Familie Allwein: Volume Iii: Western Migrations

By Duane F. Alwin

This book—Familie Allwein: Volume III: Western Migrations—is volume three of a series of books about the history of the Allwein family in America, a family descended from an eighteenth-century German immigrant Johannes (Hans) Jacob Allwein and his wife, Catharina.

Familie Allwein: Volume III: Western Migrations builds upon earlier volumes of Familie Allwein, which dealt with the Allwein family’s emigration from Germany to America and their settlement in colonial Pennsylvania. The first volume, Familie Allwein—An Early History, set the stage for later volumes. The second volume, Familie Allwein—Journeys in Time and Place, covered Allwein descendants living east of the Allegheny Mountains over the seventy-year period from about 1870 through 1940. Part 1 of Journeys in Time and Place focuses on those families that settled in southeastern Pennsylvania, particularly in Lebanon, Philadelphia, and the Berks Counties. Part 2 of Journeys in Time and Place focuses on those families living in Dauphin, Lancaster, Adams, York, and Blair Counties in south central Pennsylvania. This third volume of Familie Allwein—Western Migrations—covers families who moved to western Pennsylvania and those who migrated farther west.

Not only is the present volume an update on the families covered in earlier volumes of Familie Allwein but it also extends the coverage of Allwein families by tracing their paths west—not only to the western counties of Pennsylvania but also to Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and places farther west, including California. As in earlier volumes of this series, the author’s careful documentation of all sources and attention to detail make it possible to reproduce his findings and re-examine his conclusions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 18, 2019
• ISBN: 9781984559623

Duane F. Alwin

Duane F. Alwin—a sociologist by training, the author practices an ethnographic approach to doing family history, one that emphasizes going to the places where the families he researches lived, familiarizing himself with the environs, and tapping local resources for information on their historical roots.

Book preview

Copyright © 2019 by Duane F. Alwin.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2016911896

ISBN:                Hardcover                          978-1-9845-5964-7

                          Softcover                            978-1-9845-5963-0

                          eBook                                 978-1-9845-5962-3

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The cover art for this book is based on a photograph of prairie flowers (yellow coneflower and ironweed) on the restored tallgrass prairie preserve known as the Allwine Prairie/Glacier Creek preserve, managed by the Biology Department of the University of Nebraska—Omaha and located at Bennington, Douglas County, Nebraska. [photo credit: Barbara Hayes]

Rev. date: 04/16/2019

Xlibris

1-888-795-4274

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Dedicated to my family of origin

Lawrence Sylvester Alwin (1913-1989)

Ellen Margaret Estella Bonewitz Alwin (1917-2008)

Lawrence Larry Franklin Alwin (1939-)

Sherilyn Jane Alwin Weatherford (1942-2015)

CONTENTS

Volume III

Western Migrations

Contents

List of Exhibits

Foreword

Introduction

Chapter 17 — Somerset and Cambria Counties

Introduction

Philip Alwein (1773-1850)

Somerset Mennonite Connections

Descendants of Philip and Sarah Alwein

Jacob Alwine (1798-1870)

Abraham Alwine (1829-1899)

Moses A. Alwine (1853-1924)

Jacob A. Alwine (1854-1925)

Josiah Alwine (1856-1936)

Jeremiah Jerry Alwine (1860-1933)

Catharine Alwine Blough (1869-1947)

Andrew Alwine (1871-1956)

John Alwine (1832-1904)

Jacob Alwine (1837-1920)

Samuel Alwine (1844-1904)

Lilly Ann Alwine Thomas (1857-1938)

Joseph Alwine (1805-1877)

Descendants of Joseph Alwine

Nancy Alwine Thomas (1841-1879)

Catherine Alwine Eash (1843-1921)

Mary Polly Alwine Wertz (1843-1922)

Noah Alwine (1845-1914)

Lucinda Alwine Kellar (1872-1939)

Mary Polly Elizabeth Alwine Howard (1875-1949)

Simon Alwine (1877-1960)

Levi M. Alwine (1879-1915)

William David Alwine (1884-1938)

Matilda Tillie Alwine Kauffman (1847-1911)

Sarah Alwine Blough (1849-1923)

Frances Alwine Thomas (1851-1898)

Josiah Alwine (1853-1894)

Ida Jane Alwine Palliser (1879-1966)

Romanus Alwine (1881-1960)

Harry Alwine (1884-1966)

John Alwine (1885-1952)

Reuben Alwine (1891-1972)

Peter J. Alwine (1858-1933)

Clara Edith Alwine Saylor (1881-1961)

Emma Jane Alwine Peterson (1883-1968)

Harvey G. Alwine (1884-1937)

Edwin Irvin Alwine (1886-1962)

Bertha Estella Alwine Smith (1891-1975)

Mary Anna Alwine Kelley (1894-1968)

Otto Lloyd Alwine (1896-1969)

Lester Leroy Alwine (1898-1966)

Charles Clayton Alwine (1900-1972)

Ray Stanford Alwine (1901-1957)

Samuel Alwine (1861-1907)

Stella May Alwine (1898-1980)

The Johnstown Flood of 1889

Alwine Descendants in the Flood

Closing

Chapter 18 — Westmoreland County

Introduction

Hempfield Township

Jacob Alwine (1771-1854)

