ENLOE AND SHERRILL FAMILIES IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA

Amy’s 9th great-grandfather Hendrick Enloes was reportedly born in 1632 at Duisburg, North Rhine-Westphalia. This family then were reportedly goldsmiths & Mennonites. Hendrick is a listed ancestor for kits in the Enloe yDNA Project, which so far has not done detailed SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) marker testing down a phylogenetic sequence trail in Haplogroup R1b.
https://www.familytreedna.com/public/ourancientenloeancestors?iframe=ycolorized
Big Y700 yDNA testing on a Enloe-surnamed male would be very helpful to further research.

Hendrick Enloes was the ancestor who migrated from the Netherlands to Maryland. Enoch Enloe (1741-1799) was Amy’s 6th great grandfather; he migrated from Maryland to York County South Carolina, where he married Agnes Sprucebanks in 1766. The family later moved to nearby Rutherford County NC.





Abraham Enloe (1770-1840) and Sarah “Sallie” Edgerton were Amy’s 5th greats. They were the parents-in-law of Wilson Sherrill (m. Elizabeth Enloe; Amy’s 4th greats). Abraham & Sarah were the Most Recent Common Ancestors for Amy versus her autosomal DNA match Mary, with shared segments on chromosomes 18 & 19. Abraham & Sarah were married in Rutherford County in 1795. There were reportedly at least 3 other men named Abraham Enloe who lived in Kentucky at the time of the birth of Abraham Lincoln. There are several other alleged contenders for biological fatherhood of Abe Lincoln; evidence is flawed.


Our Abraham Enloe was one of the earliest settlers in the Great Smoky Mountains, likely arriving there shortly after Uriah “Ute” Sherrill & his son John settled (prior to the 1802 Meigs-Freeman surveyed line) in the future town of Cherokee NC. Abraham & Ute were both 5th great-grandfathers of Amy. According to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oconaluftee_(Great_Smoky_Mountains)

“John Jacob Mingus (ca. 1774–1852), who arrived in the Oconaluftee in the 1790s, was the first Euro-American settler in the valley and the first within the boundaries of what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Mingus purchased the land from Felix Walker, a land speculator and later North Carolina Congressman. While Mingus roamed from county to county in the Southern Appalachians, his descendants would remain in the area until the establishment of the park.

Mingus was followed by Abraham Enloe (1770–1840), who settled downstream from the Mingus plot.” The Enloe family likely arrived shortly after 1803.




A millstone was ordered from France, and the Mingus Mill structure was subsequently built upon its arrival, 1886. This was in the latter years of the life of Dr. John Mingus (1798-1888), son of pioneer John Jacob Mingus. The original millstone has been replaced by a turbine. A second turbine is currently operational & can be viewed by the public. The mill was initially operated by descendants of Dr. John Mingus and his wife Mary Margaret Enloe (1804-1894). She was a sister of our Elizabeth Enloe (wife of Wilson Sherrill).




Just north of the Mingus Mill is the Floyd-Enloe Cemetery. Here we see the gravestone of Wesley Matthew Enloe (1811-1903), a brother of Mary Margaret Enloe Mingus and our Elizabeth Enloe Sherrill (1801-1887). Their brother Asaph Theodore Enloe Sr. (1793-1833) was the ancestor of Amy’s atDNA match Mary.

Isabell Wisdom Enloe (1807-1883), another sib, married Ute Sherrill (1809-1889) who was a grandson of Ute Sherrill (b. 1757; Amy’s 5th great-grandfather). Ute & Isabell had several kids. Ute Sherrill also had children with Cherokee woman Dinah Noo-Qui-Dah-yih Leatherwood. Of particular interest is their son Andy Sherrill (b. 1843). This Andy Sherrill’s grandson Andy Sherrill (1913-1968) was ancestral to some of Amy’s living kin.





This Enloe barn was not the first built by this family, but is now part of the current Farm Museum at the Oconaluftee Visitor Center of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park & near the south end of the Blue Ridge Parkway. Just north of the visitor center is the turnoff to the Mingus Mill & just north of this the trail to the Floyd-Enloe Cemetery (but Abraham & Sarah were buried elsewhere).

A book at the genealogical library in the Sylva Courthouse said… “The last and most noteworthy homestead for Sarah and Abraham was at Ravensford in Swain County near Cherokee, which is now the Great Smoky Mountains Parkway Office at the base of the Smoky Mountains. It has been preserved as a typical mountain homestead and is visited by thousands of tourists each year. Nearby is the Enloe Family Cemetery…” where Wesley Matthew Enloe (1811-1903) & wife Melinda were buried.

