Indiana  Hirlingers      

My  mothers  mothers  mother,  Edith  Bonham,  lived  to  86,  dying  in  1957,  when  I  was  10  years  old.    She  was  the  oldest  person  I  knew.  We  visited  her  frequently  at  her  home  at  the  foot  of  North  Mountain  in  Luzerne  County.  Her  mother,  Huldah  Hirlinger,    died  at  the  age  of  90,  seven  years  before  I  was  born.    Nevertheless,  she  seemed  to  be  ever  present.  Her  (abandoned)  home,  an  octagonal  building,  was  a  short  walk  away.  I  knew  it  had  been  designed  and  built  by  her  husband  John  M  Hirlinger,  who  was  famous  (in  the  family)  as  an  inventor  and  general  crank.    I  didn’t  know  much  more  about  their  background.  Obviously  German,  but  that’s  about  all  I  knew.      I  started  looking  into  family  history  seriously  in  2012.    I  found  out  quickly  that  John  M  was  born  in  1837  as  Johann  Michael  Hirlinger  in  Philadelphia.  His  parents  were  Wilhelm  Friedrich  Hirlinger  and  Christina  Goehring,  who  had  emigrated  in  1837  with  their  two  boys,  Wilhelm  Ludwig  (1833)  and  Matthias  (1836)  from  Leidringen,  Wuertemberg  (  a  town  in  what  is  now  Baden-­‐Wuertemberg  near  the  Black  Forest).    Sometime  in  the  late  40’s  a  group  of  50  Philadelphia  German  families  were  recruited  to  build  a  road  from  the  top  of  North  Mountain  to  the  the  north  branch  of  the  Susquehanna  near  Mehoopany  (to  get  the  timber  on  the  mountain  to  market).    After  this  “Lee  road”  was  completed  a  number  of  the  families,  including  the  Hirlingers,  settled  at  the  south  foot  of  the  mountain  near  today’s  Red  Rock.    

 John  and  Hulda  Hirlinger  in  carriage  in  front  of  their  “Round  House”,  about  1900.    Red  Rock,  Luzerne  County  PA        I  have  told  this  story  in  greater  detail  before,  and  won’t  elaborate  further  now.  In  my  mind  the  Hirlingers  were  North  Mountain  and  that  was  that.        Then  in  2009  we  bought  a  place  in  Warren  County  Indiana,  about  an  hour  from  the  Purdue  campus  where  I  had  worked  since  1981.  The  mailing  address  is  Williamsport,  the  county  seat,  although  our  place  is  a  few  miles  south  of  the  town.    Once  I  started  looking  at  family  history  in  earnest,  I  was  astounded  to  find  a  family  of  Hirlingers  who  had  lived  in  Williamsport  in  the  late  19th  and  early  20th  century.    They  are  buried  in  the  cemetery  we  drove  past  going  to  Lafayette.    

   

Since  the  name  is  unusual  and  comes  in  a  wide  variety  of  spellings  (this  one  being  “right”)    I  was  sure  these  folks  had  to  be  related  somehow  to  my  Hirlingers  in  North  Mountain.  But  how?  

 I  found  an  obit  of  Anna  Martha  Luttrop  Hirlinger  in  the  

Williamsport  library.  It  said  that  she  was  born  in  Kirchberg,  Germany,  spent  a  few  years  in  London,  and  then  went  to  South  Africa  where  she  met  and  married  a  soldier,  Christian  Hirlinger.  They  had  five  children.  Two  died  there,  as  did  Christian,  leaving  Anna  up  in  the  air.    In  1884  she  took  the  survivors,  John  William  ,  born  1858,  Charles  Frederick,  born  1861,  and  Dorothea,  born  1870  to  Williamsport.    The  reason  for  that  choice  was  not  made  clear  in  the  obit,  though  I  imagined  there  had  to  be  some  family  connection.    