Descendants of Jacob Alwine

John Alwine (1800-1884)

Henry Alwine (1826-1903)

The Alwine School

John L. Alwine (1849-1931)

Levi J. Alwine (1851-1923)

Hannah Lydia Ann Alwine Steffey (1853-1928)

Hiram J. Allwine (1856-1913)

Samuel Israel Alwine (1856-1937)

Edward E. Allwine (1859-1932)

Susan Maria Alwine Steffey (1862-1931)

William Henry Allwine (1870-1944)

Anna Lavina Alwine Baker (1842-1916)

Catharine Alwine Kuhns (1802-unknown)

Sarah Alwine Brauchler (1805-unknown)

Jacob Alwine (1812-1889)

Theressa Alwine Rush (1815-1898)

Samuel Alwine (1820-1901)

Children of Samuel and Elizabeth Alwine

Cordelia Ann Alwine Zimmermann (1846-1941)

Samuel Augustine Alwine (1853-1930)

Eleanor Elizabeth Alwine Whiteley (1877-1963)

Jessie Marguerite Alwine Taylor (1879-1973)

George Huff Alwine (1881-1957)

Zita Marie Alwine Cremer (1883-1969)

Samuel Vincent Alwine (1887-1929)

Henry Harrison Null Alwine (1888-1975)

Cyril Beauchamp Alwine (1893-1944)

Henry Harry Foster Alwine (1862-1937)

Mary Elizabeth Alwine Kelley (1900-1963)

Henry F. Alwine (1902-1958)

John Crock Alwine (1904-1996)

George Victor Alwine (1909-1958)

Samuel Edward Alwine (1911-1997)

Closing

Chapter 19—Butler and Beaver Counties

Introduction

Catharina Allwein Seaman (1778-1843)

John Adam Alwine (1816-1901)

Francis Xavier Alwine (1842-1912)

Mary Frances Alwine Weber (1865-1951)

John Joseph Alwine (1867-1949)

Samuel Alwine (1869-1942)

Christopher C. Christ Alwine (1871-1936)

William Henry Alwine (1873-1957)

Francis Anthony Alwine (1875-1956)

Mary Estella Stella Alwine Stewart (1878-1970)

Sylvester Conrad Alwine (1845-1923)

Dominic Alwine (1848-1923)

George Francis Alwin (1872-1948)

John Joseph Alwine (1876-1956)

William Henry Alwine (1882-1934)

Ella Mae Alwine Gould (1890-1969)

Sebastian Alwine (1852-unknown)

Joseph L. Allwine (1862-1935)

Elmer Aloysius Allwein (1898-1970)

Closing

Chapter 20 — Allwein Descendants in Ohio

Introduction

John Felix Allwine (1805-1878)

Mary Elizabeth Allwine Friedel (1829-1901)

Henry Sylvester Allwine (1838-1907)

William A. Allwine (1860-1944)

Joseph L. Allwine (1862-1935)

Frank P. Allwine (1865-1945)

Teresa C. Allwine Ries (1868-1952)

Henry L. Allwine (1869-1947)

Edward John Allwine (1882-1964)

Mary Roseanna Rose Allwine Lonsway (1840-1905)

Jerome Felix Allwine (1842-unknown)

Cecilia Agnes Allwine (1843-1911)

Teresa Anna Allwine Altweis (1849-1905)

Stephen Louis Allwine (1851-1932)

Leo Aloysius Lee Allwine (1878-1941)

Paul Lloyd Allwine (1880-1977)

Gerald Charles Allwine (1882-1972)

Cecilia Alice Allwine Weaver (1885-1976)

Harrison L. Allwine (1887-1937)

Helen Mae Allwine Weaver (1889-1972)

Victor David Allwine (1892-1973)

Ralph Joseph Allwine (1896-1981)

Arthur Raymond Allwine (1899-1974)

Henry E. Allwein (1859-1926)

Elizabeth G. Allwein Stickle (1889-1975)

Aida Blair Allwein (1892-1972)

Frank George Allwein (1886-1929)

Samuel J. Allwein (1854-1923)

Clinton Clint Dennis Allwein (1878-1943)

Ernest Gale Allwein (1880-1945)

Austa Alma Allwein McAninch (1885-1968)

James William Allwein (1889-1961)

Cleveland, Ohio

George Francis Alwin (1872-1948)

Joseph V. Alwine, Sr. (1924-2004)

Closing

Chapter 21 — Families in Indiana, Illinois and Michigan

Introduction

Elkhart County

John Alwine (1801-1873)

The Alwine Cemetery

Polly Alwine Lehman (1838-1918)

Nancy Alwine Kime (1823-1921)

Catharine Alwine Decker (1825-1854)

The Alwine Farms—Elkhart Township

William Alwine (1833-1917)

Jesse Alwine (1861-1933)

Frances M. Alwine Manahan/Greenwood (1864-1921)

Charles Wesley Alwine (1867-1950)

Jacob H. Alwine (1869-1904)

Romanus Abraham Alwine (1872-1940)

Chauncey Melvin Alwine (1874-1986)

Henry Alwine (1831-1908)

