Civil War Blog

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 25, 2010

In November 1860, Thanksgiving was traditionally celebrated in the United States as a religious observance, not a national holiday.  It wasn’t until 1863, by the time the Civil War was in full force, that President Lincoln proclaimed a National Day of Thanksgiving.  So, 150 years ago, the date of giving thanks was Thursday, November 22, 1860.   What were the people of Pennsylvania thinking as the world as they knew it would soon come to an end?

Virtually none of the soon-to-become soldiers had known war.  The only war that had taken place during their lifetimes was too remote in place (Texas and Mexico) and they were probably too young to know or remember anything about it.  The fourteen year old having a Thanksgiving dinner had no idea of what was to come.

Could one predict anything from the newspaper of that day?  In this era, headlines were usually capitalized titles of articles that appeared in the column below them – and the important ones were in the first column.  Here’s what’s important for the day’s news:

A look at one of these stories seemed to pose no sense of urgency.

On the same front page, were  short stories, probably more of interest to many of the citizens of the Lykens Valley area than anything the president would have to say.

Does your cow produce this well?  How fast can you churn butter?

Will McCormick get patent extensions on his reaping machine?

Warning!  Don’t fall asleep on the couch too close to the stove:

A political bet lost, and a close shave with a razor sharpened on a brick:

Or, my favorite, for Thanksgiving.  The season record for bagging partridges and rabbit.  Anyone have a good recipe for partridge or rabbit?

The above items were taken from a digital version of the Philadelphia Inquirer available to library cardholders through the Free Library of Philadelphia website.  Unfortunately, the Harrisburg Patriot is not fully available for 1860 but has better representation starting in 1861.  Pennsylvania newspapers generally reported on happenings around the state, so it is most likely that the same stories were repeated in the Patriot.  Many of the smaller newspapers, such as those that would have been published in the Lykens Valley area, are not yet available in digital versions.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Category: Reflections, Resources | Comments Off on Thanksgiving Day – 1860
Tags: Thanksgiving

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 24, 2010

About a year ago, longtime friend, Bob Linblad, invited a small group to visit the Rosenbach Museum & Library in Philadelphia.  He had just completed his “certification” as a docent and wanted to practice on some of us who he knew would challenge his knowledge of the collection.  The tour began in a small room just off the lobby.  In that room were two portraits that immediately caught my attention.  Both were Thomas Sully portraits – one of Rebecca Gratz and one of her father Michael Gratz.  Bob explained that the Rosenbach brothers were collectors of anything “Gratz” and that the museum possessed many items related to the family.  Bob had done his research paper on Rebecca Gratz (a paper is a requirement to become a docent) and in the process had consulted with the resident docent expert on the Gratz family, Susan Sklaroff.  Bob said Susan would be someone I would want to meet – particularly with my interest in Gratz, Pennsylvania, and my volunteering at the Gratz Historical Society – Gratz being named after its founder Simon Gratz, brother of Rebecca.

An e-mail and a phone call later I was sitting in Susan’s dining room going over genealogies with her and sharing what I knew about the family.  The branch of the Gratz family in Gratz, Pennsylvania, was relatively new to her as it was not included in the printed genealogy she showed me of pioneer Jewish families of America.  She gave me a list of Civil War soldiers in the Gratz family.  I gave her information on the family of Simon’s son Theodore Gratz, including the fact that Theodore’s son John died in the war and that the Gratz Historical Society had copies of wartime letters between John and his mother.  Since there was no contact between the children of Simon and Rebecca, it was clear that Rebecca Gratz did not know of John’s death.  Religious differences were probably a factor in the separation of the Gratz family.  It most likely was not distance that kept them apart, for Rebecca frequently corresponded with relatives in Kentucky and in parts of the South  – even as they fought on both sides of the struggle.

Susan Sklaroff is the creator and author of the blog, Rebecca Gratz and 19th Century America.  There are two current posts on the Civil War.  Both are worth reading and pertain to the Civil War Project of the Gratz Historical Society.  Rather than repeating what she has written, I’ve linked this post to “Rebecca Gratz and the Civil War” and “A Civil War Tragedy.”

Recently, the Rosenbach Museum & Library acquired two additional portraits of the Gratz family.  To read about and see a picture of the Rebecca Gratz  acquisition, go to Thomas Sully at Susan’s Blog.

