Van Bibber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Vol 2, No. 11

Van Bibber Pioneers Electronic Newsletter
Volume 2, Number 11 · September 1998

Greetings:

It is with sadness and regret that I inform you of the death of one of our members; RoseAnne Kirby. RoseAnne passed away on Sunday, September 20, 1998. RoseAnne was an avid Van Bibber researcher and contributor to this newsletter even though she was not a descendant of the Van Bibbers. She was only related by the marriage of her daughter, Paula Uthe, to a descendant of the Van Bibbers. My condolences to Paula and her father Paul Kirby.

We now have two hundred and twenty-eight subscribers.

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CONTENTS

New Members, Address Changes, And Corrections

Obituary Of Harold M. Yoakum

Schumacher And Op Den Graeff Information

Van B. Reynolds

Walter Lewis Ashby

Letter From Ira Van Bibber

Ira Van Bibber

Old Tombstone Carvings

Robert Vanbeber

An Answer To A Query By Roseanne Kirby

From The Marriages Of Lawrence County, Territory Of Arkansas – 1800 – 1848

Reconstructing The Op Den Graff Windows Of 1630 A.D.

Mathias Van Bibber Descendants

Queries

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NEW MEMBERS

Sue Quitana (Suiquin@aol.com)

Annette Brown (Abrown4431@aol.com)

Julie Koon (jabkfh@hotmail.com)

Corinna Resch (cresch@earthlink.net)

David E. Wisdom (DWISDOM@prodigy.net)

Elaine Hinton (ehinton@richnet.net)

Denise Freeman (drfree@mtec.net)

Phyllis Gillaspie (GRAMPHYL@aol.com)

RESUBSCRIPTION

Lee Harden Tillis Waters (leew@amaonline.com)

CHANGE OF ADDRESS

Philip Johnson (phikipjohnson@mail.usa.com)
Linda Watson (lwatson@seanet.com)

Jim Boales (JimBoCruzn@aol.com)

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OBITUARY OF HAROLD M. YOAKUM

By Gary R. Hawpe (GRH9999@aol.com)

This obituary just came over the Yocum Discussion List. For those of you who never knew Harold, he was a great individual. I corresponded with him about seven years ago when I was working on the Yoakum/VanBebber lines. Harold was the author of a small booklet called the "Yoakum Family History" which he published in 1987.

Isaac VanBibber and Hester Op Den Graeff
Jacob Isaacs VanBibber and Christinia ___________
Isaac Jacobs VanBibber and Frances Schumacher
Peter VanBibber and Anna ______________
Isaac VanBibber and Sarah Davis
Martha VanBebber and George Yoakum Sr.
Isaac Yoakum and Mary Davis
William Wylie Yoakum and Nancy Elizabeth Poff
James Edward Yoakum and Rosa McCubbin
Charles Ervin Yoakum and Lola Susan Helm
Harold Mount Yoakum and Edith Lee Bryan

Topeka C-J; 1998-3-31

SCOTT CITY (KS) -- Graveside services were Mar 24 at Scott County Cemetery for Harold M. YOAKUM, 79, Scott City, formerly of Topeka (KS), who died Mar. 20, 1998, at a hospital here.

He was born Oct 10, 1918, in Ray County MO, to Charles Ervin and Lola Susan
HELM YOAKUM. He moved from Topeka to Scott City in 1947 to work as secretary-manager of the Scott City Chamber of Commerce. He later worked for the Wright Chevrolet agency in Scott City where he was sales manager more than 29 years. He also worked on antique clocks. He was a member of First United Methodist Church in Scott City and was a former president of the Lions Club and Chamber of Commerce in Scott City.

He was married to Edith Lee BRYAN July 4, 1941, in Kingston MO. She survives. Other survivors include a son, John H YOAKUM, Cary NC; a daughter, Marsha YOAKUM, Kenosha WI; brothers, Loren YOAKUM, Scottsdale AZ, and Joseph YOAKUM, Richmond MO; and sisters, Ruth LEWELLEN, Cameron MO, Velda LOUDER, San Diego CA, Betty SACKMAN, Topeka, and Marjorie DOWD, Moab UT.
Memorial contributions may be made to Scott County Emergence Medical Technicians. Price & Sons Funeral Home in Scott City was in charge of arrangements.

Gary R. Hawpe

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SCHUMACHER AND OP DEN GRAEFF INFORMATION

By Jan T. (Ktompk7744@aol.com)

(Not a subscriber)

From "Swiss and German Pioneers of Southeastern Pennsylvania"

Schumacher p 50
Shumaker pp 48, 50, 302, 313, 315

p 48: "1538 --Houstten or Hochtetten) and Signan Demand Another Religious Debate. In February and March of 1538 says Müller (p 79) a discussion on religion was demanded by the above towns. The attempt was made to prove the Old testament equal to the New. This was an argument against the Taufers, who largely avoided the Old...[a list of names of people present and where they were from]...Peter Schcwendimann and Felix Shumaker of Big Hochstetten..."

p 50: "1538 -- Caspar Schumacher's Sufferings. In the same book [The Martyrs' Mirror] the sufferings of another remote ancestor of a large Lancaster county and Eastern Pennsylvania family of today are given, page 433, as follows: 'In the year 1538, the brethren Martin of Vilgraten and Caspar Schumacher, were both apprehended for the divine truth, at Michelsberg, in Priesterthal, and after steadfastness, sentenced to death, and executed with the sword, thus manfully persevering in the faith unto the end. They were of good cheer in their bonds and tribulation and held fast to the love of God,
from which they could not be separated through tribulation, fear, persecution, hunger, nakedness, or danger."

page 302: "1749--Ship Records of This Year. During this year we have twenty-one ship loads of these German-Swiss people. Among these ship loads of German-Swiss people we find the common Lancaster County names:...2 Shumakers.." [No specific first names, just surnames and the number; but it does list each specific ship for the year without saying who came on what.]

page 313: "1752 -- Ship Records of This Year. During the year 1752 we have 18 ship loads of these German Swiss people. Among the common Lancaster County names we find the following: ... 2 Shumakers..."

page 315: "1754 -- German Immigrants Buried in Strange Burying Grounds at Philadelphia. Thomas Greene and Thomas Bond, medical inspectors for the Province of Pennsylvania, gave an account of the deaths, occurring largely from the contagious diseases, in a report to the Governor, this year.... On page 175 they state the number of Palatines who recently died from the fevers and were buried, to be 253 during the year 1754. They were buried in what was known as the Strangers Burying Ground. They state that Alexander Stedman reports 62, Henry Keppely 39, Benjamin Shumaker 57..."

Vanbibber pp 201, 137

p137: 1709.--A Lot of the Palatines Naturalized. The petition we spoke of before was finally passed September 29, 1709, and by virtue it 82 of the Palatines of Philadelphia County and one of Bucks County were naturalized. Among them were Pastorius, the Conrads, Shuemakers, Vanbibbers, Gattschalks, Stolls, Kesselberrys, Hoffs, Smiths, Scholls, and others. (2 Col.Rec.p493)"

p 201: "1717 A Few More Mennonite Additions This Year. This year a patent was signed to Hans Moyer at Strasburgh for 700 acres (Rupp 624). A considerable tract was also surveyed near the head of Pequea Creek, including the old Shawanna Town by Machias Vanbibber for some Germans to settle. This year also, says Rupp, Hans Zimmerman came to Lancaster County (Rupp 126) and Hans Graeff settled in Earl (Rupp 133)."

pages 296-297: "1746 - Germans Along the Susquehanna Want Maryland Line Dispute Settled. The dispute between Maryland and Pennsylvania, over the line between them still continued. It had now destroyed the tranquillity between the two provinces many years.

