (with a few specific gaps) go back to Nicklaus in Wynigen, Switzerland in the 1600s.¹ How far I have come and how interesting it has been!

My research for Schrock/Schrack/Schrag family members took a great leap forward several years ago after making several contacts that provided new clues. Thus, using all my present (admittedly incomplete) information, this article will focus on Johannes, his immediate birth family, his own children, and my direct line to him. In addition to the genealogical connections I have included stories highlighting the character and lives of my Schrock ancestors as they effected, and were affected by the Mennonite community in Illinois.

French Beginnings

Johannes Schrock (Jean Schrack) grew up during the Napoleonic War and was educated in French.² He was the son of Joseph Schrack,³ a miller by trade. Joseph married Marie Engel 13 August 1798 at Gosselming, France.⁴ Their son Joseph, who had been born 8 June 1799 in Gondrexange, died there at the age of five and one half on 9 Feb 1805.⁵ Before 1801 Marie Engel died (perhaps as a result of child birth) and Joseph had married a second time to Marie’s half sister, Marie Neuhauser.⁶

The first born of Joseph’s second wife was John (Johannes) in 1801. In 1802 Joseph is still living in Gondrexange, reporting the birth of a third son Peter (Pierre) on 15 June.⁷ A fourth son Andrew (André) was born in the same village on 8 Jan 1804.⁸ Later, in a location yet unknown to me, two daughters were born: Magdalena⁹ and Barbara.¹⁰

In Blamont on 4 Aug 1826,¹¹ Johannes married Catherine Elizabeth Salzman, born 28 Oct 1804 in Sarralbe, died March 1858 in Illinois.¹²

1831 Immigration

Shortly after the death of his father Joseph, Johannes and Catherine and their two small children Joseph and Catherine, came to America in 1831. They sailed in the spring from the port of Le Havre, France, and after forty-four days disembarked in Baltimore, Maryland.¹³ One account passed down from generation to generation reports that as they neared the end of their boisterous trip across the Atlantic Ocean their food supply was completely exhausted. In order to keep up their strength to complete the voyage they boiled leather straps from the rigging of the ship to make broth.

Along with the unsettling and sometimes unwelcome cultural changes the families experienced while moving from one country to another, there was a number of resulting name revisions. The Schrags of Switzerland and Germany became the Schracks/Gerarrds¹⁴ of France, and eventually the Schrocks of America.

Butler County, Ohio (1832-1850)

From Baltimore Johannes took his family to Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Later, in 1832 they joined Johannes’ brother Peter in Butler County, Ohio,¹⁵ and lived among the settlement of Amish Mennonite immigrants. After settling on land in Section 29 of Lemon Township,¹⁶ the same section in which his father-in-law Michael Salzman and his brother Peter lived, Johannes rented a mill and managed it successfully. Milling was his profession in Lorraine, following in his father Joseph’s occupation. While in Butler County Johannes applied for and received citizenship.¹⁷

Brother Peter, fully settled on his Fairview Farm, was satisfied to stay in Ohio where he married and raised seven children, served as minister in the Augspurger congregation and died in 1887. But the Amish Mennonites in mid-Illinois sent back to Butler County stories of a growing new West where acres were cheap and crops abundant. Curious, Johannes took three horses and traveled from Trenton, Ohio, to Pekin, Illinois, to have a look. He liked what he saw. Leaving one horse there, Johannes drove the other two back to the Buckeye State and told his anxious wife Catherine that they were going to Illinois. So, late in 1850 he prepared to move his wife and five children to a farm in Tazewell County near Pekin. They left behind two small graves.¹⁸

Putting Down Roots in Illinois

In the fall of 1850 Johannes and Catherine took the family, except for Joseph, to Cincinnati. From there they traveled by boat down the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, and then up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Pekin.¹⁹ This was the same route taken in 1831 by a group of Amish from Alsace Lorraine when they settled in Wesley City just a few miles south of the present East Peoria–the first Amish community west of Ohio. Joseph, the oldest child at age 22, drove through with the horses, cattle and what goods they had. Perhaps Johannes had worked out a land deal with Benjamin Newkirk on his exploratory journey, for on December 26, 1850 a deed was recorded for the purchase of three tracts totaling 161 acres in Sections 9, 16, and 20 of Elm Grove Township. For these acres Johannes paid $2000.

