The Linn Brothers

Michael and Magdalena Linn had four sons, in addition to their two daughters, that lived to adulthood.  Interestingly, three of those sons never married.   All but Louis stayed in Ripley their entire lives and worked in the retail business dealing with either dry goods or clothing.

William F. Linn, also known as Wilhelm F.,  was born September 13, 1856.  He married Ida Beyersdoerfer in 1897.  They became the parents of two children, Michael Raymond and Elizabeth.  W. F., as he was commonly known, died in Ripley in 1953.

Born Ludwig L. on November 1, 1858, Louis left Ripley at an early age.  In 1880, he was living in Atchison, Kansas along with his cousin, Henry Linn.  He then settled in Gunnison, Colorado.  For reasons unknown, he returned to Ripley by 1910 where he stayed until his death in 1935.

Emil Linn was the twin of his sister, Emilie, or Amelia as she was called.  The twins were born on the last day of January in 1861.  Emil was a grocer.  He, along with his younger brother, Walter, lived with their sister, Flora, until Flora's death.  After her passing, they continued to live in the Montgomery house on Fifth Street until their deaths.  Emil died in 1947. 

The youngest Linn son was Walter.  He was born April 30, 1863.  Walter was a dry goods merchant in Ripley.  He died September 17, 1954.  Upon his death, his estate was valued at $220,005.78.

Louis Lynn Becker's Birth Record

Louis was the first child and only son of Nicholas and Anna (Beyersdoerfer) Becker.  The line below Louis's record is that of his cousin, Errol Beyrsdoerfer, son of Anna's brother, Conrad.

Five Generations - Wenser/Young, Beyersdoerfer, Becker, Haitz

There aren't too many families that can take a picture of five generations so I'm glad that someone took this one!

Seated left to right -

Elizabeth Wenser/Young Beyersdoerfer  (1843 - 1937)
Janet Linn Becker Haitz  (1917 - 1984)
Janet is holding her daughter, Gail Ann, born 1935

Standing -

Anna Beyersdoerfer Becker (1864 - 1950)
Louis Lynn Becker  (1888 - 1943)

Ripley, Ohio

Postal Service - Yesterday and Today

With all the talk in the news about the United States Postal Service cutting Saturday deliveries has started me thinking about mail delivery and the Postal Service in the past.  

As you know, I only lived in Ripley until I was three years old which was when my father rejoined the Army and we moved.  I lived there again during my seventh grade school year in 1969 - 70 while my dad was in Vietnam so most of my earlier memories of Ripley come from those vacation weeks spent with my grandparents.  

The postal service is probably not high on anyone's list of favorite childhood memories, but, once again, it is the differences from one's normal life and routine which is what stands out and is remembered.  I DO remember mail delivery in Ripley during the 1960's.  Now I can't tell you the exact years this happened or the name of the mailman, but I can tell you it was a man who brought the letters and packages to my grandparents' house.  You are probably thinking that this poor Army kid didn't have a mailman which is why she remembers it so fondly, but that is not it.  What was so different is that the mailman in Ripley climbed that Fourth Street hill with his bag of mail TWO times each day!  Once in the morning and then once again in the afternoon!  And...he walked!  

Now, I don't really remember if my mailman in wherever I happened to be living at the time actually walked or drove to deliver the mail, but I can tell you that it was delivered only once a day.  Why Ripley had two deliveries is a mystery to me.  Maybe they really enjoyed writing letters to people or maybe they ordered a lot of goodies through the mail.  Maybe a lot of small towns during those days had two mail deliveries.  I don't know, but it sure made an impression on me.

I own Carl Thompson's book, Historical Collections of Brown County, Ohio which is a great book with a lot of different kinds of information about the county in it.  There is a section about the postal service in Ripley which I found interesting enough to share.  

It seems that the Postal Service in Ripley goes back to 1816 when Alexander Campbell was the Postmaster.   From 1887 to 1891, and then again from 1895 to 1899, a Mary Beyersdorfer was the Postmaster or, I guess today, we would call her the Postmistress.  I don't know if she is related to my Beyersdoerfer's, but chances are she is in some way.  The spelling is lacking that extra "e", but that doesn't really mean anything.  I've seen it spelled both ways for the same person.  

In the early days, the salary of the Postmaster depended on how many stamps they sold or canceled.  In 1885, the salary of Ripley's Postmaster was $1,300.  I imagine that was a lot of stamps that Henry Biehn, who the Postmaster at the time, sold and canceled!

With all our technology, stamps do not sell as well as they used to and UPS and FedEx deliver a lot of our packages.  Letter writing is quickly becoming a lost art so maybe we don't really need the Saturday delivery.  If it comes to that, I, for one, would probably miss going to the mailbox on Saturday for a while, but when I think about it, who needs all that junk mail anyway!  

Inside the Hat Store

Last week I posted a picture showing the outside of my ggg-grandmother's millinery shop.  Today's picture is of the inside, as well as a family portrait.  The photograph is not labeled so there was some investigative work to do before I could name the people.  The "investigative team" was made up of my mom, her sister, and myself.  We aren't professionals, but I think we hit the correct identifications.  Having the twins in the picture was a huge help!  My mother also recognized her grandfather, Louis, as a child which helped a lot, too!

