By Harry H. Ahrens

of the Henry Kimmel Branch

Written in 1921

Leonard Kimmel was born in 1741 at Manheim Germany.  Immigrated to America in 1758 settling near Glade Sumerset County PA.  There he married Miss Susanna Zimmerman.  In 1800 he moved his family to Cheat River West Virginia.  There with his sons he quarried stone and made burrs for gristmills marketing them after floating them down the river on rafts.  Later he purchased government land in Rumley Township Harrison Co., OH on which he settled in 1807.  At his advanced age of 66 with his family he faced the peril and hardship in a country that was unbroken save with narrow trails and blazed wagon roads.  Indians, bears, wolves, panthers and every unpleasantries of frontier life was theirs amongst the first settlers of Ohio.

Henry Kimmel, the third child of Leonard Kimmel, was born near Glade PA in 1789.  Moved to Ohio with his parents in 1807.  June 28, 1813 he married Miss Christen Gridlinger.  They settled on land in Rumley Township, Harrison County near Jewett Ohio.  Eight children were born to them, Susanna, Jonathan, Henry, Elizabeth, Abraham, Isaac, Christina and John.  Henry Kimmel died in 1826.  His widow, then thirty three years old, continued her residence on this farm until her death Oct. 3, 1894 having celebrated her hundredth anniversary.  Four different houses had been her home during the eighty years of continuous residence on land they settled on when she was married.  The building location was changed but slightly.  Only two of her children survived her.  Abraham of German Twp. Harrison Co. Ohio and Christena wife of Michael Sawvel living at Crump, Benton Co. Arkansas.

We have reason to be proud of our citizenship as all Americans do where ancestry dates back tot he period when the colonies secured Independence.

Wanting to know more of my people I began a research in [1898] with the assistance of Miss Anna M. Stahl of Jewett Ohio.  Within a short time we found that no written records had been kept.  Our forefathers having lived on the frontier, pioneers in farming new territory, settling on and developing the lands agriculturally.  They had separated and in many instances all trace of each other was lost.  Confirming our efforts then to securing data in direct line of decendancy.  Even this proved a difficult task and in 1907 I gave up hope on completing the record.

Since many requests have come to me for a copy of that which I had been able to secure.  Recently these records have been revised bringing three of the branches up to date.  They are forefathers Abraham and Isaac.

Records of Susanna Kimmel who married William Cumrine could not be obtained.  They had four children.  None ever married and all are deceased.

Records are incomplete of Henry Kimmel he married Miss Sarah Nupp in Harrison Co. Ohio.  Moved to Iowa prior to the Civil War.

Elizabeth Kimmel married Wm. Shilling both died without issue.

Christena Kimmel married Michael Sawvel.  Twelve children were born to them.  This family record could not be obtained.

John Kimmel died when a child.

Records worth while have a been compiled as shown in the accompanying drawings.*

So far as I was able to learn only those who are descendents of Isaac Kimmel and Amy Sawvel Kimmel are eligible to Revolutionary War claims.  Amy Sawvel was the daughter of Jacob and Margaret Ealey Sawvel.  Jacob Sawvel as Adam Sawvel who came from Germany and served seven years in the Revolutionary War.

*The accompanying drawings are four pages of descendants of Henry Kimmel displayed as actual twigs on tree branches. The three generations after Henry Kimmel per the drawings are as follows:

JONATHAN 7/16/1815 married 1836 Mariah Nupp 2/8/1818.  Their children:

1.)  Sarah 5/17/1837 m. 3/15/1860 Jacob Condo 1/14/1837.  Children:  Nimrod 12/24/1862, Rebeca 4/3/1864.

2.)  Elizebeth 6/28/1839 m. 1857 Jacob Stahl 8/24/1833.  Children:  Samuel 6/16/1858, Martha 8/6/1860, Mary 1/29/1863, Katherine 7/10/1865, Joseph 7/27/1869 and Anna 11/30/1871.

3.)  Nimrod 6/11/1841.

4.)  Christenia 9/1/1843.

5.)  Titus 10/4/1845.

6.)  Simon 3/10/1848 m. 9/11/1877 Emma Prat 1/12/1869.  Children:  Charles 8/31/1878, Earl 5/5/1881, Georgia 9/25/1884.

7.)  Jonathan 8/27/1850.

8.)  George 2/20/1853 m. 12/25/1877 Tacy Finnicum 11/13/1857.  Daughter Dollie 10/6/1878.

9.)  Isaac 9/18/1855 m. 1/25/1898 Rachel Andrews 3/4/1858.