"Certain phases of the dispute are set forth in Vol 1 of the PA Archives pp 692 et seq. From these records, the following condition appears: In August 1746 the Governor of Maryland wrote to the Governor of Pennsylvania, enclosing a letter from Virginia. A man opposite Conewago named Diggs, claiming that section to be Maryland, complained that the Pennsylvanians used him badly.

The Governor of Maryland says allowance must be made for Diggs, because he is
a Catholic and is opposed to the Government. Diggs replying to the charge, that he is a troublesome person says, that by a Maryland warrant dated 1727, he has settled on a tract called Diggs' choice, opposite the Susquehanna and received a patent in 1735. That he had his land surveyed and the Dutch objected to this, and he had them arrested for trespass. And since then a survey was made including his land, by officers of Pennsylvania, defying the Government of Maryland. That a man named Kittsmiller and others, threatened to shoot and kill Diggs if he did not move away. Another witness declared that he hard this land was laid out for John Lemon, David Young, Adam Messier, Adam Miller and others of Pennsylvania.

"Another witness declared that when Diggs came for his land, he found some
Germans plowing on it, Nicholas and Adam Furney, who claimed they owned it. Furney said he would pay no attention to Maryland officers, and went on plowing. Adam Furney said that Mr. Cookson told him, if any land officers of Maryland came, to bind them and take them to Lancaster. These friends of Furney spoke Dutch to them. The upshot was, that Furney and his friends began to beat and club Diggs and the Maryland officers, and one of the Maryland officers attempted to draw his 'banger' and Furney ran to the house to get his gun. It seems that then the Lancaster County authorities took an ax and tried
to use it on the Diggs party. The battle finally ended by the Maryland parties taking their band spikes and giving the Pennsylvania party a chase.

"On the other side, Herman Updegraff, being a Quaker, said that 5 years ago he
tried to buy a piece of land from Diggs at Conewago. He said the tract lay north of the Pennsylvania line. Then too the deposition of Adam Furney was taken on the dispute. He lived at Conewago, and he said that he and several other Germans had agreed to purchase some land of John Diggs, lying at Conewago, and they found that Diggs land was of great extent there, that Diggs claimed he had 14,000 acres there. This excited the Germans as they knew it included their land.

"Page 709 of the above stated record, the case between the Germans and Diggs
at Conewago is set out showing the difficulties of our people at that place. It there appears that the temporary Pennsylvania-Maryland line was furnished in May 1739, and as soon as it was run, many Germans took out warrants for land, from the Pennsylvania authorities, lying north of that line at the Little Conewago, over the Susquehanna, adjoining the tract claimed by Diggs.

This Diggs tract was found to be wholly in Pennsylvania and surrounded by
lands these Germans took up and paid for. These Germans did not interfere with Diggs; but asked him to mark his line so they could locate their land, and then he threatened them not to come near his place, etc. He warned them that their surveys were not good, as all that was Maryland property, etc.

Then in 1743 Diggs applied to Pennsylvania to get as much land as would make
his tract a regular square, and that this would take 1,000 acres. He was told he could have land at the same price the Germans were paying; but he could not interfere with their land. But he disregarded this and asserted title right over the Germans' land. See these conflicts fully discussed in Vol 1 Pennsylvania Archives pp 692 to 713."

An interesting if not particularly seemly episode.

Jan T
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VAN B. REYNOLDS

By Gary R. Hawpe (GRH9999@aol.com)

Identification

The Greenbrier Independent January 24, 1884

VAN B. REYNOLDS

The old white frame mansion yet standing in "Burning Spring" hollow, at
Kanawha Salines, was the residence of Colonel John Reynolds from about 1806
until his death about the year 1840. But the fine salt-producing property and
the furnaces he owned during that period, on both sides of the Kanawha river,
have by degrees entirely passed out of the hands of his descendants. Allen
Belcher was occupying this old house when, several years ago, he fell a victim
in Malden to the deadly assaults for which Wm. H. Robinson was last week re-
tried and sentenced in eleven years of servitude in the State Penitentiary.

Besides engaging extensively in the manufacture of salt Col. Reynolds was
several times chosen to represent his own and his constituents' interest in
the Assembly of Virginia. His name appears as the representative from Kanawha
for five consecutive terms--1806-7-8-9-10--and it was during his candidacy for
one of these terms that Prof. Atkinson credits him with the most famous and
pointed speech of the campaign. Space only permits the telling of this one
incident out of the many that have been related of him: "The Colonel was a
small, spare man, thin-visaged and stern countenanced, but friendly and
sociable in his manners, and exceedingly popular in the county. Mounting the
stand and looking around upon the audience, and bowing, he addressed them as
follows: "Friends and fellow-citizens! I am a candidate for the House of
Delegates of the General Assembly; and according to custom I suppose I must
make a speech. But so much time has been occupied by my worthy friends who
have already addressed you that I will only detain you a moment. You all know
my political principles and my opinions concerning public affairs. If you
choose to elect me, I will serve you to the best of my abilities; if you don't
you may go to ----' closing the sentence with an oath and an expressive waive
of the hand, and turning round with an independent, care-for-nobody air, he
stepped down from the stand amidst the vociferous cheers of the audience. He
was elected by a large majority."

West Virginia is indebted to the George Clendenin fort that stood at the mouth
of Elk river for the existence of the Capital city it has chosen for 1885, and
to Charles Clendenin for its name of Charlestown, which name, "for reasons not
now known," was afterward contracted into Charleston. Before Greenbrier and
Montgomery counties furnished the territory for Kanawha in 1789 old Alexander
Welch, who was the second Surveyor for Greenbrier county, and grandfather of
our late Capt. John A. Welch, had laid off and made a draft of what he then
called "the town at mouth of Elk." This plan, in Mr. Welch's own handwriting,
is being preserved in the Clerk's office of Kanawha county. From an absolute
wilderness in 1789, with only now and then a canoe or pirogue hauled a-shore,
there has grown in 1884 a city of 6,000 inhabitants, with its railroads, its
steam ferry and steamboats plying up and down the river and steaming up to her
wharves, a U. S. Custom House, the Capitol building, and numerous
manufactories--all as the result of a second civilization implanted in the
Kanawha Valley since the history of the world began. Salt and coal have been
important factors in working out this miracle of change, and to Col. Reynolds
as much as anyone else, our Third District is indebted for the transforming
influences that years ago rolled, as it were, in black volumes from the
furnace chimneys on both sides of the Kanawha from the "Burning Spring" to
Malden.