 From  Warren  Review,  Feb  2,  1899:      “Anna Martha Luttrop. This lady was born near Cassell,

Germany, January 6th, 1830. At the age of sixteen she became a member of the German Reform Church and always lived in that faith. At the age of twenty-four she went to London, England, where she remained three years. From London she went to East London, South Africa, where, in 1857, she was united in marriage to Christian Hirlinger. Mr. and Mrs. Hirlinger resided there five years. To them were born five children, three daughters and two sons, of whom three survive her-Frederick, William and Dora. Her husband and two daughters, died in South Africa. Mrs. Hirlinger and her three children moved from Elephant's Fountain, South Africa, to Williamsport, Ind., in 1884, two months and one day being required to make the trip from that place. At this place deceased resided until her death, which occurred Saturday, January

28th, 1899. Mrs. Hirlinger always was caused by paralysis. She was an exceptional good woman and always gave her influence and voice for the good. She was bitterly opposed to the wrong, and believed in the right and a firm believer in the hereafter. The funeral was conducted at the Presbyterian Church on Monday, January 30th, 1899. Rev. William Wilmer officiating. Remains were interred in Hillside Cemetery. The pallbearers were: John Reiff, Abe Clawson, N. T. Vanderbilt, Howard Robb, Enos Moore and Shederick Ross. She was 69 years and 22 days of age.”  

 The  names  are  suggestive…  John  William  would,  of  course  

have  been  Johann  Wilhelm.  Charles  Frederick  would  have  been  Karl  Frederich.    My  Wilhelm  Frederich  had  a  son  Christian  G  (younger  than  Johann  M).  And  most  family  trees  I  found  claimed  that  John  M’s  mother  was  Christina  Dorothea  (I  later  found  out  this  was  wrong,  and  the  truth  was  more  explicable).      I  also  gathered  that  Christian  was  born  in  1833,  the  same  age  as  Wilhelm  Ludwig,  John  M’s  oldest  brother.  So  it  seemed  plausible  that  the  SA  Christian  might  be  a  cousin.    But  as  much  as  I  wanted  this  to  be  true,  I  thought  the  odds  were  low  and  the  odds  of  proving  it  were  lower.    

 The  first  thing  I  thought  to  do  was  look  for  descendants  of  

the  Williamsport  Hirlingers,  who  might  know  something  of  family  history.    To  do  that  I  set  out  to  reconstruct  their  lives.  

 Anna  Martha  died  in  1899,  so  she  was  never  captured  in  a  

census  (1890  was  burned.)      In  1900  both  sons  live  as  boarders  in  Springwells  MI    

(now  part  of  Detroit),  where  they  are  listed  as  Stone  Masons.  That  is  the  same  profession  that  was  listed  for  William  F  Hirlinger  and  his  first  two  sons,  William  L  and  Matt.  Curiously,  in  the  1900  census  the  older  brother  is  listed  as  Fred  W  and  the  

younger  as  Charles.      On  his  gravestone,  the  younger  is  listed  as  C  Frederick,  suggesting  that  he  normally  went  by  Fred.    I’d  guess  the  census  taker  just  got  confused  between  the  two  names.      

This  census  also  lists  the  immigration  year  as  1885.  Anna  Martha’s  obit  says  1884.    

     

In  1910  Charles  F  is  nowhere  to  be  found,  but  Dora  lives  alone  in  Williamsport.  In  1920  and  1930  Charles  and  Dora  live  together  in  Williamsport.  Charles  is  listed  as  a  Contractor  in  Concrete  and  Brick.  

 Charles  never  married,  died  in  1937  and  is  buried  with  

his  mother  and  sister.      In  1940  Dora  lives  with  a  single  boarder  near  the  

Williamsport  Hospital.    Dorothea      (Dora)  never  married,  died  in  Williamsport  in  

1960,  age  90.  She  is  buried  with  her  mother  and  brother  in  the  Hillside  Cemetery.  

 So  any  living  descendants  must  come  from  John  and  

Hope.    John  William  married  Hope  Amelia  Reiff,  daughter  of  John  

Frederick  Reiff  of  Williamsport,  in  1893.    John  was  the  son  of  Ludwig  Frederich  Ernst  Reiff,  native  of  Wuertemberg,  who  emigrated  to  Reading  PA  in  1819.    His  son  John  went  west  as  soon  as  the  railroad  reached  Williamsport  in  1857,  and  married  a  local  girl  Sarah  Percy  in  1859.  

It  is  possible  that  the  Reiffs  were  the  family  connection,  the  bridge  from  South  Africa  to  Indiana.    But  I  can’t  prove  it,  and  it’s  a  long  time  from  1819  to  1884.    