Susannah (Susan Ann) Alwine Ott (1856-1941)

Frances Belle Alwine Geer (1863-1915)

Ira H. Alwine (1870-1939)

Charles Albert Alwine (1872-1949)

Clara Luella Alwine Shaffer (1878-1961)

Chloe Myrtle Alwine Holtzinger (1880-1962)

Adelbert Clarence Alwine (1884-1953)

Mary Magdalene Alwine Green/Rensberger/Reed (1886-1971)

John Henry Alwine (1889-1933)

Estella Beatrice Stella Alwine Darr (1893-1920)

James Alwine (1837-1904)

Samuel F. Alwine (1859-1931)

Joseph M. Alwine (1861-unknown)

Nancy Jane Alwine Firestone/Berger (1863-1935)

Hilpha Alwine Ganger (1865-1936)

Eliza Alwine Ecklebarger (1867-1941)

James Edward Alwine (1869-1953)

Clara Belle Alwine Myers/Routsong (1872-1939)

David Elmer Alwine (1874-1955)

Sarah Peffley Alwine Mays (1878-1942)

Charles Alwine (1881-1924)

John Alwine, Jr. (1840-1873)

Jacob Alwine (Jr.) (1837-1920)

Franklin Philip Allwein (1844-1919)

Ambrose (Harry) Allwein (1857-1935)

Gayle Delbert Allwein (1895-1954)

James Taylor Alwine (1854-1906)

Allwein Families in Michigan

Josiah Alwine (1856-1936)

Nancy Alwine Thomas (1841-1879)

Frances Alwine Thomas (1851-1898)

Elmer Aloysius Allwein (1898-1970)

Closing

Chapter 22 — Families in Iowa and Minnesota

Introduction

Allwein Families in Iowa

Catharine Allwine Aldinger (1817-1893)

Conrad J. C.J. Allwine (1820-1897)

Frank Peter Alwine (1868-1929)

Clarence Earl Alwine (1901-1978)

Ella Elizabeth Alwine Schneider (1903-1984)

Dorothy Alwine Schneider (1914-1996)

John Joseph Allwine (1870-1924)

William J. Alwine (1874-1913)

Marie Rose Alwine Karnes (1876-Aft. 1930)

Philip Joseph P. J. Allwein (1875-1922)

Allwein Families in Minnesota

Sebastian Alwine (1852-unknown)

Closing

Chapter 23 — Families in Kansas and Nebraska

Introduction

Allwein Families in Kansas

Sarah Allwine Strite (1823-1904)

Sylvester Conrad Alwine (1845-1923)

Flora Mae Flo Alwine Wells Tiller (1881-1952)

Joseph Daniel Dan Alwin (1884-1962)

John W. Alwin (1887-1959)

George Sylvester Alwine (1890-1957)

Allwein Families in Nebraska

Children of Lawrence Allwine

John W. Allwine (1851-1925)

Evora W. Allwine Lewis (1872-1946)

Frank Wilford Allwine (1875-1942)

Clarence Adair Allwine (1886-1961)

Mary Katherine Allwine Lindgren (1878-1933)

Arthur Ashton Allwine (1880-1971)

George Hake Allwine (1884-1976)

Harry Wittman Allwine (1855-1937)

Edith Carey Allwine Marble (1882-1981)

Kathryn Kate H. Allwine Gillespie (1885-1980)

Arbelia Belia Edmonds Allwine Mitchell (1886-1970)

Harry Howe Allwine (1890-1961)

Wayne Hingston Allwine (1892-1967)

Lawrence Larry Allwine (1895-1968)

Julian Stickley Allwine (1896-1987)

Lawrence Allwine (1861-1907)

George Huff Alwine (1880-1957)

Closing

Chapter 24 — Families in California

Introduction

Raymond Martin Allwein (1879-1969)

Signa May Allwein Field (1905-1990)

George Joseph Irey Allwein (1906-1975)

Pauline Olive Allwein Bennett (1917-2011)

Darrell Lengle Allwein (1918-1999)

Wayne Hingston Allwine (1892-1967)

Wayne Harry Allwine, Jr. (1914-1977)

Wayne Anthony Allwine (1947-2009)

Niles Gaylord Alwine (1902-1964)

Curtis Noah Edward Alwine (1925-1996)

George Patrick Alwin (1899-1966)

Closing

Postscript

Appendix A — Indexed List of Family Members

Appendix B — Cemetery Abbreviations

Sources Cited

Acknowledgments

About The Author

LIST OF EXHIBITS

FOREWORD

This is the third volume of the book Familie Allwein—comprising the fourth book in the series—as volume 2 required two books. With the first two volumes, the set of Familie Allwein books taken together presents what our research has revealed about the Allwein, Allwine, Alwein, Alwine, and Alwin families who descended from Johannes (Hans) Jacob and Catharina Allwein in America.

The first volume of the set, Familie Allwein—An Early History, published in 2007, established an historical basis for understanding the lives of these immigrant ancestors. It began with Hans Jacob’s emigration from Germany in 1741, reaching back into his European origins to the extent possible and chronicling his settlement in Pennsylvania. In addition, that work traced the first four generations of the Allwein family in America through to about 1880. Later volumes, organized by the geographic areas where these families settled, followed Allwein family members through the fifth, sixth and seventh generations, up to about 1940.

