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The number of times that we see the names John Wolfer and John Williams close together has inspired some digging to see if Lucinda Wolfer might be related to John or Rebecca Williams. This article brings together the history of the two families. I have included some things that are either clues, unanswered questions or unproven theories about these two families. I have tried to label them as such. If any one reading has some additional information to add to this story, please let us know.
About four years ago while following the Williams/Wolfer connection, I was contacted through a bulletin board by Joanne Howard another Williams researcher. We had both followed this connection and have shared our information. Joanne has done a huge amount of research and in writing this article I have relied heavily on her information. To learn more about these two families you should also follow the link from this blog to her site on the Williams, Lewis and allied families.
John Williams and John Wolfer
John Williams was born in Orange County, New York in 1765 and was a Revolutionary War solider. After the war, he lived in the Rockbridge County, Virginia until 1787 and then moved to Rowan County, North Carolina. He married in North Carolina and 1791 his son, William Williams was born. His wife, Mary must have died and he married Rebecca at some unknown time.
In 1797 he moved to Knox County, Tennessee, stayed there for three years and then moved to Cumberland County Kentucky.
In Germany, Frederick Wolfer was part of a group led by George Rapp that sailed to America. In in 1805 the group settled in Butler County, Pennsylvania and was known as the Harmony Society. Into this setting, Frederick's first son, John Wolfer was born on June 4, 1806.
On the 1810 census for Cumberland County Kentucky, there are four households headed by a John Williams. Only one of these entries appears to be a possible match with our John Williams. It shows a male and female in the correct age brackets for John and Rebecca, a male in the correct age bracket to be William but there was also a second female. This entry could be a daughter or it could be niece or a household servant.
Considerable research was done on the Williams line back at the beginning of the 1900s by descendants wanting to join DAR. No research has mentioned a daughter in connection with John Williams. I have heard that there is old family story passed down through the Williams family that John Williams had daughter. My ancestors left Indiana in 1857 and our family was not aware of such a story.
In 1811, John Williams left Cumberland County, Kentucky and moved to Clark County, Indiana. The following year, on December 12, 1812 John's son William married Susanah McClintick in Clark County.
John Williams first five years in Indiana must have been an exciting time. The first steamboat navigated the Ohio and on down the Mississippi to New Orleans launching a new era in river travel. The pioneers in the west must have thought the world was ending when first, the New Madrid Earthquake struck in Missouri and was felt all the way to Boston and four years later they suffered through the year with no summer where they had frost and snow flurries in July and August.
In 1814, George Rapp of Harmony Society decided to sell the Pennsylvania lands and the Harmony Society moved to a new site, on the Wabash River, twenty-five miles above the Ohio River, in Posey County, Indiana.
About 1815, Jacob Funk and John Samuel McAdams founded the town of New Amsterdam, in Harrison County, Indiana. New Amsterdam's future may have looked bright, it was down river from the Falls of the Ohio and was a few miles from the town of Corydon which was the Territorial and later the State Capitol of Indiana. Around 1900, New Amsterdam was described as a bustling river town with about 400 residents. On the 2000 census, it was one of handful of places in the USA with an official population of one.
Also in 1815, John Williams purchased 320 acres of land about one mile inland from New Amsterdam from the federal government. The land office records show the purchaser was "John Williams of Breckinridge, Kentucky." This county is located across the Ohio River from Harrison County. We have not found any additional records about John Williams in Breckinridge County.
In 1818, "John Williams and Rebecca his wife" sold the New Amsterdam property. He appears to have made a substantial profit from this land, buying it for $400 and selling it three years later for $2,000. Starting with this sale, we can find no record of John Williams until 1821 including his absence from the 1820 census.
On the 1820 census, Frederick Wolfer is shown residing in Posey County, Indiana in Harmony town with the name spelled as "Wolflert." The entry show that the family had two sons and two daughters. One of the sons is in the correct bracket to be John Wolfer.
In 1821, John Williams purchases some land in New Albany, Indiana area. It seems logical that he was attempting to repeat his New Amsterdam success by buying land in another newly founded Ohio River town.