 John  W  was  in  Williamsport  in  1900,  with  Hope  and  4  

kids:  Harold  R(eiff),  11,  John  F(rederick),  7,  Christian  L(orenz),  3,  and  Christiana  L(ouise),  3.    The  youngest  are  clearly  twins  right  down  to  the  initials.    John’s  profession  remains  Stone  Mason.    

 

   Hope  and  her  son  John  F  about  1935      In  1920,  John  is  listed  as  William  J,  occupation  Mason.  The  

children  are  John  F,  17,  Lorenz,  13  and  Louise,  13.      

Both  sons,  John  F  and  Christian  L  attended  Purdue,  majoring  in  engineering  :    JF  a  EE  in  1924  and  CL  a  ChE  in  1928.    In  1924  the  whole  family  lived  on  Sheetz  St  in  West  Lafayette,  two  blocks  south  of  State  Street,  on  the  south  edge  of  the  Purdue  campus.  Louise  attended  the  Lafayette  Business    College.    

     Christian  L,  1928  Purdue  Debris    

   John  F,  1924,  from  Purdue  Debris    John  W  died  in  1924.  He  is  buried  in  the  same  cemetery  

with  his  mother  and  siblings,  but  in  a  separate  plot  for  his  immediate  family.    According  to  a  brief  death  notice  in  the  Williamsport  paper,  he  had  TB.  They  may  have  moved  to  Lafayette  because  the  medical  care  there  was  better  (as  well  as  their  kids  going  to  school  there.)  

   

In  1920  the  oldest  son,  Harold,  was  in  the  army  in  California.    He  appears  in  the  1922  LA  directory  as  a  chauffeur.  On  Oct  22,  1922,  he  dies  in  LA.    Traffic  accident?  He  is  buried  with  his  parents  in  Williamsport.  

 One  oddity  in  the  1920  census  is  that  Harold  lists  his  

father  as  born  in  England  with  native  language  English.  Maybe  this  reflects  the  anti  German  feelings  right  after  the  war.  (Although  he  was  born  in  an  English  part  of  South  Africa)  

 That  leaves  three  :  John  F,  Christian  L  and  Christina  

Louise.    John  F,  the  EE,  is  found  in  1935  and  ‘40  in  Summit  NJ  

working  for  RCA  (the  plant  is  still  there).  He  is  single.      In  1936  he  took  a  ship  from  NYC  to  San  Diego.  Again  listed  as  single.  It  appears  he  never  married.  He  died  in  1979  in  Florida.    

 Christina  Louise.    In  1930  she  lived  with  her  mother  in  

Cleveland  OH,  working  as  a  stenographer.  I  couldn’t  find  her  in  1940.  In  Oct  1951  she  shows  up  on  a  ship  bound  from  NYC  to  Europe  with  an  indeterminate  stay.  Her  name  is  listed  as  Christine  Louise  Landorff,  address  304  E  58th  St,  NYC.    There  is  no  hint  of  a  husband,  except  we  can  presume  it  was  Landorff.  She  returned  to  NYC  in  Jan  1952.      

 I  did  find  a  1930  directory  listing  in  Akron  OH  (near  

Cleveland)  of  a  business  called  Landorff  &  Case,  with  principles  T  K  Landorff  and  C  L  Case  (“C  L”?)  A  little  more  poking  on  T  K  revealed  him  as  Tryggve  Knut  Emanuel  Landorff,  born  in  Sweden  in  1903,  arrived  in  NYC  in  1924.  In  1939  he  lived  in  Darien  CT.  In  1948  he  lived  in  Manhattan  at  304  E  58th  St.  Bingo!    I  never  found  a  document  that  had  Louise  and    TK  on  the  same  page,  but  they  were  certifiably  living  together.    

Moreover  there  is  a  passenger  list  from  Oct  1952  which  shows  him  returning  from  Europe,  address  304  E  58th  St.  