In 1805, John Hyde was authorized to oversee the construction of a road from Soco Creek to the Oconaluftee settlement, i.e. from the land of Ute Sherrill in future Cherokee town to the vicinity of the current park office, along or parallel to current Hwy. US 441. This road would have connected Amy’s Enloe ancestors & Sherrill ancestors.

Going south from Cherokee town on US 441 may have been the route from the Mouth of Soco (Ute Sherrill’s place) to the Tuckasegee River laid out by court order June 29, 1822. The jury of view to lay out the wagon road included Abraham Enloe (Amy’s 5th great grandfather), Asaph Enloe Sr. (Amy’s 4th great-granduncle & ancestor of Amy’s atDNA match person Mary), Ute Sherrill (Amy’s 5th great grandfather), Samuel Sherrill (Amy’s 4th great granduncle; father of Polly “Qually” Sherrill Connelly, trading post operator), Jacob Mingus/Minges, Ephraim Mingus/Minges, & several others.

By 1820, all of the many kids of Abraham & Sarah Enloe had been born, some before, & some after, the move to Oconaluftee. Elizabeth Enloe (b. Wilson Sherrill), Amy’s 4th great-grandmother, had lots of sibs, each with their own interesting stories. The 1820 census of Haywood County NC (included the Oconaluftee area in later Jackson, then Swain counties) showed the Abraham Enloe household had 17 people, including 3 slaves. That would be after Abraham Enloe in 1815 sold 4 slaves to John Hyde, who was subsequently murdered in Missouri by a slave.

In 1820, the nearby Soco/Oconaluftee home of Ute Sherrill had 16 persons, including 9 slaves. It is not known where Wilson & Elizabeth Enloe Sherrill (Amy’s 4th greats) were living then.

Our Elizabeth Enloe Sherrill’s sibs included:
Isabell Wisdom Enloe (b. 1807) who married another Uriah Sherrill, grandson of our Ute (b. 1757). Asaph Enloe (ancestor of Amy’s atDNA match Mary). Scroop Enloe, onetime postmaster of Quallatown. Mary Margaret Enloe, wife of Dr. John Mingus; their son Hamilton Mingus died in the Civil War at Petersburg Virginia, 1862. Benjamin Mattison “Matt” Enloe, who died in 1862 at the Battle of Malvern Hill, Va. Abram Turner Enloe, likely killed in the Civil War, 1865.






In the census of 1870, after the war, there were 33 Enloe persons living at Qualla, Jackson County NC. And 21 Sherrill people at Qualla. Amy’s 3rd great Frances Sherrill (b. 1837) was by then in Kentucky & married to Benjamin Young Bennett. The Sherrill story is a much longer tale for another time.

MUFFLEY INTRODUCTION

This blog narrative, shorn of many details and documentation, presents over three centuries of family history of my Muffley line. Our tale begins in Bern Canton Switzerland, and traces the Muffley migration to the New World. American locations of particular interest include southeastern Pennsylvania, western Pennsylvania, Illinois, Missouri, and southwestern Nebraska. My Muffley line is: Christian - Nicholas – Johannes – Jacob – Thomas – Joseph – Albert - Robert – Gary (me).
(pictured at left is Albert Muffley, age 14).

BERN CANTON, SWITZERLAND

Maffli is the official spelling of the surname in the Swiss Book of Family Names (Familienbuches der Schweiz), which lists the Bernese Maffli primary ancestral home as Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun, and secondary ancestral homes of Oberdiessbach and Buchholterberg. The name form is typically Alemannic German, a patronymic, meaning son of Maff. Maff could be a nickname for Magafrid (personal communication from Elsdon C. Smith, book author and former head of the American Name Society). Magafrid would be a typical two-theme Germanic name. Maga- = Macht (strength, in modern German), plus –frid = Fried (peace).
There is a record that Christian and Barbara Maffli were the parents of our known ancestor Niclaus Maffli (Nicholas Muffley). This information was submitted to the Latter Day Saints Church (www.familysearch.org) by a member, with no other information. Until the Amsoldingen church records are transferred to the Bern Archives, and data placed for sale on CD-ROM, this cannot be confirmed, short of another visit to Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun. Christian Maffli was reportedly born on May 3, 1685, at Amsoldingen, Bern Canton, Switzerland. Barbara was born about 1686 at Amsoldingen. Christian and Barbara were reportedly married about 1707, and their son Niclaus Maffli was born in February, 1707/1708. Niclaus reportedly had a brother, Heinrich Jacob Maffli, born in 1715 at Amsoldingen. (pictured above is - McCreary-Muffley 4 generations)