I have suspected that during the 1819-1821 period that John Williams might have been investigating other locations to invest in property along the Ohio River down to the Mississippi River. I have attempted to look at the land records along both sides of the Ohio south from New Albany and have found nothing that would support this theory.
There are records for the Harmony Society that mention business transactions with a John Williams. There is also an account of a John Williams being charged with assualt and the Posey County land records show a sale in 1819 involving "John Williams and Rither his wife." (see Recker mentioned below). All of these are possibilities but there is absolutely no evidence to connect any of these individuals to our John Williams. This name is very common and in the the search of the Ohio River counties land records almost every county had one or more John Williams recorded. I was most surprised when I came across a county where the name was not present.
In the summer of 1823, John Woolfert and another boy reportedly ran away from the Harmony Society. John Woolfert was reported to be staying with a James Berry in America, Alexander County, Illinois. This information comes from a book by Karl J. R. Arndt titled A Documentary History of the Indiana Decade of the Harmony Soicety, 1814-1824. There had apparently been some contact with John and he was being encouraged to return home to his father but seemed reluctant to do that.
The following Spring, the Harmony Society advertised it land in Posey County for sale. The sale is completed and in 1825 the Harmony members move back to a new site in Pennsylvania. The new settlement is called "Economy."
There is a biography of John H. Wolfer (John's son) in The Portrait and Biographical Record of Portland and Vicinity Oregon published in 1903. This articles says that John H. Wolfer's father had been born in Butler County, Pennsylvania in 1806 and then "when he was twenty years of age started out on his own responsibility in Illinois." This would place John Wolfer being on his own around 1826. We have no information about whether John Wolfer returned to Pennsylvania with the Harmony people or stayed in Indiana/Illinois.
There is a marriage record in Alexander County on April 4, 1828 between a John Milford (or Wolford depending on which source you use) to Lucinda Tinsdale. The last name of Tinsdale does not fit but Lucinda was eleven years older than John, so a prior marriage could be possible.
On the 1830 census, Frederick Wolfer is residing in the Economy Pennsylvania area. John Wolfer does not appear to be in the area.
On the 1830 census for Tazewell County, Illinois are three consecutive entries (implies close neighbors) for a Joseph Williams, John Williams and John Wolfer. The entry for John Williams has a male and female in the correct age brackets to be John and Rebecca Williams. The entry for John Wolfer includes a male and female in the correct age brackets to be John & Lucinda Wolfer. John Williams is reputed to have had a brother named Joseph. We find no further mentions of John Wolfer or John Williams in Tazewell County. However, there is a record of government land sale to a John Williams in adjoining McLean County in 1825. The land office records reflect the current county boundaries. In 1830, this property was actually located in Tazewell County. There is no information to determine if this is the right John Williams.
John H. Wolfer died in 1910 and is buried in the Zimmerman Cemetery in Clackamas County, Oregon. The tombstone says that he was born August 21, 1834 in "Floyd County, Indiana." We know that John Williams was in Floyd County in March of that year as he personally appeared at the Floyd County Circuit Court to apply for his pension.
During the early 1830s there is a split in the Economy Society run by George Rapp. Frederic and Rudolph Wolfer were part of the group that left the Society.
On September 4, 1835, John Wolfer was at the Jeffersonville land office to purchase an 40 acre parcel in Harrison County. The description of this property was the Northwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 35, Township 1 south, range 3 east.
On March 16, 1836 John Williams was at the Jeffersonville land office to purchase a 72 acre in Blue River Township, Harrison County, Indiana from the Federal Government. The description of the property is the east half of the northeast quarter of Section 2, township 2 south, range 3 east.
On November 12, 1836 John Wolfer and Lucinda his wife sold 40 acres of the property they received from the federal government one year earlier. This land was actually sold prior to the issuance of the land patent on March 16, 1837.
On October 21, 1837 Rudloph Wolfer purchases 80 acres next to John Williams property. The description of this land is the west half of the southeast quarter of Section 2, Township 2 south, range 3 east.
