The Mothers

My great-grandmothers virtually had no voices.  Most of them never owned property and they left no wills.  If they were not the head of the household (which is the case for all of my great-grandmothers) their names were not listed on any US census records prior to 1850.  Any information we would have about them would have come from family, church, or cemetery records.

All of my Bedford County great-grandmothers were farmers' wives, though a couple of the later ones were able to branch out of the farm life.  We can't hear their stories from their mouths, but we can consider the words of other farmers' wives during similar times and in similar places:

"As a class, farmers’ wives are expected to do more work than any other housekeeper.  We do our own washing, ironing, taking care of the milk, meat, chickens, which women of other callings do not.  We do our own sewing, making over an infinite number of old clothes to save the expense of new ones."

"There are compensations to living on a farm anywhere, and particularly here, that I am sure no other hard way of earning one’s living brings; but it is hard, and oh! The needlessness of it is the hardest part to bear!  It is not what money brings that I or any other sensible person wants, but just to do a reasonable amount of useful work and then a chance to lift one’s eyes and thoughts above the daily grind."

"I happen to be married to a man who considers it an unpardonable crime for a woman to sit down to read or study, or to take a minute to rest."

"I weigh 120 pounds.  I milk seven or eight cows night and morning; run a separator (device which separates cream from milk); get breakfast, dinner, and supper; do all of the washing and cleaning; do most of the garden work and rake in some haying.  I feel very good most of the time, only when I get too tired I have a headache and pain in back of my neck.  I mend, read, and such, but I don’t have much time to rest."

"Many farmers’ wives are despondent.  I think some are so despondent as not to care to put forth enough energy to even lift the head.  What causes the state of affairs?  Is it the treadmill?  Is it lack of society?  Is it poor food?  Is it poor clothes? – good clothes are a moral support it is said.  Is it unappreciated toil?  Is the farmer so much among animals that he comes to regard his wife as a beast of burden?  I have been five years trying to answer these questions.  I hesitated years before consenting to marry a farmer because I saw that these things were so and I could not tell why."

"I will try and tell you some of my experiences and what a woman can endure. I was married when twenty years old, went to keeping house the first of July. [We soon] found plenty of bugs. Of course there wasn't much rest for many nights. I would take everything outdoors and'sweep it down from top to bottom and then scald the logs and then whitewash them and so on. We lived that way for nearly twenty years."

"I was married at nineteen and then my farm life began in earnest .. . I would always rise in the morning at four or half past, winter and summer, and have built my own fires, milked from four to eight cows, prepared the breakfast and had it at six. I always did my own churning, and many are the books of poems, histories, stories and newspapers I have read while churning .. . I have always done my own washing and weaving of carpets as I have a large house and it is furnished with rag carpets. . . . One summer I piled up one hundred cords of wood and did my own housework. . . . Not many modem wives would think they could pull flax, cut corn, dig potatoes and do all things on a farm as we used to."

"I used to say that I could select the farmers' wives from a crowd of women of all classes. They seemed to have a sort of hopeless spiritless look." 

"Before leaving your bedroom, open [the] window and put your bed to air. Be sure to ask divine help to carry you through the day. Have your breakfast well on the way the night before. Clear the table and wash [the] dishes right off; don't let them stand to dry or call flies. Sweep and dust; clean lamps. Then do chamber work. Prepare dinner. . . . Can you tell me how to do this and at the same time crowd in the care of milk from five cows, churning twice a week, baking for seven in [the] family, attending to poultry, washing, ironing, mending, sewing, etc., etc.? I must confess I don't know how to do it and keep sweet-tempered as a wife and mother should. God alone knows I would like to be able to do it."

"I am a farmer' s wife, sixty years old today . Thirty-one years I have spent on an isolated hilltop, with work, work, work, and starved for something to read." (from http://tcpl.org/local-history/documents/ithaca-tc/women-roots/lifestylesp19-27.pdf)

And from another source describing the family life of early colonial America:

"By the mid-1700s, across the American colonies . . . travelers described Americans as coarse-looking country folk. Women and girls kept their hair covered with hats, hoods, and kerchiefs. Colonials made their own clothes from linen (flax) and wool; every home had a spinning wheel and a loom, and women sewed and knitted constantly, as cotton cloth would not be readily available until the nineteenth century. Plentiful dyes like indigo, birch bark, and pokeberries made colorful shirts, pants, dresses, socks and caps.