Niclaus/Nicholas once lived (data found while I was in the Bern Archives) in Zweisimmen District, Bern Canton, Switzerland. Go here and Click on “Summer Panoramic Map” (which faces south) and slide to the right (west). Note the position of Zweisimmen, up the valleys from Lake Thun. Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun lies between Thun and Zweisimmen. At some point prior to his emigration, Niclaus Maffli moved out of the lower land by Lake Thun (Thunersee) to Zweisimmen in the Bernese Uplands (Oberland). It looks like in so doing, he moved from an area of High Alemannic dialect to an area of Highest Alemannic dialect. Maffli would have been pronounced Moofli in the south Bernese dialect, I was told by Swiss genealogist Franz Walter Kummer-Beck. I think that Niclaus probably lived in the Zweisimmen vicinity long enough that he assimilated the different pronunciation of his surname. Upon departure from Switzerland and arrival in America, our ancestor Niclaus Müffli used a “ü”, probably to fit the spelling in other regions to his pronunciation of his name. Modern Swiss cousins spell the name Mafli or Maffli, and I have corresponded with, and met in Basel, Maffli descendants of Höfen origin. Perhaps y-DNA testing could confirm the link of our Muffley line and any known Höfen-origin male Maffli.

In the course of three trips to Switzerland (1967, 1973, 1977), I visited the main Maffli ancestral village of Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun, west of Lake Thun in Bern Canton, a secondary Maffli ancestral village of Oberdiessbach, as well as Zweisimmen, and the Bern Archives. I interviewed Swiss genealogist Dr. Robert Oehler in his home, and he provided some Maffli names, the oldest being a Peter Maffli born in 1588 in Oberdiessbach.

“N. Muffli” (Bern Archives) listed Zweisimmen as his home when he paid the Swiss emigration tax, 1734-1735. The tax of 10% of his total worth (about 12 pounds) was not much money, so Niclaus was by no means wealthy then. Zweisimmen, in the south of Bern Canton, is not far from St. Stephan village; both are in the Upper Simmen Valley (Obersimmental). When Niclaus took ship from Rotterdam to Pennsylvania in 1737, a fellow passenger (next line on the roster) was Christian Jäggi, from St. Stephan. Christian became the father of Maria Barbara Yockey, who married our ancestor John/Johannes Muffly. It is not known if Nicholas & Christian knew each other in Switzerland, or met later. An hour or so at the Bern Archives would probably turn up Christian’s exit tax record, and I wouldn’t be surprised to find it in close proximity to that of Niclaus. It might also be the case that Niclaus and Christian were neighbors in the Obersimmental, but on opposite sides of a Gemeinden (municipalities) border.

There is a gap in time between when Nicholas paid his 1734-1735 “Abzug” emigration tax, and his taking ship from Rotterdam in 1737. Where was he, and how did he manage to accumulate money for onward travel? When he arrived in America, on Oct. 31, 1737, his ship “William” was said to be carrying of a group of Palatines. However, experts have noted that the term “Palatines” was used carelessly, and included other Germanic groups. Some of Nicholas’ shipmates in fact came from Baden-Würtemberg, especially from southeast of Heidelberg. It is noteworthy that when, or shortly before, Nicholas left Switzerland, the Rhineland was in a bit of turmoil due to the War of Polish Succession. The French had overrun the Rhineland in 1734. It was no doubt an interesting time to be headed down the Rhine. I wonder if Niclaus might have been more comfortable stopping awhile before he left Alemannic dialect territory, say in Alsace or Baden.

Niclaus & Christian sailed from Rotterdam, Netherlands, aboard the ship “William”. The ship’s master was John Carter, and there were 180 passengers. There was a stop at Dover, England (the British required such a stop en route to their colonies). The ship arrived at Germantown (Philadelphia) on Oct. 31, 1737, and Niclaus took an oath at Philadelphia courthouse that day. “Niclaus Müfli” was his signature in early America, and by 1752 it was “Nicholas Muffly”.

