FOREWORD

  WHEN this work was first begun, some thirty years ago, it was the intention simply to trace back the ancestry of the writer and make typewritten copies for each of his children. This seemed easy: but the real magnitude of even this work was soon realized, providing it was thoroughly done. For the family lines soon so diverged and the field so widened that the task developed undreamed of proportions as well as possibilities. So much was found of historic as well as of family and at times romantic interest that it became a pleasant, and occasionally almost exciting avocation. And so much was found of patient, uncomplaining endurance, such sturdy morality, such capable, unselfish devotion to home, family, and country, that there naturally developed in the writer a legitimate and wholesome pride in this ancestry.

  And then with this came also a feeling that it would be selfish to restrict all this valuable information to the few for whom it was originally intended. From the rapidly darkening twilight of their past the writer seemed to feel the reproachful gaze of dimmed ancestral eyes as if in mild rebuke that he, a descendant, should not plan to share with others of their posterity the knowledge he had gained of them. But the additional labor involved to thus “share” was such as to make anyone hesitate. For it would be necessary first to trace also the various lines of posterity, locate the various members, and bring all records up to the present; a most tedious and laborious task, involving almost endless inquiry and correspondence and not at all so interesting as developing ancestral lines.

  As one grandfather, James Harris, had 57 grandchildren, and the other, Ephraim Kibbey 48, and most of these a long line of descendants, it was easy to realize the magnitude of such an undertaking! Besides it would be difficult to exclude the “Connections,” who had the same ancestry. Tracing the ancestry had been largely a labor of love, and so interesting that we did not mind the expense, nearly a thousand dollars in travel, research, fees, postage, etc. But it was rather reluctantly that we yielded finally to a sense of duty and set about the laborious work necessary to pass our knowledge on to others; the more so because when done it would, in order to make it available to all, have to be published in book form at certain financial loss, to the writer.

  But there is some reward in the feeling that a good work has been done in thus rescuing from the increasing darkness of the past the history, records, and achievements of these

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  The purpose of this history is two fold: 1. To pass on to the descendants a rather complete knowledge of their forbears so they may know from what stock they sprung, and the kind and character of their ancestors. 2. To reveal the various lines of the posterity of these, the name and location, and when possible, something of each member, and thus afford each one living a fair knowledge of his kinfolks.

  It required long, patient, and often difficult research to obtain full data concerning ancestors (sometimes of their posterity as well); here a little, there a little, each additional bit of information frequently opening up the way for more. And then all had to be carefully sifted and verified, or else discarded; for often the most promising lines led to nothing. After all is done it may seem very plain and simple, and few readers will realize the years of research, often almost blind groping, the travel and personal investigation, the endless correspondence with all kinds of officials, “professional” workers, and hundreds of relatives, etc., that were needed in order to unearth the information gathered, carefully arranged, and placed before them. And after all this was done it was no small task to weave and blend all the material into one continuous, connected story. For instead of a bare genealogical table it was the purpose to make it in part a real history, giving an insight into the lives of those who preceded us in the family descent.

  This ancestry, while in the main very democratic, was a class of people much above the average; men and women who “played well their part;” honest, intelligent, capable, patriotic, home-loving, home-making people. Habits of industry, activity in church, social, and civic affairs, obedience to law and the support of education, appear to have been common to all. And they so evidently possessed the various qualities that make for better manhood and womanhood, that so far as heredity goes there would seem little excuse for their descendants to lead other than the straightforward lives transmitted through the different lines of their ancestors. And there is so much of integrity and real worth in this

  In front of the writer is an exceptionally fine likeness of his grandfather Ephraim Kibbey and his wife, Nancy Vandervoort. The clear-cut and somewhat stern features of the former and the kind, motherly eyes of the latter seem to look with approval on what their grandson is doing. Nearby is a fine daguerreotype of his Grandfather James Harris, and beside it a photo of his Grandmother Mary Cherry, showing a face marked by suffering but clearly aristocratic with a very definite trace of that command she had early been accustomed to exercise. The features and piercing but kindly eyes of both indicate that nothing but integrity and square dealing was to be expected of their posterity. And looking down from the wall are the pictures of his own father and mother, their gaze seeming to follow with interest and approval the work of their son. For they always expected the best of their children. It is with this feeling and inspiration that we write the story of our ancestors, with the hope that their various lines of posterity will show the same sterling qualities that predominate among the ancestry.

