Joseph Maus of Germany

Joseph Maus was born in 1829 in the city of Darmstadt, in the state of Hesse, Germany. Josephus Maus and his wife had their son, Joseph, christened at a local Roman Catholic Church on the 24th of January in 1830. Darmstadt is located on the western side of the Rhine River and was probably a lovely place of residence at this time. The photo above shows a market square, called Schossplatz, in front of the Ducal Palace in Darmstadt c. 1890.

Joseph lived in this city until the summer of 1853. At age 24, he decided to join other German families and friends who had emigrated to America. It's possible that a relative, already in Wisconsin, helped Joseph buy his new property in 1853 in Oshkosh, Winnebago, Wisconsin, his future location.

Joseph made his way to Port Havre in Holland to climb  aboard a ship headed for New York's Castlegarden, and landed there on 7 Aug 1853. I suppose Joseph made this trip with other German friends/family, as most emigrants did travel in groups. Whatever the case may be, Joseph set to work right away in his new city of Oshkosh, probably building his own home, as he was a carpenter.

About 1856, Joseph married Magdalena Haas and they enjoyed their life together as a couple. Then, daughter Anna Maus was born in 1857 and daughter, Louise E. Maus was born in 1859. The family lived on Winnebago Street in Oshkosh.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, many Wisconsin citizens were certain that the German immigrants would not want to become soldiers knowing full well that many German men left Germany to avoid war in Europe. But they were wrong. There were many, many German men who volunteered their service and Joseph was one of the first to join the ranks. He was mustered in at Madison, WI to Company F, the 12th Infantry as a Private. He was later transferred to Co. C in the 183rd Infantry.

I know that Joseph survived the war and that he was living at Washington and Fifth in Oshkosh in 1866. I recently found a death record of a Joseph Maus who died in Ohio c. 1878 but I have no proof that this was indeed our ancestor. I need more evidence to make a conclusive report. (As I mentioned about his daughters in an earlier story, they met and married their spouses in Crawford County, Ohio and died in Ohio. I also have proof that Magdalena, Joseph's wife, died in Ohio. So, it is probable that Joseph was in Ohio also, but I have not found enough evidence about him after 1866.)

Joseph Maus
Born:  1829 in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany
Married: c. 1856 to Magdalena Haas in Oshkosh, Winnebago, WI
Died: ? Unknown death and burial dates and places
Sources: Baptismal record from FamilySearch.org; Federal Census: 1860; Wisconsin State Census: 1855; Oshkosh City Directory: 1866; Military  Records from NARA; Death record from FamilySearch.org

Mary Ann Pensinger

What can I say about Mary Ann? Her life was too short, as happened to too many young married  women of the early centuries on this earth. She was born in 1835, in Franklin County, PA and had many siblings. At age 4, she and her family migrated to Zanesville, Muskinghum County, Ohio. At age 16, she married James Mackey in Washington, Morrow County, Ohio. She and James had six children. The last two died as infants, in 1863 and 1864. Then, Mary died three months later on the 7th of April 1864, age 29. What she seems to have experienced in those few years of her life mostly had to do with moving great distances, giving birth, and witnessing death at close hand.

Sources: Census: 1850; 1860. Marriage certificate; Galion, Ohio city directories; birth records of the Mackey children.
Mary Ann Pensinger Mackey
Born: 12 Mar 1835 in ,Franklin, PA
Married: 11 May 1851 in Washington, Morrow, OH
Died: 7 Apr 1864 in Galion, Crawford, OH

James Mackey of Welsh Run, Pennsylvania

James Mackey was born in Welsh Run, Pennsylvania in 1830. He and his siblings were baptized at the Presbyterian Church in their community in Montgomery Township of Franklin County.  But James lived here for only 8 years of his life. His mother died a few days before his eighth birthday, sad to say. 

James' father, William Mackey, and  other Welsh Run residents made plans to go west where new land was being discovered. There are stories about families who traveled by Conestoga wagons on the Zane Grey trail or by flat bottom boats on the Ohio River to Zanesville, Ohio and beyond. I haven't learned yet how James and his family traveled to Zanesville in 1839 but that's another project for my descendants to pursue.  

In October 1839, William, age 35, married a young woman of 18, Rosanna Pensinger, the daughter of one of his best friends from Welsh Run who also moved his family to Zanesville. William was an excellent carpenter and he was determined to train his two sons to be just as skilled as he was.  At first, I suppose, James, and his younger brother, David, needed to help their dad by fetching his tools or carrying nails and other supplies to where their  dad was working.  Eventually, these young lads were working by father William's side and creating good strong homes for the Zanesville residents.

Nevertheless, the Mackey and  Pensinger families moved on to Washington, Morrow County, Ohio sometime before 1850. Our subject, James Mackey, at age 21, and Mary Ann Pensinger, Rosanna's younger sister, married in the city of Washington in May 1851. James, William, and David worked hard as carpenters in Washington and the bordering city of Galion. They bought the Galion Lumber Company and this brought them further success. In the 1860 census they are listed as building contractors.

 James and Mary started their family of five children, but poor Mary died in 1864. For awhile, James, probably grieving, seemed to fall apart and got involved in the meat packing business in Galion. But, after he met and married Priscilla Jackson he got back to working as a carpenter again. They had seven children together. At age 70, James is working as a canvasser of sundries in the 1900 census. James apparently had a stroke and died on the 27th of Dec 1900 and was buried at the Fairview Cemetery in Galion.