10.)  Mary 7/23/1858.

11.)  Martin 1/20/1860.

 

ABRAHAM 12/18/1820 m. 9/1843 Sussana Stahl 4/11/1825. Their children:

1.)  Samatha 6/12/1845.

2.)  Melissa 2/7/1847 m. 11/28/1866 Isaac Stewart 5/24/1842.  Children:  William 8/30/1867, Emmett 1/24/1870, Mary 1/1/1872, Alonzo 2/24/1874, John 5/26/1880, Perl 1/24/1882 and Roy 2/24/1891.

3.)  Joshua 9/17/1847 m. 12/4/1889 Jennie Weaver 4/30/1864 and m. 1899 Sebella Ramsower 4/30/1862.  Children by 1st wife:  Larry 8/14/1891, Grover 2/16/1893, Paul 8/9/1895, Jesse 3/22/1898, Ernest 3/23/1902 and Charles 5/6/1905.

4.)  Mary 6/30/1850 m. 11/28/1867 Thomas Arbaugh 9/10/1844.  Children:  Clarence 8/11/1870, Thursia 11/25/1872, Nellie 12/24/1874, Laura 7/16/1877, John 11/11/1883, Minnie 11/26/1885 and Roy 8/4/1888.

5.)  Emma 4/8/1863

 

ISAAC 12/15/1822 m. 2/22/1845 Amy Sawvel 10/15/1818.  Their children:

1.)  Jacob 3/18/1846 m. 3/27/1873 Sarah Williamson 9/11/1844.  Children:  Mary & Martha 5/21/1879, George 2/26/1876, Isaac 7/18/1878, Amy 11/29/1880, Magdaline 9/1/1884 and Dora 9/5/1888.

2.)  Margret 5/6/1848 m. 12/29/1867 McKindre Sebring 2/2/1842.  Children:  Newton 7/7/1869, Lillie 11/8/1873, Mary 10/21/1875, Dora 10/8/1877 and Lesslie 6/7/1880.

3.)  Lydia 1/3/1851 m. 3/25/1875 Albert Hiestand 12/23/1852.  Children:  Harvey 2/3/1877, Grace 1/22/1878, Minnie 3/12/1882, Bessie 1/2/1884, William 1/4/1886 and Russel 6/21/1888.

4.)  Sarah 7/12/1853 m. 2/4/1875 David Ross 11/30/1850.  Children:  Amy 12/17/1875, Charley 2/16/1878.

5.)  Mary 12/11/1855 m. 12/9/1875 William Ahrens 4/2/1853.  Children:  Harry 10/2/1876, May 5/26/1878, Nellie 12/7/1879 and William 9/1/1884.

Note:    Also includes photos of family homes at the time of the report.  The copy I reviewed was one in possession of Cindy Austen of Arcanum, Ohio. 

By Edna Viola Kimmel Wood

of the Frederick Kimmel Branch

Written in 1940

Leonard Kimmel, founder of the Kimmel family in America, was a native of Baden, Germany, born 1741.

In 1758, he, with two brothers, came from their inland home to the seashore with the intention of embarking for America; but upon reaching the place of embarkation, they were deterred at the sight of the boundless ocean.

The two brothers turned back.  Leonard, however, said he was tired of being under the tyranny of a King and was going to sail for the new world, even if he were to be drowned.

The determined spirit of the young man shown out no less [brilliantly] in the years to come than it did in those days of his young manhood when he determined to brave the perils of the voyage to America alone.

On arriving in the new world in 1758, he settled at Glade, Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  Later he married Miss Susanna Zimmerman of that place, who was born in 1748, and whose parents were among the earliest settlers.

Leonard Kimmel and his wife were the parents of eight children, namely:  John, Henry, Adam, Leonard Jr., Frederick (my grandfather), Nancy, Mary, and Susanna.

In 1800 the family moved to West Virginia, locating on the Cheat River, where John, Henry, and Adam engaged in the manufacture of mill stones.  These were put on rafts, built of logs, and run to the different points on the Ohio River, where they were sold.  Some of these stones were in the old Grist Mill at Scio, Ohio.

The young men, after selling their mill stones, invested the proceeds in the wild lands in Harrison County, purchasing 800 acres.  John, being the foreman, the land was entered in his name.  160 acres of this land is the farm now occupied by J.H. Myers.  320 acres [were] in Section No. 19 of Rumley Township.  Leonard Kimmel and his family settled on the farm now owned by Mr. Myers.  He passed away in the year 1825, and three years later in 1828, his widow also passed to the Great Beyond.  Their children: John, the oldest son, married Eve Turney, and settled in Rumley Township, [Harrison Co.,] Ohio.  They had eight in their family:  David, Thomas, Adam, Clatus, Susan, Katherine, Mary and Sophia.  John's descendants are scattered, but many of them still reside in their native state of Ohio.

