Tag Archives: Magdalina (Strahm) Jegerlehner

Book of Me – Prompt 14: Special People

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book of meThe Book of Me – Written by You is a weekly blog prompt created by Julie Goucher of the blog Angler’s Rest. This is a fifteen month writing project to highlight my life so that I will have something to leave behind for my descendants. Week fourteen’s prompt is  also Special People and is a continuation of the last prompt.

If you had to hold a dinner party and could invite a maximum of 12 special people who would you invite?

You CAN include family this time. Perhaps they are ancestors you have never met or people that you know/knew.

What meals would you serve and why?

Perhaps include the recipe or a photo if you decided to actually cook the items.

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My dinner party would include family members who have all passed on at this point. Most of them I have never known. I have lots of questions for them because they didn’t write anything down or leave much for me to discover about their lives.

The Guests

Alfred M. Dicks and his first wife Ruth Reynolds: They were Quakers. Their families were part of the Quaker migration to North Carolina in the mid 1700s. After staying in the south for several generations, the Quakers began migrating north again. Slavery was a huge issue in the early 1800s. Some remained in the south but many moved in the decades before the Civil War. Some of the North Carolina monthly meetings were decimated by migration. Ruth’s parents migrated a few years before she was born. Alfred traveled as a young man in the 1830s, sometime after the death of his father in 1833. Ruth died young after bearing six children in the 1850s. I know very little about her. Her name appears in very few documents. When she and Alfred married in 1840, their marriage was a civil one which got them disowned from the local Quaker Monthly Meeting. I suspect the meeting was too far away which made it difficult to attend regularly. Also there were lots of strong political feelings and divisions between the monthly meetings in eastern Illinois and western Indiana at that time. I have lots of questions for Alfred, too. He managed to avoid the census takers in 1860. I do not know exactly when Alfred or Ruth died or where they are buried.

John Alden and Priscilla Mullins: I have always known I was a Mayflower descendant.  The lineage of John and Priscilla was the first that my grandmother proved. We “know” so much about their fabled courtship and little else. John’s parentage is unknown. We have very few dates for this couple, including when they married, the births of the children, and when Priscilla died. Hearing about their daily struggles to create a new life in this country would be fascinating.

George Rea and Sarah Ann Jewell: George Rea was an Irishman by birth. He journeyed to America and settled in Greene County, Indiana. So far I have uncovered little information about George’s life in Ireland. He was a presumably successful farmer who owned a sizeable acreage of land in Indiana. George was about 20 years older than his wife Sarah but she died first, perhaps in childbirth. I am currently trying to prove Sarah’s lineage. There was only one Jewell family in Greene County and I think I know how she fits but I have no direct evidence. Again, I have lots of questions for this couple.

David Yegerlehner and Magdalena Strahm: The patriarch of the Yegerlehner family in America and his wife left their homeland to settle in America in 1851. Why? Where & when did Magdalena die? David was a carpet weaver. I would have enjoyed watching him weave. Perhaps they could teach me Swiss or share stories of their life in the Alps.

Michael Schiele and Elizabeth Krieble: I think I have enough questions about Michael and his German ancestry to warrant an invitation to this dinner. Elizabeth’s daughter Nancy raises lots of interesting questions as well. Nancy’s descendents would certainly like some answers about her father.

Roscoe S. Yegerlehner and Gladys Foster: Now that I am old enough to ask the hard family questions, my grandparents have long been gone. Since starting this project, the number of questions that I would have liked to ask my grandparents has increased exponentially. Even sitting with my grandmother for a few hours and having her identify people in the sea of photographs would be a treat.

The dinner

I would like to have a potluck picnic like I remember from all the family reunions of my childhood. Every summer we traveled to Indiana to visit my grandparents. Generally, at some point, a family reunion would be held during our visit. A few times, the reunion was held at my aunt and uncle’s house. At that time, their house was on the outskirts of Centerville. The house was surrounded by corn fields on the two sides, the road to the front, and a wooded area to the back. All my mom’s cousins would come over and all the second cousins would run around for hours. Everyone brought some kind of dish to share.

Since my family does not have a tradition of family recipes being passed down, I would like each of my ancestral couples to bring a family dish that was special for their family and time period. One dish sticks out from my childhood. It appeared on the table for most picnics or special occasions. I am not sure which side of the family the recipe came from. Since my own children have an aversion to food with “sauces,” the tradition hasn’t been continued.

The recipe –

Five Cup Salad:
1 cup crushed pineapple
1 cup mandarin oranges
1 cup of shredded coconut
1 cup of mini marshmallows
1 cup of sour cream

Throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together.

©2013 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2013/12/06/book-of-me-pro…special-people/

Travel Tuesday – Voyage to America

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Yegerlehner, David and family - Ship manifest, 1851

Image via Ancestry (Click to enlarge)

About halfway down the above ship manifest from the Northumberland which sailed from London to New York is the name David Jacalander. He sailed to America with his wife and three children: Madga, Christian, Rosena, and John. The ship arrived in New York on 26 April 1851. David and his family were natives of Switzerland. He was a weaver by trade. The rest of the page is filled with the names of Swiss immigrants of various trades: wheelwright, cooper, dyer, tailor, joiner, and mason. Perhaps the group was traveling together to the new world, to begin a new community. The reason for the emigration of the Jacalander family is unknown. A family legend speaks of the fear of impressment into the Prussian army.

