Notes |
- Notes for CHRISTIAN WILLMAN:
Christian Willman, with his parents, Johnn Adam and Elizabeth WIllman, brothers Conrad, Hendrick, Wilhelm and sister Maria, left Bonn, Germany, sailing from Amsterdam on the ship Adolph and landing at Philadelphia on August 27, 1785.
Christian's travels eventually took him through Pennsylvania to Washington, Mason county, KY, where he is shown as a taxpayer in the Second Census of Kentucky. He served with Captain Smith's Company of the First Kentucky Light Dragoons and with John Payne's Company of Col. James V. Balls Dragoons during the War of 1812.
Christian, his wife Belinda (Linna) and children came to Adams County, Ohio in 1812 or 1813, settling in the Wheat Ridge area. He died Sept. 4, 1840 and is buried Willman Family Cemetary on Tater Ridge Road, Adams County, Ohio.
Christian appears to have had many children with those known being: Adam, born 1803, lived in the Wheat Ridge area for almost all his life. When he first came to Adams county, there was an almost unbroken forest from Treber's Tavern on Lick Fork to Hemphill's farm on the West Fork of Brush Creek. No towns-business was conducted at the little straggling village of West Union. He was present at the laying out and selling of lots in Newport (Lawshe) and Jacksonville. Adam was an old-time Democrat, voting a straight ticket and was proud that he helped make General Jackson President. When he first voted, he went to Cannon's Tavern where Locust Grove now stands. Adam was very fond of music, playing the violin and as a fifer at political and militia gatherings.
Taken from a news article:
The gravesite of a long, local veteran of the War of 1812 has recently been discovered and memorialized by Adams County and New Jersey Descendants. A diligent search through old county records in West Union and in Maysville, Kentucky, led to the unearthing of his ancient 1840 gravestone in a field on the farm of Kenneth Seaman in Oliver Township. It was from old deed records setting aside a plot of land on the farm as a family cemetary in perpetuity that it was determined where he might be. Land patent descriptions of the time led to the present day farm where it was thought the cemetary was. Contact through local historian, Stephen Kelley and Christian descendants, Tom Conkle, of West Union and Evelyn Brothers of Eckmansville led to other famly members in the area.
It's present day owner, Kenneth Seaman, later determined to be a Christian descendant through marriage, became very interested in the search. With his help and that of the late Wilber "Boss" Willman, Boss's daughter Ann Willman Young and Eunice Willman Williamson of Linwood, New Jersey, the overgrown gravesite was located in a corn field on the farm. No gravestones were seen, but in clearing the plot of a growth of weeds, vines, stumps and saplings, the ancient gravestone of Christian was found buried in the earth where it long ago toppled over. It was recovered at turned over to Peebles Monument Co. for later inclusion with memorial. A veterans gravestone was provided by the US Veterans Administration and completed by the Peebles Monument Company, which provides this service to the graves of veterans at no cost. Noth stones were mounted at the gravesite, surrounded by temporary fencing provided by Mr. Seaman.
Suitable iron fencing is being sought by the family. Christian Willman came to the US from Germany with his family on the ship Adolph in 1785 at the age of 15 years shortly after the revolutionary war. His travels to Adams County took him through Pennsylvania and Washington, Kentucky. Christian's occupation was that of barber in the thriving town. In 1797, he advertised in a local newspaper, The Mirror, for a "smart" boy from from 12 to 15 years of age as a barber and hair dressing apprentice". The census of 1800 shows him as resident and taxpayer in Washington. The house were the family lived still stands in Washington and is now known as Fox Bickley House. Being married, he raised his young family there, where he volunteered and served as a trumpeter in the First Regiment of the Kentucky Light Dragoons druing the War of 1812. It was an importatnt military duty at the time, as commands to field units into battle were made through the trumpets or bugles. Military records show that he had served two enlistments with that calvary unit.
Mason County, Kentucky deeds show that he sold his land in Washington in the early 1800's. Land records of Adams County later show family acquisition of land in what first became Meigs Township and was later to become the Oliver Township of today. Remains of the long gone farm home can still be turned up in the field where the family cemetary was found. Along with other Adams County Families with which they intermarried, including Thompsons, Frys, Carskadons, and Stouts, the early Willman's pioneered the land and became farmers, sheriffs, justices of the peace, and dealt in real estate. Some descendants stayed on to this day, others went west and pioneered Nebraska City, Omaha and Denver. Scattered far and wide today, many are returning to their roots in Adams County where annual reunions are held in August at Serpent Mound State Park. With the discovery and memorializing of their forebear Christians grave, an important link in their heritage has been forged.
From another newspaper clipping Submitted by Mrs. Paul Young: Memorial Day 1989 was truly a memorable day for descendants of Christian Willman as they gathered at the final resting place of this early Ohio pioneer on the Kenneth Seaman farm. Kinfolk came from New Jersey, Michigan, West Virginia, Indiana, Vermont and long distances in Ohio to pay their respect to their forefather. Over 70 people (including veterans and auxillarry members of the Charles H. Eyre American Legion Post of Seaman who conducted military) where present for a very impressive ceremony.
It was a special time and a priviledge to pay homage to this ancestor who was a soldier in the War of 1812. Appropriately, one of Christian's young descendants played "taps". Christian had at one time also been a trumpeter.
Children of CHRISTIAN WILLMAN and BELINDA are:
3.i. ADAM3 WILLMAN, b. 1803, Kentucky; d. 1879, Adams County, Unity Cemetary. ii. JAMES VINCENT WILLMAN, b. September 14, 1808; m. LETITIA CERSKADDEN, January 12, 1832. Notes for JAMES VINCENT WILLMAN:
Served as Justice of the Peace and later Sheriff of Adams County, before immigrating to Missouri and onto Otoe, Co., Nebraska with his wife and 4 children.
4.iii. PARTHENIA WILLMAN, b. July 04, 1818, Adams County, Ohio; d. June 19, 1880, Adams County, Ohio.5.iv. HENRY WILLMAN, b. 1821.
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