In 1755, during Braddock's war, General (then Colonel) Washington discovered
what appears to be, of its kind, the greatest natural curiosity in
Kanawha--the "Burning Spring" near which Col. Reynolds built his last
residence and salt furnaces. Washington, referring to it in his will, says "it
(the land he owned on Kanawha) was taken up by Gen. Andrew Lewis and myself on
account of a bituminous spring which it contained, so as to burn as freely as
spirits and is as difficult to extinguish." But it was as late as 1840-42 that
the "Gas Wells" became numerous at the Salines. A Mr. Tompkins, when boring
for salt water at a depth of 1,000 feet, discovered the first one, which was
shortly afterward followed by others--some being of sufficient force to lift
the salt water many feet above the surface of the ground. From an article
published in 1843 in the Lexington Gazette, and written by one who considered
the subject "peculiarly interesting to the scientific," the following
description is condensed to suit our purpose:

"These wonderful wells are a new thing under the sun; for in all the history
of the world it does not appear that a fountain of strong brine was ever
before known to be mingled with a fountain of inflammable gas sufficient to
pump it out in a constant stream, and then, by its combustion, to evaporate
the whole into salt of the best quality. Several wells have been bored to a
depth equal to that of the gas-wells without striking the gas; the source of
which seems to lie below, perhaps far below, the depth of the wells. This
light, clastic substance, wheresoever and howsoever generated, naturally
presses upwards for a vent, urging its way through every pore and crevice of
the superincumbent rocks; and the well-borer's auger must find it in one of
the narrow routes of its upward passage or penetrate to its native coal-bed
before it will burst forth by the artificial vent. The opinion that the gas
originates in deep coal-beds is founded on the fact that it is the same sort
of gas that constitutes the dangerous fire-damp of coalpits, and the same that
is manufactured out of bituminous coal for illuminating our cities. It is a
mixture of carbureted hydrogen. Philosophers tell us that bituminous coal
becomes anthracite by the conversion of its bitumen and sulphur into this gas,
and that water acts a necessary part in the process. Whether the presence of
salt water causes a more rapid devolution of the gas the present writer will
not undertake to say; but somehow the quantity generated in the salt region of
Kanawha is most extraordinary. It finds in this region innumerable small
natural vents. It is seen in many places bubbling up through the sand at the
bottom of the river, and probably brings up salt water with it, as in the gas-
wells, but in small quantity. The celebrated Burning Spring is the only one of
its natural vents apparent on dry land. The stream of gas, unaccompanied by
water, has forced its way from the rocks below, through seventy or eighty feet
of alluvial ground, and within eighty yards of the river bank. It is near this
burning spring where the principal gas-wells have been found. But, twenty-five
years ago, or more, a gas-fountain was struck in a well two hundred feet deep,
near Charleston, seven miles below the Burning Spring. This blew up, by fits,
a jet of weak salt water twenty or thirty feet high. On a torch being applied
to it, one night, brilliant flames played and flashed about the watery column
in the wonderful manner.

The children of Col. John Reynolds--Ellicott, Alethea, Franklin R., Bernard
(or Vernon,) Julia, Fenton, Minerva and Van. B.--are all said to have been
born on Muddy Creek, in Greenbrier county. But this is doubtful, as Colonel
Reynolds' wife was Miriam Vanbibber of Point Pleasant, and the nuptials were
likely celebrated just before his settlement on the present site of Charleston
about the year 1800. At that time he owned and lived on a part of the site of
Charleston. And when County Clerk of Kanawha he had erected on his own land
(where the Hale House now stands) the first County Court Clerk's office
Kanawha ever had. Ellicott's wife was a Miss Drowen of Kanawha. Aletha's
husband was James McFarland, from the North, a gentleman who merchandised in
Charleston for a number of years. One daughter was born to them. Franklin R.
married Abigail McFarland, a sister of James McFarland as above. Four children
were born to this pair. Bernard married Irena, a daughter of Elijah Slack of
Kanawha. Their children were Amelia, (deceased,) and John V., known as a
steamboat captain on the Kanawha and Ohio rivers. Julia married John Welch, of
"Red House" Shoals, Putnam county. Fenton died unmarried. Minerva became the
wife of Garland Todd, of Virginia, and Mrs. Aletha Putney, of Malden, is a
daughter of this pair.

VAN B. REYNOLDS seems to have been the only one of these children placed in
charge of Dr. McElhenney at the Lewisburg Academy. His wife was a daughter
(Elizabeth) of Major Thomas Buster, a gentlemen several times chosen by
Kanawha as a representative in Virginia's legislative halls. This lady was a
cousin of Claudius F., Thomas J., Julia M., Eliza and Mary A., children of
George W. Buster of Greenbrier, which statement is made in this connection to
correct a mistaken idea of relationship. The business part of Mr. Reynolds'
life is easily summed up in a single sentence. "He was a salt maker for nearly
fifty years at the salt furnaces of the Salines." But when he died in malden,
was, like his father, nearly if not altogether insolvent. He also took a hand
in forming the political history of Kanawha--was its representative for one or
more terms in the Legislature. Isn't it amusing, though, what insignificant
issues the friends of a candidate will introduce into a political canvass to
insure his election? Col. John Reynolds was the first settler to bring a rifle
gun into Kanawha county, and when Van. B. was running for the Legislature,
with strong opposition, this fact was made the issue of his election. One of
the salt-makers' meetings was thrown into a fever of excitement when Phillips
Miller rushed in and asked Wm. Tompkins "what was to be done next," as they
had 'run the gun argument into the ground?" As the ancestors of the two
Reynolds families in Kanawha were of Scotch-Irish origin the religious
inclinations of their descendants have been to the Presbyterial faith, yet
Van. B. is thought never to have been connected with any church. Two of his
children, James and Mary, died when young and unmarried, and a surviving son
(Henry W.) married a daughter of Thos. Whitaker, of Charleston. At present
Henry Reynolds is largely interested in coal mines at Paint Creek, Kanawha
county. He also was engaged several years ago in the manufacture of salt. Van.
B. Reynolds died about the year 1860.

The children of Silas Reynolds, a brother of Col. John, are often confused
with the children of Col. John by those best acquainted with both families,
and for this reason our sketch is closed with a few paragraphs devoted to the
family of Silas, that the proper discriminations may be made. He was also a
salt-maker on the Kanawha. His wife's name is unknown to the writer, but his
children were five in number--William, Clark, Eliza, Charles and Ann.
William's wife was Sarah Armstrong, of Kentucky, by whom he had one child,
that died in infancy. William died many years ago--as early as 1834 or 5--but
his widow is yet living, as the wife of C. E. Doddridge, of Kanawha.

Clark married Margaret Frazer, of Virginia, a niece of either the late James
A. Lewis or his wife. Both Clark and his wife died in 1832 or 3 with the
cholera. If any children were born to them they died in infancy. Both William
and Clark were active, business men, and manufacturers of salt, and had they
lived would probably have been useful and honorable citizens of Kanawha
county.

Eliza married the George W. Buster, of Charleston, referred to in a preceding
paragraph of this sketch. She died without issue. To some extent the error
obtains that she was the mother of Alexis M., Charles B., Thomas B. and Lucy
A. Buster of Greenbrier. Their mother was the second wife of George W.
Buster--a Miss Ann Chilton of Kanawha.

The wife of Charles Reynolds was Fannie Slaughter, of Kanawha; and Ann's
husband was H. H. Wood, of Charleston.

The families of "old Tommie" and Johnson Reynolds of Greenbrier are in no way
whatever connected with the Reynolds families of Kanawha.

Lewisburg, Jan. 21st, 1884 M. W. Z.