MUFFLEY y-DNA, AND SWITZERLAND
(11/08 update)

It now appears (www.familysearch.org) that Muffley ancestry can be traced back to Christian and Magdalena Juzeler Maffli, paternal grandparents of Niclaus Maffli (b. Feb. 1707/1708). Christian Maffli Sr. was reportedly born about 1655 at Amsoldingen, Bern Canton, Switzerland. Magdalena Juzeler was reportedly born at the same location about 1657. Christian & Magdalena were married on November 4, 1678. Their children reportedly were: Peter, Anna, Elizabeth, Magdalena, Christian Jr. (father of Niclaus), Hans, and another Magdalena (presumably the first had died).

Thus, my Y-Chromosome SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) marker presumably is identical to that of my 7th Great-Grandfather Christian Maffli Sr., born about 1655, i.e. 288 years before my birth. It is possible to gather some information stretching back much further in time on the male line.

A SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) is a change to a single nucleotide in a DNA sequence. The mutation rate is extremely low over the millennia, so that this genetic information can be used as an aid to understanding human history. Each mutation point defines a new Haplogroup, and these suggest geographical points of origin of male ancestors. In the Swiss population are found at least 7 common male Haplogroups, so far as I understand, including E3b, G, G2, J, I1b2, R1a1, & R1b.

I have had a simple kind of SNP testing done. My Haplogroup was determined to be R1b1c. This marker has its highest concentration in the Irish and Basque peoples, but is widespread throughout Western Europe.

The M269 genetic marker defining R1b1c may have originated in central Asia, and was widespread in Europe throughout Paleolithic times. Men with this genetic marker are believed to have been associated with the Aurignacian Culture (say, ±32,000-21,000 B.C.?) of the Upper Paleolithic Age. These people were the cave painters of southern France, Spain, and Portugal. There were advances in flint tools. Hunting points were from antler, bone, and ivory. There were no atlatl spear-throwing sticks, or bows and arrows. There was body ornamentation. Concentrations of the culture were in several locations surrounding Switzerland, but not so much within modern Switzerland itself.

During the last Ice Age (=Last Glacial Maximum), men of the R1b1c Haplogroup are believed to have withdrawn to the Iberian Peninsula (one of the Ice Age “Refugia”), and then to have repopulated Europe beginning about 15,000 years ago.

Further genetic subclade testing of myself might be helpful. Reportedly, R1b1c10 (Continental Celt, probably of the Helvetii Tribe) is common in Switzerland. Pending further genetic testing, my Deep SNP subclade is likely either R1b1c10 (Continental Celt), or R1b1c9 (likely the Alamanni/Alemanni, a Germanic group which came later into Switzerland). (see now my recent 9/09 Genetic testing Update!)

Switzerland has sites of both Hallstatt and La Tène Celtic culture. The Helvetii Celts reportedly moved from southern Germany into Switzerland by the late 2nd Century B.C., pushed south by Germanic groups. The Helvetii were settled on the Swiss plateau in the 1st Century B.C., and were mentioned in Julius Caesar’s “Commentary on the Gallic War”. A bit of Helvetii history is at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helvetii#Earliest_historical_sources_and_settlement The Helvetii eventually came under Rome’s rule. Maffli ancestral homes in the Aare River Valley were centuries earlier settled with Celts.

Later during Roman times, the Alamanni Germans moved into Switzerland from the north. Well after the fall of the Roman Empire, Alemannia came under Frankish rule, and later under Habsburg rule. The Habsburg family’s power had actually begun with Radbot of Habsburg, who about 1020 built a castle of that name in northern Switzerland.

Switzerland’s traditional founding occurred in 1291 with the confederation of the Cantons Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. Bern Canton and others joined the confederation in 1353. Maffli traditional homes in the Aare Valley of Bern Canton came under the rule of the Zähringen and Kyburg dynasties. Thun Castle (Zähringen and Kyburg families) and Spiez Castle are fairly close to the main Maffli ancestral home of Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun. In time, patrician families became more autocratic. The Swiss Peasants’ War of 1653 occurred two years before the birth of Christian Maffli Sr., and did involve Bern Canton. This was only a few years (since 1648) after Switzerland became totally independent from the Holy Roman Empire.

In the time of Maffli-surname (at least back to the 1500s), people in the Aare River Valley spoke a High Alemannic dialect. Niclaus Maffli moved from his birthplace at Amsoldingen, near Lake Thun, to Zweisimmen, an area of Highest Alemannic dialect. In the latter dialect, Maffli was pronounced “Moofli” and so the spelling upon migration to America in 1737 found the “a” changed to “u”: Muffley.

