20 Dec 2009

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Eylar Family History

Jul 2008

ames, Aaron, Samuel, and Charles Eylar were four of the many children of Joseph Eylar Jr.'s two marriages. After the death of their father, most of the Eylar children remained in Ohio. Among those who left were these four surviving sons from his second marriage who at some time resided in northeastern Kansas, either to settle or otherwise. However, unlike most family migrations which tended to occur en masse, each of them arrived separately in Kansas.

James Monroe Eylar

Eylar Family Migration to Kansas
1. Württemberg
2. York County, Pennsylvania
3. Bucks County, Pennsylvania
4. Bedford County, Pennsylvania
5. Adams, Brown, & Highland Counties, Ohio
6. Buchanan County, Missouri
7. Doniphan County, Kansas James Monroe Eylar was born 03 Jun 1838 and was the first to go to Kansas only months after the territory had been opened for settlement. At the age of only sixteen, he journeyed from Ohio aboard river steamers to temporarily settle on a claim near present day Doniphan, Doniphan County, Kansas, in September 1854. He was here to secure the claim for an uncle, probably Alfred Fenton, who lived across the Missouri River near Rushville, Buchanan County, Missouri. After remaining on this farm only three years, James returned to Ohio in 1857.

After his return, James married Louisa Belle Sample 05 Mar 1862 in Winchester, Adams County, Ohio. The following year, he enlisted in the Quartermaster Corps as a teamster during the Civil War. His company traversed the states of Kentucky and Tennessee where he was present at the Seige of Knoxville. In 1865 after the war, James moved west again to Buchanan County, Missouri, where his uncle had lived while James was across the Missouri River in Kansas as a teenager. James' family moved into Doniphan County for a few years from c.1869, but then returned to Missouri again.

In 1881, James finally returned to Kansas to stay. He bought a farm of 160 acres on Independence Creek in Union Township where he engaged in general farming and raising hogs. He remained here until four years before his death, when he moved to Everest in neighboring Brown County. James died here 30 Jan 1915 and was buried in the Denton Cemetery back in Doniphan County. Louisa died 26 Feb 1921 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, but was buried with her husband. They had the following children:

Elizabeth Virginia (1863-1932) who married Christian S. Swartz 1882.
James Allen (1867-1917) who married Henrietta MacGregor 1892 and died in Detroit, Michigan.
Matthew Sample (1869-1948) who married Alice Joanna Archer 1891 and died in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Roseanna Belle (1871-1885).
Alice Ellen (1873-1874) who died as an infant.
Fenton Burgess (1875) who married Grace Virginia Iles 1904.
Joseph Wilkins (c.1876-1950) who married Guli Elma Suydam and died in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Edward Lee (1881-1957) who married Mattie "Mae" Ellen Iles, an older sister of Grace, in 1904. Edward died in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Aaron Randolph Eylar

Aaron R. Eylar
Wedding Photo,
1872 Aaron Randolph "Coosie" Eylar was born 21 Mar 1847 only four years before his father's death. While still living in Winchester, Coosie married Matilda Horner 17 Dec 1872. The next March, they too moved west to a farm in Wolf River Township, Doniphan County, Kansas.

After renting the same property for nine years, they finally bought a farm of their own in 1882. They purchased 70 acres of land that adjoined James' farm, to which they eventually added another 30 acres. Coosie died 31 Jul 1917, and Matilda died 03 Dec 1927. Both were buried in the Denton Cemetery near Denton, Kansas. They had three children:

Calvin LeRoy (1877-1944) who first married Elizabeth Kaufman 1910 and then Ada Inez Powell 1913 and died in Lancaster, Kansas.
Lida Elizabeth (1880-1921) who married John Weik 1906.
Alfred Lewis (1886-1959) who married Nellie Esther Brown 1916.