By the way, Bob was so well schooled in all the details of the collection that he wasn’t stumped on anything  we asked of him.  And to him, I owe my meeting with Susan. Thank you Bob!

The members of the Gratz Historical Society may have an opportunity to visit the Rosenbach Museum and Library during an upcoming planned trip to Philadelphia.  With the acquisition of additional Gratz items and the number of experts on the Gratz family, it certainly should be included.

Category: Museums, Research, Resources | 1 Comment »
Tags: Gratz family, Jewish, Rebecca Gratz, Rosenbach Museum, Women

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 23, 2010

Go back to the year 1924 when the Hoffman Monument was erected.  If 10% of the Civil War veterans from the Lykens V alley area were still alive at that time, they would have numbered about 200, and surely, as senior members of any family, would have been sought after to tell their stories of war and patriotism – particularly at family reunions.  Were any of these stories written down before these veterans passed from the scene?  Were any of these stories collected by the Hoffman Association?  Are there any identified pictures of these veterans available?

Without extensive research, there probably is no way to get an accurate estimate of how many descendants of John Peter Hoffman served in the Civil War.  It is possible though to get a general idea.

To determine the number of those with blood descent, an analysis of existing genealogical records can be compared to the surnames in the current list of about 2000 Civil War veterans from the Lykens Valley area.   John Peter Hoffman had eight children – three boys and five girls.  Each of those married and had children.  Each time a girl married, a new surname appears in the tree.  Two to four generations down from John Peter is when the Civil War service-age males appear.  Checking those surnames against the list of 2000 could produce a count of possible number descendants who served.

With the Hoffman surname, there are 34 known Civil War veterans, all presumed to be descendants of John Peter Hoffman.  These are direct descendants of John Peter Hoffman’s three sons.

In the first generation, Hoffman’s five daughters each married as follows:   (1) Anna Catherine Hoffman married Andreas Riegel.  Nine Riegel descendants appear in the list, all confirmed as related to John Peter Hoffman.  (2) Anna Margaretha Hoffman first married a Steinbruch and then married a Newbaker.  No Steinbruch’s and no Newbakers are in the list of 2000.  Why?  With Steinbruch, Anna Margaretha had only one daughter who married a Klinger.  If all the Klinger’s in the list are connected to John Peter Hoffman, 31 more names would be added.  As for Newbaker, one of the daughters of married a Schoffstall.  Add 5 more names.  (3) Anna Elizabeth Hoffman married Ludwig Sheetz.  The Sheetz surname appears 3 times in the Civil War veterans list.  One of the Sheetz daughters married a Riegel – previously counted.  (4) Christina Hoffman married Christian Seyler, of which little is known, although one Seiler appears in the list as a possibility.  (5) Anna Barbara Hoffman married George Buffington.  Five Buffington’s appear in the list.  Anna Barbara’s daughters married Lubold, Fisher, Yeager, Lark, and Daniel.

We also have to look at the daughters of the three sons of John Peter Hoffman and see who they married:  (1) John Hoffman’s daughters married into the families of Neagley, Frantz, Koppenhaver, and Specht.  (2) John Nicholas Hoffman’s daughters married Schoffstall, Buffington, Hawk, Snyder, and Klinger.  (3) John Christian Hoffman’s daughters married Pease, Fetzer, Shott, and Novinger.

At this point, we have only looked at the surnames that appear through the second generation or the grandchildren of John Peter Hoffman.  There are 88 Civil War veterans for which it can be said with some certainty that they are direct blood descendants of John Peter Hoffman.  Going down two more generations would significantly increase the number of surnames but also make it likely that many of these surnames had no relationship to John Peter Hoffman.  For example, if a Smith appears in the list of Civil War soldiers, it would be difficult to connect that Smith to John Peter Hoffman even if there is a Smith somewhere in the genealogy.  It’s too common a name.

What has also not been counted is that many Civil War soldiers married direct descendants of John Peter Hoffman.  What of the direct descendants of John Peter Hoffman whose fathers-in-law were Civil War soldiers – or brothers of fathers-in-law – brothers of spouses?  Using the same criteria as the Enders family used, the list of “Hoffman Family Civil War Veterans” could grow significantly!

Fortunately, there are complete Lykens Valley area genealogies available for some of the families mentioned above.  Many more genealogies will be published by the Gratz Historical Society in the Lykens Township history, including a most complete Hoffman genealogy starting with John Peter Hoffman.  But genealogies are only skeletons that support the body of history and help make relationship identifications.  Stories, pictures, and artifacts bring everything alive!  This project is about finding out as much as possible about these veterans, their lives and their families.