Comments about Johannes, his wife Catherine and family appeared in a Pekin-area newspaper at the time of their son John’s death in 1935, describing how they “…farmed, subduing wild land with patent industry until at his decease they were surrounded by numbers of broad acres well cultivated and supporting numerous fine domestic animals. During life they were members of the old Amish Church, and died in that communion. The father entered into his rest in his seventy-fourth year and the mother in her fifty-seventh. The family located in a log house on what is now the Allen Miller farm five miles east of Pekin. They were made at home by the Mennonites here and kindly neighbors; and because they were honorable and thrifty, they prospered.” Johannes died near Pekin, Illinois, 21 Jan 1875, at the age of 74 and is no doubt buried in Railroad Cemetery near Pekin, although no stone is visible. One would assume that Catherine is buried there as well. In 1876 the heirs of Johannes sold two parcels of land, and included as an heir was widow Jacobina Schrock.²⁰

At least three of his siblings also migrated to Tazewell County: Johannes’ sister Magdalena and her husband Christian Smith, his brother Andrew who married Anna Oyer, and sister Barbara who married Joseph “Red Joe” Belsley.

Each of Johannes’ and Catherine’s living children found their unique place in the New World: Joseph, b. 1828; ²¹ Catherine, b. 1829; ²² Johannes, b. 1834, died in infancy; Jacobina, b.1836, died in infancy; Peter, b.1839; John, b.1843; ²³ and Magdalena, b.1845. ²⁴

Peter Schrock (1839-1922) A Kind and Compassionate Man

Johannes’ son Peter was my great great grandfather. Pete and Jennie Schrock write in their book, Just Pete: “The fifth child, Peter, was a very kind, compassionate man. Peter seemingly wasn’t able to establish himself as a prosperous farmer like his brother Joseph, or a successful business man like his brother John, but Peter left a legacy of compassion and kindness to his descendants.

“Peter had long, white whiskers and told one of his grandsons, ‘You’d be a fine feller if you’d let your whiskers grow.’ Of course Pete (the grandson) decided as a little boy that he didn’t like whiskers, and especially if the one who wore whiskers chewed tobacco. Little Pete remembers his grandpa, after he got older, sitting in his big chair in the sitting room with his spittoon by his chair. Peter had a jack knife with the words: ‘Peter Schrock, Fisher, Illinois,’ made in the handle. He used this to cut his chewing tobacco. He also whittled a great deal. Peter raised pigs and kept bees–from 10 to 15 hives.”

Peter was vaguely remembered by his then five-year-old great granddaughter, Eunice Schrock Kandel, “There he sat in his beautiful big leather chair, spitting tobacco juice into an ornate spittoon nearby. And I remember being in the room as he breathed his last breath.”²⁵

Peter’s wife was Anna (Nancy) Garber, youngest of eleven children of John Garber and Eva Caroline Paithe. Nancy died 20 years before her husband and after her death Peter made his home with his daughters in Fisher. The family was part of the East Bend Mennonite Church and Peter’s daughter Ella was baptized there in 1895 and Lena in 1903, both by Peter Zehr.