Samuel and Charles Eylar

Samuel Houston Eylar, the eldest child of their father's second marriage, purchased land in Doniphan County, Kansas, with his younger brother, James, in August 1865. However, both were listed as Adams County, Ohio, residents. In 1870, Samuel was living across the Missouri River in Lake Township, Buchanan County, Missouri, with the youngest of all the children, Charles Edwin Eylar. Charles married Frances PARR 14 Sep 1876 at her home in Doniphan County. In 1880, they were living in Wayne Township, Doniphan County, Kansas, with their two children:

Tazwell Lee (Lee T.) (c.1878) who married Minnie Williams in Oklahoma.
Edwin F. (c.1879) who married a woman named Hattie in Oklahoma as well.

Aaron R. Eylar
Feeding Chickens,
bef. 1917 Charles' family moved to Oklahoma by 1883. In this same year, Samuel was also known to be living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, but it is not known when he had relocated or where else he may have lived in the meantime. Samuel died 2 Sep 1900 and was buried in Denton Cemetery. His probate records are in Oklahoma City, but they show that he died in Union Township, Doniphan County, Kansas. Consequently, it is not certain where he was living at this time either. These same records also contain the last known mention of Charles, who was listed as living in Shawnee, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma.

Judge Eylar

The father of the preceding siblings was Joseph Eylar, Jr. Joseph was born 07 Apr 1789 in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia vicinity, but his family began moving west soon after his birth. He served in the Ohio militia from 29 Jul-08 Sep 1813 during the War of 1812. The next year, he married Elizabeth "Betsy" Fenton, a daughter of Jeremiah Fenton, on 29 Jun 1814 in Adams County, Ohio. By 1820, they were living in the town of Winchester in this county. This is where they were to remain and Joseph was to become an important member of the community. In this year, Joseph was named as the first postmaster of the town. He is also credited with opening its first tannery and saddle shop. He was a prominent Democrat and was eventually elected to the office of associate justice of his district, thereafter being referred to as "Judge" Eylar. Judge Eylar and Betsy had ten children together:

Rose Ann (1815) who died in infancy.
Mary Ann (1816-1891) who married James F. Young and died in Brown County, Ohio.
Sarah Ann (1818-1877) who married Samuel McNoun 1844.
Alfred Allen (1820-1882) who married Rebecca Ann Cockerill 1844 and died in Livingston County, Illinois.
Ruth Ann (1822-1878) who married Joseph Randolph Cockerill.
Joseph Fenton (1824-1899) who married Sally Judith Edwards 1874 and died in Navarro County, Texas.
John (1826-1866) who married Ann A. Wilkins 1846.
Benjamin Franklin (1828) who married Martha Elgin.
David Shafer (1831-1897) who was a sheriff of Adams County, Ohio, and married Martha Cannon 1858.
Oliver Hazard (1834-1897) who married Elma S. Bunn 1857. Oliver enlisted in the Seventh Ohio Cavalry on 7 Aug 1862. He was eventually made a captain and served until 4 Jul 1865. After this, he moved to Jackson County, Missouri, then to Johnson County, Kansas, and finally to Olathe, Kansas, where he died.

Elizabeth Fenton(s)

Eylar Hunting
Party,
c.1914 Betsy died only five months after Oliver's birth on 23 Jan 1835, leaving several young, motherless children in the home. Within the year, Joseph had remarried to a second Elizabeth Fenton. This younger Elizabeth was a daughter of "Kentucky John" Fenton, a first cousin of "Betsy". This means Joseph�s second wife was a first cousin, once removed, of his first. In 1850, Judge Eylar was still running his tannery in Winchester with help from at least three of his sons, Alfred, Joseph, and Oliver. Joseph Eylar, Jr. died on 09 May 1851, and he was buried in the Winchester Cemetery with his first wife. By this time, he had seven more children with Elizabeth, giving him a total of 17 children in all:

Samuel Houston (1836-1900) previously discussed.
James Monroe (1838-1915) previously discussed.
Virginia Elizabeth (1840-1891) who married Francis Taylor Leggett 1861 and died in Brown County, Ohio.
Emmeline Amanda (1842-1924) who married Alburtis McMeekin 1875 and died in Columbus, Ohio.
Madison Fenton (1844-1851).
Aaron Randolph "Coosie" (1847-1917) previously discussed.
Charles Edwin (1848) also previously discussed.