The second volume, Familie Allwein—Journeys in Time and Place, published as two separate books, covered Allwein family descendants who were living east of the Alleghenies. The Allegheny Mountains are part of the vast Appalachian Mountain Range of the eastern United States. They form a high ridge that creates a natural barrier across Pennsylvania. They rise to just under 5,000 feet in altitude, and stretch from the northeast in a southwesterly direction and range across western Maryland, eastern West Virginia to southwestern Virginia. I used the Allegheny ridge as a way of defining the content of volumes 2 and 3—volume 2 covers those families living east of the Alleghenies; volume 3 covers those who migrated to territories west of Alleghenies.

As noted, Journeys in Time and Place was published in two parts. Part 1 covered Allwein famililies in southeastern Pennsylvania (Lebanon, Philadelphia and Berks Counties) and was published in 2013. Part 2 covered Allwein families living in south central Pennsylvania (Dauphin, Lancaster, Adams, York, and Blair Counties) and was published in 2017.

This fourth book (volume 3) covers those Allwein descendants who settled west of the Alleghenies, over the roughly 70-year period from about 1870 through to 1940. Titled Familie Allwein—Western Migrations, it focuses on the Allwein family members who moved west of the Alleghenies, including those who settled in western Pennsylvania and those who moved farther west.

This volume contains eight major chapters, covering the following areas: Somerset and Cambria Counties (chapter 17), Westmoreland County (chapter 18), Beaver and Butler Counties (chapter 19), the state of Ohio (chapter 20), the states of Indiana, Illinois and Michigan (chapter 21), the states of Iowa and Minnesota (chapter 22), the states of Kansas and Nebraska (chapter 23), and the state of California (chapter 24).

Western Migrations completes nearly 20 years of research into the origins of the Allwein family in America and the lives of our progenitors. I have focused on coverage of the known settlements of Allwein families, and although I am sure I have missed some family members, the goal has been to follow descendants in such a manner that the reader can trace his or her ancestry to the progenitors of the Allwein family in America.

I dedicate this book to my immediate family: my parents, Lawrence Sylvester Alwin (M07-0406-0605-0302) and Ellen Margaret Bonewitz Alwin, and my siblings, Sherilyn Jane Alwin Weatherford (now deceased) and Lawrence Franklin Alwin. Below I reproduce copies of our family photos taken some 70 years ago. Information on my father’s family is provided in Chapter 23, where I summarize what we know about families who settled in Kansas and Nebraska in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

This work has benefitted greatly from the contributions of others. I have listed some of the main contributors on the title page, and in addition, there are others who I have listed in the acknowledgements section at the end of this volume.

Finally, please visit my website, The Allwein Line, for interactive maps and biographies, photos, information on Familie Allwein books, as well as additional stories about the Allwein family, and further contact information. See the Allwein Line: AllweinLine.wixsite.com/AllweinLine.

Duane Francis Alwin

October 2018

State College, Pennsylvania

image001.jpg

Lawrence Sylvester Alwin and Ellen Margaret Bonewitz Alwin, circa 1948 (Source: Author)

image002.jpg

Lawrence Franklin Alwin, Sherilyn Jane Alwin and Duane Francis Alwin, circa 1948 (Source: Author)

INTRODUCTION

Ask and it will be given to you. Search and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. The one who asks will always receive; the one who is searching will always find, and the door is opened to the man who knocks. Matthew 7:7 (J.B. Phillips translation, page 14)

Finding Persons and Places

The development of modern cartography (or map making) flourished during the 16th century, a period of global exploration and discovery. John Noble Wilford, author of The Mapmakers, claims the origin of the map is lost to history. In his words, "No one knows when or where or for what purpose someone got the first idea to draw a sketch to communicate a sense of place, some sense of here in relation to there."¹ Maps were developed not only to aid in those efforts, but also to chart the political boundaries of nations and their ownership of territories.² Maps were (and are) used to assist in defining the boundaries of one’s property.

Maps are indispensable. In general, I go nowhere without a map, and I typically review the general contours of the relevant geography prior to embarking on my travels, unless I know it well. Typically, if I have been somewhere once or twice, I do not need to use a map in future trips because I still have a pretty good spatial memory. In fact, Linda (my wife) has given me a special moniker—she says I have a map for a brain. Such types of brains are of less value in an era of digital Geographic Positioning System (GPS) modules that are now standard in most automobiles, smart-phones, etc. I use both approaches.

I believe my interest in geography originated in childhood, as it was then that I acquired a desire of knowing the location of places. In addition to a relatively normal introduction to the study of geography in school, I experienced another set of influences. For some years my father worked as a travelling salesman, working a large territory in rural eastern Kansas, selling cattle feed and farming supplies to local farm stores throughout the region. Sometimes, during school breaks and summer vacations, I got to go along. These experiences furnished an early exposure to the importance of knowing where places were, and I learned the locations of the various towns and counties in relation to one another. Back then, you could locate a person’s residential origins by decoding the information on license tags, indicating in which Kansas county the car was registered, and by inference the location the person who owned it, a system that continues in use today. There are 105 counties in the state of Kansas, and my childhood goal (one I never achieved) was to be able to memorize all of the symbols, and of course, learn where a particular county was located in relation to others.