At the time of Peter’s death from chronic interstitial nephritis in 1922 he was nearly penniless. There was no distribution of funds to his heirs, as it took all the assets to pay remaining debts.²⁶ But he did leave his Bible with records of his family written in German script (see inset).²⁷

Children of Peter and Anna were: Catharina, b. 30 Sep 1860, d. 2 Aug 1861; John, b. 28 May 1862,²⁸ Samuel, b. 16 Jul 1864,²⁹ Joseph, b. 18 Aug 1866,³⁰ Lydia Anna, b. 26 Apr 1868,³¹ Moses, b. 16 Apr 1870, d. Dec 1879, a child nine years of age; Ella, b.17 Nov 1876,32 Lena, b. 20 Aug 1885.³³

John Schrock (1862-1951) Continuing the Legacy–Helping Those in Need

My great grandfather John was the oldest son of Peter and Anna Schrock. He married Mary Birky³⁴ and they had two children, Albert and Fannie.³⁵ John continued the kind, compassionate legacy of his father Peter. He was gentle and soft-spoken, and was a skilled painter of farm buildings in addition to farming. One of John’s granddaughters writes of him:

“John Schrock, my grandfather, was one of the dearest men I ever knew. He was the oldest living child in his family. He had two brothers and three sisters. He had a little brother Moses, who died at about age nine, when Grandpa was about 19. When Grandpa was an old man in his eighties, he still talked about the family’s sadness at giving up little “Mosey.” He had a deep love and concern for his three sisters, one who was separated from her husband, and the other two who had never married. He was so helpful to my mother who had five children and a pastor husband who wasn’t able to help very much with home duties. He was also very much concerned about the wife and children of his only son Albert, who died a premature death. In his quiet way he was an inspiration to his family, and when he died at age 87, it was hard for me to give up this kind man with the smiling face and honest blue eyes.”

Another example of John’s caring spirit was his appointment as conservator of his wife’s brother Amos Birky, who had been judged insane by a Champaign County court. John was appointed in 1898 when Amos was eighteen and served until his death in 1914. Although Amos’ mother cared for him, John was legally responsible for his well being for sixteen years. Later in his life Great Grandpa John Schrock regularly came to our home to prune the grapevines in the garden–just another way of helping his family. And his helpfulness extended to granddaughter Eunice, when he would hoe her large farm garden near Fisher.

Albert Schrock (1886-1917) An Untimely Death

My grandfather Albert Elmer Schrock, was the only son of John and Mary Schrock. In 1907 he married Josephine Yordy.³⁶ The couple moved that year to a farm near Fisher, Illinois, and lived there until Albert became too ill to carry on with farming. There was a sale of farm goods in about 1911, after which the family moved to Colorado with the hope that the climate there would give better health. But after returning to Illinois and spending time at a sanitarium in Ottawa, Albert succumbed to pulmonary tuberculosis, or consumption as it was often called.

His son Orval, seven years old at the time, remembers “on Christmas morning 1916, there on the dining room table were a lot of presents, including some toys. There was no Christmas tree. I think my parents had a feeling that it would be our last Christmas together as a family and, sure enough, fifteen days later on January 9, my father died of tuberculosis. The day of the funeral was very cold and snowy and I remember the horse-drawn hearse with the driver sitting out in the open.”

A newspaper account of Albert’s death reads as follows:
Fisher, Jan. 9–(Special.)–Albert Schrock, well known resident of this community, died this morning at his home, two miles north of the village, after an illness of four years, due to tuberculosis. He had been unusually well of late and arose this morning and kindled a fire and shortly afterward was seized with a hemorrhage and died a short time afterwards. The deceased was a son of John and Mary Schrock and was born on January 13, 1886. He was married about eight years ago to Miss Josephine Yordy, who, with two sons, Elmer and Oliver (sic, Orval), survive, as do also his parents. A sister also survives. He was a prominent member of the Amish church. The funeral will be held on Thursday from the Amish church, Rev. Samuel Gerber, of Morton, conducting the services. Burial will be made in the family lot in the Amish cemetery.

Albert was baptized by Peter Zehr in 1903 and became part of the East Bend Mennonite Church. He had been a good student of the Bible, served as superintendent of the Sunday school, and before his death was considered a candidate for minister, along with Levi Birky and Joseph A. Heiser. In the early Amish Mennonite tradition the pastors of churches were chosen through “the lot,” and that is how Joseph Heiser became minister. Albert’s only sibling was a sister Fannie who had married Joseph and was to become a minister’s wife whether she liked it or not.

