Elizabeth Utley

It gives me great pleasure to be able to share this pretty fraktur with you this evening. (See below.) What is  fraktur, you might ask? Fraktur is a folk art form practiced by Pennsylvania Germans principally from the mid-eighteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries. It is a highly artistic and elaborate illuminated creation, usually made to document a birth...and in this case, Elizabeth Utley's birth. I discovered this framed treasure on the wall of the restored former home of Martin Barnhisel's brother, Henry Barnhisel, in Girard, Ohio. You can see her name and birth date among the German words in the piece. One day I will ask a German speaking person to translate these words, hopefully to find the names of Elizabeth's parents in the work.

Recently I found this following explanation of the surname Utley:

"Utley Meaning and Origin
English (South Yorkshire): habitational name from Utley, a place in West Yorkshire, near Keighley, named from the Old English personal name Utta + Old English lēah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’. This interesting and unusual surname recorded as Otley, Utley, Uttley, Huttley and Hutley, is of northern English locational origin. It is probably from Utley, a village near the town of Keighley in Yorkshire."

If Elizabeth's last name is English, then why would there be a fraktur of her birth? Confusing, isn't it? I don't have a good answer for you at this time. She married Martin Barnhisel of German descent and many of their neighbors in Pennsylvania were Pennsylvania Germans. I wonder who made the fraktur, don't you?

Here is another curious problem with this 3g grandmother: Her parents were listed in my great grandmother's scrapbook as Pefus and Bridget Tegue Utley, and even though these are less than common names, I have not found them and none of my other relatives have either. One note among my research papers says they were Elizabeth's grandparents! 


For now, I am enjoying this fraktur and thank the Barnhisel Museum, in Girard, for hanging it up for me to find. I am fortunate indeed to have this artifact.


Elizabeth Utley
Born: 8 Apr 1801  Cumberland, PA
Married:       1820
Died: 28 May 1871 Weathersfield, Trumbull, OH
Sources: Great Grandmother, Mary Lewis' scrapbook; Connie Boyer's compilation: "Barnhisel/Bernheisel Family Lines"; Federal Census: 1820 to 1870.