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Archiver > OHDARKE > 2002-02 > 1013389199


From: "Rex Bertram" <>
Subject: [OHDARKE] Pitsenbarger family
Date: Sun, 10 Feb 2002 16:59:59 -0800


Hi all. As I said I would try to do occasionally, I am posting another article pertaining to a family with Darke Co. Roots which I obtained from a periodical at the Allen Co. library while doing research for someone. I have scanned and OCR'ed the article to prevent myself from having to type it, so the text may look a little odd.

Rex Bertram
PO Box 651
Redkey, IN 47373

I do Free Genealogy Look-ups from many sources. Check out my web page.
Temporary web page address: http://www.angelfire.com/in4/genealogyhelp/lookup.html


INFORMATION CONCERNING DARKE COUNTY PIONEER



JACOB PITSENBARGER

(1767-1840)



There has long been confusion over the exact number and names of Jacob Pitsenbarger's children. Unlike the situation of his younger brother Peter (died in Darke Co. December 3, 1837), who !eft a will listing his chitdren, later researchers have had to rely on less personal documents and descend­ants' memories to determine the extent of Jacob's family. While this article does not presume to have the final answer, some new information has come to light during the past year which should be considered by those investigating Jacob's family.

Jacob Pitsenbarger was probably born in Shenandoah Co., Virginia, Febru­ary 1, 1767, the eldest son of Abraham and Elizabeth Pitsenberger (or Pitzenberger). He was bequeathed a third part of his father's real proper­ty in Abraham's 1781 will. He married Margaret Butcher (or Boucher?) in 1792/3 and moved to Fayette Co., Pennsylvania, where his family was counted in the 1810 census. In 1811 he moved to Ohio and settled in Randolph Township, Montgomery Co., where he paid taxes in 18!6. His presence in Montgomery Co. up to 1828 is implied by the marriages of some of his chil­dren there. By the time of the !830 census Jacob had moved to Wayne Town­ship, Darke Co., where he remained, situated north of Versailles, until his death July 9, 1840. He was buried in what is now known as the Yoder Ceme­tery.

Following Jacob's death there was a minor flurry of activity in the Darke Co. Court of Common Pleas. On September 4, 1840, Daniel R. Davis was appointed administrator of Jacob's estate. Then on December 26, 1840, Jacob's widow Margaret relinquished her rights in the matter and their son Henry Pitsenbarger was named administrator of the estate, a task which occupied Henry until February 14, 1859. These facts were reported by Anita Short and Ruth Bowers in their abstracts from the Court, and all future researchers have presumed that, unlike his brother, Jacob died intestate, without a will.

In May 1990 I visited the Darke Co. Court House to obtain a copy of Jacob's brother Peter Pitsenbarger's 1837 will. In an envelope labeled "Jac Pitsenbarger" I found two wills bound tightly together with a strip of paper, one inside the other. The outer will was that of Jacob's son Jacob Asbury Pitsenberger (died 1878). The inner document was the last will and testament of Jacob Pitsenbarger, Jacob Asbury's father. Dated July 31, 1837, it was witnessed by Daniel R. Davis and Elijah Ward. Accompanying documents included the court appearance of Davis and Ward attesting to the signature (mark) of Jacob Pitsenbarger and their statement that he was of sound mind when he made the will. Also included was a paper documenting his widow's appearance in court to relinquish her rights to the estate, also witnessed by Davis. There is no official explanation of why the court first assigned the role of administrator to Daniel Davis and eventually

awarded that task to Henry Pitsenbarger. However, the will fails to ex-
pressly name an executor and that may be the reason the court acted inthe
manner it did.
Of interest to genealogists are the bequests: "Second I give and bequeath

unto my three sons Henrey, John and Jonathan the plantation on which we

now reside situated in Wayne Township Darke County Ohio containing

two hundred and forty acres of land ... each one of them to have an equal quantity thereof Thirdly that all my personal property shall be ap­praised and sold by my executors and the proceeds thereof be equally divid­ed between my son Jacob and my daughters Elizabeth Slonaker Katharine Radibaugh Phebe Fetters and Margaret Metzgar and my grandson Jacob Cox ..." [italics added].

Who was Jacob Cox? The will called him a grandson, but none of Jacob's daughters was known to have married into the Cox family. To explain the identity of Jacob Cox, I must cite another's research: In April of 1990 I received a letter from Robert D. Anderson of Dayton, OH, a descendant of William Cox. He inquired as to whether Jacob & Margaret Pitsenbarger had had a daughter named Barbara, a name long preserved among the descendants of Jacob Cox as the given name of his mother who died on the day of his birth, April 4, 1820, in Randolph Township, Montgomery Co., OH. Anderson discovered the results of a civil suit brought February 24, 1823, by a Jacob Pitzerbarger against William Cox in the matter of the custody of Jacob Cox, a minor. The Case was decided in the Montgomery Co. Court of Common Pleas May 19, 1823, by the Honorable Joseph H. Crane. Jacob lost the suit and the court confirmed its earlier assignment of William Cox as guardian of Jacob Cox. Anderson provided furthe!
r information that Jacob Cox's father John (son of William) had died suddenly in 1822, and that shortly after the civil suit was decided, William Cox moved to Randolph Co., IN, taking little Jacob with him. Anderson also provided a copy of the John Cox estate sale of November 28, 1822, where a Jacob and Henry Pitsenbarger purchased items {Jacob bought a quilt). As final proof of the connection between Jacob Pitsenbarger and Jacob Cox, Anderson sent copies of two slips of paper signed by Jacob Cox dated September 6, 1841, and February 22, 1842, indicating he had received a total of $54.66 from Henry Pitsenbarger, acting as administrator of Jacob Pitsenbarger's estate. This was enough evidence to add Barbara to the list of Jacob's children, and the bequest to "my grandson Jacob Cox" in Jacob's will clinched the matter.

On the basis of the newly discovered will and Robert D. Anderson's information about Jacob Cox, we can now assemble a preliminary list of Jacob & Margaret {Butcher) Pitsenbarger's children in probable order of birth: Anna Catherine (born 1794, married Adam Rodabaugh), Phoebe(born
c.1795, married Daniel Fetters and Jacob Waganick), Barbara (born1796,
married John Cox), Elizabeth {born c.1798, married Adam Slonecker),Jacob
Asbury (born 1802, married Susanna Miller and Christina Troop), Henry(born

1805, married Elizabeth Miller, sister of Susanna), John D. (born c.1809, married Peter's daughter Sarah "Sally" Pitsenbarger), Margaret {born c.1810/11, married Jacob Metzger), and Jonathan B. (born 1812, married Peter's daughter Anna Mary Pitsenbarger).

Future research will determine whether this list is complete and perhaps explain the origins of other children sometimes attributed to Jacob but not named in his will, namely John {born c.1794, married Mary Miller), Sarah (born c.1804, married James Herman and James Kinney), and David (born c.1808, married Anna ?). On the basis of his age (as reported in the 1830 Darke Co. census), the Philip Pitsenbarger of Jackson Co., OH, in 1820, Darke Co., OH, in 1830, and Shelby Co., OH, in 1834 is most probably Ja­cob's youngest brother and not his son, as some researchers have believed.




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