Wife Josephine prepared food baskets for the needy. She was instrumental in beginning a women’s “sewing circle” and managed food service when East Bend hosted Illinois Mennonite conferences. Albert and Josephine had three children: Elmer Raymond,³⁷ Orval Leo, and Eunice Lois.³⁸ After her husband’s death Josephine raised the three children with the help of her husband’s family. Later, after the boys were married she worked as housemother at Goshen College and as a practical nurse at Maple Lawn Home in Eureka where she lived her last years.

Orval Leo Schrock (1910-2002) A Long, Honorable Life

My father, born 9 Sep 1910, is the middle child of Albert and Josephine. After his father’s death the family was kept together and financed by the proceeds of a forty-acre farm and the help of neighbors and friends. When sister Eunice was still very young, probably one and one half years old, the family harvested the twenty-acre corn crop by using a large baby buggy equipped to be pulled behind the wagon. Eunice was dressed warmly and put into the buggy. Josephine, Elmer and Orval would husk three rows up and back. Then the boys left for school and Josephine would husk two rows up and back, take the wagon to the crib and put the horses in the barn. In the evening after school the boys finished by scooping the corn into the crib. After completing eight grades in a country school Orval helped his Uncle Joseph Heiser farm his land, and in return his uncle provided the equipment and helped Albert’s family farm their forty acres.

On Dec. 24, 1931, Orval was married to Mae Park³⁹ at the home of her parents. The couple’s first home was on the farm where he had grown up. Those first years were very lean economically; one of Orval’s first jobs paid one dollar a day. In September 1935, Orval and Mae moved to a home that was purchased for $1,100, the home in which they lived 66 years and in which Orval died. He owned and operated Schrock Soil Service for many years.

Rev. C. F. Derstine’s evangelistic meetings held at the East Bend Mennonite Church were influential in Orval’s early spiritual life. Later, in the early 1940’s, evangelist John Kasteline ministered in the community, and the effect was that Orval and his family became more active in Christian service. An organization of laymen that conducted evangelistic tent meetings resulted in the formation of what is now the Gibson City Bible Church. Orval contributed many hours and took a very active part in the leadership of the church. He also developed a keen interest in foreign evangelism and gave liberally to mission work over the years.

In his 91st year and just nine months before his death, Orval and his wife Mae celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary in December of 2001. At his funeral the following August, his wisdom, honesty, unique humor, and most importantly his faithfulness to the Lord were celebrated by relatives and friends who honored his long life.

In Retrospect

At various points along the way during the past 150 years, the family of immigrant Johannes and Catherine Saltzman Schrock directly influenced the forming of the Illinois Mennonite community. Quite a number of descendants of John and Mary Birky Schrock have been and still are involved in Christian ministry of one kind or another within Illinois and far beyond. With my children and grandchildren, I have a heritage to appreciate and a responsibility to continue, both of which have been so well exampled by our ancestors before us. That heritage and responsibility is a commitment to Christ and his church, the building of character in our families, and the use of resources for others and God’s kingdom. Our ancestors were not perfect, but priorities and goals were kept in line with what they believed God’s Word taught. They understood and practiced the Sermon on the Mount, and because of them our lives have been enriched and blessed.
“…I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me. But I lavish my love on those who love me and obey my commands, even for a thousand generations.” (Exodus 20:5,6)

ENDNOTES

¹ Schrag families were identified as “Anabaptists” in several villages of the Emmental as early as 1700. Their civil records go back to the tumultuous 1600s. Near the village of Wynigen, the family nicknamed Schrag probably worked as carpenters or cabinetmakers in addition to being farmers. Two hofs have been identified as Schrag homes: Loumberg and Mistelhof. The Schrags were one of only three prominent Amish names that originate in the Emmental area of Switzerland (along with Troyer and Schwarzentruber). The surname appears in the 1798 listing of “Men of Bern.”