Submitted to the web by Rose Peterson
http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvkanawh/bios/r/reynolds.html

Gary R. Hawpe

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WALTER LEWIS ASHBY

By Gary R. Hawpe (GRH9999@aol.com)

Identification

Isaac VanBibber and Hester Op den Graeff
Jacob Isaacs VanBibber and Christinia ___________
Isaac Jacobs VanBibber and Frances Schumacher
Peter VanBibber and Anna ____________
John VanBibber and Chloe Staniford
Marjory VanBibber and Andrew Donnally
Caroline Donnally and John Lewis
Margery Lewis and Richard J. Ashby
Walter Lewis Ashby

Walter Lewis Ashby

Hon. Walter Lewis Ashby, a member of the Charleston bar, is senior of the well
known law firm of Ashby & Woodroe, and is associated in business with E.T.
Crawford, the firm name being Crawford & Ashby. He is prominent in politics,
and in 1898 was elected a member of the state senate of West Virginia. He was
born November 3, 1862, in Norborn County, Mo., and accompanied his parents to
Boone County, W.Va., in 1865, and four years later to Kanawha County.

Walter L. Ashby attended the public schools at Charleston and subsequently
Rock Hill College, Maryland. After deciding upon the study of law, he entered
the office of his half-brother, the late Senator John E. Kenna, and was
admitted to the bar, January 30, 1885. A short time afterward Mr. Ashby
entered into partnership with Hon. C.C. Watts, who was later attorney-general
of West Virginia, with whom he was associated until 1900. Since then Mr. Ashby
has practiced alone and also with partners, his present firm having been
established in 1905. Public matters have interested Mr. Ashby ever since he
attained manhood, when he identified himself with the Democratic party, and
through that medium has been tendered public positions. While serving as state
senator he was a member of committees that had much to do with important
legislation, and on account of his legal ability he was extremely valuable in
that position. He is one of the representative citizens of Charleston, where
he has invested in property and for the past twenty-five years has identified
himself with the leading interests of the city.

Taken from History of Charleston and Kanawha County West Virginia and
Representative Citizens, W.S. Laidley, Richmond Arnold Publishing Co.,
Chicago, 1911.

http://www.rootsweb.com/~wvkanawh/bios/a/ashby1.html

Gary R. Hawpe
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BOONE FAMILY ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER

By Cindy Parks (Stormysea3@aol.com)

Hi Bruce,

This is Cindy from the Boone Family Association of the Southwest.

Could you do me a favor since you send me your newsletter? Could you let
everyone know that I will be sending out at the end of the month a newsletter

Cindy Parks

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LETTER FROM IRA VAN BIBBER

By Anna L. Lutz (alutz@juno.com)

Historic Letter March 19 1911 to Owen Duffy Hill

I have just received a letter from my cousin, Colonel Ira Van Bebber, from Selkirk, Yucon Territory, Alaska, in which he said: "We are having a mild winter in this territory this year. So far, it has not been colder than 50 degrees below zero, and I have been out hunting and trapping, but it ususally gets to 74 below zero, as it usually does here in the winter, I try to stay in."

Anna L. Lutz
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IRA VAN BEBBER

By Anna L. Lutz (alutz@juno.com)

Ira Van Bebber was born (1880), and raised in Nicholas County, West Virginia. He went to Alaska, in the gold rush. He married an Indian woman in Alaska, and they have 14 children, and six Eskimo dogs. His son works in the gold fields, and they slush out $18,000 worth of gold each month.

In 1940, Mr. Van Bebber, sent me a grizzly bear skin, which was as large as an ox hide, and its claws were over four inches long.

O. D. Hill

Nicholas County (WV) Vol. I, "Just For Old Times Sake", Comstock, McClung, & Bronson, p 69, Van Bibber

More than half a century ago, Ira Van Bibber left his haunts of Nicholas and Fayette Counties, and sought his Artic Circle. He married an Indian girl, the daughter of a Chief, and fathered 13 children, who have became prospectors and followers of the trap line. He likes the north and is plenty content to stay there. Tragedy has visited him, a son drowned here in Great Bear Lake.

Photograph of Family of Ira van Bibber

In front row, seated, Leta, Eliza Van Bibber (mother) and Dode Van Bibber. In the back row, standing, Linch, Lucy, Kathleen, George Pat, J. J., Alex, Dan, Archie, May Van Bibber.

Memorial, Eliza Van Bibber Passed away Friday August 26 1983.

Eliza Van Bibber was born around Big Lake by Champagne. Her father was Chief Jackson from Alaska. Eliza and her mother Alice moved to Selkirk when she was a small girl. They lived along the Stewart River in the Mayo Area for a spell.

Eliza met Ira Van Bibber at Fort Selkirk and they trapped up the Nahanni River for a few years. They had four small children when they moved back to Pelly where the rest of the children were born. Eliza and Ira had 16 children, ten sons and six daughters. They had 37 grandchildren, 59 great grandchildren, and 5 great great grandchildren.

"Short" as she was known to her family was a Tlingit of the Crow clan. Eliza and Ira raised their family at Mica Creek. They trapped, fished, and lived off the land. Ira passed away in a965, and Eliza lived at the homestead at Pelly until she moved to the Whitehorse Hospital, seven months before she passed on.

Eliza lived the full circle of life approximately 104 years. She was dearly loved, and will be sadly missed by her family and people.

Obituary, Eliza Van Bibber

A long time resident of Pellys Crossing, Eliza Van Bibber, passed away August 26. Her age was determined to be between 98 to 105. She is survived by sons , Dan, Archie, Alex., John James, Pat, and Theodore. Daughters, Leta Isreal, May Fairclough, Kathleen Thorpe, Lucy Fulton (now Sanderson) and Linch Curry. Of her 37 grandchildren, she is survived by 34, 59 great grandchildren, and 5 great great grandchildren. She is predeceased by husband Ira, who passed away November 30 1963; her eldest son Abe, and daughter Helen, died in 1933; George, who died in 1977, and two infant sons. She will be buried at the family plot at Pellys Crossing, on Wednesday, August 31st.

Photograph, Memorial, and Obituary sent to Anna Lutz from Lucy Sanderson.

Anna L. Lutz

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OLD TOMBSTONE CARVINGS

From the Internet

The term "Relict" on a tombstone means that the woman was a widow at time of death, consort means that her husband survived her.

"Cenotaph" engraved on a tombstone indicates an empty grave, with the stone
erected in honor or memory of a person buried elsewhere - often erected in honor of a person lost at sea.