Sources: Welsh Run Presbyterian Church Records; Census of 1830; 1840; 1850; 1860; 1870; 1880; 1900; Galion city directories; marriage certificate of James and Mary Mackey; Tax records of Welsh Run, PA; birth records of William and James Mackey's children

James Mackey
Born: 9 Apr 1830 in Welsh Run, Montgomery Twp., Franklin, PA
Married: 11 May 1851 in Washington, Morrow, OH
Died: 27 Dec 1900 in Galion, Crawford, OH

INTERLUDE THREE: OUR FOUR GENERATIONS

The blue bars are the Mackey branch of our tree. The mauve bars are the Phillips branch. We now have stories of all of these folks and will begin the fifth generation of great great grandparents next week.

EMMA MORRISON

Great grandmother, Sarah Emeline Morrison, preferred to be called Emma. She was born in 1855, on a farm, in Jackson Township, Crawford County, Ohio. She was the tenth and youngest child of her family of six brothers and three sisters. Her mother's parents lived on a farm nearby, too. 

She was only 17 when she married David Spitzer, and needed her father's signature and consent for the marriage to happen. Emma and David had eight children. Their first child was a worry to them because she had epilepsy and needed to be sent to an institution in Galiopolis, Ohio where people afflicted with this disease could be cared for and safely housed.

Emma was widowed  in 1896, when she was only 41 years old. She and her youngest children were living in Galion when David died. Some of her children were married and living in Akron, Ohio so Emma decided to join them there sometime around 1900. She found an office job on High Street in down town Akron and her young children found employment also.

The happiest part of Emma's story, for me, is that she visited her daughter, Alma Spitzer Mackey's family in New York City, when my dad was six years old, the year of 1914.  Dad had fond memories of her presence there and was pleased to share that story with me when I started to learn about our family history.

On the 19th of April, 1918, Emma died of lobar pneumonia, which may have started with her catching  the Spanish influenza (an epidemic that killed many Americans from 1917-1918). She is buried next to David at the Fairlawn Cemetery in Galion, Ohio.

Sarah Emeline Morrison
Born: 9 Jun 1855 Jackson Twp., Crawford, OH
Married: 5 Sep 1872 North Robinson, Crawford, OH
Died: 19 Apr 1918 Akron, Summit, OH
Buried: 23 Apr 1918 Fairview Cemetery, Galion, Crawford, OH

Sources: Census: 1860; 1870; 1880; 1900; 1910. Marriage certificate; "Ohio County Marriages, 1789-3013" of Alma Spitzer and Guy Mackey mentioning Emma Morrison, mother of Alma. FHL microfilm #388,686. Death certificate; Akron and Galion city directories-many years.

Sergeant David C. Spitzer, Confederate Soldier

David Spitzer was born in Rockingham County, Virginia in January 1845 in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley (see photo) among a group of people who had emigrated from the Rhine River Valley of Germany. There were several people with the surname of Spitzer living in a small town called Linville Creek in this valley, but I have not been able to link David to parents yet. Perhaps some day, when a descendant or other relative takes over my role as family historian, this gap in our family tree can be filled. I hope so. One of the major blocks in finding information in Virginia is that there were many Civil War battles in this state, causing the destruction of  numerous records of the early Virginia years. Shenandoah Valley was devastated during this war. Homes and barns were burned, crops were trampled on, orchards were destroyed, and animals were either eaten or driven away. So there wasn't any town left for David to return to after serving in Captain B.F. Price's Light Artillery 1861-1865.

I suspect that David may have had German relatives or friends in Crawford County, Ohio where he migrated to.  This is where David met his future wife, Sarah Morrison. Sarah had two brothers who were partners in a clothing store near where David had established a restaurant in the town of North Robinson.  That may be how Sarah and David became acquainted. They married in 1872.

 It's a special treat when a family historian finds words written by an ancestor. Below is an exerpt from David's  application for a patent in 1883:
"Be it known that I, DAVID C. SPITZER, a citizen of the United States, residing at North Robinson, in the county of Crawford and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Butter-Molds, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in butter-molds, and has for its object the construction and arrangement of a butter-mold in two sections that will admit the butter between said sections, properly mold and imprint the butter or other substance, and at the same time release the same without defacing or injuring it after the molding is completed."

(David must have thought it was important for his restaurant customers to have decorative butter.)

David and Sarah and their family of eight children moved to Galion, in Crawford County, about 1885.  I assume that the restaurant business wasn't as satisfactory as David would have liked, so  he was working as a carpenter at this time of his life. David died at age 50 of cancer and is buried at the Fairlawn Cemetery in Galion.

David C. Spitzer
Born: 03 Oct 1845 ,Rockingham, VA
Married: 05 Sep 1845 North Robinson, Crawford, OH
Died: 29 Jan 1896 Galion, Crawford, OH
Sources:www,fold3.com;U.S. Nat'l Archives military records; birth probate court record of daughter Spitzer, naming parents; 1880 census; Galion city directories, Crawford County marriage records and death records; Ohio County Marriage Records 1789-2013; Patent Application of 1883.