John Lingenfelter is one of those people that genealogists would say were dropped by aliens and then fell off the face of the earth. Some believe he was the son of Christian, who had a son named John, but I think that very well could have been an entirely different John Lingenfelter.
He first shows up in St Clair Township, Bedford County in the 1820 census and is consistently there through the 1870 census, although the person who indexed his 1850 census record thought his name was "Thos Tongafetter". I don't know - you tell me:
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| 1850 US Census, John Lingenfelter "Thos Tongafetter" family |
John was listed in the census records as a farmer, but per the 1861 map he had already moved to Pleasantville and was living in town.
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| 1861 Pleasantville Map |
John died in 1873, so the 1877 map shows "Mrs. Lingenfelter" living in the same location. This Mrs. Lingenfelter is not his wife, Elizabeth, as she had died in 1855. John remarried and had helped support and raise step children as his last wife, Rebecca, was significantly younger than he and brought several minor children with her.
We drove up and down that street many, many times while we were in Bedford County. Both Conrad Ickes, who was married to John and Elizabeth's daughter, and their son, Adam, (John and Elizabeth's grandson, obviously) had lived just a block or so north. By the time we got there the original Lingenfelter home was long gone.
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| 1877 Pleasantville Map |
John and Elizabeth had 12 children of their own, 4 of which died before reaching adulthood. There is no record (that I can find) showing where John was buried. Here is John's Will:
"The Last Will and Testament of John Lingenfelter Sr. of the
Township of St. Clair in the County of Bedford PA. I John Lingafelter considering the
uncertainty of this mortal life and being of sound mind and memory do make and
publish this my last will and testament in manner and form following: first I give
and Bequeath unto my wife Rebeca Lingafelter all my household estate in the
town of Pleasantville township and County aforesaid and as to my personal
property I give and Bequeath all to my wife Rebeca Lingafelter whom I hereby
appoint sole Executrix of this my last will and testament; hereby revoking all
former wills by me made
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal the
fifth day of January One thousand eight hundred & sixty nine."
Based on the maps and his will I would speculate that his land had already been divided up among his children. Land records and deeds might be able to verify that.
Findagrave.com showed Elizabeth to be buried in the cemetery adjacent to the Horn United Methodist Church. It was on our list and map to visit. While we were trying to find an alternate route to the Adam Ickes homestead Brent saw on the map that the Horn church and cemetery we along our path. We stopped and began looking for Elizabeth's headstone. We looked and looked and found nothing.
Finally, in a section with other Lingenfelters, Brent noticed a broken headstone that was laying face down. He picked it up and sure enough it was Elizabeth's.
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| Horn United Methodist Church |
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| Elizabeth's broken headstone laying down on the ground. If I remember correctly, Her daughter, Rachel, who died at age 18, is buried just to the right of Elizabeth, marked by the other large headstone. The small, unmarked headstones could be marking the graves of her other deceased children. |
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