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.

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.

Henrietta Koewler Haitz

In a previous post, I introduced you to the very large Haitz family of Ripley, Ohio. Today, I want to concentrate on my great-grandmother, Henrietta, the mother of those sixteen children.

Henrietta Koewler was born in Ripley, Ohio on December 2, 1880 to immigrant parents, Anton (Anthony) and Henrietta (Fischer) Koewler. She was the seventh of eight children in the family. At the age of twenty-one, she married Joseph Haitz and lived on the farm where she would raise her family. On the twenty-third of March 1965, Henrietta, a widow, died in her home from a heart attack. She is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Ripley.

Sadly, that is about the extent of what I know about Henrietta. Although I was born in Brown County, I did not live there after the age of three as my father was in the military which took us to various posts out of the Ohio area. Even though I am sure I saw her before age three, the only memories of my great-grandmother come from the few times I went with my grandfather, George Henry Haitz, to her house while on summer vacations during the two years preceding her death.

I remember those warm summer evenings, sitting on her porch steps while she, sitting in a porch swing, talked to my grandfather. Unfortunately, as a result of where I sat in relation to the swing, her face is not in my memories. When I think of my great-grandmother, only her legs come to mind which is why, if I live to see great-grandchildren, I will make sure they sit on my lap and not at my feet!

While I may not have many memories of her, I am sure that with having sixteen children and living on a farm without our modern conveniences, Henrietta's life was not an easy one. I often wonder how she managed those necessary everyday tasks such as laundry, cooking, and keeping a house clean while raising her children and, probably, helping with farm chores. Her life and dreams must have been put on a "back burner" as there was no time to pursue any personal goals. Her goals, most likely, would have been to live each day the best she could and make sure her family was fed, clothed, and well. I wish I was able to sit with her on that porch swing today, listening as she shared stories about her life. I have no doubt that she could teach all of us more than just a few lessons about priorities, life, and family!

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.

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.

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.

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.