There is no date on the photograph, but the twins, Edith and Ethel, standing in their plaid dresses, helps to give an approximate year when it was taken.  Their birth year was 1890, and I think they look about three.  

That's their brother, Louis, standing to the left.  He must have been about five or six years old.  His grandmother, Catherine Thill Becker, is seated next to him while her son, Nicholas, Jr. is standing behind her.  I'm not absolutely sure, but it is logical that the lady next to Nicholas, Jr. is his wife, Anna Beyersdoerfer Becker.  She and Nicholas were my great great grandparents and the parents of Louis and the twins. 

The older gentleman sitting next to the twins is most likely Nicholas Becker, Sr., husband of Catherine.  We do not know for sure who the lady standing in the right corner behind him is, but I have my guesses.  I think she might be Anna's sister, Flora.  In the 1900 census, Flora is listed as a milliner.  She and Anna were very close right up to their deaths, having died only months apart.

The store seems quite small and crowded.  In later years, it would become a living area for the Becker family once the store, at that location, was closed.  Looking at all the cases and mirrors, I can just imagine the ladies of Ripley coming in to pick out the ribbons and other notions to adorn their hats.  

I'd like to thank my cousin, Nick Renneker, and his sister, Patsy, for sending me the pictures of the hat store.  We share Nicholas and Anna as their great, and my great-great, grandparents, yet only came to "find" one another last year through Ancestry.com.   It truly pays to share your family history through genealogy sites such as Ancestry, Footnote, Genealogybank, etc.  You never know who and what will come your way!   

Becker's Millinery Store

In 1866, Nicholas Becker opened a millinery store on Second Street in Ripley, Ohio.  He, his wife, Catherine, and son, Nicholas, Jr. had settled in the small town just two years earlier.

Catherine, whose maiden name was Thill, had come from a family of hat makers.  Her father, Nicholas, and her brothers, George and Joseph, owned and operated hat stores in Cincinnati.  In 1876, a men's hat and cap department was added to the Second Street store.  Nicholas, Jr. conducted that aspect of the business along side his mother who still operated the millinery shop.

Located on Second Street, the store served as both business and home.  Nicholas, Catherine, and their son's family all lived upstairs above the store.  It must have been tight quarters as Nicholas, Jr. and his wife, Anna Beyersdoerfer, were the parents of three children, Louis, Edith, and Ethel.

I do not know the date of this photograph, but I am fairly sure that the older lady on the sidewalk is Catherine.  I believe the man standing next to her is her son, Nicholas.  The other ladies were possibly employees of the store and I do not know who the young men are.  I am very curious as to who is looking out of the second story window.  I would assume it is a family member or housekeeper.  The 1900 census lists a housekeeper named Anna Fauth.  Or maybe it is Anna Beyersdoerfer Becker.  I will have to read up on techniques for dating photographs and then maybe I will have more of an educated guess.

Michael Beyersdoerfer, Cigar Maker

The History Of Brown County, Ohio

Michael Beyersdoerfer was a cigar maker.  He is listed as such in the 1883 History of Brown County Ohio book published by Beers.

However, Michael wasn't always a maker of cigars.  When he arrived in Levanna, Brown County, Ohio in 1852 from his native Germany, he was a blacksmith by trade.  After a year in Levanna, he purchased some land and opened a vineyard.  He must have seen some success in his endeavor as his name is listed as producing wine in the Vintage of 1858.  Then tragedy struck.  In the summer of 1865, while tending his grapes, Michael suffered sunstroke and was forced to end his career as a grape grower and wine producer.  The following year, he established his cigar making business and enjoyed a good trade in Ripley.

The photograph shows Michael in front of his store which was probably located on Main Street.  To his left is his son-in-law, Nicholas Becker.  The young man to Michael's right is unknown.

Barbara Bauer Young Wenser

Barbara Bauer was born about 1816 somewhere in Bavaria, Germany. She arrived in this country before 1843 which is the year her first daughter, Elizabeth, was born in Cincinnati.

Whether Barbara was married when she came to this country is still a mystery. I believe her husband's last name was Young. They had three daughters, Elizabeth, Anna M., and Mary. In 1850, he was not counted with the family in the census. I am assuming he was dead by that summer as Barbara and the girls could be found living in Ripley, Ohio in the household of Thomas and Anna Mariah Shafer. Their last name is recorded as Young. Next door was, who I believe to be Barbara's brother, Albert Bower, his wife, Elizabeth, and their son, Albert. I also believe that Anna Mariah Shafer was a Bauer/Bower by birth and this is possibly for whom Barbara named her second daughter.

By the 1860 census, Barbara's last name is Winzer and she has two additional children, Eva (8yrs. old) and William (6 yrs. old). There is no adult male living with the family and Elizabeth, Anna, and Mary are all listed as Winzer's. They are still located in Ripley, Ohio.

