A few days ago my wife & I traveled to Indiana, just southwest of Cincinnati, Ohio. I dropped Kris off for a session at the casino while I went to the nice new Genealogy Room at the public library… paid for, somewhat, by the same casino.
No stunning new facts were unearthed this time. This post is to summarize what I did learn.
A number of documents delved deeply into the Willman(n) families. For all I know, they are related to my Maria Ilsbe Willmann Metting who was on the (famous in my mind) boat Marianne in 1843. Nothing shows a specific connection, but Maria was buried in Farmers Retreat. One extensive family tree [found at this library] begins with a Christian Wilhelm Willman, born in 1770, who immigrated from Bonn Germany in 1785 with his parents. Maria was born in about 1779, so they might have been siblings or cousins but I suspect they came from different regions.
The Willman info was compiled by a Jack R. McGuire, Sr. of Cincinnati (as of 1995). McGuire is a family name of mine, but with nothing to do with Farmers Retreat stuff. So why, among the many pages of Willman genealogy, was there a picture labeled “Frank Snow and Ethel Marie Willman” which was taken in Sabina, Ohio!? [My McGuires were a big part of Sabina Ohio in the 1880s.] If Jack is still with us and able to be contacted, I’ll have to ask.
The church records were what I had hoped for, although there is absolutely no trace of the 3 siblings I was looking for, i.e., the Bussdickers traveling as Mettings.
Included in the burials at St. John’s Lutheran Church were:
John Henry Metting, died 22 Jul 1844, age 41+
John Henry Metting (son), died 22 Jul 1844
John Henry Metting, born 1814, died 30 Jun 1846
Marie Metting, died 19 Feb 1853 at age 73+
along with Lickings, and Kuhlmans.
Many marriages, Baptisms, and confirmations were listed which involves the key families, but none of the results looked especially promising.
A History of Dearborn & Ohio Counties, IN mentions a Mart Matting as an early member of the church.
I did read another interpretation of the name “Farmers Retreat.” This one had to do with earlier settlers. A very early settler was named James McGuire and he has built a blockhouse on his land. According to this story, nearby settlers would race to this blockhouse when Indians were “on the warpath.” Hence the Farmers’ Retreat. The other story was Civil War base, so eventually I’ll find out just WHEN they began using this name instead of Opptown.
Thanks to the librarian/genealogist Joyce Baer, I found a 1860 map of Cesar Creek in Dearborn County, IN. Various pieces of property were owned by Kuhlmans and Lickings and one farm was owned by J. Metting. The land wrapped right around St. John’s Church! He was, I think, named Johann/John. Ms. Baer reminded me (if I ever knew) that in order to buy land at the Cincinnati Land Office, you had to be a citizen. So the German immigrants shown on the map had to have become naturalized. A Henry Metting “declared” in 1838 — i.e., stated his intention to become a citizen, and he did become a citizen in 1845. So he was not one the Marianne with my 25 relatives. I wonder if he handed the property down to a son named Johann.
It looks like I “need” to get to Newport, KY if I want to fill in the years 1843-1855 for Henry Mathias Bussdicker and his siblings. A cousin in MN has found a very intriguing 1850 Census record for Cincinnati proper which just might reveal the location of Henry Mathias’s siblings when he was with his (possible/probable) step-mother and Myres, the tailor. I had seen the record years ago, but it included a William Boozdegger (maybe my favorite crazy spelling) which didn’t seem useful. Lo & behold, there’s a Mary Busdicker in the household too… living with a tavernkeeper named Phola. Pretty intriguing stuff.