 "Americans grew their own food and ate a great deal of corn—roasted, boiled, and cooked into cornmeal bread and pancakes. Hearty vegetables like squash and beans joined apples, jam, and syrup on the dinner table. Given the poor quality of water, many colonials drank cider, beer, and corn whiskey—even the children! As cities sprang up, cattle drank beer, yielding a disgusting variant of milk known as “swill milk” that propagated childhood illnesses.

 "Infant mortality was high, and any sickness usually meant suffering, and often, death.  Women, expected to bear between five and 10 live children, could anticipate a dozen pregnancies. Bodies wore out fast, and women aged rapidly. Overall life expectancy hardly tells the tale of the everyday life, where work was hard, the most minor sicknesses potentially life-threatening, and pleasures few. 

"Despite the reality of this coarse life for common folk, it is worth noting that by 1774 American colonists already had attained a standard of living that far surpassed that found in even most of the civilized parts of the modern world." (from http://www.patriotshistoryusa.com/teaching-materials/bonus-materials/everyday-life-in-america/)

I calculated the average statistics of my 18 Bedford County great-grandmothers for whom I have information. They were an average of 21 years old when they gave birth to their first child.  They had an average of 8 children each over a period of 17 years.  This is actually a very generous estimate as odds are they had far more miscarriages, stillbirths, and cases of infant mortality than what was written down and recorded.  Their average age of death was 69.  By contrast, the average age of their husbands' death was 77.

They were tired.  Overworked,  Exhausted.  And broken.  Let's call it what it really was. Their primary roles were that of work horses and baby-making machines.  They sacrificed themselves - their essence and very identity - for the welfare of others. Some appear to have had a few years of rest toward the end of their lives. Others worked hard every single day. And then they died.  The more children they had, especially boys, the more farm help they provided their husbands.  But more children added even more to their own overwhelming work load. I imagine they had no choice in the matter. The men owned everything else and probably claimed ownership to their wives bodies as well.  Something meant to be tender, loving, and unifying could easily become one of these women's greatest sources of dread and loathing. And the heartache.  The incomprehensible heartache with the premature death of a little one.  It happened far too frequently, and I can't imagine the pain ever lessened. 

Here's my tribute to my Bedford County great-grandmothers.  As much as I appreciate and admire my great-grandfathers' contribution to colonization, the war effort, and evolving affluence, their commitment and sacrifice pale in comparison to the lived experiences of their wives.  Help me honor them by thoughtfully reading each of their names as you carefully consider the implications of their life's statistics: 

My 2nd Great-Grandmothers

Elizabeth Ellen Harbaugh Ickes

first documented child born when she was 20 years old

at least 8 births in 12 years

she died at age 75

Elizabeth Ellen Harbaugh Ickes
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California

       

son Sheldon Ross Ickes
died at age 2 1/2 months
Hoover Cemetery     

son Harry Beecher died at age 2 days

place of burial is unknown

       

My 3rd Great-Grandmothers

Elizabeth Lingenfelter Ickes

first documented child born when she was 21 years old

at least 8 births in 19 years

she died at age 50

Elizabeth Lingenfelter Ickes
Hoover Cemetery

daughter Mary Ann Ickes died at age 4 months (her first born)

buried in an unmarked grave, Hoover Cemetery

son William Ickes
died at age 17 years
Hoover Cemetery

       

daughter Mandilla Ickes
died at age 12 years
buried next to her mother, Hoover Cemetery

son John Clayton Ickes died at age 11 months

buried in an unmarked grave, Hoover Cemetery

       

Daughter Eliza Virginia Ickes Wilt
died at age 19 years, 1 1/2 months after giving birth
Pleasantville Cemetery

     

   