NEW DEVELOPMENTS: SWITZERLAND, PENNSYLVANIA, AND DNA

Niclaus Mufly and Christian Jäggi/Yockey arrived together in America on Halloween, 1737, and had come from neighboring villages in the Upper Simmen Valley (Obersimmental) in the Bernese Uplands. One wonders if they had left Switzerland together. Apparently not. A recent check at the Bern Archives found Niclaus’ emigration tax record, but not Christian’s for around the same time period. Christian probably came from the village of Saanen, near St. Stephan. An alternate spelling of the surname is reportedly Gaggi. This was from the departure tax books in the archives at Bern. My distant cousin Marilyn, onetime correspondent of my father, traveled to Switzerland in the spring of 2014. She sent me many good photos of ancestral locations, including Niclaus’ residential village of Zweisimmen, plus Maffli ancestral home villages of Amsoldingen, Oberdiessbach, and Buchholterberg. Also, there were photos of St. Stephan, where pertinent Jäggi/Gaggi records might still exist.

Niclaus Maffli was born in 1707 at Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun, the primary Maffli ancestral home. The church at Amsoldingen is the collegiate church of St. Mauritius. Next to the church is the Amsoldingen “castle”, now more of a manor house following reconstruction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amsoldingen_Castle When Niclaus was young, the castle was occupied by Samuel Bodmer, an engineer who developed flood control measures in the area. Next to Amsoldingen are the lakes Amsoldingersee and Uebeschisee.

My own trip to Höfen-Amsoldingen bei Thun many years ago unfortunately did not include the interior of the church at Amsoldingen. The church & adjacent castle were reportedly built with stone from Aventicum, the capital of Roman Switzerland. The church is described as an Ottonian basilica. The Ottonians were a dynasty of German kings, 919-1024. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottonian  So, when Niclaus attended this church 3 centuries ago, the church was 7 centuries old.

I have not yet visited St. Stephan, which I did not know about while on my Swiss voyages of the late 1960s and 1970s. The St. Stephan village church, surely attended by our Jäggi ancestors, was begun in the early medieval times, with tower and choir from the 800s. The church was most recently expanded in the 1400s. At one time this church was affiliated with the church at nearby Zweisimmen, and then was under Interlaken Abbey from 1335. Bern Canton officially adopted the Protestant Reformation in 1528, a move which was resisted in the Bernese Oberland. This was about a century and a half before the probable birth of ancestor Christian Jäggi Sr., and it is unknown whether his ancestors were then in the vicinity of St. Stephan. In the early Jäggi days near St. Stephan, the economy was largely agricultural. Cattle were located on the valley floor and in seasonal alpine herding camps. Christian Jäggi Sr. was reportedly born about 1680-1685, and lived in the time of the Old Swiss Confederacy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Modern_Switzerland 

Secondary Maffli ancestral villages of Oberdiessbach and Buchholterberg were also visited by Marilyn. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oberdiessbach Early Maffli persons at Oberdiessbach may have come under the influence of the Von Wattenwyl family, who had a chapel in the church (current building from 1498). The adjacent parish of Buchholterberg was also a Maffli ancestral village. Today in Switzerland the Maffli surname is spelled Mafli, and some distant kin may be among the several Swiss Mafli entries on Facebook. A line of American Maffly from Valais/Wallis Canton could be tested via yDNA to look for common ancestry. 

Photos at top: Village of St. Stephan, Oberdiessbach,
Bottom photos: Buchholterberg, Amsoldingen Church and Castle
photo credit: Marilyn Wagner Bernstein

Niclaus Muffley’s son Johannes married Christian Jäggi’s daughter Maria Barbara Yockey in Pennsylvania. In 1774, Johannes/John signed the Ft. Allen Petition of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. This was one of several petitions asking Governor Penn for greater protection against Indian raids. Other signers of the Ft. Allen Petition included Peter Wannemacher (brother of Regina Wannemacher Muffly), Peter’s son-in-law Philip Klingensmith, and Balthazar Meyer.  Brian, an adoptee & recently discovered autosomal DNA cousin of Gary Muffley, reportedly is a descendant of Philip Klingensmith, his Wannemacher wife, and also a Meyer woman who could be kin of Balthazar Meyer. It is noteworthy that that we do not yet know the surname of Elizabeth, wife of Johannes’ son Jacob. Was she a Klingensmith, Wannemacher, or Meyer? Jacob (b. 1784) and his wife were 3^rd great-grandparents of Gary. The autosomal DNA (atDNA) chromosomal shared segment with Brian lies mostly on Chromosome 14, and the total of shared segments is 48.33 centiMorgans. So, the link is substantial, and hopefully is a connection researchable in documents &/or with further DNA analyses. This data may be found at www.gedmatch.com under ID # F170106 for Gary. Brian is under ID # M220416 at GEDmatch.