 TK  died  in  1982.    CL  moved  to  Chico  California  shortly  

after,  where  she  died  in  1994.  There  is  no  record  of  any  children.  (which  doesn’t  mean  there  weren’t)  

 The  search  for  descendants  is  down  to  Christian  Lorenz,  

the  Purdue  ChemE.  He  got  married  when  he  graduated,  1928,  to  Helen  Vergia  Fletcher  of  Williamsport.  In  1930  they  lived  near  Columbus  OH,  where  Lorenz  worked  in  a  gasoline  plant.  They  had  one  child,  3  mo,  Charles  Louis.  In  1935  (as  noted  in  the  1940  census)  they  were  in  Midland    MI,  and  by  1940  had  moved  on  to  Beaumont,  Jefferson  County  Texas,  where  Lorenz  worked  as  an  assistant  chemist  in  a  oil  refinery.  By  this  time  they  had  two  more  kids:  Mary  Jane  in  1935  and  Hope  Louise  in  1937.    

       CL  and  Helen,  1928  (courtesy  of  B  Stone)      The  eldest,  Charles  Louis,  attended  Purdue  for  just  a  year  

in  1948,  then  went  back  to  Beaumont  Texas,  eventually  graduating  from  UT  Austin  in  1953  with  a  degree  in  Personel  Management.  He  appears  to  have  been  married  three  times:  First  to  Marilyn  Collwell,  1935-­‐1990;    Second,  in  1993,    to  Vernette  M  Olander,  1937-­‐1997;    Lastly  to  Nell  J.  Couch  in  2000.    Charles  had  one  child  by  his  first  wife,  Michael  Wayne  Hirlinger,  born  1960.    Michael  is  a  professor  of  government  and  department  chair  at  Oral  Roberts  University  in  Tulsa  OK,  where  Michael  grew  up.  Both  Michael  and  his  father  are  still  alive  (in  2016).    I  was  able  to  contact  Michael,  but  he  has  little  

knowledge  of  family  history  (and  probably  little  time  to  pursue  it  if  he  had  the  interest.)        

 Hope  Louise  seems  to  have  been  married  three  times  as  

well…First,  in  1976,  to  Bobby  Harmening  (1941-­‐  )  in  Montgomery  County  Texas;  Second,  in  1983,  to  David  Malcolm  (1932-­‐  )  in  Bexar  Texas;  and  last,  date  and  place  unknown,  to  someone  named  Lucy.  The  evidence  for  the  latter  is  a  1999  High  School  reunion  roster  where  she  is  listed  as  Louise  Hirlinger  Malcolm  Lucy.    I  have  found  no  evidence  of  any  children.  Of  course  it  is  hard  to  find  out  about  living  people  without  contacting  them,  and  it  can  be  hard  to  find  contact  info.    And  if  you  do  find  contact  info,  a  lot  of  people  don’t  want  to  talk  or  don’t  know  much.    Anyway,  I  haven’t  got  any  more  about  Hope  Louise.  

 That  leaves  Mary  Jane.    Actually  I  couldn’t  find  anything  

about  her  at  first.  What  I  did  find  was  an  Ancestry  member  who  listed  Christian  Lorenz  and  Helen  as  great  grandparents  and  a  living  grandmother  who  was  their  daughter,  who  married  a  living  man  whose  parents  were  Zach  McCain  and  Norma  Lee  Tatum.  That  was  enough  to  identify  her  grandmother  as  Mary  Jane  Hirlinger  McCain.    So  I  contacted  the  user  who  told  me  she  was  Brittainy  Stone,  that  she  was  the  daughter  of  the  son  of  a  Hirlinger.  She  had  tentatively    identified  one  Johann  Christian  Hirlinger,  born  1833  in  Tischardt,  Wuertemmberg,  as  the  mysterious  South  African  émigré.    I  couldn’t  see  an  obvious  link.  That  was  about  45  km  from  Leidringen.    (Curiously  Ludwig  Reiff  seems  to  have  come  out  of  Tischardt  also).    

Then  one  day  shortly  after  getting  back  my  Ancestry  DNA  results,  I  suddenly  saw  her  show  up  as  a  DNA  match.  That  was  very  exciting.  But  she  said  she  had  done  both  herself  and  her  

Dad,  and  her  Dad  didn’t  show  a  match  with  me,  which  only  made  sense  if  we  were  related  on  her  mother’s  side.  Very  confusing.  She  suggested  I  put  my  data  on  Gedmatch.  It  took  quite  a  while  for  me  to  get  around  to  doing  that,  but  when  I  did  it  showed  a  clear  match  on  the  same  chromosome  for  her  and  her  Dad  and  me,  with  an  estimated  common  ancestor  at  7.5  generations,  which  I  estimated  to  be  between  1790  and  1830.  