By 1870, Elizabeth had married Michael Beyersdoerfer. They and their children were living in Ripley. Barbara can be found in the same household along with another daughter, Minnie. Their last name is spelled Wensor in this census and Minnie appears to be 19 years old. It is possible that Minnie is the same daughter who was listed as Eva in the 1860 census. In addition to the Beyersdoerfer's and Wensor's, a sixteen year old boy, William Bauer, is also living in the house. He is apprenticed to Michael Beyersdoerfer as a cigar maker and I assume he is also related to Barbara in some way.

Barbara and Mena (Minnie) continue to live with Elizabeth and Michael through 1880 and that is the last record I can find about Barbara. Her gravestone in Ripley's Maplewood Cemetery shows her death was in 1898.

One can speculate about her husbands and name changes. There is a 35 year old George Young listed in the 1850 Hamilton County, Ohio mortality census as having died in August of 1849 from cholera. He was from Germany and his birth year makes him a possibility of having been Barbara's husband. Hopefully, one day I might be able to determine if he is connected or not. As for William Wenser, the only records of his existence are the notations on the death certificates of his daughters, Elizabeth, Mary, and Minnie as having been their father. I cannot explain why they do not name a Young as their father. I can find nothing else other than a listing in the IGI on www.familysearch.org that shows a William Wenser marrying a Barbara Bender in Cincinnati in 1850. The IGI source is named as Hamilton County, Ohio marriage records. Maybe Barbara Bender is my Barbara and her name was misunderstood. Again, maybe time will tell. Until then, I just keep on doing what I know to do - search, search, search.

Two Beyersdoerfer Sisters

Anna and Flora Beyersdoerfer were daughters of Michael and Elizabeth (Wenser/Young) Beyersdoerfer. They also had a brother, Conrad, and a sister, Ida.

Anna, six years older than Flora, was born September 26, 1864. Flora's birthday was February 20, 1870. Both girls were born in Ripley, Ohio and spent their entire lives in the small town.

In 1883, Anna married Nicholas Becker. They made their home on Second Street and would become the parents of three children, Louis, and twins, Ethel, and Edith. The children's Aunt Flora would remain single, living with her parents. In 1900, the census reported that Flora worked as a milliner most likely with Anna's mother-in-law, Catherine Thill Becker.

Anna and Flora died in 1950, only a little more than two months apart. Anna in February and Flora in May. Both are buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley.

Photo courtesy of Nick Renneker.

Lou Becker

Louis Lynn Becker was born in Ripley, Ohio on May 18, 1888. He was the first child and only son of Nicholas and Anna (Beyersdoerfer) Becker.

While his childhood was spent in Ripley, Lou moved to Stuebenville, Ohio in 1910, where, according to his 1917 World War I draft registration card, he worked as a salesman for Hub Clothing Store. On January 25, 1911, he married Amy Elouise Montgomery of Ripley. According to the marriage announcement in The Ripley Bee, printed on January 25, the couple were married in Cincinnati by the Rev. Gervais Roughton.

After a wedding trip, Amy and Louis returned to Stuebenville to begin their married life. It was in Stuebenville that their only daughter, Janet Linn Becker, was born in 1917. In 1922, the family returned to live in Ripley where Lou purchased the Linn Clothing Company, changing its name to Becker's Department Store.

Louis did not enjoy good health as he grew older. He had problems with his heart, and in June of 1943, he contracted pneumonia. Louis died on June 29 at 6:30 PM at Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio. He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley.

Ripley, Ohio

Ripley is located in Brown County, Ohio along the Ohio River about fifty miles east of Cincinnati. It was started around 1812 by Colonel James Poage. At the time, it was called Staunton from a Virginia town by the same name. It was changed to Ripley to honor General Eleazer Ripley who was an officer in the war of 1812.

Ripley was an important station on the Underground Railroad. It was here that escaping slaves would cross the Ohio River in search of freedom. Once across the river, the destination would be the Freedom Stairs leading to Reverend John Rankin's house high on the hill overlooking Ripley. It was the stories of Ripley and the narrow escapes of the slaves that inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to write the story of Eliza in her book Uncle Tom's Cabin.


Many members of my family settled in this small town as early as the mid-1800's. The Haitz's owned a farm just outside the town. The Becker's and the Linn's were store owners selling men's clothing. Michael Beyersdoerfer owned a vineyard just outside of Ripley and is listed in the Vintage of 1858 as producing wine there.

A Family With Deep Roots in Ohio

As I start this blog, I guess it's best to start with the basics - the who and the where. As time goes by, the details will emerge. This blog will focus on my maternal line - a diverse group of families. Represented in this line are Germans, Scotch - Irish, English, and French. Some first settled in the colonies of Maryland and Pennsylvania and went on to fight for freedon from the English crown. Others made the difficult decision to cross an ocean in the mid-1800's in hope of making a new life in this country. Today, their descendents can be found all across the United States, but the roots are deep in the soil of southwestern Ohio.

This blog will include stories, photographs, and vital statistics of the following families and those connected to them.

• Bauer
  
• Becker
  
• Beyersdoerfer

• Gates
  
• Germann
  
• Guy
  
• Haitz
  
• Koewler
  
• Linn
  
• Montgomery
  
• Thill

I am looking forward to sharing this family with you. They are an interesting group of people!
Until later!