The Johannes Muffly family may have lived in the vicinity of Muffley Hollow Road, shown at www.spokeo.com/Muffley+Hollow+Rd+Avonmore+PA+addresses#  Muffley Hollow Road intersects with Carnahan Road. Near here was the site of Adam Carnahan’s Blockhouse. Adam’s brother John was killed at the blockhouse in an Indian skirmish in 1777. There was at least one Muffley-Carnahan intermarriage.

By the way, our Johannes Muffly and wife Maria Barbara Yockey of Westmoreland Pennsylvania had a nephew & niece, respectively: John Muffley and his wife Maria Barbara Yockey. This had led to confusion in reported genealogies, and mistakes which defy attempts to correct. The younger couple reportedly never left southeast Pennsylvania. The younger John Muffley, still single, appeared in church records in southeast Pennsylvania at a time when his uncle Johannes (our ancestor) was married and living in southwest Pennsylvania.

Gary’s atDNA appears to have remnants from 5^th great-grandfather Christian Jäggi/Yockey (b. 1720) &/or his wife Maria Catharina Christ. Christian & Catharina were the Most Recent Common Ancestors for Gary & new atDNA cousin Don of Kittanning Pennsylvania. The total of shared chromosomal segments is 28.77 centiMorgans, with the largest shared segment lying on Chromosome 10 at 17.26 cM. So, it might be possible that Gary also has a bit of detectible atDNA from Niclaus Muffley too. Niclaus was one of 128 ancestors at the level of 5^th great-grandparents. Don’s ancestor Margaret Whitaker (b. 1816) was a daughter of Martin Whitaker and the wife of Samuel Loyd. I have from Don a seating chart for St. James Church, 1838-1839. On this chart Martin Whitaker and his son-in-law Samuel Loyd have adjacent seats. The chart has several familiar names, some of which figure in the ancestry of Muffley cousin Becky. One listing is William Muffley, brother of my 3^rd great-grandfather Jacob Muffley (1784-1844).  Margaret Whitaker Loyd’s maternal grandfather was Peter Yockey, brother of our Maria Barbara Yockey Muffly. St. James Church had previously been known as Yockey’s Meeting House, so the 1838-1839 seating chart naturally shows several Yockey people.

The seating chart also lists the surname Wolford. John Frederick Yockey (b. 1775), grandson of Christian & Catharina, married Elizabeth Wolford. John’s & Elizabeth’s grandson was Corporal Daniel Yockey (b. 1833). Daniel was in Company B of the 139^th Pennsylvania Infantry during the Civil War. His regiment participated in a large number of battles, including Gettysburg. At Gettysburg, July 1863, his regiment was in the 3^rd Brigade, 3^rd Division, XI Corps of the Army of the Potomac. The XI Corps was called the “German Corps” because of so many German speakers. The XI Corps was also associated with Robert Cumming Schenck, of Dutch ancestry, and thus perhaps my kinsman. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_C._Schenck  See our Dutch Ancestry Blog at http://dutchancestorline.blogspot.com/  Also at the Battle of Gettysburg were some Muffley kin, and Watson Augustus Donald. See the Donald Blog at http://donaldancestry.blogspot.com/ 

Daniel Yockey and his family migrated from Pennsylvania by wagon to Washington State. In 1890 he arrived at Douglas County, and cultivated timber southeast of Dyer. His grave is in the Wenatchee City Cemetery, Chelan County, Washington. Find A Grave Memorial # 2238668.  

When our ancestor Christian Yockey left Switzerland, he probably migrated via the Pfalz region of Germany prior to arriving in America from Rotterdam in 1737. In 1837 in the Pfalz there was born Jacob Yockey, who migrated to Ohio. I suspect that Christian left Switzerland with Yockey kin who remained in the Pfalz/Palatinate near the Rhine River. Jacob Yockey’s ancestry is thought, but not yet proven, to stem fromSwitzerland, according to researchers of this line. Autosomal DNA testing may clarify probable connections, and such testing is in progress right now.