Later, I acquired a more practical interest in maps. In my Boy Scout days, for example, we relied on maps to navigate the terrain when we worked on our hiking merit badges. And maps played an important role in learning about geography and history as college-level topics. I was persuaded that maps have a special role in understanding history and society.

Like many people I am fascinated by historical maps and their connection to the exploration of the world. Ashley and Miles Baynton-Williams, who have published reproductions of nearly 200 antique maps, state that the first meaningful print maps date to 1477 in Italy engraved by the Alexandrian cartographer Claudius Ptolemy, who relied on geographical material dating to 150 AD in compiling his original atlas Cosmographia.³ Such old atlases and many that have been produced since have become valued pieces of art, and have attained great value. Old maps also help us understand the past and how our ancestors viewed the world during the age of exploration and discovery. I have tried to make good use of available historical and present-day maps in the Familie Allwein books, although my present publisher, Xlibris, forbids the use many maps that are in the public domain.

There are myriads of historical township and county maps available for all states, and in many cases, maps of cities and towns. There are a number of atlases for Pennsylvania Counties produced by a small number of companies around the late 1800s (see Sources section below). In the Familie Allwein books I try to use reproductions of extracts from these historical maps where it is relevant and possible.

Nowadays, many of these old maps can be viewed on the internet, and now one can spend a considerable amount of time exploring geography, specifically spending time searching the locations of places, including counties, townships, cities and towns. Modern maps as well as historical maps are readily available to interested persons. My interest in maps and place names has been reinforced by the U.S. federal government’s Geographic Names Information System (GNIS), a database that contains name and location information for more than two million physical and cultural features located throughout the United States and its territories.⁴ This system allows one to link these features to maps maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey, and along with other available tools, such as Google Earth© the available information on the location of places in the U.S. and elsewhere is virtually endless.

Why You Need a Map?

A sense of place is central to discovering family history, because one of the most important things one can learn about someone is where they lived, a location one can usually find on modern-day maps. Given our access to the vast resources on Ancestry.com, or other genealogy websites, we can now trace the residential patterns of ancestors and other relatives given the collections of original census documents. The Federal Census, established by the U.S. Constitution (Article 1, Section 2), implemented its first enumeration in 1790, and it was carried out every 10 years through to the present.⁵ Also, the states conducted censuses at various times. The point is that using maps we can get a very good idea of where people lived, and the census data can help us find them, using the resources available to us today.

Of course, our access to these tools make it possible to do armchair family history, without the need to actually go to the places they lived. That does not stop me. I am a strong believer in the idea that you have to go there! You have to go where they lived, visit the cemeteries, take pictures, consult local histories, and to do this one typically needs a map. In the words in the above epigraph, from a passage in the Gospel of Matthew, one must seek in order to find, and maps are an element of seeking, even as one needs a map to enter the spiritual realm.

The study of old maps and atlases is also necessary, for many of the boundaries between counties and townships change over time. In the Familie Allwein books, in most chapters I briefly discuss the history of the counties and the geographic and political boundaries within them. Indeed, it is often important to know the histories of these counties and townships because they are intimately linked to family history. Without having such historical knowledge, it is possible to become confused about where people were living. People move, but at the same time, it was often the case that geographical and political boundaries moved around them.

One of my favorite examples of this has to do with the property and residence owed by Conrad and Catharine Allwein (M02-0104), my great- great- great- great-grandparents (aka 4th great grandparents) who we considered in earlier volumes of Familie Allwein dealing with Lebanon County. I discussed the matter of where they lived in volume 1 of Familie Allwein (see chapter 3, pages 136-139; see also volume 2, part 1, chapter 14, pages 33-44). Because of the movements of places, confusion sometimes exists about where they actually settled in central Pennsylvania. I noted that the property in Lebanon Township originally claimed by Conrad and Catharine Allwein was located in Lancaster County from 1729 to 1785, in Dauphin County from 1785 to 1813, and was ultimately in Lebanon County from 1813 onward.

Conrad Allwein and his wife Catharine owned a large farm in Lebanon Township, on the east side of what is present-day Lebanon. The magnificent two-story stone farmhouse built by them in 1802 still stands on the outskirts of Lebanon. The location of their property was in all three counties—Lancaster, Dauphin and Lebanon Counties—at different times. This resulted from the fact that his application for a land warrant (a warrant was the official order for a land survey) was initiated when the property was still part of Lancaster County prior to 1785, and when the actual survey was conducted by the Pennsylvania Land Office, on March 22, 1788 (the date recorded on the actual survey document) his property was no longer in Lancaster County, but instead in Dauphin County. He was recorded nonetheless as a warrantee of land in Lancaster County because the warrant application for this property had been initiated some years previously. Ultimately, of course, their land was located in Lebanon County because Lebanon County was created out of parts of Dauphin and Lancaster Counties, including Lebanon Township.

