John Frederick Biography - Revision history

Liz: name page linked

2022-01-07T15:28:23Z

name page linked

Liz: rewording biography

2022-01-07T15:24:52Z

rewording biography

Liz: revision re. immigration date of Anna Elizabeth Kenemuth; apparently 1854-56 with parents per census

2012-04-23T19:13:19Z

revision re. immigration date of Anna Elizabeth Kenemuth; apparently 1854-56 with parents per census

Liz: add name/page link for Anna Catherine Kenemuth's sister Anna Elizabeth

2011-10-23T17:09:00Z

add name/page link for Anna Catherine Kenemuth's sister Anna Elizabeth

Liz: spell Kenemuth

2007-05-03T20:54:02Z

spell Kenemuth

Liz: spell

2007-05-03T20:13:18Z

spell

Liz: Delete reference to Anna Elizabeth Kennemuth's accompanying her sister to America; contradicted by Kennemuth Bible notes

2007-04-29T09:00:52Z

Delete reference to Anna Elizabeth Kennemuth's accompanying her sister to America; contradicted by Kennemuth Bible notes

Liz: spelling

2007-04-27T12:28:16Z

spelling

Liz: wording re Young burials, LIeberum cemetery

2007-04-27T12:26:04Z

wording re Young burials, LIeberum cemetery

Liz: Note re. Diederich & Jung/Young family from Hitzerode, also in PA

2007-04-27T12:19:44Z

Note re. Diederich & Jung/Young family from Hitzerode, also in PA

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 In August of 1822 [[John Frederick|Johannes Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, died when he was nine years old. <br>He, his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine ]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the east, and on 20 Oct 1851 they were married. The marriage record is found in the records of both villages.  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck, was still alive at that date.
-<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The story was that he had left Germany (then-Prussia) quickly and could not return. John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason John Frederick had to leave, but wouldn't tell it, so to his mind it was a serious infraction. The area was in upheaval at the time, a confrontation with Austria developing. He and Anna may have already planned to emigrate, and he was simply draft-dodging.  The older houses in both Frankershausen and Hitzerode are three-part: the family living space, an equipment and feed storage space and finally the animal quarters.  Another descendant through the Etzel line said that as their story went, "he excaped through the dung hole", so someone was at the door. Even though the farm fields were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.<br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.<br>  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they sailed for America together. Anna Catherine was pregnant with their first child at the time. One, possibly two siblings accompanied her, Conrad who was 10 years younger than Anna Catherine and Anna Elizabeth, a younger sister.   They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child. Mary was born 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.The saying was that "Aunt Mary",  crossed the ocean but never saw it.
+<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The story was that he had left Germany (then-Prussia) quickly and could not return. John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason John Frederick had to leave, but wouldn't tell it, so to his mind it was a serious infraction. The area was in upheaval at the time, a confrontation with Austria developing. He and Anna may have already planned to emigrate, and he was simply draft-dodging.  The older houses in both Frankershausen and Hitzerode are three-part: the family living space, an equipment and feed storage space and finally the animal quarters.  Another descendant through the Etzel line said that as their story went, "he excaped through the dung hole", so someone was at the door. Even though the farm fields were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.<br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.<br>  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they sailed for America together. Anna Catherine was pregnant with their first child at the time. One, possibly two siblings accompanied her, Conrad who was 10 years younger than Anna Catherine and Anna Elizabeth, a younger sister.   They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child. Mary was born 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.The saying was that "Aunt Mary",  crossed the ocean but never saw it.<br>>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones.  <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his loose pipe tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?", and they'd have to pick the tobacco off of it.  He said he was from  "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
-   <br>>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones.  <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his loose pipe tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?", and they'd have to pick the tobacco off of it.  He said he was from  "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
-<br>Biography written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams,  g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick and Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth.
+<br>Biography written by [[Elizabeth Ann Wilson|Elizabeth Wilson Williams]],  g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick and Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-In August of 1822 [[John Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine ]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
+In August of 1822 [[John Frederick|Johannes Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, died when he was nine years old. <br>He, his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine ]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the east, and on 20 Oct 1851 they were married. The marriage record is found in the records of both villages.  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck, was still alive at that date.
-<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine, and possibly by her younger sister [[Anna Elizabeth Kenemuth|Anna Elizabeth]].(Family tradition is that Anna Catherine was accompanied by a brother and a sister. However the notes from a Kenemuth Bible say that only Conrad accompanied Anna Catherine; Anna Elizabeth lists her immigration year variously as 1854 & 1856 in census, which indicates she came with her parents.) They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