Meanings of Carvings:
Arches--- Victory in Death
Arrows--- Mortality
Bouquets/Flowers--- Condolences, grief, sorrow
Buds/Rosebud--- Morning of Life or Renewal of Life
Roses--- Brevity of earthly existence
Portals--- Passageway to eternal journey
Bugles--- Resurrection and the Military
Crossed Swords--- High-ranking military person
Flying Birds--- Flight of the Soul
Fruits--- Eternal plenty
Garlands--- Victory in death
Imps--- Mortality
Shells--- Pilgrimage of Life
Thistles--- Remembrance
Tombs--- Mortality
Trees--- Life
Trumpeters--- Heralds of the Resurrection
Willows--- Earthly Sorrow
Morning Glory--- Beginning of Life
Butterfly--- Short-lived; Early Death
Full-Blown Rose--- Prime of Life
Palm Branch--- Signifies Victory and Rejoicing
Ivy--- Friendship and Immortality
Laurel--- Fame or Victory
Oak Leaves & Acorn--- Maturity, Ripe Old Age
Weeping Willow--- Emblem of Sorrow
Corn--- Ripe Old Age
Sheaf of Wheat--- Ripe for Harvest, Divine Harvest, Time
Poppy--- Sleep
Lamb--- Innocence
Dove--- Innocence, Gentleness, Affection, Purity
Cherub--- Angelic
Cross--- Emblem of Faith
Anchor/Ships--- Hope or Seafaring profession
Broken Ring--- Family Circle Severed
Broken Column--- Loss of Head of Family
Torch Inverted--- Life Extinct
Urn with Blaze --- Undying Friendship
Harp--- Praise to the Maker
Handshakes--- Farewell
Hearts--- Soul in Bliss or Love of Christ
Horns--- The Resurrection
Hourglass--- Swiftness of Time
Open Book/Bible--- Deceased Teacher, Minister, etc.
Lily or Lily of Valley--- Emblem of Innocence and Purity
Tree Stump w/Ivy--- Head of Family; Immortality
Urn with /Wreath or Crepe-- Mourning
Stars & Stripes Around Eagle--- Eternal Vigilance, Liberty
Hourglass w/Wings of Time--- Time Flying; Short Life
Candle being Snuffed--- Time, mortality
Coffin, Father Time, Picks/Shovels, Darts--- Mortality
Hand of God Chopping--- Sudden Death
Winged Effigies--- Flight of the Soul

--------------------

ROBERT VANBEBER

By Steve Smith (bgood@centuryinter.net)

Identification:
Jacob Isaac VAN BEBBER and Christina
Isaac Jacob VAN BEBBER and Veronica SCHUMACKER
Peter VAN BEBBER and Ann
Isaac VAN BIBBER, I., and Sarah DAVIS
James VAN BEBBER and Hannah HOOVER
Isaac Hoover VAN BEBBER and Hannah LONG
George VANBEVERS and Mary Elizabeth TINLY
William VANBEVER and Emily HOWARD
Robert VANBEVER
SOURCE: History of Kentucky and Kentuckians, Page 1522-1523
Found in Middlesboro Public Library, Bell County, Kentucky

ROBERT VANBEVER.----------Persistency and determination are salient traits in the character of Robert VANBEVER, who is the present efficient incumbent of the office of sheriff of BELL County, Kentucky. He maintains his home at Pineville, the judicial center of the county, and here he is recognized as a man of unusual business ability and as one whose deep and sincere interest in all that affects the general welfare is characterized by loyalty and public spirit.

A native son of BELL County, Kentucky, Robert VANBEVER has here resided
during practically his entire life-time thus far. He was born on Yellow Creek, on the 7th of February 1870, and is a son of William and Emily (HOWARD) VANBEVER, both of whom were born in BELL County, the former in 1838. George VAN BEVER, the paternal grandfather of him of Tennessee and as a young man he came to Kentucky, locating on Yellow Creek, in BELL County, where he became a prominent and influential farmer. William VANBEVER was reared under the invigorating influence of the farm on which he was born and he was a gallant and faithful soldier in the Union army in the Civil war, serving with all of valor during the last two years of that sanguinary struggle. He passed his entire life on the farm which he and his father cleared, and he was summoned to eternal rest in 1878, at the comparatively young age of forty years. His wife was a daughter of Larkin and Catherine (ELY) HOWARD.

The third in order of birth in a family of six children, Robert VANBEVER was a child of but eight years of age the time of his father's death. He was then taken into the home of an uncle, Sam KING, who lived near Barbourville, and who cared for him during the ensuing three years.

The youthful Robert attended school for a period of six months and when eleven years of age he returned to BELL County, where he resumed the active responsibilities of live by working, first on railroad construction, and later in a saw mill. In 1896 he was elected to the office of chief of police of Pineville, and he served in that capacity for two years, when he resigned in order to enlist as a soldier in the Fourth Kentucky Volunteer
Infantry, for service in the Spanish-American war. He served for nine months, at the expiration of which he received his honorable discharge and was mustered out of the army in Alabama. After his return to Pineville, he was deputy of sheriff for a period of four years. He was then, in 1902, elected jailer of BELL County, and after remaining in tenure of that office for two terms he was elected, in the fall of 1909, to the office of sheriff of BELL County. He assumed the responsibilities of the last-mentioned
position in January, 1910, and in connection therewith he is giving a most distinguished and capable administration. In addition to his participation in public affairs he is interested in a number of important business enterprises in this section, and at the present time is vice president of the Straight Creek Coal Mining Company.

On the 24th of December, 1902, was recorded the marriage of Mr. VANBEVER To Miss Bertha BAILEY, who was born in BELL County, Kentucky, on the 20th of June, 1881, and who is a daughter of C.H. and Eliza (RICE) BAILEY, the former of whom was born in LEE County, Virginia, in 1852, and who is now living at Blanche, Kentucky. Mrs. BAILEY is a native of HARLAN County, Kentucky, where her birth occurred in 1859, and she is still living in 1911. Mr. BAILEY came to Kentucky from the Old Dominion commonwealth in the ante-bellum days, his father locating a tract of farming land in what was the HARLAN County. To Mr. and Mrs. VANBEVER have been born two children, namely: Clara and Robert, Jr.

A staunch Republican in his political proclivities, Mr. VANBEVER has long been an active factor in connection with public affairs in BELL County. He has ever manifested a whole-souled interest in all matters tending to advance the civic and material welfare of this county and he has acquitted himself with all of honor and credit in the various offices to which he has been elected. He is prominent in fraternal circles, holding membership in BELL Lodge, No. 691, F. & A. M., of Pineville; in Middlesboro Lodge, No.1041, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; in the Order of Owls at
Middlesboro; and in the Pineville lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of the Maccabees. In their religious adherency he and his wife are devout members of the Methodist and Baptist churches, and they are accorded the unqualified confidence and esteem of their fellow-citizens.

Steve Smith
(NOTE: A photo of Mr. VANBEVER is in the book along with biography.)
--------------------

AN ANSWER TO A QUERY BY ROSEANNE KIRBY

From the Internet

Source: "Our Harford Heritage A History of Harford County Maryland" written by C. Milton Wright 1967.

PERSONA:

Unfortunately many dates are lacking, but relationships can clearly be established:

George L. VanBibber m. Hannah C. Archer (daughter of Stevenson Archer) son - George L. VanBibber, Jr. b.1845 in Churchville, Harford County. d.1911 m. Adele Franklin of Sumner County Tennessee 1871.

They lived in HURRICANE HILL, a nice home one mile south of Bel Air.

George L. VanBibber attended local schools and graduated from Princeton University in 1865. He became a well respected lawyer and was elected Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit in 1903. He died while still in office, in 1911.

Children of George, Jr. and Adele:

1.Harriett L. VanBibber Shriver m. J. Alexis Shriver

**Mr. Wright credits Mr. Shriver of Olney as probably Harford's greatest historian - responsible for several historic markers as well as books and pamphlets.

2.Lena C. VanBibber, who for many years was a professor at Towson State Teachers College (now Towson University)

3.Dr.Armfield F. VanBibber , Bel Air physician Dr. Van Bibber wrote "A History of Mt. Ararat Lodge" in 1909.

PLACE: Van Bibber is mentioned as early as 1684 in the Wright publication. A VanBibber School was named for the family, as was a railroad station. Part of Harford County is still called Van Bibber, in a part and just off of Rt.7. There is still a Van Bibber Road in Edgewood.

