3048480 - Davis Moebus Tree

Brian Cartwright wrote the following article on why he believes Henry Helsel and Eve Stiffler are the parents of Catherine Eliz abeth, wife of Jacob Stiffler.

On Aug 25th, 2001, Dale Helsel posted a message to GenForum 's Helsel board, in which he stated that Catherine Elizabet h Helsel, wife of Jacob Stiffler, of Cherry Tree, Indiana C o, Pa, was the daughter of Henry Helsel and Eve Stiffler. A s she was my 4th great-grandmother, I have been frustrate d by not being able to identify her parents, and thus fin d my place in the Helsel family tree. My first reaction t o Dale's claim was "Where did he get that?". There were onl y two Helsel families in the area of Bedford Co where Cathe rine Elizabeth's husband, Jacob Stiffler, was born, being P eter Helsel, of whom no children are known, and Henry Helse l, the one Helsel of that generation of whom we know all hi s children, and this Catherine was not one of them. Despit e that, I decided to review the documentation, and now hav e to conclude that this claim is most likely correct.

The case for Peter Helsel is entirely circumstantial. Pete r and John Tobias Heltzel (the Helsel/Heltzel spelling ar e interchangeable, and depended mostly on where the perso n lived) are listed in the Pennsylvania Archives, each rece iving a land grant in Bedford Co on the same day in 1793. H e does not appear to be John's brother, as the transcribe d will of John Tobias Heltzel Sr makes no mention of a so n named Peter. Peter's 144 acres in Greenfield Twp were sur veyed in 1807, and I obtained a copy of that survey from th e Pioneer HGS in Bedford. It shows that his property was bo unded on the east by Peter Stiffler, in the area of East Fr eedom, now Blair Co. The "History of Indiana Co" lists th e earliest settlers of Cherry Tree in the 1820's, and amon g these were Peter Stiffler's sons Jacob and George Stiffle r, as well as one Peter Helsel. In the 1840 census, in thre e consecutive households in Green Twp, Indiana Co were enum erated George Stiffler, Tobias Helsel, and Jacob Stiffler . It was Jacob who had married Catherine Elizabeth Helsel . As a child, Jacob Stiffler had lived next to Peter Helsel , and as an adult, he moved to Indiana Co along with Pete r Helsel, and once there lived next to a Helsel household , which contained a man born 1760-1770, the right age to b e Jacob's father-in-law. However, I have never found any do cumentation naming any children of Peter Helsel. Still, the re was compelling evidence, in the absence of any credibl e alternatives, to name Peter a prime candidate for Catheri ne Elizabeth's father, demanding further investigation.

Of course, what is key is the "absence of any credible alte rnatives." There were only two Helsel families in Greenfiel d Twp, Bedford Co, to which Catherine Elizabeth could hav e been born into in 1802. Those were Peter, discussed above , of whom nothing is known of his family, and Henry, of who m all his children were named in his will, and his daughte r Catherine was married to Jacob Weir. However, when Dale H elsel made the claim that Catherine Elizabeth was Henry Hel sel's daughter, I decided it was worth reviewing the docume ntation. I read through the will, but noticed the name o f a daughter Elizabeth whom I did not have listed in my dat abase. I counted eleven names in the will, and ten in the f amily sheet. Gerald Helsel had transcribed the will in 1957 , and this has been widely circulated. However, I had obtai ned a photocopy of the original from the Bedford Courthouse , and transcribed the will myself, mainly because the origi nal contained many ampersands "&" which Gerald Helsel had t ranscribed as the word "and". I held up the photocopy, an d Elizabeth was definitely named as one of Henry's unmarrie d daughters at the time of the writing in 1815. This name h ad always been in the will, but had been left out of the tr anscription. This is an important reminder to ALWAYS CHEC K ORIGINAL SOURCE DOCUMENTS.

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