A number of Schrag families moved from their homeland of Switzerland into the Palatine area around Zweibrucken, Germany, where there were relative peace and opportunities for work, perhaps going there by way of the Jura region. They lived on various hofs in the Palatinate, including Heckenaschbacherhof and Kaplaneyhof. The royal family of Zweibrucken owned several estates surrounding the city, and this is where the Mennonites and Amish are known to have lived. The Zweibrucken Schrag families emigrated to America at various times and by a number of routes: before 1840, via the Palatinate, northern Alsace and Lorraine, and after 1870, via Volhynia, Russia.

Caspar Schrag, son of Niklaus, was born in Wynigen, Switzerland, in 1685. He must have left for Germany early 1700s, for he lived on Ingweilerhof near Zweibrucken in 1761. He had two brothers, Ulrich and Hans. The second Caspar was born after the Anabaptist Schrag families left Switzerland and while they lived in Zweibrucken, Germany, on the Ingweilerhof. He married Elisabeth Weiss, and had at least two brothers, Ulrich and Johannes. In his book, Amish Mennonites in Germany, Hermann Guth writes, “In a list of Anabaptists in the Staatsarchiv in Bern, Switzerland, two brothers, Christian (b.1729) and Bendicht Schrag (b.1731), sons of Ulrich Schrag (b. 1687), are named in 1765. They move from Wynigen-Leumberg in Switzerland to the Munstertal. About this time Schrags of Zweibrucken were already living here. Ulrich Schrag (b. 1710), who is leaseholder (Bestander) on the Ernstweilerhof in 1735, was a son of Caspar Schrag (b. 1685). A Caspar Schrag is on the Ingeweilerhof in 1761. It is not clear whether these two individuals were father and son or brothers; the author assumes the latter. In that case, they would both be sons of Caspar Schrag (b.1685), the father of Ulrich Schrag (b.1710), who does not otherwise appear in the Palatinate. The…arrangement of descendants of the two brothers has not been proven and is based in part on assumptions.”

The third Caspar is found at Ernstweilerhof near Zweibrucken, with a sister, Elizabeth. Not much is known about his family. The fourth Casper married Barbe Ruvennach (secondly Marie Blaiser) and was the father of Joseph Schrag, grandfather of Johannes the immigrant.

² Johannes (Jean) Schrack was born in Gondrexange according to his marriage document. However, LDS Film #01896605 does not contain his birth record. Even though his father Joseph and Marie Engel’s son Joseph was born and died in Gondrexange, and his brothers Peter and Andrew were born there (all these records are on the film), the death of Marie Engel, the marriage of Joseph to Marie Neuhauser (Nayhauser), and the birth document of Johannes I have not found. The birth date used by other Schrock family researchers heretofore has been 17 Aug 1801, but the marriage document states otherwise.

³ Joseph was born in about 1772/4 at Bellegrade, and died in Rhodes, France, in 1830. The farm “la Bellegrade” is near Bistroff and the lake Bischwald. The “moulin (mill) de Bischwald” existed from 1682 to 1857 and was situated between the lake and the farm. His family spent at least several years there, since we know Joseph’s brother Jean was living at the mill in 1798. At the time of Jean’s marriage Joseph was a miller at the “moulin” de Bachats near Rhodes. At the time of his son Jean’s marriage Joseph was a miller at the “moulin de Bachats” near Rhodes.

⁴ According to her marriage record Marie was born at Alking, a farm near Gosselming, the daughter of Christian Engel and Catherine Rothzeeker. Marie was 26 years of age when she married 25-year-old Joseph. Witnesses to the marriage were Jean Schrag (brother of Joseph), Jean Kamp, Jean Neuhauser (stepbrother of Marie), and Sebastian Ohmer. After the death of her husband Christian Engel, Catheirne Rothzeeker married Nicolas Neuhauser. Their daughter Marie became Joseph’s second wife.