Dates were not supplied much in the book, but this may help a little.

--------------------

VAN BIBBER MARRIAGES

By Bruce Logan (blogan@zoomnet.net)

And Gary R. Hawpe. (GRH9999@aol.com)

From The Marriages Of Lawrence County, Territory Of Arkansas – 1800 – 1848

From the Internet

Arthur Shaver to Leticia Van Bibber, April 17, 1843

-----

Davies County, Missouri VanBibber marriages. Recorded at the Daviess County Courthouse on May 1, 1991 by Gary R. Hawpe.

VanBibber, Houston - Lester, Nettie 28 Jan 1884 G-1
VanBibber, Flora - Lester, Hartley C. 01 Jan 1887 H-17
VanBibber, Amanda - Welborn, Edward 10 Sep 1891 I-383
VanBibber, Davilla E. - Waldron, Milford E. 07 Sep 1894 J-243
VanBibber, Ella - Longacre, W.R. 05 Dec 1897 K-40
VanBibber, Murle - Harlow, Luther 05 Apr 1916 M-362
VanBibber, Frank - Duncan, Louise Margaret 04 Oct 1920 N-3
VanBibber, Ollie - Ewing, B.F. 29 Nov 1927 N-395
VanBibber, James Huston - Johnson, Frances Lousie 21 Jun 1941 P-34
VanBibber, Vivian L. - Davis, Ambrose P. 05 Sep 1942 P-120

Gary R. Hawpe
--------------------

RECONSTRUCTING THE OP DEN GRAFF WINDOWS OF 1630 A.D.

LOHENGRIN Genealogy of the House of Cleves

A Thesis for the Reading Public to Help Validate or Repudiate by Glenn Wayne Miller

From the vast forest of Genealogyland, there is new evidence that Hermen Op Den Graff (1585 - 1642), the celebrated Bishop of the Krefeld Mennonites and a Signer of the Dordrecht Confession of 1632, was a Morganatic (or natural son) of John William De La Marck (1562 - 1609), the Graeff Von Alten (Count of Altena). This particular John William De La Marck is listed as the younger son and heir of William V of Cleves (1516 - 1592) and Mary of Habsburg (1530 - 1584), who was the Princess Imperial, Princess of the Romans and Duchess of Cleves, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor, Ferdinand I of Habsburg (1503 - 1564), niece of Charles V of Habsburg (1500 - 1558), the Holy Roman Emperor who presided over the sufferings of the Reformation.

The recitation of this evidence follows in order to be validated or repudiated by the dialogue of the authorities cited and by the contributions from YOU, THE READING PUBLIC, in the form of newsletter entries. From our latest information concerning the multiple formats, transcription and handwriting styles of the SCHEUTEN manuscript we have been challenged, not only to reconstruct the two extant Op Den Graff windows, but also to reconstruct the fragments of an unpublished thesis, from the inter war period of the 1930's, when the two extant Op Den Graff Windows of 1630 of Krefeld, Germany came to the attention of Dr. Rissler and other researchers in Mennonite - Anabaptist History. The fragments of this thesis were reassembled in part as an OP DEN GRAFF - PLETGES mimeograph seen in 1963 by myself in Central Pennsylvania. Perhaps the Pro-Dutch, Pro-French and Anti-German feelings of the World Wars kept part of this thesis in limbo and out of publication.

We now believe that this "unpublished Thesis" attempted to reconstruct a Genealogical Opera (LOHENGRIN, if you will, although the name or territory of Lohengrin may have been listed as LOTHARINGIA or LORRAINE) by combining two triangles in the 1605 marriage of one Hermen Op Den Graff Van De Aldekerk (1585 - 1642) to his Mennonite bride Greitgen Pletges De Kempen (1588 -1643). The triangle of an Op Den Graff - De La Marck - Lohengrin genealogy under the reputed name of Altena (Van Alten/Von Elten) was united with a second triangle of Pletges - Plantagenet - Pennwood genealogy under the name of Kempen (A Kempis/De Kempen/Te Kempen).

On the two extant Op Den Graff windows of 1630 A.D., we are confronted by multiple yellow panes. Are these yellow panes of the gold of Geldern - De La Mark - Op Den Graff, or the straw yellow of Plantagenet - Pletges -Pennwood, or a combination of both? By analogy, in the Miller's Tale of Rumpelstiltskin, the Miller's daughter is commanded to spin pure gold from pure straw for the King. You, the reader, are asked to judge whether this Genealogical Opera of Lohengrin concerning an Anabaptist - Mennonite family of Linen Weavers in the town of Krefeld in the days of the Thirty Years War (1618 - 1648) is an authentic reconstruction of the facts, and if so, which parts have been correctly woven from pure gold or mistakenly spun from pure straw?

Because of the demanding and overbearing details of this thesis, we thought it only fair to you, to share our preliminary conclusions at the outset:

(A) The morganatic father of Hermen Op Den Graff (1585 - 1642) has been tentatively identified as John William of La Marck (1562 - 1609), who in 1585, the year of Hermen's birth, wed Jacobea of Baden-Baden (1558 - 1597). In 1592 John William of La Marck became Protestant Bishop of Muenster and the last HERZOG (Duke) of Cleves of the House of La Marck, upon the death of his father, William V of Cleves (1516 - 1592). In 1599 John William of La Marck wed Antonia of Lorraine (1568 - 1610). John William is listed as WITHOUT POSTERITY in the feudal succession. There appears to be a total silence on morganatic or natural issue attributed to him unless the documentation appears in EUPHEMISTIC form in the church records of birth and baptism. Any morganatic issue attributed to him while he was Graff (Count) would have been given the patronymic Op Den Graff (Of The Count) or Zu Graff (Belonging To The Count) or Van De Graff (Of The Count) or De Graff (Of Count). Any morganatic issue attributed to him while he was Herzog (Duke) would have been given the patronymic Op Den Herzog (Of The Duke) or De Hartog (Of Duke). The polyglot phrase combinations represent mixtures of German/Dutch and French/Dutch and French/German in the multi-linguistic area of the Rhine Valley.

(B) The Morganatic mother of Hermen Op Den Graff (1585 - 1642) has been tentatively identified as Anna Van Aldekerk (Dutch spelling), Anne De Aldekerk (French spelling) or Anna Altenkirchen (German spelling), a woman somehow connected with the Village, Church or Cloister of Aldekerk(1), perhaps a former nun, whose surviving male offspring received the Euphemistic patronymic Op Den Graff (Of The Count). This Anna Van Aldekerk or Anne De Aldekerk may have died in childbirth. Her name may have been confused with the Van De Aldekerk (Of The Old Church) or with Aan De Aldekerk (At The Old Church) or with the pet name for Antonia as in Antonia of Lorraine (1568 -1610). If this Anna Van Aldekerk or Anne De Aldekerk survived childbirth, she may have still been living in the year 1616, when four noble born nuns, the three sisters Von Brackel and Sister Gudula Von Arfft, were living in the Mennonite home of Hermen Op Den Graff in the City of Krefeld under the jurisdiction of the Protestant House of Orange and the Electorate of Bonn. Perhaps in 1616, the four noble born nuns attended her deathbed as well as the deathbed, in 1615, of Hermen's Mennonite mother-in-law, Alet Goebels Pletjes, widow of Drissen Pletjes of the City of Kempen, mother of Greitje Pletjes Op Den Graff (1588 - 1643).