Adam, second son of Leonard Kimmel, married Katherine Turney, and moved to Tuscarawas County.  He had several daughters, but only one son, Adam Jr.  Visits were exchanged with the Harrison County kindred for some years, but later when Adam's family located in some of the western states, communication ceased, and all traces of this branch of the original family was lost.

Henry, third son of Leonard Kimmel, was married to Cristiana Giddinger on June 27, 1813, whose parents also came from Glade, Penna.  They were the parents of the eight following children:  Susan, wife of William Crumine; Johnathan, who was married to Maria C. Nupp; Elizabeth, wife of William Shilling; Henry Jr., who married Sarah Nupp, Abraham; who married Susan Stahl; Isaac, whose wife was Amy Sawvel; and John, deceased in 1827 at the age of one year.

Henry Kimmel Sr. died in 1826.  His widow, Cristiana Giddinger Kimmel lived to be 100 years, 6 months and 26 days.  She passed away in the home of her son Jonathan, with whom she lived for many years, on Oct. 3rd, 1894.  This was just six months after her Centenarian Anniversary was celebrated by the assembly of a large concourse of relatives and friends.  Leonard Kimmel Jr. went to Fulton County to reside.  He returned on a visit to relatives in later years, but no communication with his descendants has been kept up by the younger generations.

Susan, daughter of Leonard Kimmel Sr., was married to a man named Sadler.  Her second husband's name was Guthrie.  Being widowed the second time she became the wife of a man named Schaeffer.  Her sisters Mary and Nancy were both married, but knowledge of the history of the three sisters or their descendants is very meager.  The youngest son of Leonard Kimmel Sr. was Frederick (my Grandfather), who was born in West Virginia in the year 1800.  He came to Rumley Township, Harrison County, Ohio, with his parents when quite young.  Here he grew to manhood and married Elizabeth Yingling, and settled on a farm in the southeast corner of section No. 19, Rumley Township, Harrison County, Ohio.  He engaged in farming and stock raising and was very successful, accumulating quite a large estate, owning at the time of his death 450 acres of land and a great deal of other property and money.  He was a man of considerable ability and influence; held office of Justice of the Peace for sixteen years in his township, and from whose decisions and judgments there never was an appeal taken to a higher court. He also held other civil positions in his community and in the Lutheran Church of New Rumley, of which he was an honored member from his boyhood.  He died March 24th, 1895 at his old homestead.  To Frederick Kimmel and his wife were born thirteen children, as follows:  Sarah, the wife of John Knouff; Mary, the wife of Jacob Minard; Rebecca, the wife of John Eppely; Joseph, who married Caroline Dively, and after her death married Katherine Minard; Lydia became the wife of Jacob Binker; Henery (my father), whose first wife was Katherine Wallace and his second wife was Florence McAfee, my mother; William married Louisa Sneary; Barbara became the wife of William Sneary, who after her death married her sister Mahala; Delilah was married to Samuel Webb, a policeman in Cleveland; Amos married Katherine Atkinson; Joshua was deceased in early manhood.  All these children are deceased and their descendants scattered over different states in our Union.  The greater number, however, are still residents of their native state Ohio, and the majority of them are in Harrison County.

Descendants of Henry Kimmel who married Florence McAfee, Sept. 18, 1873:  Earl Le Roy, born August 18, 1874 - died Feb. 15, 1878; Edna Viola, born Sept. 23, 1876 - died Sept. 20, 1940; James Milton, born Oct. 20, 1890 - died Jan. 10, 1881; Harry Amos, born Jan. 28, 1882; Daisey Maud, born June 29, 1884; Ross McAfee, born Sept. 22, 1887; and Clyde Ross, born Jan. 27, 1892.

Henery Kimmel died March 1st, 1896, aged 60 years.  Florence McAfee Kimmell died Sept. 15, 1934, aged 80 years.  After the death of Henry Kimmel his widow married Daniel O. Moore of Scio, Ohio.  Two children were born to this union: Nellie Anna, born Feb. 25, 1898: died May 16th, 1906; Fred Bishop born March 15th, 1900, Follansbee, West Virginia.

Note:  copy of original letter in possession of Steve Wood of Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Copies of an extended version of the report added to by Walter Albert Kimmel of Harrison Co.,Ohio is available in that county.