Re-­‐energized,  I  spent  a  lot  of  time  trying  to  find  a  link  of  Johann  Christian  to  my  ancestors.  Worked  it  back  into  the  1600s  without  getting  the  two  lines  closer  than  an  eight  hour  walk  apart.  Too  far.  Then  by  chance  I  happened  on  a  baptismal  record  from  Leidringen  of  a  Christian  Hirlinger,  son  of  Matthaus  Hirlinger  and  Anna  Barbara  Dannecker.    I  recognized  the  parents:    he  was  the  brother  of  my  third  great  grandfather  Wilhelm  F.  That  made  much  more  sense.    In  fact  Christian  was  named  for  his  grandfather,  Christian  Dannecker  (1773-­‐1842).  

 If  he  was  the  man,  then  he  was  the  first  cousin  of  my  

second  great  grandfather  Johann  Michael  Hirlinger.    And  the  common  ancestor  was  Wilhelm  F  and  Matthaus’  parents,  Wilhelm  Ludwig  Hirlinger  and  Christine  Dorothea  Bischoff,  who  dated  to  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century.  (I  suspect  the  common  attribution  of  Wilhelm  F’s  wife  as  Christine  Dorothea  is  a  confusion  of  Wilhelm  F  and  his  parents.  There  is  a  record  of  Wilhelm  F’s  parents  being  Wilhelm  and  Christine  Dorothea  Bischoff.  I  found  no  records  that  said  Wilhelm  F’s  second  wife  was  also  Christine  Dorothea.    Finally  it  would  be  unsurprizing  for  Christian  to  name  his  daughter  for  his  grandmother.  )  

 But  was  this  Christian  the  man,  or  another  red  herring?  

There  was  a  Wuertemmberg  record  of  Christian  declaring  his  intention,  in  1853,  to  emigrate  to  North  America.    If  he  went,  he  

couldn’t  be  right.    Fortunately  Brittainy  pointed  me  to  two  breakthough  websites.  

  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_German_Legion  The  English,  in  its  zeal  to  pursue  the  rather  unpopular    

Crimean  War,  solicited  a  German  baron  to  raise  a  company  of  Germans  to  fight  for  the  British.  Using  some  pretty  dubious  methods,  he  formed  the  corps  and  it  was  shipped  out,  but  the  war  ended  before  they  saw  any  action.  Since  it  would  have  been  awkward  for  these  mercenaries  to  go  back  to  Germany,  or  to  England,  they  were  sent  to  South  Africa  instead.      

 The  other  web  site,    http://www.eastlondon-labyrinth.com/germans/index.jsp,    gave  info  on  the  members  of  this  legion…      This  showed  Christian  “Herlinger”  recruited  in  

“Leitringen”  in  1855,  age  22.        So  there  is  no  doubt  now…  He  declared  his  intent  to  go  to  

North  America  in  1853  but  for  whatever  reason  did  not  go  (I  did  check  for  entry  records  to  the  US  and  nobody  matched.)  Instead  he  stuck  around,  joined  the  mercenary  army  and  got  shipped  to  South  Africa,  mustering  out  in  1856,  marrying  Anna  Martha  in  1857  and  having  Johann  Wilhelm  in  1858.  

 So  that’s  that.  Or  is  it?    Why  did  Anna  Martha  take  her  

kids  to  Williamsport  Indiana  in  1884  (or  1885),  of  all  obscure  places?    Was  there  something  here  already  to  attract  her?      

 While  browsing  through  the  Williamsport  library  

archives  I  happened  on  a  list  of  graduates  from  the  local  high  school  in  the  early  twentieth  century  (only  about  10  per  year).  