Sources Of Information

  The writer personally visited all the various localities where the ancestors lived in the United States, some of them three times: Wilkes-Barre (formerly Wyoming) and other places in Pennsylvania; New Jersey, Maryland, New York, and the different counties in Virginia, especially Jefferson County and Charlestown, now in West Virginia. Records of all kinds, church, county and court were searched, and copies and transcripts of these paid for and secured when deemed helpful. He has four times traveled the Old National Road over which many of his ancestors came to the “Ohio Country,” making their toilsome journeys on foot, on horseback, and in wagons. What tedious, tiresome trips those must have been over the dozen or more mountain ranges, to say nothing of the countless hills and ridges but little lower than the mountains! But such was the common method of travel then and they probably thought little about it. Now a swift, easy riding auto takes one over that same road in a day; a distance that in pioneer days required weeks!

  The writer has patiently searched the early colonial records of the libraries of Boston, Mass., Yale University, the State Library at Richmond, Va., the Public Library at Cincinnati, and several smaller ones. Often the information sought was found in obscure,

  The persistent use of the first or Christian names in succeeding generations was also reliable proof of a continuous line of descent. In the Kibbey and Vandervoort lines some of these names have persisted through three centuries, in the Cherry for five. Acknowledgment is made to Mrs. M. L. Cherry of Sandusky, Ohio, for much of the ancestry in England. She in turn obtained it largely from Rev. Henry Curtis Cherry, Rector of Burghfield, and from church and civil records elsewhere in England. There was much available information from Rev. Canon J. Taylor, Rector Lisburne, Antrim County, Ireland.

  Credit is also due Thomas Henry Harris of Fredericksburg, Va., for data from 1609 to 1700 in a booklet by him entitled, “The Harris Family of Virginia.” For the same period records in the State Library at Richmond were available. To Miss Louisa Hutchinson in 1873, then a teacher in the schools of Norfolk, Va., and herself a descendant of one of the daughters of Edward Harris, only son of Henry, is largely due the data from John Harris of Jamestown down through four successive generations to John Harris of Prince George’s County, Maryland, whose will is there on record as of Sept. 2, 1775. From him the record is available in court records and family Bibles.

  To Edward Welles, a direct descendant of Matthias Hollenback, acknowledgment is made for a complete history of the Hollenback ancestry from the first immigrant to America. A personal visit to Wilkes-Barre (Wyoming) in 1930, added little to the data already gathered but was of great interest in connection with past events, especially the tragic massacre at Wyoming. (Cherry Valley, the scene of another Indian massacre, has nothing to do with the Cherry Family. We visited it also in 1930; it is located in southern New York and was named for the abundance of wild cherry trees found growing there.)

  The military records were obtained from the U. S. War Department at Washington and the military departments of New Jersey and Maryland. All kinds of information, though sometimes expensive, as records, deeds, wills, etc., was obtained from the officials of the various counties of ancestral residence, especially Charles Town. Any one visiting there

  The letters, deeds, and other papers of the Hon. James Harris, and of John and Richard Cherry were also helpful, as well as those of the writer’s father, Samuel Harris, whose well kept diary covered the period from 1865 to 1895. Besides the information from genealogical records and New Jersey Archives concerning the ancestry of Ephraim Kibbey and his wife, Phebe Crane, credit is due Harmony Lodge, F. & A. M. for much of the history of Ephraim’s Pioneer life; also to Josiah Morrow, Warren county’s veteran historian, for data concerning both Kibbey and the Vandervoort ancestry. A Bible record begun by Ephraim Kibbey, Jr., in 1802, contained valuable data, and Aunt Electra Miller, his youngest daughter, then nearing the century mark (1932) gave much helpful information. The Vandervoort ancestry was a matter of very definite record, obtained originally from books kept in New Amsterdam, now New York, and available from several different sources.