For some time now, we have had 67 STR (Short Tandem Repeats) markers yDNA data from Richard, who is this descendant of Peter Muffly Sr. (b. 1739): ID P5N2S at www.ysearch.org  Matches to this sample in the Y-Search database have so far been very distant and unhelpful for genealogical research. We now also have 67 STR markers yDNA data from myself, Gary Muffley. I descend from Peter’s brother Johannes. So, the Most Recent Common Ancestor for me and Richard, the donor of Y-Search sample P5N2S, was immigrating ancestor Niclaus, our 5^th great-grandfather. Richard and Gary match on 62 of 67 STR markers. This data confirms that there were no Non-Paternity Events down the 2 lines from Niclaus to Richard and myself. We have a good approximation of Niclaus’ yDNA 67 markers STR pattern. Niclaus would indeed have carried the R1b yDNA marker S21+/U106+, perhaps brought into the Maffli part of the Aare River Valley by the Alemanni tribe.

Gary’s 67 STR yDNA markers results may be viewed under ID T7ND3 at www.ysearch.org and under Kit # 170106 at www.familytreedna.com/public/switzerland

I wish to take exception to the Ancestry.com statement about the origin of Muffley as “Americanized form of South German Muffele, nickname for a surly person, from a diminutive of Muff”. Taken from a dictionary of American family names. This is exactly the kind of approach rightly criticized in the book “Surnames, DNA, and Family History”, by Redmonds, King, and Hey. A multidisciplinary approach to surnames is what is needed, not limited to the traditional surnames-philologist approach. Know the family history, and the DNA if possible. Did the person(s) who came up with this explanation even know of the existence of the Alemanni Swiss surname Maffli, present in that exact spelling from the 1500s in the Aare River Valley? Or refer to the Swiss Family Name Book? I think not. We have a continuous line of evidence from the Swiss Maffli to American Muffley. Niclaus was born Maffli, but the “a” was pronounced “oo” in the Highest Alemannic dialect, so the spelling got altered even prior to arrival in America. One of the earliest Muffley histories reported that Niclaus himself said that he was Swiss. Years ago, I contacted the president of the American Name Society about the Swiss Maffli surname, which was new to him. His guess was that the nickname Maff may have derived from something like Magafrid. A typical Germanic two-theme name, corresponding to Macht (strength) plus Fried (peace). Maffli would have been a son of Maff, in the patronymic pattern typical of Germanic Switzerland.  What else does Ancestry.com have to say about the surname Muffele? One Gillis Van Muffele (a Low Countries place) arrived in 1676 in Batavia, traveling from the Netherlands with the Dutch East India ship “Prins Willem Hendrik”. German or Swiss? I think not. A bit more care in surname interpretation would be nice, lest a person become surly.

DNA CONNECTIONS TO MAYFLOWER EDWARD DOTY

It has long been suspected that Gary’s 5^th great-grandfather Edward Doughty (b. 1738) was kin to Doughty of Upstate South Carolina. Jeremiah Doughty (b. May 14, 1777, Pendleton District SC) was the ancestor of an autosomal DNA match with Gary: A shared segment on Chromosome 16 of 14.65 centiMorgans in the Family Tree DNA database. Another descendant of this Jeremiah Doughty has an yDNA match with documented descendants of Samuel Doty (b. 1643), son of Edward Doty who arrived in 1620 in the Plymouth Colony via the Mayflower. See the Doty/Doughty yDNA Project at www.familytreedna.com/public/Doughty-Doty?iframe=yresults. Jeremiah Doughty’s father was Joseph Doughty (b. 1755): The yDNA findings for this group are under “Descendants of Joseph Doughty Sr. of South Carolina”.  Haplogroup R1b & positive on SNP (Single Nucleotide Polymorphism) marker Z255. 

Gary has several other atDNA matches with descendants of Mayflower Edward Doty. Here are the kids of his son Samuel Doty Sr. (b. 1643): http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~colonialfamiliestonewjersey/doty/d0/i0000076.htm#i76 Samuel Doty Jr. (b. 1679) might have been the ancestor of both Gary’s Edward Doughty (b. 1738) & of Jeremiah Doty (b. 1777, Pendleton District S.C.). The Most Recent Common Ancestor for Gary versus descendants of Jeremiah Doughty possibly is more recent than the MRCA for Gary versus other atDNA matches, where the MRCA appears to be Samuel Doty Sr. (b. 1643), & perhaps even Mayflower immigrant Edward Doty himself. 

 James Doty (b. 1686), son of Samuel Sr., was the reported ancestor of sailorio32 at Ancestry.com, where the atDNA match with Gary is 7.8 cM. Daniel Doty (b. 1701/02), another son of Samuel Sr., was the reported ancestor of csmk51 at Ancestry.com, where the atDNA match with Gary is 7.4 cM. There are more matches, including people who reportedly descend from brothers of Samuel Doty Sr. (b. 1643). 

