An 1891 Account of theLeonard Kimmel FamilyThe following is the text from the biography of Jonathan Kimmel, from pages 179-180 of the "Commemorative Biographical Record, Harrison County, Ohio, compiled by Beers in 1891. This is the earliest known printed account of the 1758 arrival of Leonard Kimmel who settled in Harrison County, Ohio. |
| JONATHAN KIMMEL, one of the oldest
farmers in Rumley Township, Harrison Co., Ohio, is a son of Henry and
Christena (Gidinger) Kimmel, of whom further mention is made
below. Henry Kimmel, father of the subject of this sketch, was a
son of Leonard Kimmel, who was a native of Germany, born in 1741, and
came to Pennsylvania in 1758, and settled at Glade, Somerset
County, He was the only one of his family who dared to brave the
perils of crossing the ocean. His two brothers started with him
and came as far as the seaport from which they were to sail, but turned
back in fear at sight of the boundless waters of the ocean.
Leonard vainly urged them to come with him, but, finding his entreaties
useless and persuasion unheeded, finally told them he should come even
if he were drowned, for he was tired of being under the rule of the
king. The determined spirit of the young man shone out no less
brilliantly in years to come than it did in those days of his young
manhood, when he determined to brave the perils of the voyage to
the new world alone. He married Miss Susan Zimmerman, of Glade,
Somerset Co., Penn., whose parents were amongst the earliest
settlers. The fruits of this union were eight children:
John, Adam, Henry, Leonard, Frederick, Nancy, Mary and Susannah.
About 1800 the family removed to West Virginia, locating on the Cheat
River, where John, Henry and Adam engaged in the manufacture of
millstones. These were put on rafts and run to different points on
the Ohio River, where they were sold. Some of the stones were in
the old grist-mill at Scio, North Township, Harrison Co., Ohio.
The young men, after selling their millstones, invested the proceeds in
wild lands in Harrison County, Ohio, purchasing 800 acres. John
being the foreman, the land was entered in his name. He entered
160 acres where Thomas Crab now resides, 160 acres where M. R. McNary
lives, 160 on Section 20, and 320 acres on Section 19, in Rumley
Township. In 1807 Leonard removed to Rumley Township and settled
on the farm now owned by M. R. McNary. He died in 1825; his widow
followed in 1828. His son, Henry, our subject's father, was born
in 1789, in Pennsylvania, and married Miss Christena Gidinger, in June,
1814, she being a daughter of Martin and Elizabeth B. Gidinger, natives
of Germany. Mrs. Kimmel was born in Glade, Somerset Co.,
Penn. Christena (Gidinger) Kimmel, mother of Jonathan Kimmel,
subject of our sketch, emigrated to Harrison County, Ohio, in 1808, and
was fourteen years old at that time, and was married to Henry Kimmel in
June, 1814. They were the parents of eight children: Susan,
deceased; Jonathan, the subject of this sketch; Henry, deceased,;
Abraham, living in Rumley Township; Elizabeth, deceased; Isaac, died in
a Southern prison; Christena, married to M. Sawvel, and now living in
Arkansas, and John, deceased. Christena (Gidinger) Kimmel at this
writing is alive and enjoying a fair degree of health at the age of
ninety-seven years. She has been a life-long member of the
Lutheran Church. She has resided at the present place of residence
since 1814, and is now living in the fourth dwelling erected on nearly
the same site. When she came to Ohio she came by the way of
Steubenville, which town contained at that time less than a half dozen
dwelling-houses.
Jonathan Kimmel, subject of our sketch, was born July 15, 1815, in an old log cabin near the site of his present residence. He resided here all his life, except nine years he lived in North Township. He was married in January, 1836, to Mariah Catharine Nupp, daughter of John P. and Catharine (Wolf) Nupp, natives of Gettysburg, Adams Co., Penn. Jonathan and Mariah Kimmel were the parents of eleven children (five of whom are dead): Sarah Jane, wife of Jacob Condo, of Germano, Ohio; Elizabeth, widow of Jacob Stall, in Jewett, Ohio; Nimrod, killed in the army at battle of Fisher's Hill; Christena, at home; Titus, deceased; Simon P., living in Rumley Township; Jonathan, Jr., at home; George, deceased; Isaac., at home; Mary Magdalena, deceased; Martin, deceased. The Kimmel race are mostly of Lutheran faith, and Democratic in politics. The subject of this sketch possesses at present of real estate 289 acres of fine farming land, in a good state of cultivation. He has served on the township board as trustee for twenty years.
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