⁵ LDS Film 01896605, Civil Records of Gondrexange, Moselle, France. Birth was recorded 20 prairial an 7.

⁶ After the death of her husband Christian Engel, Catherine Rothzeeker married Nicolas Neuhauser. It seems likely that it was their daughter Marie who became Joseph’s second wife. This relationship between Marie Engel and Marie Neuhauser has not been proven, but is very likely.

⁷ Pierre Schrack birth record (16 floreal an 10) LDS Film 01896605, Civil records of Gondrexange, Moselle, France. Peter settled and remained in Butler Co., Ohio. He married first Magdalena Zimmerman, and second Magdalena Rediger. His son Peter married Elizabeth Augspurger,
granddaughter of well-known Butler Co., Ohio pioneer, Christian Augspurger. The Augspurger family opened their home to many migrating Amish who used Butler County as a stopping place before moving further west. They were known for their hospitality.

⁸ Andre Schrack birth record (14 nivose an 12) LDS film 01896605, civil records of Gondrexange, Moselle, France. Andrew married Anna Oyer and lived in Tazewell Co., Illinois. One night during 3857 Andrew stayed wtih a neighbor who had cholera. The same night he became sick with the disease and died before morning, leaving a family of small children, the oldest sixteen and the youngest born after his death. In August of 1857 Johannes and son Joseph, along with Peter Guth, signed a $10,000 bond at the appointment of Anna Schrock as guardian of the minor children.

⁹ Magdalena Schrack, and Christian Schmidt her husband, moved to Illinois from Butler Co., Ohio. In 1848 they sold their five acres in Lemon Township (situated within an 80-acre plot Peter had purchased in 1845) to Magdalena’s brother Peter. In Illinois they lived near Congerville with seven children. During the cholera epidemic of 1855, Christian died in his log cabin home. Three days later Magdalena died, followed by the death of her nineteen-year-old daughter Barbara and a few hours later by her six-year-old son John, leaving four orphaned children.

¹⁰ Barbara Schrack married Joseph Belsley, and although I have not yet documented the marriage, the most likely husband is “Red Joe” born 28 Mar 1802 in Rhodes, France. It is not known whether Barbara and Joseph married in France or in America. They had one child, Christian, and Barbara died while he was very young. Red Joe later married Barbara Engel, daughter of Bishop Christian Engel.

¹¹ 6 brumaire an 13, LDS Film #1981660. Daughter of Michael Saltzmann and Catherine Hirgi, granddaughter of Michael Saltzman and Catherine Weiss.

¹² At the time of their marriage Jean was living in Blamont and Catherine in Bistroff. Andre Chertz, age 33, uncle of the bride by marriage, was a witness.

¹³ To my knowledge, the record of the ship passage to Baltimore has not been found. I have searched several films of Baltimore arrivals to no avail. However, there is a ship that arrived in Baltimore on June 30, 1831, carrying Johannes’ father-in-law and his family. It would seem that Johannes and Catherine might have come on the same ship, but I have not found their names. There is oral tradition in the family about a brother Joseph who immigrated to America with family members in 1831, but during the confusion in the days after arrival in port became separated from them and was not heard from again. We will probably never know whether this was a deliberate act of someone who desired to be independent and self-sufficient, or, more likely, became prey to the many unscrupulous predators of unsuspecting immigrants. Either way, it must have been a devastating blow to the family, and imagine their pain in having to leave Baltimore without Joseph. (More research is needed to document this brother Joseph. Joseph, son of his father’s first marriage, died at age five, so he cannot be the one who disappeared. But there is the possibility that another son, named Joseph, was born in the second marriage to Marie Neuhauser. However, that has not been determined at this date. )

¹⁴ At least one line of the Schrag family in France became known as Gerard. Andreas (1777/80-1848), son of Andreas Schrag, took the surname Gerard, kept by his descendants in France. His son, Andreas, who came to America was known here as Andrew Schrock.