While Jacalander is not a Swiss surname, Jegerlehner is. The Swiss are very protective of their heritage. Even today surnames are registered and can be located on the official Registry. Since the family departed Europe from London, likely the lowly English clerk did not understand the thick German Swiss accent when he recorded the family on the manifest. In America, David Jacalander became David Yegerlehner, the ancestor of all who share the name.

©2013 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2013/11/25/travel-tuesday…age-to-america/

Tombstone Tuesday – David Yegerlehner

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Image courtesy of

Image courtesy of Tonya & Keith Tetidrick

David Yegerlehner (originally Jegerlehner) was the immigrant ancestor of Roscoe’s family in America. David arrived with his wife, Magdalena, and three children, Christian, John and Rosina, in 1851. They were natives of Bern, Switzerland. While each of the three children settled in different areas of Indiana, David stayed with his eldest son Christian. When Christian bought land in Clay County, Indiana, David set up his carpet weaving shop across the road from the farm house.

David’s grandchildren erected this modern stone at the cemetery in his honor.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=38084666

©2013 copyright owned and written by Deborah Sweeney
Post originally found at: https://genealogylady.net/2013/11/04/tombstone-tues…id-yegerlehner/

Sunday’s Obituary – Clarence Earl Yegerlehner (1897-2001)

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Yegerlehner, Clarence - Obituary, 2001Clarence Yegerlehner was the oldest son of John H. and Lovina (Schiele) Yegerlehner. He lived until the ripe old age of 104. I find it curious that his youngest sibling Floyd, born 14 years after, only outlived him by 5 months. There isn’t much more that I can add to Clarence’s story that hasn’t already been written in his obituary or the biography from the Church booklet. I am also adding a piece that Clarence himself wrote about the Yegerlehner farm.

Transcription of Clarence’s History:

Yegerlehner Homestead History

Clarence Yegerlehner's History of the Yegerlehner farm

Clarence Yegerlehner’s History of the Yegerlehner farm

Just recent information tells of David Yegerlehner and wife Magdaline Strahm Yegerlehner with their children Christian, John, and Rosina after leaving Switzerland in 1851, landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Fayette County, Paint Township. Years from 1851-1860 are not known, but in June of 1860 census, they lived in Homes [Holmes] County, Ohio near Winesburg south of Mt. Easton Church. By trade David was a carpet weaver. Migrating west they came to Marion Mills near Patricksburg in Owen county, Indiana. Christian came over in Clay County and purchased 104 acres farm. (Forty acres direct from government and balance in 1860[sic] from those living near by.) David never owned the farm, only a building on the south side of the road for his shop. Christian made boots and shoes on northside of the road. The road then going direct from Clay City to Bowling Green between present house and barn. The other two of David’s children located in northern Indiana near Ft. Wayne. As only seven acres of homestead was cleared Christian had quite a task of clearing the land, John of second generation, purchased the farm. There was still some acreage to be cleared and he spent a summer draining the low lands with tile and changing of branches as low land was only swamps and crooked woods. None of the third generation, seven in number, owned the place, but only two born there and balance grew up and lived there until married and had homes of their own. Clarence, the writer of this history, was of this generation.

Kenneth, his son, was of the fourth generation, then purchased the place. No resemblance today as to previous. House has been replaced, the Swiss-type barn burned and replaced as a modern dairy barn, including silos, loading, sheds, etc. Alan, his son, lives on adjoining farm purchased from his grandfather, Clarence (originally owned by Clarence’s father, John). In all these years (122), it has been father and son working together on both farms. Now still a Swiss decendat [descendant] as of long ago, milk 50 to 60 cows, typical of the Swiss. So seven generations of Yegerlehners make up the 122 years of the old homestead history.

We hope that in future years it will be Luke, Alan’s son born October 1, XXXX, that will finally become the next owner. Then the Yegerlehners name has never been changed in ownership in all 122 years. Seven generations in all.

Written by: Clarence Yegerlehner, August 1982

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Letter transcription

Fri.

Dear Mother,

Got lots of mail today a letter from you, Ruth M + Mom – a package from Boonie + wife and a package (carton of cig) from Dorothy. I wouldn’t pay any attention to Dorothy because you know how her stories are. Sometimes they stretch-Don’t let the boys get hold of this. Maybe you will have a brighter outlook after you get the letters this week. I forgot to write Free on the letter yesterday so don’t know if you’ll have to pay for it or not. I remembered it after it was mailed.

I’ll have to write Boonie thanking him for the candy-probably will do that Mon Sun. You can call Dorothy and thank her or go and tell her. You can’t afford to be mad at her now.

It’s been pretty hot and Humid here today no rain but just damp.

Someone called me yesterday Eve. just before I got home and Mrs. E told them to call back later but they never did. I suppose it was Jim-Said it was a man. He’s the only man I could think of. Might be several women? (O yea)

Just had to run down and answer the phone

(page 2) someone wanted to talk to the “nice man”.

Tomorrow I’ll be on duty and may not get a chance to write, but will on Sun again. I won’t be off until 9:30 or so on Sun. That being the night of the fourth I suppose we’ll have lots to do.

It’s about meal time and I’ll get the little slips you sent and mark the amounts to be paid.

That Warren Feed bill seems high. You won’t have to go far back because I paid him each mo. Never did run an account with him larger than one mo. and I didn’t remember buying that much from him the last time he was there. I may have mail ordered just before he came the last time and that would be on that bill. What did you send back.

Well, if I were there for a short time I could figure it out but it doesn’t look like I’ll get to come for a few days yet.

Love Daddy