As this Civil War Project continues into the Sesquicentennial years, it is important to connect with all the family associations and collect and compile as much as possible before it is lost forever.  One of the most important of these associations is the one associated with the Hoffman family whose members interconnect with so many of the families in the Lykens Valley.  Undoubtedly, over the years, much information was collected and shared but now is in danger of being lost and forgotten.  Adding this material to the current mix, including the Internet, will insure perpetual care for it as it is shared and passed on to succeeding generations.  Come forward, if you are out there, and tell us what you have!  And, lets also talk about caring for the Hoffman Monument.

Category: Queries, Reflections, Research | 13 Comments »
Tags: Buffington family, Hoffman family, Klinger family, Riegle family, Schoffstall family

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 22, 2010

On a fall day nearly thirty years ago a small group of descendants of John Peter Hoffman, Lykens Valley pioneer, packed into a van and drove from the New Jersey Shore for what was to be a final visit with aging cousins and aunts at the Lutheran Home in Millersburg, Pennsylvania.  It was a family reunion not held in good circumstances, but it had to be done.  There were two small children in the group, and going anywhere where there weren’t people to give them attention and lots of room for them roam around and play was not a good idea, but seeing relatives that we knew and loved at the most robust times of their lives and connecting the children with that heritage seemed important and justified.

Someone in our group suggested a visit to the Hoffman Monument in Lykens Township.  So, armed with one of those cartridge cameras with half-size negatives, we drove the distance to Loyalton and headed north on the Crossroads.  After a few wild curvy-turns, a farm appeared ahead on the left.  To the right, in the middle of a cornfield that had been cleared of its crop, loomed an imposing slab of granite.  We easily found a path to the monument.  It was quickly decided that the children should remain in the van and the three brothers would trudge out to the monument, snap a few pictures, and then head back to the van.  The resulting photos didn’t turn out so well, but for several decades, they were the only views the family had of the monument to its ancestor John Peter Hoffman.  Personal memories of that first visit were dominated by pride.  Our family was part of history and there was a monument to prove it!

A surviving picture of that day is shown above.  That’s brother Jim standing by the monument.  Jim’s about six foot tall and the monument slightly is taller.  This impressive visit remained a fond memory.  Years later when the “Gasbarro Family Tree” first appeared on Ancestry.com, that same picture of Jim at the monument was chosen to represent John Peter Hoffman.  After all, there are no pictures of John Peter Hoffman, and any of us would be hard pressed to say what he looked like.  The monument picture would have to do!  Apparently about 40 other contributors on Ancestry.com have agreed because they’ve attached the same picture to their tree page on John Peter Hoffman.

This past winter, with more time and patience, another visit was paid to the monument.  After driving by several times, barely able to see it through the corn and surely unable to see the “path” to it, a window of opportunity arose.  It had just snowed the day before.  The monument stood against a gray sky.  The light was good but the scene was bleak.  A path was nowhere to be found.  An obstacle course was ahead – dried cornstalks, mud, and channels of melting snow.  Determination won out and some good pictures resulted.  This time a digital camera was used so the pictures could be checked before “processing.”  But, personal memories of that second visit were dominated by concern.

In the intervening years, the monument had deteriorated and now stood in need of cleaning and care.  No signs pointing to a path.  No path.  Who was responsible for this?  Why is it so difficult to get to see it?  Isn’t the monument over a graveyard where perpetual access is supposed to be relatively easy?  What has happened to the association that erected the monument?  Were they supposed to care for it?

First, a few words about John Peter Hoffman.  The inscription on the monument reads:

John Peter Hoffman, Pioneer. Arrived from Holland in 1739. Settled here 1750. Born 1709. Died 1798. His remains and those of 26 contemporaries lie buried here. Erected by Hoffman Association 1924.

When Hoffman arrived in the Lykens Valley, it was the frontier.  Tales abound of good and bad relations with the Indians and of struggles to erect and maintain settlements.  But from that central part of the Lykens Valley, John Peter Hoffman raised a large family and today his descendants number in the tens of thousands – some have remained in the valley, but most established roots elsewhere.  For a long time, the Hoffman Association was one of the most active family associations in the Lykens Valley – holding annual reunions, publishing materials, saving historical mementos, and erecting the monument to the pioneer ancestor, John Peter Hoffman.