Elizabeth Callihan Harbaugh

first documented child born when she was about 18 years old     

at least 2 births in 4 years

her age at time of death is unknown

her place of burial is unknown

son George Wisegarver Harbaugh died at age 25 years (killed in Civil War)

place of burial is unknown

My 4th Great-Grandmothers

Mary Haverstock Ickes

first documented child born when she was about 21 years old

at least 12 births in 24 years

she died at age 65

Mary Haverstock Ickes
Old Union Cemetery

Elizabeth Wisegarver Lingenfelter

first documented child born when she was 21 years old

at least 12 births in 30 years 

she died at age 60 

Elizabeth Wisegarver Lingenfelter's broken headstone
Horn United Methodist Church Cemetery

son George Lingenfelter died at less than 1 year of age

Horn United Methodist Church Cemetery

daughter Rachel M Lingenfelter died at age 18 years

Horn United Methodist Church Cemetery

son David A Lingenfelter died at age 1 year

Horn United Methodist Church Cemetery

daughter Sarah Ann Lingenfelter died at age 6 years

Horn United Methodist Church Cemetery

Elizabeth Wisegarver Lingenfelter's broken headstone surrounded by
smaller, unmarked headstones which could be marking her
deceased childrens' graves

          

Rachel Hammond Harbaugh

first documented child born when she was 24 years old

at least 9 births in 16 years

her age at time of death is unknown

her place of burial is unknown

Margaret Reininger Callihan

first documented child born when she was 17 years old

at least 14 births in 27 years

she died at age 47, 2 1/2 years after her last recorded birth

Margaret Reininger Callihan
Mock Dunkard Church Cemetery

My 5th Great-Grandmothers

Maria Elizabeth Stambaugh Ickes 

first documented child born when she was about 25 years old

at least 5 births in 10 years

she died at about age 73

Maria Elizabeth Stambaugh Ickes
Old Union Cemetery

Margaret Reighard Haverstock

first documented child born when she was about 18 years old

at least 8 births in 22 years

she died at about age 84

buried in an unmarked grave

Mount Eaton Lutheran Cemetery, Wayne County OH

Elizabeth Blackburn Wisegarver

first documented child born when she was 24 years old         

at least 11 births in 17 years

she died at age 72

her place of burial is unknown

daughter Eve Wisegarver Griffith died at age 25 years (probably died giving birth)

her place of burial is unknown

Rachel Blackburn Hammond  

first documented child born when she was about 25 years old

at least 8 births in 19 years

she died at age 70

her place of burial is unknown

Mary Proctor Callihan

first documented child born when she was about 28 years old

at least 6 births in about 14 years

she died at about age 84

Mary Proctor Callihan
Callihan burial ground

Mary Hine Reininger 

first documented child born when she was about 21 years old

at least 11 births in 25 years

she died at age 71

Reininger Cemetery

My 6th Great-Grandmothers

Maria Imler Reighard

age at first documented birth is unknown

at least 3 births in about 6 years

age at death is unknown

place of burial is unknown

Mary Elizabeth Steel Wisegarver

age at first documented birth is unknown

at least 4 births in 12 years

age at death is unknown

place of burial is unknown

Elizabeth Griffith Blackburn

first documented child born when she was 24 years old

at least 9 births in 18 years

she died at about age 74

buried in an unmarked grave in Friends Cemetery

Deborah Dicks Hammond

first documented child born when she was about 22 years old

at least 6 births in 16 years

her age at time of death is unknown

place of burial is unknown

Rebecca Harlan Blackburn

first documented child born when she was about 18 years old

at least 13 births in 26 years

she died at age 44 giving birth to her 13th child

place of burial is unknown

"...no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child."   Jeffrey R. Holland


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Haverstock, Reighard, Imler, & Hann

First off, I know absolutely nothing about Christina Hann and her family.  I don't even know if she really belongs in my family tree, but her name kept popping on all the genealogy websites (which isn't unusual) so I decided to go with it.  If I ever get a chance to research her and her family I'll edit what I've got here.  

Also, I haven't done any research on the Imlers.  The Imler family is highly researched and there are so many differing opinions I can't keep it all straight in my head. From what I can tell Maria's grandfather, or father, or both immigrated from Bavaria, Germany in the early 1700s. One of them maybe, or probably, served in the Revolutionary War.  They were both named George - at least they were called George.  Or maybe it was her father and her brother who were called George.  See what I mean?  It can make your head spin!  I do know that George Imler bought land in Dutch Corner because I've seen the survey. I also know that Maria Imler married John Frederick Reighard in the Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church (discussed in an earlier post), but actually that information came from a book and not an actual historical record so maybe I don't "know" that after all. The Imlers appear to be one of the oldest families in Bedford County and their family is HUGE there even today.  They certainly left their mark.  If anyone is interested in finding out more about the Imler family, and Marie Esther Imler specifically, good luck!  When you make sense of it all, please fill me in.

