Yesterday's Birthdays - 31 August

On August 31, 1848, Charles A Linn was born in Otterberg, Rhenish, Germany to parents, Charles Anton and Charlotte (Spindler) Linn.  He came to this country about 1851 with his parents and three sisters.  The family made their way to Ripley, Ohio where, by 1860, three other children joined the family.  Charles's youngest sibling, John, arrived in 1863.

Charles was educated in the Ripley schools and after high school, he attended the Cincinnati Law School, graduating in 1869.  He was a prominent lawyer and served, for a time, as the prosecuting attorney for Brown County.

On 10 December 1872, he married Louisa Weiand.  They had three children, Allen, Robert, and Alice. The family made their home on Third Street.  Charles was an active member of the Masonic Order, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Knights of Pythias.  He was a member of the German Lutheran Church.  Death took Charles on 12 June 1927.  He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery.

Charles A and Louisa (Weiand) Linn

Charles and grandson, Kenneth - 1907

A Fateful Trip on the Magnolia

The small town of Ripley, Ohio is located about fifty miles east of Cincinnati, and in 1868, one option for travel between the two cities was by steamer on the Ohio River. One such steamer, the Magnolia, was a popular mail line packet that regularly traveled between Maysville, Kentucky and Cincinnati.

My great-great-great grandmother, Catherine Thill, came to this country in 1848 from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France. She was twelve years old. Her family settled in Cincinnati where, in 1860, she married Nicholas Becker. By 1864, Nicholas, Catherine and their young son, Nicholas, Jr. moved to Ripley where they spent the remainder of their lives.

On Wednesday, March 18, 1868, Catherine and Nicholas, Jr., having spent time in Cincinnati, were returning to Ripley aboard the steamer Magnolia. They were just two of the 145 passengers and crew on board that day. As the Magnolia passed by the small Kentucky village of California, a horrible explosion occurred. Many were burned, drowned, or otherwise injured.

Luckily, Catherine and Nicholas, Jr. were not injured. They and the other unharmed passengers were taken by rescuers in skiffs to California. Between eighty and ninety people lost their lives in the terrible accident, including several citizens of Ripley.

An account of this incident can be found on Riverboat Dave's Paddlewheel Site. His account is taken from an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer, however, the date on the site is incorrect. In March of 1868, the 17th was a Tuesday, not a Thursday. A list of passengers and crew are also on the site, however, there is no mention of Catherine Becker or her son, Nicholas. A Mrs. Baker, of Ripley, is mentioned. I believe this to be a misspelling of Becker.

My information about this story can be found in the book Historical Collections of Brown County, Ohio compiled by Carl N. Thompson, copyright 1969. Mr. Thompson's story of the Magnolia accident was obtained from the Martin Family History, published in the Ripley Bee in 1928. It includes Catherine Becker and states

"Mrs. Becker, who is now about 91 years of age (1928) had her eight year old son with her, now a well known citizen of Ripley."

Amy Montgomery Becker

Amy Elouise Montgomery was born on 17 September ,1891 in her parent's house at 207 North Fourth Street in Ripley, Ohio. She was William Albert and Flora Linn Montgomery's second child. Amy's older brother, Hodson Linn, was three years older. After her marriage to Louis Lynn Becker in 1911, she and her husband lived in Stuebenville, Ohio where he was employed at a clothing store. Six years later, their daughter, Janet Linn was born.

When Janet was five years old, the family returned to live in Ripley. There, she was a member of the Ripley Centenary Church and the Danbery Chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star of which she served as an officer. She also belonged to the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Not wanting to be called Grandma or Grandmother, Amy was known as Dee Dee by her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Widowed at age 52, she was a very independent woman and often took her two granddaughters to Cincinnati for shopping and lunch. In the summer, she would travel to Jacksonville, Florida by train to visit an old friend.

Amy lived just a few houses down from her daughter, Janet Haitz, on Fourth Street in Ripley. During the day, she would visit with her daughter and return to her home in the evening. According to the February 4, 1966 issue of Hillsboro, Ohio's newspaper, Press Gazette, Cincinnati had received nine inches of snow on the first day of February, its worst snowfall in fifty years. The areas surrounding the city, including Ripley, fared no better. With the weather so cold and snowy, Amy stayed overnight at Janet's house during this time. In the early morning hours of February 3, Amy died in her sleep having suffered a heart attack. Funeral services were conducted on Saturday, February 5 with burial in Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley.

The Haitz Family

In today's world, Joe and Henrietta Haitz would have been the stars of a reality show on cable television. In their day, they were not stars. They were the very busy parents of sixteen, facing the ups and downs of farm life and managing to do so without all of our modern conveniences, in ways that few of us today can even imagine.

Joseph Haitz and Henrietta Koewler were married on October 27, 1902 in Ripley, Ohio where they had both been born and raised. The wedding took place at St. Michael's Catholic Church which stood, and still stands, on the corner of Fourth and Market Streets.

About eight months later, Henrietta and Joe were expecting their first child. Margaret J. made her appearance on February 18, 1904. Her siblings would follow in rapid succession. They were as follows : Robert (1905), Mary Louise (1906), Elizabeth H. (1907), Joseph William (1909), Henrietta (1910), Frank A. (1911), Emma J. (1912), George Henry (1914), Jack Irenas (1915), James Rudolph (1916), Albert Louis (1918), Catherine (1920), Rita (1921), Virginia Ann (1923), and Ruth (1924).

The family was believed to be the largest family in Brown County and their photograph was published several times in the local newspaper, The Ripley Bee. At the time of Joe's death in 1960, he and Henrietta had been married for 57 years. They had 43 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren.

Janet Linn Becker

Janet Linn Becker was born April 21, 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio which is in Jefferson County. Her parents, Louis and Amy (Montgomery) Becker were originally from Ripley, Ohio, but were living in Steubenville due to Louis's job as a salesman. The family would return to live in Ripley by the time Janet was 12 years old.

George Henry Haitz

George Henry Haitz was born March 10, 1914 in Ripley, Brown County, Ohio. He was the ninth child and fourth son of Joseph and Henrietta (Koewler) Haitz. His childhood was spent on the family farm.

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!