So, what does all this have to do with the Civil War?  Since it is through lines of descent from John Peter Hoffman that my brothers and I are related to just about everyone who has roots in the Lykens Valley, the assumption has to be made that most of the Civil War veterans in the list of 2000 were also connected in some way.  If the Enders family laid claim to 162 veterans, surely the Hoffman clan could claim two or three times that number.

Efforts to find out about the Hoffman Association were in vain.  No one at the Gratz Historical Society knew if it still existed.  There weren’t any publications there, no photos of reunions, no names of contacts.  A small file contained a few news clippings, but none recent.  Worse still, a Google search was no help.  No web sites.  No e-mail contacts.  No on-line genealogies.

This post is not meant to chastise anyone.  Hopefully, someone will come forward as the successor genealogist of the Hoffman family and tell that happened to the rich history that was collected over the years and perhaps this information can now be electronically shared or placed in a repository such as the Gratz Historical Society.  Maybe also there will be some concern and care expressed for the Hoffman Monument and it will be made more accessible in all seasons.

Part two will be a brief conjecture as to the number of Civil War descendants of John Peter Hoffman and some of the possible surnames that are included.

Pictured below are a few of the photos taken on that bleak January last.  Short Mountain is in the background.  The farm is also shown.

Category: Reflections | 20 Comments »
Tags: Hoffman family, Monument

Posted By Norman Gasbarro on November 19, 2010

One family with Dauphin County origins has a sure heads up on identifying and honoring its Civil War veterans for the upcoming Civil War Sesquicentennial.

In 1764, Capt. Philip Christian Enders and wife Anna emigrated from Germany and arrived in Philadelphia.  Prior to his departure, Capt. Enders had served in the German Army during the Seven Years War and in the Royal Guard of Prince Henry of Nassau, and with the distinction of those experiences, he voluntarily joined the Pennsylvania Militia during the American Revolution.  Capt. Enders settled in the Halifax, Pennsylvania, area.  He and his wife raised 14 children.

Descendants of Capt. Enders, Russ Ottens and Karl Schaeffer, have carefully researched and thoroughly documented the Civil War service of 162 Enders family members who served on both sides of the war – those related by blood and marriage  to the Captain and his sister Elizabeth Enders Fahnestock who came to America with him in 1764.

Our family members who fought for the North and the South served honorably.  Not one of these brave men deserted and many suffered wounds, dismemberment, and chronic diseases.  Some lived and died in Confederate prisons.  This unforgiving war took the lives of twenty of our family from wounds and disease.

In their book, Captain Enders Legion:  The Civil War Service of Descendants of Philip Christian Enders, Ottens and Schaeffer provide biographical sketches of each the veterans, a summary of their military service, and some genealogical information.   There are some pictures.  The book uses the same genealogical numbering convention that is used in the extensive Enders family genealogy, thus making it relatively easy to make the generational connections to Capt. Enders and his sister as well the the inter-relationships between and among the 162 veterans.  Without the two-volume genealogy in hand, it is wise to download the first three generations of the Enders family (with numbers) from their web site.

One helpful fact given about each of the veterans is the burial location (where known).  For those who wish to visit the grave on-line, a quick search on Find-a-Grave will most likely produce a picture of a grave marker – taken and uploaded by author Russ Ottens – and on occasion, a picture of the veteran.

As a biographical dictionary, the book is superb, as each of the profiles can stand alone.  As a straight-through read, it can become quite repetitive.  For example, if several family members served in the same regiment and company and at the same time, the authors boiler-plated the same text into each biography.

Nevertheless, the book is extremely valuable as most Lykens Valley families will find a connection to one or more of their ancestors.  Throughout the book, names such as Hoover, Hoffman, Bowman, Chubb, Keiter, Lebo, Miller, Snyder, Woland and Zimmerman appear.  A complete list of the biographical sketches can be found on the Enders web site.  The list is also available arranged by regimental units.

It is also the only book of its kind chronicling all the known descendants of one of the Lykens Valley area pioneers who fought in the Civil War.  Perhaps it will be an inspiration to other family historians to do the same as a project for the Civil War Sesquicentennial.

The book is being sold through the Enders web site with all profits going to maintain the family facilities at Enders Grove.

Category: Resources | Comments Off on Enders Family Civil War Veterans
Tags: Enders family, Halifax