John Frederick Reighard was born in Germany in 1729.  He was an early settler in Bedford County as he shows up in the tax rolls in 1777.  He is listed in Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots, Vol. 3, so we know he is a Revolutionary War veteran but we don't have any details.  He and Maria had at least 4 children.

The general consensus from the online community is that John and Maria Reighart are buried on the family farm in Dutch Corner. Land is bought and sold quite frequently, and subsequent owners are relunctant (to put it mildly) to let descendants of early homesteaders traipse around looking for headstones.  According to a post (from a book, not from first-hand experience) on findagrave.com, the farm cemetery was once called Holderbaum Farm Cemetery but is "now" called Mattas Farm Cemetery.  I didn't even attempt to try to locate it.

Tobias Haverstock, wife, and 3 sons emigrated to York County Pennsylvania via New York from Switzerland in 1765.  I just realized I have no record of he and his wife, Christina, ever having lived in Bedford County.  It looks like they both died in York County.  Tax rolls show Tobias to be a distiller; in other words, he made whisky.  This wasn't as controversial back then as it was during the Daisy Duke days in the South.  Often it was hard to find water that was safe for human consumption, so something distilled was believed to be safer to drink than contaminated water.

Tobias and Christina's son, Conrad, is another Revolutionary War Veteran. He served in the York County Militia and worked his way up to the rank of Lieutenant.  He left York County and went to Bedford County sometime after 1783.  There he met and married Margaret Reighard.  They had 10 children, maybe more.  Conrad and Margaret eventually followed at least one of their children to Wayne County Ohio where they are buried.

Conrad was involved in the Whisky Rebellion of 1794 which is a fascinating piece of history.  I'll write about it in a subsequent post.

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Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church

The Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church is located in Dutch Corner.  It's in a beautiful valley surrounded by hills and farm land.  It's one of the oldest congregations in Bedford County.  You can read more about its history here.

Although the original building is long gone, the current building is in the same location where my ancestors went to worship.  Here's a few pieces of history I've been able to uncover that show my ancestors' involvement in this church:

In Jan of 1760 Johannes Frederick Reighart and Maria Esther Imler (my 6th g-grandparents) were married there.

On 14 Apr 1812  Adam Ickes (my 4th g-grandfather) was confirmed there.

Recorded in an 1819 Record of Contributions: Adam Ickes $1.50, John Ickes Sr. $1.00, John Wisegarver Sr. $3.00, John Lingenfelter $1.00, [John] Frederick Reighert $3.00.

There were a few cars in the parking lot, so I went in to see if I could get a few questions answered about the Lutheran Church in Pleasantville while Brent captured a few images of the current church building.  There were several church ladies there performing various acts of service. They were very kind and extremely helpful. One of them, JoAnn (I think) Hammond, is almost surely related to me through my Hammond ancestors.

The church is located at 741 Messiah Church Road Bedford, PA 15522

It may not be the same structure, but this would be the same scenery my ancestors saw
walking out the front door of the church.

Another view from the front door.

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My Bedford County Family

Adam Ickes (not to be confused with his grandfather, Adam Ickes) was born in Pleasantville, Bedford County, Pennsylvania in 1845.  Here is his Bedford County ancestry:

Elizabeth Ellen Harbaugh, Adam's wife, was born in 1843, also in Bedford County PA.  Here is her Bedford County ancestry:

All of their ancestors shown on the pedigree charts on a blue background lived in Bedford County.  I have no evidence to believe that the names printed in blue with a blue border around them ever lived in Bedford County (but I included them just to balance out the pedigree charts).  The names on Adam's pedigree in light blue still need more documentation to prove they actually fit in this line. More research is needed.

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All original content, images, commentary, etc. copyright © by Joy Denison 2015-2016.  All rights reserved. All writings, poems, speeches, essays, images, scans, likenesses, etc. by Adam Ickes (b 1845) as well as personal histories, images, and all other content by all persons referenced and discussed within the pages and posts in this blog may not be copied, shared, or reproduced in any way without expressed permission by the owner unless included here from other referenced sources or are historical records already considered to be in the public domain. (Just ask me first BEFORE you right click.)

Pre-Trek Prep

Multiple generations of my dad's family lived in Bedford County Pennsylvania beginning in the mid 1700s. My direct-line ancestors left Pennsylvania in 1884, but many descendants of some of my early ancestors still live there today.