¹⁵ Butler Co., Ohio, 1840 census record.
¹⁶ A Butler Co., Ohio, land deed shows Johannes’ 81 acres in Section 29 was sold to John Shirtz (Shertz) in 1855 for $569.24.

¹⁷ In 1842 Johannes recorded his (and one son 15 years of age) intention to become an American citizen. On this document his name was given as John Schrock. Then, in September 1844, he renounced his allegiance to the King of France at Hamilton, Ohio, with Michael Salzmann, his father-in-law, and Jacob Taylor acting as character witnesses.

¹⁸ Johannes (b. 11 Jul 1834 – d. 12 Oct 1835); Jacobina (b.23 Aug 1836 – d. 12 Sep 1837) Are these the two infants buried in the Butler Co., Ohio, Mennonite Cemetery, Lot 48, listed as “Two unknown children died migrating West?” Or, do they rest in the earlier Mennonite burial ground established on Jacob Augspurger’s farm near Trenton in 1817?

¹⁹ The family was still in Butler Co., Ohio, at the end of October 1850, as they were listed as family number 1316, dwelling 1175 on the census schedule. Catherine’s father, stepmother and siblings were family number 1317, dwelling 1176.

²⁰ I had never seen mention of a second marriage by Johannes, so the fact that he had a widow listed as an heir was a complete surprise when I found the record last October at the Tazewell County Recorder’s office. How long would it take to find out who this Jacobina was? After a day in the Pekin area I kept an appointment with Steve Estes the next morning in Metamora. I told Steve about my discovery and with a bit of collaboration it turned out that my Johannes was the answer to one of Steve’s mysteries—the “who-is-this-John Schrock” husband of Jacobina “Phebe” King! They were married in 1861 in McLean County.

²¹ “Joseph Schrock, a well-to-do and successful farmer and stock-raiser of Montgomery Township…village of Congerville, which was begun in the spring of 1888, is situated on a portion of his farm…when a child in Ohio in the summer assisted on the farm and in the mill, thus acquiring a practical knowledge of agricultural matters, and getting a good insight into business transactions while an employee in his father’s mill. He was of legal age, but unmarried, when he came to this state. While a resident of Tazewell County, he was united in marriage with the lady of his choice, Miss Magdalena Guingrich…Mr. and Mrs. Schrock are good, intelligent German people, industrious, thrifty, and provident, and although not mingling in political matters, yet make excellent citizens, and are worthy members of the New Amish Church.” Joseph’s land first became a small village named Schrock, but later it was changed to Congerville, according to the booklet “Along the Line.” For information on Joseph’s family see Joseph Gingerich (1804-1875) of Woodford County, by Ardys Serpette, Illinois Mennonite Heritage,Winter 2001, page 62.

²² Catherine married Joseph Oyer.
²³ John married Barbara Rediger. At his death a Pekin, IL newspaper wrote of him: “As John grew older he worked out in saw mills, gristmills, and brickyards. He could do a tremendous day’s work, even in the days when a big day’s work was expected of all men. He himself carried from the sawmill every tie and plank for the first bridge over the river here–the Peoria, Pekin & Jacksonville R.R. bridge. Three men would be assigned to such a job nowadays and work only half as many hours. They told of him that he could cut with an axe and rack five cords of wood in a day. Four men wouldn’t want to do that today.
“In 1876, Mr. Schrock bought the home east of Pekin in which the first child born in that home still lives. He is Edward Schrock, president of the Farm Bureau. The family looks to it as the old family home.

“In 1903, the sons built a nice home at 714 South Ninth Street for the parents and they moved to town. There they lived in comfort. Mrs. Schrock died on Aug. 3, 1911. Although Mr. Schrock was near 70 then, he has clung to life for 24 years more. He was a man of excellent character, good habits, and moral strength, and to this is attributed his long years. Three years ago on his 89th birthday, he spaded in his garden. On his 90th birthday the family gathered for a great reunion and celebration, but he took pneumonia that day. None expected him to survive; but he lived; and he even weathered another attack of pneumonia this winter. Even till yesterday he was up; but two strokes had weakened him and death came to him quietly at 7:15 this morning in his 93rd year.
“Death of Mr. Schrock removes one of the links with Pekin’s pioneer past. He lived in the day when pigeons came in flocks that shut out the sun; when wild turkey were in abundance; and deer were to be shot in the woods. The turn of his life has seen the coming of the modern age; but thru it all there has been no change in the fact that a man of honor and honest and clean living thrives best. His children today rise up to bless his memory.

