On Aug 25th, 2001, Dale Helsel posted a message to GenForum's Helsel board, in which he stated that Catherine Elizabeth Helsel, wife of Jacob Stiffler, of Cherry Tree, Indiana Co, Pa, was the daughter of Henry Helsel and Eve Stiffler. As she was my 4th great-grandmother, I have been frustrated by not being able to identify her parents, and thus find my place in the Helsel family tree. My first reaction to Dale's claim was "Where did he get that?". There were only two Helsel families in the area of Bedford Co where Catherine Elizabeth's husband, Jacob Stiffler, was born, being Peter Helsel, of whom no children are known, and Henry Helsel, the one Helsel of that generation of whom we know all his children, and this Catherine was not one of them. Despite that, I decided to review the documentation, and now have to conclude that this claim is most likely correct.

The case for Peter Helsel is entirely circumstantial. Peter and John Tobias Heltzel (the Helsel/Heltzel spelling are interchangeable, and depended mostly on where the person lived) are listed in the Pennsylvania Archives, each receiving a land grant in Bedford Co on the same day in 1793. He does not appear to be John's brother, as the transcribed will of John Tobias Heltzel Sr makes no mention of a son named Peter. Peter's 144 acres in Greenfield Twp were surveyed in 1807, and I obtained a copy of that survey from the Pioneer HGS in Bedford. It shows that his property was bounded on the east by Peter Stiffler, in the area of East Freedom, now Blair Co. The "History of Indiana Co" lists the earliest settlers of Cherry Tree in the 1820's, and among these were Peter Stiffler's sons Jacob and George Stiffler, as well as one Peter Helsel. In the 1840 census, in three consecutive households in Green Twp, Indiana Co were enumerated George Stiffler, Tobias Helsel, and Jacob Stiffler. It was Jacob who had married Catherine Elizabeth Helsel. As a child, Jacob Stiffler had lived next to Peter Helsel, and as an adult, he moved to Indiana Co along with Peter Helsel, and once there lived next to a Helsel household, which contained a man born 1760-1770, the right age to be Jacob's father-in-law. However, I have never found any documentation naming any children of Peter Helsel. Still, there was compelling evidence, in the absence of any credible alternatives, to name Peter a prime candidate for Catherine Elizabeth's father, demanding further investigation.

Of course, what is key is the "absence of any credible alternatives." There were only two Helsel families in Greenfield Twp, Bedford Co, to which Catherine Elizabeth could have been born into in 1802. Those were Peter, discussed above, of whom nothing is known of his family, and Henry, of whom all his children were named in his will, and his daughter Catherine was married to Jacob Weir. However, when Dale Helsel made the claim that Catherine Elizabeth was Henry Helsel's daughter, I decided it was worth reviewing the documentation. I read through the will, but noticed the name of a daughter Elizabeth whom I did not have listed in my database. I counted eleven names in the will, and ten in the family sheet. Gerald Helsel had transcribed the will in 1957, and this has been widely circulated. However, I had obtained a photocopy of the original from the Bedford Courthouse, and transcribed the will myself, mainly because the original contained many ampersands "&" which Gerald Helsel had transcribed as the word "and". I held up the photocopy, and Elizabeth was definitely named as one of Henry's unmarried daughters at the time of the writing in 1815. This name had always been in the will, but had been left out of the transcription. This is an important reminder to ALWAYS CHECK ORIGINAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS.

1. unto my daughter Christina married to Peter Smith one share

2. to my daughter Catharine married to Jacob Wyar one share

3. & to my sons John Hoelzel,

4. Philip,

5. Peter,

6. Henry

7. and Jacob

8. & the rest of my daughters Elisabeth,

9. Sussana,

10. Barbara &

11. Mary, each & every one a share

So who is this new daughter Elizabeth, and could she be the same as Catherine Elizabeth, wife of Jacob Stiffler? Did she live within "courting distance" of Jacob? Also, if she was the daughter of Henry Helsel and his wife Eve Stiffler, she would be Jacob Stiffler's first cousin, which to many would be a reason not to marry. However, Henry & Eve's fifth child, Peter, married Jacob Stiffler's sister Mary Eva, answering both of these questions, and making it credible that a second marriage could exist between these two families.

The next obstacle - Henry's second daughter was Catherine, and I had been to Uniontown E.U.B. Cemetery in Indiana Co, where I photographed the tombstone of my ancestor, which read "Catherine E. Stiffler". However, when I checked the census enumerations, in 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 - every census during her life in which her name would have been listed - she was always called "Elizabeth". Even if she used her middle name, would Henry have two daughters with the first name Catherine? The baptismal record for Henry's second daughter, on 13 Feb 1787, lists her name as "Anna Catharina" (Records of Friedensal (Schuster's White) Church, Springfield Twp, York Co, Pa; Parents: Henry and Eva Holtzel; Sponsors: Adam and Anna Seitz), so it appears she also went by her middle name. I had sometimes seen people claim that Henry had a daughter Catherine born about 1808, but I had dismissed it because his will named Catherine as Jacob Weir's wife, and she was known to have been born 20 years earlier. It could be true if this was referring to Catherine Elizabeth.

Another obstacle - Catherine Elizabeth's tombstone lists her birth date as 22 Dec 1802, but Henry's daughter Susanna was listed as being born in 1802. However, the data April Phillips sent me included a note that Michael Caldwell listed her birth as 1805 - it is credible that a "5" on a tombstone can fade to where it appears to be a "2". Moving Susanna's birth date to 1805 leaves a space for Catherine Elizabeth, does not conflict with Barbara in 1806 or Mary in 1810, and also puts the names in the will in the correct order of birth. This is corroborated by the 1850 census, in which Susannah Helsel, age 45, is living with Eve Helsel, age 88.

Further analysis of census data for the parents Henry & Eve Helsel shows: 1800 - 1 girl 10-16; 4 boys, 1 girl 0-10 1810 - 2 boys, 1 girl 16-26; 1 boy 10-15; 2 boys, 4 girls 0-10 1820 - 4 boys, 2 girls 16-26; 3 girls 10-16; 1 boy 0-10 The 1810 enumeration shows that 4 girls are born 1800-1810, and in 1820, that 3 of these are 1804-1810. This would correspond to Catherine 1802, Susanna 1805, Barbara 1806 and Mary 1810. As mentioned above, Susanna was age 45 in 1850; Barbara (wife of Solomon Smith) 44 in 1850, 61 in 1870 and 77 in 1880; Mary (wife of Samuel Smith) 40 in 1850, 49 in 1860, and 67 in 1870. In the 1820 census, the extra girl 1794-1804 and the boy 1810-1820 are likely a daughter-in-law and grandson, probably Peter's family (Larry Smith writes that Peter took over his father's blacksmith business in 1817, and has not been found in his own household in the 1820 census).

If the daughter who married Jacob Weir was Anna Catherine [as her baptism shows], who went by her middle name Catherine [per her father's will] as did Catherine Elizabeth who went by Elizabeth [per the 1850-1880 census], and if Susanna was born in 1805 instead of 1802 [per the 1850 census], and then if Catherine Elizabeth was willing to marry her first cousin, as did Henry's son Peter, there do not remain any conflicts with Catherine Elizabeth being a daughter of Henry Helsel and Eve Stiffler, and Henry's will would have named his children in exact birth order.

Although it is still possible that Catherine Elizabeth Helsel could be the daughter of Peter Helsel, it seems much more likely that she is the daughter of Henry Helsel and Eve Stiffler, who can be documented to have a daughter by that name at that time.