My 2nd great-grandfather, Adam Ickes, (born 1845) and his wife Elizabeth Ellen Harbaugh had a daughter named Allegra. She was their youngest child, born in 1873 in Pleasantville, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. She lived to be over 100 years old. I actually met her when I was a young girl. She was living in a nursing home in Fort Collins, Colorado at the time. It's hard to believe I actually met (and kissed on the cheek) the daughter of a Civil War soldier. At some point in her life she had become interested in genealogy. She handed over all of her research, documents, photos, keepsakes, etc. to my dad sometime back. Several years ago he passed everything on to me.

Allegra Ickes at age 18 

Growing up I knew the basics about many of my identified ancestry: names, relationships, birth places, etc., but in order to take the most advantage of a trip to the homeland of this particular family line I needed to find out a whole lot more.

I've identified 39 direct-line ancestors that lived in Bedford County. The vast majority of them, I believe, were German and Irish immigrants. Several men were Revolutionary War veterans. Two of my 5th g-grandfathers were directly involved in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794. There were active abolitionists in their families, risking their lives and freedom to help secure freedom for others. Most of the men were hard-working farmers looking to make better lives for themselves and their posterity. Many of the women experienced great heartache from the untimely death of young children. From my research of wills and historical church records, they all seemed to be very devout Christians from various denominations which included Lutheran, Quaker, Methodist, German Baptist, and Independent.

Many online resources were used to get as much information as I could prior to roots trekking in Bedford PA. I scoured findagrave.com for burial locations and any historical info attached to each person. I found historical accounts and stories in old local history books available on archive.org, google books, and familysearch.org (viewable at any local Family History Center). I looked for land records on the PA State Archives website and also found old maps from 1861 and 1877 (St Clair, Union/King, and Pleasantville) showing actual locations of houses and farms labeled with the occupants' names.

My great-aunt Alle's (Allegra mentioned above) research was extremely helpful to me. Many of my ancestral lines have been heavily researched with family research websites available online. Other websites specific to the history and early settlers of Bedford County were very informative as well. I'm sure I'm missing other key resources, but hopefully I'll remember to mention them in subsequent posts. (There was A LOT of incorrect information online as well, especially within ancestry.com family trees.  Those are not primary sources and should not be treated as such.)

I sent emails; matched up old maps with Google Earth; compiled all the information I found by event, family name, and venue; printed simple pedigree charts to keep track of everybody; and made one custom google map showing every cemetery, church, parcel of land, and historical venue I wanted to visit.  My husband, Brent, accessed my Google map on his phone while he navigated our way around Bedford County.

It was the third week in October, 2015. We actually flew into Columbus, Ohio where our daughter and son-in-law are attending grad school at OSU. We left the airport and headed toward PA, only having to return after 30 minutes on the road to exchange our rental car - a delay I was none to excited about - but we arrived with a couple of hours of daylight left on our first day. (From now on I think I'll do my best to avoid flying first thing Monday morning and I'll NEVER book on Travelocity again! But that's another story for another day.)

We finally got a rental car we KNEW we could trust!

We were blessed with awesome weather. We had just missed the peak foliage as the first freeze had happened the previous week, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful. The title image above (may not be visible on a mobile device) was taken from Barefoot Road near Pleasantville at dusk.  I captured 484 images over 2 1/2 days.

All the people we met were incredibly friendly and helpful. The Bedford County phone book listed 63 people with the last name of "Ickes". I've never seen more than one or two "Ickes" listings - myself and/or my dad - in any other phone book. I actually met my first Ickes outside my own immediate family (excluding my dad's sister and great-aunt Allie).

After 3 days in Bedford County we made a quick side trip to Kirtland, Ohio to visit some historic LDS church sites, and we ended up in Columbus, Ohio where another son, his wife and 2 kids joined us for the weekend. The purpose and focus of our week spanned 11 generations. We had a great trip and a great time!

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All original content, images, commentary, etc. copyright © by Joy Denison 2015-2016.  All rights reserved. All writings, poems, speeches, essays, images, scans, likenesses, etc. by Adam Ickes (b 1845) as well as personal histories, images, and all other content by all persons referenced and discussed within the pages and posts in this blog may not be copied, shared, or reproduced in any way without expressed permission by the owner unless included here from other referenced sources or are historical records already considered to be in the public domain.