Jacob and Esther Middlekauff tombstones

Here are pics of Jacob and Esther Middlekauff's tombstones referenced in my blog entry of 10/24/2007. The tombstones can be found at the German Reformed Cemetery in Sharpsburg, MD.

Jacob Middlekauff tombstone

So, I'm cruising the Internet this evening, at the moment trying to find out some information about Esther (possibly Hester) Reel, another dead end in my current research. I find a paragraph of information that she's buried in the German Reformed Church cemetery in Sharpsburg, MD. I google the cemetery to see if I can find something out, and come across an article about a group of volunteers who were cleaning up the cemetery in 2003. There's a couple of pictures with the article, so I click on them. To my amazement, one of the pictures features the tombstone of one of our relatives, Jacob Middlekauff!


The inscription on the tombstone reads, "To the Memory of JACOB MIDDLEKAUFF, Son, who departed this life on the 25th day of January A.D. 1834. Aged 75 years, 9 months and 15 days."

Jacob Middlekauff married Esther (Hester) Reel and they had a daughter, Susanna Middlekauf.
Susanna Middlekauff married David Wolf and they had a daughter, Sarah Wolf
Sarah Wolf married Elias Finifrock and they had a daughter, Sarah Finifrock
Sarah Finifrock married Joseph Ringer and they had a son, George Ringer
George Ringer married Ida Scharnikow and ..... well, you probably know the rest!

Jacob Middlekauff was MY great-great-great-great-grandfather.

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good!

Here's the link to the article:
http://www.herald-mail.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=56866&format=html

Correction for 8/29/07 entry re George Elias Ringer

According to George Elias Ringer's WWI draft registration card (pictured below), he was born on 6/26/1888. This is corroborated by the U.S. Census records of 1900, 1910 and 1920 (though the 1900 census lists his birth year as 1889).


This clears up the confusion about the marriage and birth dates I entered earlier. Apparently the online Lanark County, IL records as relating to the birthdates are incorrect.

The original paragraph I posted:

Elias Finifrock and Sara Wolf were the parents of Sarah Ellen Finifrock (1861-1946) who married Joseph Ringer in 1881 or 1886 (there is conflicting evidence as to which date is correct). Joseph & Sarah Ellen were the parents of George Elias Ringer, born 1883. The online county records indicate that the correct year of the marriage was 1886 and also lists the correct year of birth for George Elias Ringer as 1883. I have to think the 1881 date is more likely to be correct, as I can't imagine Joseph and Sarah marrying three years after the birth of their first son. Furthermore, the online county records show that John Ringer (George's brother) was born on May 10,
1885, a year and a half before the proposed marriage date.

Elias Ringer, b 1807 - d 1872

I spent some time today working on trying to break the log jam of my research of the Ringer name. I've traced it back to Elias Ringer, born in 1807 in Maryland. From there, I have no idea where to go. I know that Elias married a Mary Ann Neetz (possibly Netz), b.1815-d.1890 in 1833.

Technically, I'm only about 90% sure that Elias is the father of Jonathan Ringer (1836-1902) who I am certain is our relative. Here's my evidence that they are related. At the time of the 1840 census, Jonathan would have been about 4 years old. That census only listed the head of household name, and then had columns to list others in the household, by age. The column that indicates males under 5 years old indicates 2 young boys in the household, plus another boy aged 5 to 10. There is one mark for a male aged 30 to 40 (which would fit how old Elias would have been in 1840) and only one female listed in the column between ages 20 and 30 (which corresponds to the age Mary Ann would have been at the time.

An interesting aside to the 1840 census is that the entry above Elias Ringer shows a John Ringer, with one male between the ages of 15-20 in the household, 2 between 40-50 and 1 between 60 and 70 years old, along with one female between the ages of 15-20 and another female between the ages of 40-50. Given the adjacent entries in the census record, it is very likely that John and Elias were neighbors, and very likely related. Was John an older brother of Elias and the elder man in the household their father?

Unfortunately, the Elias Ringer family seems to have missed out on the 1850 census.... there is no listing for them. Moving right along to 1860 we find Elias and Mary Ann again, and this time, thankfully, the census administrators had their workers collect names and data on every person in the household. However... there is no John or Jonathan in the household. Besides Elias and Mary Ann, the census lists Joseph Ringer, age 22; Otho J Ringer, age 17; Maria E Ringer, age 15; Ann R Ringer, age 12; Cyrus Ringer, age 9; and Sarah Ringer, age 5.

Since Jonathan would have been about 24 at this time, we can assume he would have been out of the house and on his own. Indeed, if we skip about 20 pages ahead in the census book, we find Jonthan and his wife Adaline, with three children. Not exactly neighbors with Elias, but reasonably close by. The dates on the census report were June 25 for Elias (household number 555) and July 2 for Jonathan (household number 686). The person taking the census for both households was the same individual, Daniel Dechert.

I recently received the text of an obituary for Silas P Ringer (much thanks to Larry Gamby). Silas was a son of Elias and Mary Ann. The obituary lists all of Silas' surviving brothers and sisters. Included in the list is a brother, Jonathan. The text is as follows:

Silas P. Ringer of near Woodpoint, died at his home last night at 11 o'clock
of Consumption, aged 74 years. H leaves a widow, Mary E., and 6 children,
Edith, John, Jennie, Susan, Charles and George; three brothers and three
sisters, Benjamin and John, of this city, and Joseph, of Shady Grove;
sisters, Mrs. Van Lear Kershner, Mrs. Frank Sprecher, of Woodpoint, and Mrs.
David Huntsberger, of this city. Funeral services Sunday at 2 p. m. At Salem Church by Rev. G. A. Snyder; interment in graveyard adjoining.

[from the Daily Mail, dated 12/16/1899]

There are a few problems with this obituary, starting with the fact that Silas was born in 1851 or so and the obituary was written in 1899, yet lists him as 74 years old. But there seems to be enough evidence here (for the record, Sprecher and Huntsberger are the married names for sisters Maria, Anna and Sarah) to indicate that Jonathan (he often went by John) was a brother to the rest of the brothers and sisters in the family and, therefore, the son of Elias and Mary Ann. Like I say, I'm about 90% or so certain it's a match!

So.... it would be nice to have absolute confirmation that Jonathan was Elias's son... and it would be even nicer to find some clue that will lead me to determine who the parents of Elias were. If anyone can provide some evidence that would help.... I will be eternally grateful!