By 1860, the Eylar children were beginning to disperse. Joseph's widow, her stepson, Joseph, and her own younger children, including Coosie and Charles, were all living in Winchester with a wealthy family named Osburn. Oliver, the youngest child from the first marriage, was now married but still living nearby. He and Joseph had continued in the saddlery business after their father's death. Elizabeth's two oldest children, Samuel and James, were farming and living outside of town with the Walter family. Other children had moved away to Brown, Highland, and Greene counties in Ohio. Elizabeth passed away in Winchester on 22 Nov 1875. She was buried alongside her husband and her cousin, Joseph's first wife.

Joseph Sr.

The father of Joseph Eylar Jr. was, of course, Joseph Eyler, Sr. (Only Joseph Jr. and his descendants used the surname spelling Eylar.) Joseph Sr. was born 22 Sep 1759 in the Kingdom of Württemberg, which is now a part of southern Germany. Family lore that was first recorded in 1900 says that Joseph ran away from home in 1777 to avoid military conscription. He then walked 800 miles to the coast where he sailed for America, arriving that autumn in Baltimore, Maryland.

Pennsylvania

Typical Conestoga Wagon After arriving, Joseph purchased a conestoga wagon with a team of four horses and became a wagoner. A conestoga is a similar but much larger wagon than the more familiar prairie schooner that was used later to cross the prairies. The Revolutionary War was underway, and he served as a Private in the Pennsylvania Militia before 1783. In 1787, he married Mary Ann Rosenmuller (also spelled Rosenmiller, or Rosemiller), a daughter of Ludwig Rosenmuller and Barbara Bower who lived in York County, Pennsylvania. According to the book, A History of Adams County, Ohio, from its earliest settlement to the present time, written by Evans and Stivers in 1900, the Rosenmullers were a German family of wealthy Tories, or British Loyalists, and would not allow their daughter to marry Joseph. The young couple then eloped, causing a permanent rift in the family. Mary Ann�s sisters apparently never missed an opportunity to remind her that they had married better than she had. This became unbearable so shortly after the birth of their first child, Joseph Jr., they moved west to Bedford, Bedford County, Pennsylvania, in 1789.

Bedford was then a frontier town through which goods passed on their way further west, so it was a good place for a man with a wagon. Their next three children were born here. Interestingly, the duration of their stay in Bedford County coincides almost exactly to that of the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-94. Farmers of western Pennsylvania were upset over a 1791 law placing a tax on distilled spirits, mainly whiskey, which developed into rioting and near rebellion throughout the region. This prompted President George Washington to personally lead an army of 13,700 men to quell the rioting and assert the authority of the newly formed federal government. However, upon his arrival in the town of Bedford in 1794, Washington found that the uprising had already quieted down, so no real fighting was necessary.

Ohio

Typical Keelboat In 1795, the Eyler and other families travelled down the Ohio River to an area of the vast Northwest Territory that is now in southern Ohio. Their keelboat, a shallow freight riverboat with a keel and minimal sails, landed at the "Three Islands" adjacent to Manchester, one of the earliest settlements in Ohio. This small group of islands is situated in the middle of the Ohio River between Kentucky and Ohio and is now a National Wildlife Refuge. That summer, Joseph, along with most others of the settlement, grew a small crop of corn on the island now known as Manchester Island. The following winter he built what Evans and Stivers states was the first ever cabin in Tiffin Township. It was on 300 acres near where Killinstown would later be. This town has since come and gone, but was located near present day West Union, Adams County, Ohio.