(C) Our third preliminary conclusion concerns the widowed Duchess of Cleves. We thought the Anna or Anne in the Aldekerk name was an abbreviation or pet name for Antonia as in Antonia of Lorraine (1568 - 1610), who in 1599 finally became the second noble born wife of John William of La Marck, the last Duke of Cleves. The Lorraine/Lotharingia/Lohengrin connection with the Lohengrin Swan Seal on the Op Den Graff windows becomes very tempting to pursue. However, Antonia of Lorraine as the legitimate, feudal and last Duchess of Cleves would not have had any trouble having and of her morganatic offspring elevated to the level of feudal or noble born issue, since she herself was recognized as a legitimate Princess of Lorraine. We therefore, believe that Anna Van Aldekerk or Anne De Aldekerk was a separate personage, of a more humble origin, almost lost in the drama of recorded history.

(D) Our forth preliminary conclusion concerns the paternal grandparents of Hermen Op Den Graff, the Graff and Graffin (Countess) of Altena. We believe the Lohengrin picture on the second extant window portrays the Graff and Graffin of Altena in their Marriage/Peace Treaty of 1546 (the year of Luther's death), wherein, the Graffin, the Catholic Princess, Mary of Habsburg (1530 - 1584) is seen making her oath of faith at the ancient court of Altena to her Protestant husband, the Graff of Altena, the Duke of Cleves, William V De La Marck (1516 - 1592), the brother of Anne of Cleves (1515 -1557) who in 1540 became the forth wife of Henry VIII of England (1491 -1547). The Graff and Graffin of Altena were the parents of at least seven children, including John William De La Marck (1562 - 1609), the last Duke of Cleves of the House of Marck, a cadet branch of the House of Bouillon (Boulogne), a branch of the Lohengrin family, whose origins predate the Crusades and (in some forms of the legend) go back to the days of Justinian the Great (483 - 565 A.D.) of Constantinople, the Eastern Roman Emperor who claimed sovereignty over the lands of the Rhine Valley.

2) You are invited to participate in the dialogue of this thesis by submitting information. Your help is requested in order to validate or repudiate each of the numbered tenets of the Thesis. Your commentary, documentation, and even logical speculation are welcome. We are well aware of the intellectual risks and public embarrassments involved whenever common, democratic taxpayers try to jump from the frying pans of REALITY to the fires of ROYALTY. Such efforts were made in the 1890's, 100 years ago, on behalf of the legacies of Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, in the days of S.W. Pennypacker, D.K. Cassel, and other pioneer genealogists of the Victorian Past. Nevertheless, the Habsburg-Rittershausen (Rittenhouse) pedigrees of that era were assembled from both authentic sources like the Rittershausen family of the Hague and from more controversial sources like the area of Broich. The published materials have gone through a century of validation, repudiation, revalidation, re-repudiation, but the final word over the unpublished parts of the ORIGINAL NOTES has not yet been declared. NO ONE CAN FIND THEM. Regardless of the genealogical truth, we suspect that both Mennonite Bishops, William Rittenhouse (1644 - 1708) of Germantown, Pennsylvania and Hermen Op Den Graff (1585 - 1642) of Krefeld, Germany, perceived the crowns of their authentic royalty to be at the feet of the King of Israel.

3) There are several thousand family trees who go back to an original Graff (Count, County, Gravel, Brook, Mill Stream or Stream Bed). On the American side, there are the family trees of Updegraff, Updegrave, Updegrove and their myriad branches of re-spelling. On the European side there are the family trees Van De Graff, Op Den Graff, Zu Graff and their fascinating re-spelling and roots in other languages such as Van Der Graff (Dutch) and De La Comte (French). Op Den Graff has been translated as Above the Brook (Gravel, Stream Bed or Mill Stream) and Of The Count. Zu Graff has been translated as At The Brook and Belonging To The Count. Many of the Counts were Millers (Mill Owners). The Mills, Millers and Mill Owners were all literally At The Brook. Hence, the association and the confusion of the Counts and Commoners of Millers and Merchants and Noblemen.

4) One of the more fascinating paintings of Op Den Graff (Above The Brook, Of The Count) occurred in 1585 in Germany, in the little town of Aldekerk. The issue of this Graff (Count) was named Hermen Op Den Graff (Hermann Op Den Graeff) and his name could be translated as Lord-Man Above The Brook or as Lord-Man Of The Count. In 1605 in the City of Kempen, this Hermen registered as Hermann Zu Graff (Hermen Belonging To The Count) in his marriage to Grietje Pletjes (Margaret Weaver). This Hermen became a linen merchant and a leader of the Mennonite Community of the City of Krefeld under the jurisdiction of the Protestant House of Orange. In 1616, this Hermann Op Den Graeff presented an invoice of money to the Monastery of Meer (Moers) so that four noble born nuns (Three sisters Von Brackel and Sister Gudula Von Arfft(2)), who were living in his Mennonite home and being clothed by him, could live in the Monastery of Franciscan Nuns in Krefeld. In 1637 in the minutes of the Reformed Consistory of Krefeld, this Hermann Op Den Graeff is called Der Hiesigen Mennisten Herrn Bischoff (The Local Mennonite Lord Bishop) which the letter of Karl Friedrich Von Frank (1972) calls "A designation which was very rarely used by Mennonites(3)."

(To be continued)

--------------------

MATHIAS VAN BIBBER DESCENDANTS

By Denise Freeman (drfree@mtec.net)

In Nicholas County, WV the last name of Van Bibber has died out. Ten years ago,

when I started researching my family tree, I find that I was descended from Mathias Van Bibber on both my paternal and maternal lines.

Here is my paternal line:

Mathias Van Bibber , bn.25 Nov 1772- 9 Mar 1827 ( I got the dates from the old

Van Bibber cemetary in Nicholas County, WV), md. Margaret Gardner, bn.30 September 1777-10 July 1809. They were married on 16 Apr 1797.

Olive Boone Van Bibber,bn.1806-?, md. Robert Keenan, on 2 Feb 1824 in Nicholas County, Va. Their son William Van Keenan born 7 Nov 1824-13 Aug 1901, md. Lecta Grose,bn. 1823-14 Sept 1887.

William and Lecta daughter, Ruahny Ann Keenan, bn.18 Sept 1849-11 Apr 1918,

md. Charles Priest,bn. April 28, 1836-24 Mar 1926. Their daughter, Icie Madora

Priest, born 17 Dec 1866-1935 md. Andrew M. Johnson, bn. 10 June 1866-1924.

Andrew and Icie daughter, India Mae Johnson, 24 Oct 1894-12 Dec 1982, married Albert Luther Hypes on 27 July 1912. Their son, Elza Albert Hypes, 6 Dec 1919- 8 Sept 1968, married Ruth Christina Hypes on 21 Jan 1939.

Elza and Ruth's son, Dennis Ray Hypes born 16 July 1945 in Nicholas County married Charlotte Lorraine Nutter, born 1 July 1948, on 12 Jan 1966. I was born on 19 Sept 1967.