There  was  John  Hirlinger  as  expected  in  1920.  But  just  below  in  1922  a  name  caught  my  eye:    Martin  Dannecker.  Dannecker!  Christians  mother.       So  I  searched  the  census  for  a  Martin  D,  born  1905.  Found  him  in  1910  living  with  his  dad  William  D,  39,  his  aunt  Mina  D,  46,  and  his  grandmother  Christiana  D,  76.  William  and  Martin  were  born  in  Indiana,  Mina  in  New  York,  and  Christiana  in  Germany,  immigration  year  put  at  1857.  William  and  his  Mom  were  widowed.  Looked  for  William  in  1900  and  found  William  “Danacker”,  29,  born  March  1871  in  Indiana,  Minie  D,  36,  born  Apr  1864  in  NY,  and  “Chr*  D”,  66,  born  Feb  1834  in  Germany.  William  was  listed  as  a  Stone  cutter.       Find  a  Grave  shows  them  in  Hillside  Cemetery  (also  known  as  Highland)  in  Williamsport  ,  the  same  as  the  Hirlingers.    It  gives      Name:   Christiana  Dannecker  Birth  Date:   23  Feb  1834  Birth  Place:   Germany  Death  Date:   23  May  1914    And  her  husband:  Name:   Martin  Dannecker  Birth  Date:   5  Jan  1828  Birth  Place:   Germany  Death  Date:   2  Jan  1892    So  William’s  son  was  named  for  his  father.    There  was  an  obit  of  Martin  published  in  the  local  paper  on  Jan  7  1892,  and  transcribed  by  the  library:    “Obituary. Martin Dannecker, whose death we record, was born in Leidringburg, Province of Wertumburg, Germany, June 5th, 1823,

where his boyhood days and youth were spent after the manner of the youth of that country. In 1844, at about the age of twenty-six, he immigrated to this country, landing at Philadelphia, and began working at his trade, that of a stone mason. In 1852 he was united in marriage to Miss Christina Steinbrenner of Corning, New York. In after years to them were born four children, Henry, Mary, Mina and William, all of which are still living. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Dannecker resided in New York until the later part of 1865, when they immigrated to Indiana, arriving at Williamsport where they settled in October of the same year. From that time until his death his life has been before our people, and it is without reproach. During this time he has filled numerous offices of trust, being a member of the town board a number of terms, and also a member of the school board, and was always found carful, honest and conscientious. He became a member of the German Presbyterian Church in early boyhood, and its teachings ever remained with him. He always attended, while able, the Presbyterian Church here. In August of 1888 he received a stroke of paralysis, which was thought to have been induced by heat, and his decline has been steady, but gradual since the above date. He was, however, able to be about most of this time until the past two weeks, since which time he grew worse until death came at 10:30 o'clock Saturday night, Jan. 2nd, 1892. The funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Monday from the family residence, the Rev. Wm Wilmer officiating, attended by a large circle of friends, after which interment was made in the family lot at Hillside Cemetery. The bereaved family has the sympathy of our entire people.”

Funny thing about obits: they are often written by people who don’t necessarily quite know the facts. Also, things get messed up in printing and again in transcription. This one is easy to pick on: the obit says June 5 1823. FAG says Jan 5 1828. Its easy to turn a 3 into an 8 and a Jan into a Jun. But either way being 26 in 1844 doesn’t work. The obit says he was born in “Leidringburg”, but that can only mean Leidringen.

But focus on the important point: Martin came from the same town as Christian Hirlinger and was almost certainly a cousin. He was an important and respected figure in Williamsport. If Anna Martha didn’t know this already she could no doubt have learned of it by writing to Christian’s family in Leidringen. Moreover Martin was in the same business as her two sons. To me that would be more than enough motivation to haul my family half way across the world to a town I never heard of. So I think the puzzle of why Anna Martha came to Indiana is pretty well solved. There is, however, an interesting story to be told (made up?) about Martin. If the obit is to be believed about an 1844 arrival, then the first census would be 1850. In fact we do find a Martin “Denaker”, age 23, in a large gang of Stone Masons (mostly German and Irish), working in Abington township, Luzerne county PA. Today that’s part of Lackawanna County and just north of Scranton. In 1850 Scranton did not yet exist, but the Scranton brothers were busy building up their steel mills and building new railroads in the area. His age in 1850 is consistent with the 1828 birth, in which case he would have been 16 in 1844, not 26. Anyway, my theory is this: My Hirlingers came into Philadelphia in 1837, and Wilhelm F was naturalized there in 1844. It would have been about then that they started recruiting German stone cutters in Philadelphia to go build the Lee Road. I suspect Wilhelm wrote home to Leidringen about the opportunity and Martin jumped at it. If this is right then Martin came specifically to work beside the Hirlingers on the Lee Road, which went from the top of North Mountain to the river at Mehoopany. By 1850 it was done, the Hirlingers moved to the south base of the mountain at Red Rock and Martin moved a few miles east of Mehoopany to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Scranton brothers. Not long after, Martin decided to go to Corning New York. Probably the only way to get there then was back along