Thus, some records suggest they settled in Lancaster County, some indicate their origins were in Dauphin County, and as we know, Lebanon County was the location of many Allwein families in the 19th and 20th centuries. In fact, all of these observations are true, because given the changes in the territories embraced by these different counties at different times, Conrad and Catharine Allwein lived in all three—Lancaster, Dauphin and Lebanon Counties—as their boundaries changed. Conrad and Catherine Allwein did not move around—they settled in one place. What changed was the particular geographic division to which their location was assigned for the administration of government and the judicial system.

Growing up with geography, and experiencing some of its benefits (like not getting lost), has been a beneficial background for studying family history. The major focus of this 3rd volume of Familie Allwein are those Allwein descendants who migrated west after the Civil War through the early part of the 1900s. We consider the movement of both persons and places.

Western Migrations

All of my ancestors in Kansas migrated from somewhere to the east. As the Familie Allwein books document, my Kansas Alwine ancestor Sylvester Conrad Alwine (my Alwine great-grandfather) migrated from Pennsylvania. Similarly, my mother’s ancestors came from other places – the Bonewitz family also from Pennsylvania, and the Shank and Smith families from Tennessee.

The famous phrase Go west young man, which is often attributed to famed American author and newspaper editor Horace Greeley, emerged sometime in the early 1830s to describe the intersection between the movement of U.S. boundaries westward and the movement of its people. America’s westward expansion into the Northwest Territories, and ultimately to the California and Northwest coasts, encouraged the idea that the fertile farmlands of the Midwest and the West were ideal places to which people should migrate. Westward expansion of the country provided opportunities for people to seek a new life, especially those who were willing to work hard for economic success.⁶

As noted, this volume focuses on Allwein families who migrated west, either to western Pennsylvania, or farther west to the states of Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and elsewhere. Western Migrations describes the migration of Allwein family members against the backdrop of the movement of the United States westward. Each chapter in the following is focused on the key destination points where we find Allwein descendants. The movement of both places and persons, and their intersection, is in part what motivates this work.

The movement of people may have occurred for a number of reasons—there may have been a combination of both push and pull factors. The opportunities presented by territorial expansion of the United States were what we would consider some of the major pull factors, and in other cases people may have been pulled by the movement of others—parents, children, or collateral relatives. There are a number of reasons behind the migration of people due to push factors. In most cases we can only speculate about what some of these might have been, for example, marital turmoil, separation and divorce, or the passing of one’s parents. In some cases, as today, people may have moved after they married, seeking a new life together in a new place. People may have had other situations from which they wanted to escape, including their contemporary living conditions, seeking a new location to raise a family.

For the family genealogist of the early 20th century, trying to keep track of family lineages, western migrations often posed a new set of challenges. Because of the lack of communication, contact with family members was typically lost, and gradually, little information about succeeding generations flowed back to the families remaining behind. As illustrated here by the following quotations from the Jerome Allwein’s Genealogy, those who remained in Pennsylvania had only sparse details about the whereabouts of their kin who moved westward to Ohio.

John Allwein, son of John and Elizabeth (Felix) Allwein was born on his father’s farm in Lancaster County, Pa. He married … [and] they moved West where they both died. It is not known if any children were born to them as all trace of family is lost. [From Jerome Allwein’s Genealogy of the Allwein-Arnold Families (1902, p. 21)

Samuel Allwein, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Eisenhower) Allwein married Katie Dennis and settled in Ohio. [From Jerome Allwein’s Genealogy of the Allwein-Arnold Families (1902, p. 72)]

Henry Allwein, son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Eisenhower) Allwein married Mary Payne. This family lives at Shelby, Ohio. From Jerome Allwein’s Genealogy of the Allwein-Arnold Families (1902, p. 72)⁷

Often, these few facts were all that was known by those family members who remained in Pennsylvania. For example, Jerome Allwein’s important Genealogy of Lebanon County Allwein families obviously failed to account for those family members just a few generations away who migrated from central Pennsylvania to points a few hundred miles to the west—to central Ohio. We see this pattern to some extent even with those families who moved to other parts of Pennsylvania, but the separation was even more severe for those who moved farther west. Today we are blessed with many more resources and better information, and although it is possible to know more about our relatives, the older established tradition of doing without contact among extended kin still predominates.

Now we know much more, and as the reader shall see, there is substantial information now available on the Allwein families that migrated west. This volume extends the work begun in the earlier chapters of Familie Allwein. These earlier volumes documented what is known about the lives of Hans Jacob and Catharina Allweins and their descendants, reaching back to Hans Jacob Allwein’s European roots, as well as focusing on the lives of the first generations of Allwein family members in Pennsylvania during the 19th and 20th centuries. They registered their presence in many public documents, from early land, tax and estate records in Berks County, information from county birth, marriage and death records, military records from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, information from census enumerations, county atlases, cemetery records, and local histories.

Like prior volumes, Western Migrations includes a section providing a detailed description of the sources of information on which we have based most of the detailed facts about vital events, such as births, marriages, residence, and deaths. Throughout the book, we provide detailed documentation based on these sources. In cases where I have obtained information from others, I provide full credit regarding the source of information, and in all cases, I provide detailed references to all supporting materials in footnotes. We provide an appendix on cemetery abbreviations and an appendix concerning the unique identification of family members.