Probably between 1810-20, the family left this area for another farm near Winchester in northern Adams County, where they lived only a few years. Then at some point before the 1830 census, they bought another farm near Berrysville, Highland County, Ohio, which is in the next county to the north. Joseph ran a distillery here, which suggests that he might have had more than a passing interest in the happenings of the Whiskey Rebellion three decades earlier. They remained in Highland County until 1834, when that property was sold, and they finally moved to Brown County, north of the village of Fincastle. Joseph and Mary Ann had the following children:

Joseph (1789-1851) previously discussed.
Mary (1790-1841) who married John Gossett 1811 and died in Highland County, Ohio.
Sarah Ann (1792-1830) who married James Collier 1809 and died in Wayne County, Ohio.
Catherine Ann (1793-1869) who married Isaac Carey 1818 and died in Brown County, Ohio.
Samuel (1795) who died in infancy.
David (1797) who also died in infancy.
John (1799-1830) who married Rachel Gossett 1820.
Lewis (1800) who died in infancy.
Henry (1801-1869) who married Mary Miller 1826 and died in Brown County, Ohio.
Aaron (1803-1884) who married Elizabeth Wilkin 1826 and died in Brown County, Ohio.
Elizabeth Ann (1806-1873) who married John Lander Beveridge 1841 and died in Brown County, Ohio.
Martin who died in childhood and was buried in Killinstown.
George who also died in childhood and was buried in Killinstown.

Joseph Eyler, Sr. died 29 Jul 1839, at the age of 79 and was buried in the Wilson Cemetery (aka Aerl Cemetery) east of Fincastle, Ohio. Mary Ann survived him until 13 Mar 1841 and was buried next to him. In the Evans and Stivers book again, Joseph was described as such:

"In personal appearance [he] was strikingly peculiar. He was five feet, five inches in height and weighed over three hundred pounds. His complexion was very fair, hair dark, and eyes steel blue. He spoke English tolerably well, but preferred to use his native language when possible to do so. His household language, until his family was grown, was the German, and he always read and prayed in that tongue. It was the rule in his household to read a portion of God's Holy Word every evening, followed with a simple family worship in the way of prayer." He had a "love of good horses, of which he always kept a number of the 'largest and fattest.' In pleasant weather he would turn them out to pasture, and as they galloped over the fields they fairly shook the earth. It was a common remark among his neighbors when it thundered, that "Joe Eyler's horses were having a romp."

Württemberg

The parents of Joseph Eyler, Sr. were Georg Euler and his wife, Catharine, who remained in Württemberg. Their known children were:

Joseph (1759-1839) previously discussed.
Henry who also made the voyage to the United States, but died without children.

Archaeological Search

Locations of A.R. Eylar
and J.M. Eylar Farms,
1882 In the summer of 1999, I set out with my brother to find the location of Coosie Eylar's homesite. Our guide was a plat map from 1882 showing the locations of James' and Coosie's farms and their main buildings, however, I had no idea how accurate they were ever intended to be. We also had a 1930's newspaper article telling of Matthew Eylar, one of James' sons. He had become a successful executive in a New York typewriter company and returned to develop his father's land. He greatly enlarged it by consolidating many surrounding farms. Among the improvements were a private Olympic size swimming pool and two large uniquely designed barns. Upon arriving at the site, it was clear we were at the correct location. We could see one of the two barns that are now on the National Register of Historic Places, James' house that stood exactly where shown on the plat with the nearby swimming pool which still exists but appeared to be disused, and the road that passed by Coosie's home. This road was now just a path within the larger farm.

Artifacts from A.R. Eylar Farm,
1999 We spoke to one of the present owners who assured us that there was nothing at the spot we were trying to find. She was also reluctant to allow us to look for it, because of the abundance of poisonous snakes such as copperheads and rattlesnakes. After much convincing, we finally went for a look, taking along a pack of her puppies down the path to ward off any snakes. The area we found was a wooded, rocky, sloping side of a hill at the edge of an open field. The obvious difficulty in tilling it was probably the reason it had been left undisturbed.

Even before leaving the road we could see back in the underbrush that we had found something. There was a building foundation made of local stone projecting from the side of the hill and standing up to four feet high. More of the original building probably extended into the now open field. Next to this was a rusted, castiron pump still standing over a well. About thirty feet from this lay a collapsed wooden shed or outbuilding. It had been constucted with square nails, dating it to be old enough to belong to Coosie, who lived here until 1917, about the time these stopped being used. There were also a few miscellaneous items scattered in the grass, but we didn't rummage around too much because of the snake warning. Unfortunately, we hadn't been warned of the ticks, which we were still removing well into the evening.

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