Outline form of my Paternal descent:

1. Mathias Van Bibber md. Margaret Gardner

2. Olive Boone Van Bibber md. Robert Keenan

3. William Van Keenan md. Lecta Grose

4. Ruahny Ann Keenan md. Charles Priest

5. Icie Madora Priest md. Andrew M. Johnson

6. India Mae Johnson md. Albert Luther Hypes

7. Elza Albert Hypes md. Ruth Christina Hanks

8. Dennis Ray Hypes md. Charlotte Lorraine Nutter

9. Denise Rae Hypes md. Robert Lee Freeman

*10. (my children) Phillip Robert & Desirae Mercedes Freeman

My Maternal descent:

1. Mathias Van Bibber md. Margaret Gardner

2. Olive Boone Van Bibber md. Robert Keenan

3. Thomas P. Keenan bn. 24 Aug 1839- 4 Oct 1887 md. Lucy Margaret Painter on 30

Dec 1884

4. Letha Elizabeth Keenan,1887- 1958 md. Walter Washington Ford

5. Inez Mae Ford, 29 Sept 1907- 11 Oct 1995 md. William Teddy Summers on 7 Oct 1927

6. Irene Macel Summers, born 2 Nov 1928 md. Elbridge Orten Nutter in Jan 1947

7. Charlotte Lorraine Nutter, born 1 July 1948 md. Dennis Ray Hypes on 12 Jan 1965

8. Denise Rae Hypes, born 19 Sept 1967 md. Robert Lee Freeman on 19 June 1991

9. My children Phillip Robert and Desirae Mercedes Freeman

My family roots have been in Nicholas County since Mathias Van Bibber moved to this area in the late 1700's.

Denise R. Freeman

--------------------

QUERIES

From Donna Faucheaux (donnajfaucheaus@worldnet.att.net)

Have you ever heard of Richard ROBERT Thomas KEENAN s/o Robert and Olive BOONE KEENAN?

Donna Faucheaux

-----

From Louise Van Bibber Kuldas (mimik@n-link.com)

I'm still looking for any information in my line of Van Bibbers. Gary R. Hawpe has been great, but he to says there seems to be a dead end with my gggggrandfather.
Grandfather William Noah Van Bibber married Alpha Jane Forester GGrandfather John Green Van Bibber married to 1st wife Mary Collier when she died 2nd wife Fanny Clayton GGGrandfather Absulum (Absolom) Van Bibber married to Frances (Frankie) A. Dickerson GGGGrandfather John Van Bibber married to Martha.

Gary did say he believed my GGGGGrandfather’s name was also John Van Bibber. I've run into so many Johns I'm truly at loss.

Can you suggest any other researches that might be able to tell me in what direction I might go. I’d certain appreciate any and all suggestion.

Louise VB Kuldas
-----

From Vergil Ferm (vferm@dartmouth.edu)

I have a query that might have already been answered in a previous Newsletter. What is the history of the little village named Van Bibber on the west shore of the Chesapeake Bay a few miles north of Baltimore? It is on the southeast corner of the big arsenal.

Vergil Ferm.

-----

From Greg Engler (grege@praxis.net)

Bruce how about putting this out again on the next newsletter so that maybe someone can help determine what happened to William Nethercutt and did Elizabeth, his wife, marry Benjamin Williams and if so does someone have a copy of the record. Maybe someone has some info that says the Nethercutts were related to the Williams. That would be a help also. Data to digest follows:

Lawrence County Ohio Courthouse, Irontown, has records of births of the following Williams:
Dolby, Benj F. , Martha and Charlie. Father is listed on all records as B. F. (Benjamin) Williams and mother is listed as Elizabeth Van, as Elizabeth Vain, as Elizabeth Vanbewer and as Elizabeth Banbiber on those same records.

Elizabeth Vanbibber married William Nethercutt before apparently marrying Benjamin Williams. She had three children by William Nethercutt, the last, George, born about 1865 . William seems to have disappeared around 1865 after mustering out of the 22nd Ky Infantry. The first child with Benjamin, Marybelle, was born in 1868. A record of Elizabeth's marriage to Bennie Williams has not been found as yet though this marriage is suggested by the birth records noted above and by the info in an old handwritten letter which was written by her daughter Marybelle which follows: (The spelling, punctuation is as on the letter and the data is line by line from the letter also)
Petter Whittaker First Settlers Of Perry Co. Ky Delie Filds Of Perry Co Wife Of Petter Whittaker
Ed. Whittaker Son Of Petter Wife Of Ed Whittaker Was Mary Williams Of Green Co Ky
George W Whittaker Son Of Ed Whittaker Was Born In Green Co Ky Bornd 1861 Mary Bell Whittaker Wife Of Gw Whittaker Bornd 1868
Mary Bell Williams Wife Of Gw Whittaker Her Mother Was Elizebeth Vanbiber Of Green Co Ky
Her Father Was Ezzkel Vanbbier Of Greenup Co Ky

Her Mother Was Hester Lore
Grate Gran Father On Mother Martha Side Was Lewis Williams Born In Wales
Mary Blair Born In The Blue Grass Cuntry

From Elizabeth's daughter Marybelles death certificate:
Deceased Mary Belle Whittaker
Birthplace Irontown Ohio
Fathers name - Bennie Williams
Mothers maiden name - Elizabeth Vanover (as per her death certificate) Here is another spelling of her last name. (Her mothers last name has been spelled as Van, Vain, Banbiber, AND Vanbewer on birth records of some of her children. Vanbibber or Van Bibber is the correct spelling.

1870 Lawrence County Ohio census: Symmes Twp
Benjamin 27
Elizabeth 32
Anna L 1

1880 Lawrence County Ohio census:
Benjamin Williams 38 Oh
Elizabeth 42 Ky
Mary 11 Oh
Martha 10 Oh
Dolbe 6 Oh
Benjamin 4 Oh
Catherine 2 Oh
Lore Stephen bo 50 Oh

Carter County, KY Vital Statistics
Births 1857
Rebecca S. Neithercutt, b. 12/14, Carter, Grayson, d/o William Neithercutt
& Elizabeth Vanbiber

1870 Carter County Kentucky census: Rebecca age 12 if found in the home of Rebecca Nethercutt age 76 so she is not with her sister Laura Caroline or her father William who went somewhere else or is deceased.

1870 Carter County:
Rebecca Nethercutt 76
Sarah 38
George 34
Stephen 32 Dept Sheriff
Rebecca 12
George 4 (Rebecca's brother?)
Literal Harrison 33 Sheriff of CC

1880 Carter County Kentucky Census
492 Strother, John R W M 26 Plasterer K K K
Rebecca W F 24 Wife K K K
Nethercutt, Laura W F 18 Sister-in-law K K K

Thanks,
Greg Engler

-----

From Sandra Quinn (DSABQUINN@worldnet.att.net)

Do you have anything in your records about Cynthia Lee married to Isaac Bibbee? She was born about 1790. Would Bibbee stand for VanBibber? She lived in Wood county WVA in Newark, her father was Richard Lee and mother was Tabitha Wilson. Richard owned a land grant in Newark Va/WV for service in the Revolutionary War.

Sandra Quinn~volunteer lookup person for Athens County on Ohio Gen Web, Member of First Families of Athens County, Ohio, Member of Athens County Genealogical Society

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Editor of the Van Bibber Pioneers Electronic Newsletter:

Bruce E. Logan Jr.
2234 Concord Dr.
Wheelersburg, OH 45694-9169

blogan@zoomnet.net
blogan@scoca.ohio.gov

ICQ# 12054124

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