This Volume

This 3rd volume of Familie Allwein is the 4th in a series of books concerning the family. The following is a complete list of chapters across the three volumes of Familie Allwein. This list provides a comprehensive picture of the scope of the project and the organization of chapters. In general, consistent with the above theme, they are organized by geography and emphasize a mapping of family lineages within geographical areas.

From the above listing we can see the connection of the present volume to those that have gone before. Volume 1 provided background for the study covering emigration from Europe and settlement in America through the first four generations. Volume 2 (Part 1) covered 5th, 6th, and 7th generation Allwein descendants who lived in southeastern Pennsylvania. Volume 2 (Part 2) covered 5th, 6th, and 7th generation Allwein descendants in south central Pennsylvania. The present volume – volume 3 – covers those families who migrated west of the Allegheny Mountains.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Somerset and Cambria Counties

Introduction

SOMERSET County was created on April 17, 1795 from part of Bedford County.⁸ It was named for Somersetshire in England, a name that dates to Anglo-Saxon times. The name comes from the ancient reference to the region of summer. The county seat was established in the Borough of Somerset, formerly called Brunerstown, in Somerset Township. Located within the southwestern terminus of the Allegheny Mountain range, Somerset County is a region rich in coal and limestone. It borders with Maryland to the south, Bedford County to the east, Fayette and Westmoreland Counties to the west, and Cambria County to the north.

Bedford County (the ninth county in provincial Pennsylvania) was created on March 9, 1771 from part of Cumberland County by an act of the General Assembly of the province of Pennsylvania. The County was named for Fort Bedford in Raystown (now Bedford). This fort was originally located on Forbes Road (now Route 30), which seved as a major turnpike between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh. The area was first settled by European Americans in the middle of the 18th century, and its history is marked by conflicts with Native American settlers and the wars between the French and British.

At the time of its formation, Somerset contained both what are presently Somerset County and the lower portions of present-day Cambria County, consisting of six townships in all: Brothers Valley, Turkeyfoot, Quemahoning, Milford, Elk Lick, and Stonycreek Townships. Conemaugh Township came into existence in 1801, when it was formed from the northern part of Quemahoning. These townships experienced further subdivision over the years, resulting in the 25 townships of which it is comprised today (see Exhibit 17.1 below).

Over the years, many Allwein descendants have inhabited the environs of Conemaugh Township. When Cambria County was formed from parts of Huntingdon, Somerset and Bedford Counties, Conemaugh Township was divided into two parts, one in Somerset County and one in Cambria County. Virtually all of the descendants of this family living in these townships and others were descended from Philip Alwein (M03-0201) and his wife Sarah.

Exhibit%2017.1.jpg

Exhibit 17.1 Map of Somerset County, Pennsylvania with municipal and township labels showing cities and boroughs, townships, and census-designated places [Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Philip Alwein, the eldest son of Johannes (John) and Eva Christina Allwein, and grandson to Hans Jacob and Catharina Allwein, and his wife Sarah Müller, migrated from Berks County, Pennsylvania to Somerset County in the early 1800s (see Chapter 4 of Familie Allwein, volume 1). After their marriage in a Reformed Church in Exeter Township on November 5, 1797, they migrated westward with a group of Amish-Mennonites, first to Mifflin County in central Pennsylvania, and later to Conemaugh Township of Somerset County. Professing the Mennonite faith sometime after their marriage, they were the progenitors of what I have elsewhere called the Mennonite branch of the Allwein family of Somerset and Cambria Counties. This family was also the origin of a group of families that settled in Elkhart County, Indiana around 1850 (see Chapter 21 of this volume).

This branch of the Allwein family, along with a large number of Mennonite families, inhabited the northern townships of Somerset County, primarily Conemaugh Township, in the early part of the 19th century, and over the following century some of the descendants of those families had spilled over into southern Cambria County, where Johnstown is located.

CAMBRIA County, to the north, was formed several years after Somerset County on March 26, 1804 from parts of Huntingdon, Somerset and Bedford Counties. It was made up of three townships, Allegheny, Cambria and Conemaugh, the first coming from Frankstown Township of Huntingdon County, and the latter two from Somerset County. At that time, Conemaugh Township was divided into two parts, one in Somerset County and one in Cambria County. These are the two Conemaugh Townships we know today. A fourth, Summerhill Township, was created in 1810, and by 1907, there were 28 townships within the County, all of which remain today, along with two new ones resulting from further subdivisions that were added since (see Exhibit 17.2 below).⁹

Exhibit%2017.2_Cambria%20County%2c%20Pennsylvania%20Map%20with%20labels.jpg

Exhibit 17.2 Map of Cambria County, Pennsylvania with municipal and township labels showing cities and boroughs, townships, and census-designated places places [Source: U.S. Census Bureau]

Soon after the formation of Cambria County, the town of Ebensburg, located within Cambria Township, was established as its county seat by the Pennsylvania Legislature. The County was named for Cambria Township. Cambria is the Latin word for Wales. The area was originally settled by Welsh immigrants, and the name comes from an ancient poetic name for Wales, the land of the Cymry, or Cumbri, which means compatriots. As the political and judicial seat of the County, Ebensburg is located at its center, but by far the largest population in the County is located at the southwestern-most corner, at Johnstown, which borders on its southern border with Somerset County.

