Rachel Barnhisel

Seated on the porch of their house are the owners, Henry and Rachel Barnhisel Wilderson, surrounded by some of their descendants. I'll point out other key members of our family: 1)At the doorway are our grandmother, Cora Lewis in the white blouse and Margaret Wilderson, Henry's sister. 2) On the top row, center female, is Mary Wilderson Lewis, our great grandmother. I believe that this photograph must have been taken on the day of Melissa Martha Wilderson Kistler's funeral in 1901, and why there are many sad faces here. Melissa was a daughter of Henry and Rachel. I also believe that it was intended for the picture to be only about Wilderson descendants and why the male on the left was omitted.

The subject of this story is Rachel Barnhisel, Henry Wilderson's wife, who was born in 1823 in another township of Trumbull County called Weathersfield Township, a few miles east of Newton Township where this pictured house was located. Since Henry and Rachel both had German ancestors, it seems likely that there may have been a German club or other organization where German folks liked to gather and socialize in the area. This may have been how Henry and Rachel met.

It is interesting to me that Rachel was christened in the Methodist Episcopal Church of Newton at age 22 in March 1846, six months before her marriage to Henry in September. So, maybe they met at this particular church!? What do you think, dear readers?

In a couple of newspaper articles about Henry and Rachel, mention is made of Rachel's strength of character and helpfulness to her husband in the settlement and abundant work that was required of her on their farm. Henry's property was in the wilderness at the beginning of their marriage. Large forest trees needed to be felled, huge stones had to be removed, and much brush and debris had to be burned or raked away. At first, they built a crude log cabin to live in until they could afford the frame house in the above photograph.

Rachel Barnhisel Wilderson
Born: 27 Sep 1823 in Weathersfield Twp., Trumbull, OH
Married: 20 Sep 1846 in Weathersfield, Twp., Trumbull, OH
Died: 26 Jan 1908 in Newton, Trumbull, OH
Sources: Censuses of 1850 to 1900; Marriage records; Warren Chronicle newspaper articles; Rachel's obituary and christening record from Mary Lewis' scrapbook.