²⁴ Magdalena married Joseph Yoder.
²⁵ Early Memories. Unpublished manuscript by Eunice Schrock Kandel.
²⁶ Probate records, Champaign Co., Illinois.
²⁷ The Bible is presently in the possession of great great grandchild, Al Schrock.
²⁸ Died 28 July 1951.

²⁹ Samuel married Ellen Zendner and his story can be found the the book, “Just Pete.” Samuel lived in Fisher until 1907 when his family moved to Colorado. He died in 1943 in Thurman.

³⁰ Joseph married Anna Salomi King. He died in 1947 in Bryan, Ohio.
³¹ Lydia Anna married Christian Eicher. Chris developed a drinking problem and after the birth of two girls he disappeared and was never heard from again. Lydia then lived with her sisters in Fisher and was cared for by her family. At her death on 6 Feb 1938 she had been an invalid for nearly seven years, following a stroke of paralysis.

³² Ella never married. She died in 1951 in Gibson City, IL.
³³ Lena never married. She died in 1950 in Fisher, IL. She and Ella owned and operated a boarding house in Fisher and worked as the village telephone operators.

³⁴ Daughter of Andrew and Veronica Sutter Birky, who were among the first families to move from Tazewell County to Champaign County. Andrew purchased land and donated a small tract to be used as a cemetery, which became the present East Bend Mennonite Cemetery. It happened that Andrew was the first to be buried there and all following descendents mentioned in this article are buried in that same cemetery.

³⁵ Fannie was born 18 Jul 1889, died 17 Dec 1950.
³⁶ Daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Roeschley Yordy, born 14 Aug 1886, died 3 Jan 1977.

³⁷ Elmer taught school for some time, then owned and operated a feed mill business in Fisher. He married Mabel Zehr. In 1936, Elmer and Samuel M. Zehr started the annual Bible School at East Bend Mennonite Church. Elmer was also on the first publication committee for the East Bend Trumpet in 1945. After the death of Mabel he married Eileen Bruehl Heiser. He died 11 Dec 1989 in Montgomery, AL.

³⁸ Born five months after the death of her father, on 25 June 1917. As a young girl Eunice lived at the “old people’s home” in Eureka where her mother worked. Since she really never had a “home” she always took along a plaque that Grandmother Mary Schrock had given her: “Home is Where the Heart is.” After graduating from Goshen College and while teaching in Ohio, Eunice met and married Olen Kandel. She taught school in Fisher for many years. On March 15 of this year Eunice died following an accident on the way to Illinois from Florida.

³⁹ Daughter of Grover and Effie Park. The Park family from Missouri was integrated into the Mennonite community as a direct result of kindly neighbors, including the Schrock family, and the wonderful singing they heard on Sunday mornings as they fished from the Sangamon River bridge near the church. Another daughter, Mamie, married Roy Cender.

Sources

Johannes Schrock, his Children and Grandchildren. Unpublished manuscript received from Willard Smith
The Schrag-Schrock Family. Unpublished manuscript edited by Eugene C. Schrock, 1996
Early Memories. Unpublished manuscript by Eunice Schrock Kandel
Just Pete, c.1980 by Pete and Jennie Schrock
Amish Mennonites in Germany, by Hermann Guth, c.1995 Masthof Press
Both Sides of the Ocean, by Virgil Miller, c.2002 Masthof Press
Correspondence with and articles by Virgil Miller
Mennonite Family History
Illinois Mennonite Heritage