| Notes |
- Resided in Holstein, Liestal, and Munster. Later, in America in 1817, resided in Wayne Co., OH. Had nine children. No doubt traveled to America with his third wife and eight of the nine children, as Jacob had come in 1816.
An uncle of fellow voyager Hans Burkhalter (1797-1876), son of Christen Burkhalter (1764/65-1814) and Anna Schrag (1770-1824). Hans Burkhalter, who became Benedict Schrag’s son-in-law when he married his first cousin, Barbara Schrag (1788-1865), is not listed separately among passengers on the Francis.
“Anabaptists in the Territoire de Belfort were encouraged to emigrate. Many followed the example of an Anabaptist exodus from the Münstertertal valley in the Jura Mountains to Wayne County, Ohio.
This link takes one to the rediscovered Swiss farm where Bendicht lived for several years until 1807. “Ten years later he emigrated as a widower with his children to Ohio, where he settled in Smithville in Wayne County.” He later moved to Lucas County, Ohio.
http://mennoworld.org/2014/11/10/news/rediscovered-swiss-farm-has-wide-significance/
“A VOYAGE OF 1817: Bendicht Schrag On July 14, 1817, four families from the Münstertal valley arrived at Strasbourg to board a boat on the Rhine River. Heads of household included Bendicht Schrag, Hans Nussbaum, Christian Brand, and Johannes Augspurger. The boat followed the Rhine River to Amsterdam, where the families boarded the Francis. Among their traveling companions was Christian Augspurger, embarking to scout land at Butler County, Ohio (the first of his two trips described in the STAKER genealogy). The ship sailed on July 25, and arrived at Philadelphia Oct. 10. 'B. Schragg' appears immediately below 'C. Augsburger et famille' on the passenger list turned in to the Philadelphia Customs Office. Schrag and Nussbaum went to Ohio and purchased land at Smithville, Wayne County. According to The History of the Sonnenberg Church, they both wrote long letters home that detailed their journeys. These became models for later letters providing more travel information. One letter from Nussbaum survives and is quoted extensively in Gratz's Bernese Anabaptists.”
“Elizabeth Schrock was the daughter of Benedict Schrag (1767-) and his third wife Magdalena Aeschliman (d. 1807). Her birth date is also given as October 29, 1807. She emigrated with her father's family on the ship Francis that landed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 11, 1817. Benedict Schrag then purchased land in Green Township, Wayne County, Ohio in August, 1818 (J. Virgil Miller, “Migrations of the Schrag/Schrock Family,” Mennonite Family History, July 1991, 105-106; Neil Ann Stuckey Levine, “Johannes Augsburger (1783-1855) and the Voyage of the Francis in 1817,” Mennonite Family History, April 2004, 57-64; Lehman, Creative Congregationalism, 10, 12; Information from Joe Springer, Mennonite Historical Library, Goshen, Indiana). Elizabeth King's half-sister Barbara Schrag (1788-1865) married their first cousin Hans Burkholder (1797-1876), a Mennonite whose reception into the Wayne County Amish congregation in 1823 without re-baptism sparked the “the first church controversy among the Amish in America” (Delbert L. Gratz, “The Analysis of a Myth: Hans Burkhalter and His Part in a Nineteenth-Century Rift in the American Amish Fellowship” in V. Gordon Oyer, ed., Proceedings of the Conference Tradition and Transition: An Amish Mennonite Heritage of Obedience, 1693-1993 [Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society, 1993], 129-139). Bendict Schrag ultimately moved to Lucas County, Ohio.”
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“In 1801 he purchased a farm called Ostenberg Hof [Eastern Mountain Farm] in the hamlet Bienenberg at Liestal, Canton Basel-Landschaft (10 miles southeast of Basel), which he owned until 1807. His three wives are thought to have been Magdalena Ächlimann (1784-1807), Maria Widmer, and Maria Zürfluh. He brought his third wife and eight of his nine children to America. On July 14, 1817 four families arrived at Strasbourg to board a boat on the Rhine River. Heads of households included Bendicht Schrag, Hans Nussbaum, Christian Brand, and Johannes Augsperger. The boat followed the river to Amsterdam, where they boarded the Francis (named for its captain). Among their traveling companions was future distiller Christian Augsperger, embarking to scout land in Butler County, Ohio (the first of his two trips described in STAKER), who according to travel documents had come to Switzerland to meet with Johannes. The ship sailed on July 25, and arrived at Philadelphia Oct. 10. ‘B. Schragg’ appears immediately below ‘C. Augsburger et famille’ on the passenger list. Schrag and Nussbaum went to Ohio and each purchased 160 acres at Smithville, Green Township, Wayne County (near Wooster). According to The History of the Sonnenberg Church, they both wrote long letters home that detailed their journey. These were widely distributed, and became models for later letters providing more travel advice. This brought other families to Ohio from the Jura Mountains. One letter from Nussbaum survives and is quoted extensively in Delbert Gratz’s Bernese Anabaptists .
“1885 “Tintype” of the Benedict Schrag farmhouse near Smithville Ohio. Benedict left Wayne County Ohio after pioneering the 1817 Swiss immigration and died in the vicinity of Archbold, Ohio. His daughter who married Johannes Burkholder remained on the home farm and their descendants own the farm yet today. This picture shows the Burkholders who lived there in 1875. Courtesy: Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd Hostetler, Smithville, Ohio. “ [1, 7, 13, 14]
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1767 - Abt 1843 (75 years)
[6, 7] 