Both Somerset and Cambria Counties are located on the eastern side of what is known as the Appalachian Plateau, rugged uplands that comprise nearly all of western and northern Pennsylvania. Located to the west of the Allegheny Front, the area is home to countless winding streams and rivers formed from ancient glaciers, which carve deep into the plateau on their way south and west. These waterways are the tributaries to the southward-flowing Allegheny River and the northward-flowing Monongahela River, which join farther west at Pittsburgh, to form the Ohio River (which originates there), on its way west and eventually south to join the mighty Mississippi.

Spring rains often bring flooding to the lowlands of Somerset and Cambria Counties, and in some years more than others. Of course, Johnstown is known for its historic spring floods because of its location at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek Rivers, waterways fed by a myriad of steep mountain streams. Johnstown has experienced 21 floods since 1808, from the earliest records. In addition to the tragedy associated with the Great Flood of 1889, there were also major floods that occurred in 1936 and 1977. At the end of this chapter I discuss the famous Johnstown Flood of 1889 and the Alwine family members whose lives may have been affected by that memorable catastrophe.¹⁰

Johnstown was settled by European Americans in 1770 prior to the existence of either Somerset or Cambria Counties.¹¹ The Borough of Johnstown was created in 1831 by an act of the Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It was originally known as Conemaugh, taken from Conemaugh Township and so-named by an early settler Joseph Schantz (pronounded Johns). He named it for an old Indian village Connumah that had been situated at the confluence of the Little Conemaugh and Stonycreek Rivers, where they form the beginning of the north-flowing Conemaugh River. The name of the borough was later changed to Johnstown by a similar act of the Assembly on April 14, 1834, named for its founder. The city of Johnstown as we know it today came into existence after the Great Flood of 1889, resulting from the consolidation in December 18, 1889 of the Boroughs of Johnstown, Millville, Prospect, Cambria, Conemaugh, Woodvale and Grubbtown. Other boroughs were added through annexation at later dates, but that was a time of redrawing the boundaries of the city of Johnstown.

The population of Johnstown numbered no more than a few hundred persons when it was incorporated as a borough in 1831, with its population growing to more than 1,000 by the mid-1800s. As a major commercial and trading center of the region, its population size grew rapidly, and by the the time of the Federal Census of 1870, its population numbered 6,028. It was in the latter part of the 19th century that Alwine family members began settling within the Borough of Johnstown—prior to that time they were primarily located in the northern townships of Somerset County—Conemaugh, Jenner and Paint Townships. Early city directories for the city, beginning in 1884, register the presence of Alwine families, and as the city of Johnstown grew, more and more families settled in the area. During this time, the population of Johnstown grew tenfold, so that by 1940, the population numbered nearly 67,000.

These families contributed to the lives of their communities in a variety of ways—as farmers, merchants, builders, educators, religious leaders, among other things. In this chapter we cover what is known about these families, focusing our attention on two main branches of the family, which stemmed from two of Philip and Sarah’s sons—Jacob Alwine (M04-0201-02) and Joseph Alwine (M04-0201-04). As noted earlier, there were other children of Philip and Sarah Alwine who began their lives in the Somerset area, but who moved farther west, for example, their son John Alwine to Indiana and others to Michigan. We consider the latter in Chapter 21 (this volume).

Philip Alwein (1773-1850)12

Berks and Somerset Counties

Philip Alwein (M03-0201) was born in Bern Township of Berks County in 1773, the eldest son of Johannes (John) and Eva Christina Allwein, and grandson to Hans Jacob and Catharina Allwein, progenitors of the Allwein family in colonial America. There is reason to believe this branch of the family used the ALWEIN spelling of the family name, and thus, I use this spelling for Philip Alwein (see Familie Allwein, volume 1, pages 165-168), but with the 4th generation of Allwein descendants in Somerset and Cambria Counties, from Philip and Sarah’s children and grandchildren onward, the name predominantly recorded in historical documents was ALWINE. One rarely sees the ALLWEIN or ALLWINE spelling in Somerset and Cambria Counties in Pennsylvania. The line of descent linking Philip Alwein to Johannes Jacob and Catharina Allweins, progenitors of the Allwein family in colonial Pennsylvania, is as follows:

Generation 1: Johannes Hans Jacob and Catharina (Unknown) Allweins—Berks County, Pa

Generation 2: Johannes John and Eva Christina (Unknown) Alweins—

Berks County, Pa

Generation 3: Philip and Sarah (Miller) Alwein—Berks and Somerset Counties, Pa

Philip Alwein married Sarah Müller (or Miller) at the Swartzwald Reformed Church in Exeter Township, Berks County on November 5, 1797.¹³ After they married, they joined an Amish-Mennonite migration to Mifflin County in central Pennsylvania, and eventually to Somerset County, where they raised several children. Although we believe they may have used the ALWEIN spelling of the name, it was the ALWINE name that was used by descendants who populated the upper reaches of Somerset County (see map in Exhibit 17.1) and the lower territories of Cambria County, especially locations in or near Johnstown, Pennsylvania (see map in Exhibit 17.2).

The household of Philip Alwein