On January 13, 1838, John Wolfer buys 36 acres of that parcel from John and Rebecca Williams.
On the 1840 census for Blue River Township, Harrison County Indiana are consecutive entries for Rudolph Wolffer, Frederick Wolffer, John Wolffer and John Williams.
On January 16, 1841 John Wolfer purchased 47.54 acres described as the north end of the west half of the northwest quarter of Section 1, Township 2 south, range 3 east.
John Williams died on April 19, 1844.
On February 7, 1846, John Williams' son, William Williams sold the 36 acre parcel that had been owned by John Williams. Rebecca Williams signed away her dower rights. There is no mention in the deed of how Williams had obtained title and no probate record can be located for an estate for John Williams.
On March 16, 1846 John and Lucinda Wolfer sold the 36 acre parcel purchased from John Williams and the 47.54 acres purchased in 1841.
An 1846 s school enumeration for Harrison County for District
1, Township 2 South Range 3 East shows John Wolfer and his children Mary and Henry and Rudolph Wolfer and his two children Elizabeth and Samuel. The same enumeration for 1847 does not include the Wolfers.
1, Township 2 South Range 3 East shows John Wolfer and his children Mary and Henry and Rudolph Wolfer and his two children Elizabeth and Samuel. The same enumeration for 1847 does not include the Wolfers.
On September 7, 1848 Rudolph Woolfler and his wife Katherina of Shelby County, Missouri sold the 80 acre parcel that was purchased in 1837 in Harrison County, Indiana.
On the 1850 Census, John Wolfer is residing alone in the Bethel Boarding House, in Shelby County, Missouri. This is part of the Bethel German Colony. Lucinda Woolfer is shown residing in Blue River Township, Harrison County, Indiana with John H. Wolfer age 16 and Mary A. Wolfer age 18. Also in that household is a "Recker Williams" and eighty year old female born in North Carolina. Based on the names of other households on the same page as this entry, it appears likely that Lucinda Wolfer's home was in the same general area as the land they had previously owned.
On the 1860 Census, John and Lucinda Wolfer are living together in the Bethel community in Shelby County, Missouri. Around 1862 John & Lucinda went by wagon train to Oregon the new settlement being formed by the Bethel Group and known as the Aurora Colony. Later that year, there was an outbreak of small pox. John Wolfer was attempting to tend to some of the sick and may have carried the disease home to Lucinda, who then died.
Could Lucinda Wolfer Be the Daughter of John Williams
I don't believe we have enough information to reach the conclusion. However, there is some evidence supporting that point. Lucinda Wolfer was born September 10, 1795 in North Carolina. John Williams was clearly living in that area at that time. The 1810 census record for Cumberland County, Kentucky, for the family we suspect is John Williams included a female in the correct age bracket to be Lucinda.
The Wolfers appear to have been living close to the Williams in 1830 in Tazewell County and again in 1834 in Floyd County and then from about 1836 to 1850 in Harrison County. The death certificate for John H. Wolfer says that his mother was "Lucinda Willmans" who was born in "Contuckey." (So much for spelling!).
The biography mentioned above stated that John H. Wolfer's mother was "Lucinda (James) Wolfer." Lucinda was eleven years older than John, so a prior marriage seems possible. We have not found any records for a Lucinda James marrying a John Wolfer. There is the marriage in Alexander County, Illinois of a Lucinda Tinsdale to a John Milford or Wolford in 1828. This marriage fits with he timeline that we have from the John H. Wolfer biography.
Looking at the possibility that Lucinda had previously been married to a Tinsdale, I found using a soundex search an 1814 marriage record in Clark County, Indiana between a Patience Williams and a Thomas Tunstall. A Thomas Tunstall appears on the 1820 census in Harrison County and I have not found him after that date. More research is required to followup on this possible lead.
One contrary bit of evidence is the sale of the John Williams property by his son, William Williams. If Lucinda was John daughter, we would expect her to be involved in the sale.