the Lee Road to where it intersected with the Berwick-Towanda Turnpike. From there, you head north to Towanda and on to Corning. I like to think he made a short jog south for a few miles to visit the Hirlingers, who lived along the Turnpike. It’s a pretty theory. Don’t know if it’s true. POSTSCRIPT: MARTIN DANNECKER New York does censuses in years ending in 5. In the 1855 census of Corning we find: Martin Dinaker , 30, Stone Cutter, 3 years in Corning Rosina D, 20, wife, 3 years in Corning (both born in Germany) Then a couple of doors away we find their kids Hendrick Dinaker, 3 Christiana Dinaker , 6mo Hendrick will eventually Anglicize to Henry. He is buried in Highland Cemetery. His FAG memorial says he never married but lived with his sister Mary. Born 1852, died 1933. The names Rosina and Christiana are puzzling. I suspect the daughter was Christiana Maria, later called Mary, and the mother was Christiana Rosina. If so, the record is consistent with them getting married in 1852 shortly after Martin came to Corning, as stated in the obit. The ages of the parents appear to be rounded to the nearest 5 (which was done in earlier federal censuses). Martin should be 27, not 30 and Christiana 21, not 20.

The next time we see them is in 1865, shortly before they moved to Williamsport. Here the entry is consistent with the obit: Martin Danneker 39 Christiana Danneker 30 Henry Danneker 12 Mary Danneker 10 Mina Danneker 1 except Martin’s age is off the expected 37 by two years. (the census was taken on July 5 1865). The railroad had come to Williamsport by 1857. Once the war was over it would have been much easier to whisk the family west, which they did in October of 1865, no doubt seeking new opportunities in a younger place. It would be nice to confirm Martin’s immigration date of 1844. It would be nice to know his Leidringen roots and how he was

related to Christian’s mother. Whatever  the  relationship  was,  it  was  powerful  enough  to  pull  Anna  Martha  across  the  ocean.  

   

   

   Postscript: Where they lived I found an annotated map of Williamsport in the local library which revealed where these folks lived in 1923. The houses are still there and well kept.

William J and Hope Hirlinger lived in a large house on Washington St (on the south edge of town), three doors from Falls St. It was fixed up, with the railing above the porch added, about 2010. (We drove by it regularly on the way to Lafayette and always admired it. I never dreamed it had family ties).

The Reiff’s lived next door in a clearly much older farm house. In the 1923 map it is labeled Mrs J Reiff. That would be John Reiff’s 2nd wife Rosetta, who died in 1925 ( John himself had died ten years earlier from a fall off a roof he was working on in State Line City). Hope’s mother died young in 1880 before the Hirlingers arrived. I would imagine the Reiff house dates to the 1860s and

likely was where Hope was born. The house next door would have been built after Hope and William married.

The 1923 map also shows one labeled D Hirlinger, ie Dora, just a block away on Lincoln St. This would also have been where Fred lived for much of his life, and where he died in 1937. Dora lived to 1960, in the same house till the end.

 311  Lincoln  Street,  Williamsport                              

 

Freds  Obit  

 

     

Doras  Obit    Jan  28,  1960    

                           

 William  John’s  death  notice,  jan  18,  1924    

           Unfortunately  I  couldn’t  find  an  obit,  though  it  seems  likely  there  was  one.    

 Rosetta  Reiff  obit  Jan  8  1925    

   

This  shows  that  Hope  stayed  in  Lafayette  after  John  died  and  her  sons  graduated  and  moved  on…  presumably  living  with  Louise.  By  1930  they  were  both  living  in  Cleveland.