  The writer’s knowledge of early pioneer days was obtained, when as a small boy he greedily listened to stories told by his parents and visitors often much older than they, as they talked over “old times;” stories sometimes handed down from preceding generations were indelibly impressed on his mind, often by their frequent repetition; for the older people seemed never to tire in the telling nor the little boy in listening.

  Posterity; Other Ancestry. For the Posterity, including that of the Connections, dependence has been placed of necessity on information furnished by members of the various families of the different lines, and the writer accepts no responsibility for such data; but the very general and helpful cooperation has been appreciated.

  Often the ancestry of those whom descendants have married has been sent in. Nothing but the very briefest mention can be made of such; for if one were given all should be and the work would require several volumes and a lifetime to arrange it. Any such ancestry can be made a part of the history by having it typewritten on sheets double the size of the book leaves and inserting them in the book at the proper place. See also “Additional Data” space.

Family Lines, Etc., Clearly Shown

  Profiting from mistakes in other “Family Histories” examined, which often seemed just a miscellaneous collection of births, marriages, deaths, etc., not understood unless the

Generations

  The children of the Harris-Cherry or Kibbey-Vandervoort union are given as First, Second, Third, etc., the first generation. The children of these–the second generation, will be numbered in Roman, I, II, III, IV, etc. The children of these, the third generation will be numbered in Arabic, 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. Their children, the fourth generation, will be a, b, c, d, etc. The children of these the fifth generation will be designated 1’, 2’, 3’, 4’, etc., and their children, the sixth generation will be a’, b’, c’, d’, etc.

Possible Omissions, Errors, Etc.

  It has been the plan to tell something of each adult,his business, degrees or prominent positions, offices held, etc. The absence of any such mention does not always mean that the subject had no such honors, but that no one made them known to the author.

  Reliance had to be placed almost entirely upon others for names, dates, etc. When possible these were checked and rechecked; but sometimes there was no way of such checking, and so no means of knowing if any were wrong. No responsibility is felt for any such errors. In the frequent rewriting often necessary it was of course easy to copy a date wrong, though a close check was kept. An error in a date is seldom of so much importance; but the omission of a name! That might be a tragedy; we sincerely trust there is none such.

All Treated Alike

  Practically no distinction has been made in the space allotted the writer’s family, though he has given freely of his time, years of it, for the research and writing required, paid all the cost, over a thousand dollars for such research, and borne all the financial risks in the publication. What extra may seem to have been used was simply because he knew far more to tell.

  The space used in describing his mother’s experience as a pioneer housekeeper, and his own boyhood on a farm (A Boy’s Paradise) belongs not so much to the chapter on his father’s family as to the book as a whole, or to every chapter, of the Posterity. For the experience of his mother, and his own, was duplicated in that of every other housekeeper, and of every other farmer’s boy, of the periods mentioned; and as such was worthy of being passed on down to future generations.

  The author’s portrait, used as a frontispiece, cost practically nothing additional, for the cut was already on hand, having been made for the History of the Miami Valley in 1918.

Two Volumes

  While not the original intention it was found, for obvious reasons to publish the history in two separate volumes. In this way each volume can be furnished at a little more than half what the larger book would cost, and the descendants of each of the two families will have to pay for their own lines only. Owing to the impossibility of locating so large a percentage of the descendants of the Kibbey-Vandervoort Family, it is very likely that the second volume will consist only of the Ancestry, Pioneer Family, and only the earlier members of the Posterity. This will of course mean a much smaller book at a far less cost.

Further Records

  By means of the blank pages left at the close of each family line, the data of that family can be carried forward two or more generations and so kept up to date for perhaps another century.

Own Your Own Copy

  Most of the family histories we have had occasion to examine were badly dilapidated–often almost worthless, because of so much handling; too many besides the owner using them. This is not fair to either the owner or the author, who in this case is furnishing the book with its history of the wonderful past, the story of the Pioneer Family and Conditions, and the complete and voluminous records of Posterity at less than 1/3 of 1 % of what it all cost him, to say nothing of the years of time involved.

  You can have your own copy for yourself and children, by sending a postal money order for $5.10, to him at Lebanon, Ohio.