+<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The story was that he had left Germany (then-Prussia) quickly and could not return. John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason John Frederick had to leave, but wouldn't tell it, so to his mind it was a serious infraction. The area was in upheaval at the time, a confrontation with Austria developing. He and Anna may have already planned to emigrate, and he was simply draft-dodging.  The older houses in both Frankershausen and Hitzerode are three-part: the family living space, an equipment and feed storage space and finally the animal quarters.  Another descendant through the Etzel line said that as their story went, "he excaped through the dung hole", so someone was at the door. Even though the farm fields were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.<br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.<br>  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they sailed for America together. Anna Catherine was pregnant with their first child at the time. One, possibly two siblings accompanied her, Conrad who was 10 years younger than Anna Catherine and Anna Elizabeth, a younger sister.   They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child. Mary was born 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.The saying was that "Aunt Mary",  crossed the ocean but never saw it.
-<br>Biography written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams, a g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick.
+<br>Biography written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams,  g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick and Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 In August of 1822 [[John Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine ]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
-<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine, and by her younger sister [[Anna Elizabeth Kenemuth|Anna Elizabeth]]. They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
+<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine, and possibly by her younger sister [[Anna Elizabeth Kenemuth|Anna Elizabeth]].(Family tradition is that Anna Catherine was accompanied by a brother and a sister. However the notes from a Kenemuth Bible say that only Conrad accompanied Anna Catherine; Anna Elizabeth lists her immigration year variously as 1854 & 1856 in census, which indicates she came with her parents.) They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
 <br>Biography written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams, a g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-In August of 1822 [[John Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
+In August of 1822 [[John Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine ]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
-<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine. They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
+<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine, and by her younger sister [[Anna Elizabeth Kenemuth|Anna Elizabeth]]. They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
 <br>Biography written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams, a g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-In August of 1822 [[John Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kennemuth|Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
+In August of 1822 [[John Frederick]] was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.   He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth|Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth]] who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
-<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine. They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kennemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
+<br>The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.   The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.  The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers.  This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Wilda DeHart, descendant of Mary Frederick & Will Dietrich) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.   Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.   It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine. They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.  They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>It is significant to note that two other families from Hitzerode immigrated to Ashalnd Twp., Clarion County PA.  The Diederich family, whose children Will and Louisa would marry into the Frederick family, were in PA by 1851, when  son Will was born. Will Dietrich's grandmother, Anna Catherina Jung was born in Hitzerode, and a gravestone for at least one member of the Young family is in the Lieberum cemetery, Ashland Twp. PA with the Frederick and Dietrich stones. Perhaps John Frederick went to them during his first trip to America. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all of these Kuhnemuth passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm, near Fern,  consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter [[Elizabeth Anna Frederick]] did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena. <br>John Frederick and daughter Mary  would walk to Pittsburgh, about 75 miles through woods and old Indian trails, in the fall.  John worked in the steel mills till spring and Mary would keep house for him. This winter trip was made more than once, and Mary Frederick also found work in Pittsburgh.  After she married, she and husband Will Deitrich settled in Pittsburgh and their children became "the Pittsburgh cousins" to the rest fo the family. <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter. She remembers him  keeping hard candy, pink peppermints, for the children, in the same pocket where he kept his tobacco. He'd say "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record. <br>The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich, Liebrum, and Young family members, including [[John Frederick]] and [[Anna Catherine Kenemuth]].
 <br>Biography written by Elizabeth Wilson Williams, a g-g-granddaughter of John Frederick.