Other descendants of Samuel Doty Sr. (b. 1643) went to the Tenmile Country of the Upper Monongahela River in southwest Pennsylvania, onetime home of my Edward Doughty (b. 1738). Joseph Doty (b. 1696), son of Samuel Sr., was the ancestor of Anthony Doty, whose descendant Tom is Kit # 89355 in the Doty/Doughty yDNA Project, Edward-Samuel-Joseph yDNA group. A write-up about Anthony Doty (d. 1815) appears on Page 113 of “The Tenmile Country And Its Pioneer Families”, by Leckey. 

Enoch Enoch (b. 1750) was thought to have married Mary Doughty, who may have been a sister or cousin of my Edward Doughty (b. 1738). Enoch Enoch appears on Page 52 of the Leckey book. Enoch Enoch also appears from Page 123, Chapter 3, of Harry J. Enoch’s “Historical Records of the Enoch Family in Virginia and Pennsylvania”. Enoch Enoch was on Tenmile Creek by 1766. Later he sold his land interest to my Edward Doughty. Doughty’s land, called “Pigeon’s Resort”, was on the west bank of the Monongahela River at Pumpkin Run, formerly called Enoch’s Run. Pumpkin Run enters the Monongahela just upstream from the mouth of Tenmile Creek. After the death of our Edward Doughty, his son-in-law Abijah McClain bought the land rights from Edward’s descendants & laid out lots which form part of the current village of Rice’s Landing in Greene County Pennsylvania. Permelia Doughty McClain (wife of Abijah) was a sister of my Mary Doughty McCreary (great-grandmother of Emma Jane McCreary Muffley), & Permelia appears in a number of online family trees. Enoch Enoch appears in the Maxwell tree by cgoodmax who has a 6.1 centiMorgans atDNA match with Gary in the AncestryDNA database, although this tree lists neither Doty nor Doughty ancestry. Enoch Enoch was not the ancestor of the Maxwell tree home person. 

Edward Doty (b. 1685), son of Samuel Sr., was the ancestor of Catherine Doty Van Voorhees (b. 1754). Catherine appears in our Muffley tree at: www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/64174501/person/210146139161/facts  Her husband Abraham Van Voorhees was known kin to Gary via Van Voorhees ancestry. Our Edward Doughty (b. 1738) arrived in Tenmile Country of southwest Pennsylvania quite early; his probable kinswoman Catherine & her husband Abraham apparently arrived after the Revolutionary War. 

At www.gedmatch.com Gary’s Kits are A693287 (AncestryDNA) & T203534 (Family Tree DNA). Hopefully, Doty/Doughty atDNA kin will accumulate at GEDmatch over time. 

WIESTER/WEISTER ANCESTRY

Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Muffley Lentz (sister of Joe Muffley) was my (Gary’s) 2nd great aunt. Sadie’s husband was William Henry Lentz. In 1891, Henry’s first wife Mary Margaret “Maggie” Wiester Lentz had passed away, & Henry then married Sadie. I presume that it was known to these people that Maggie & Sadie were Wiester cousins, but that bit of family history did not make its way to me. Now we find that Chuck2642, a descendant of Henry & Maggie, is an autosomal DNA match to me in the AncestryDNA database. Chuck’s closer cousin Bobbi was already my correspondent, but we had not realized that Bobbi & I are actual biological kin. Bobbi’s Lentz tree at Ancestry.com is under bberic. But wait, there’s more.

Maggie was my 1st cousin 4 times removed. Her reported (by Chuck) father Joseph Wiester (b. 1823) was a brother of Sarah Ann Weister/Wiester (b. 1800) who married our Jacob Wilhelm. Sarah’s identity was long sought & finally suspected even prior to the DNA results. Sarah & Joseph were reportedly among the several kids of Rudolph Wiester (b. 1772) & Susanna Fisher. Sarah’s & Joseph’s brother Rudolph Weister Jr. (b. 1814) was an ancestor of more atDNA matches to Gary in the AncestryDNA database. Their brother John Weister (b. 1797 or 1798) appears to have been the ancestor of my atDNA match Margaret/Maggie George: www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Weister-Family-Tree-25 Maggie’s ancestor Sarah Wilhelm Weister (b. 1826) would have been a niece of our Sarah Ann Wiester Wilhelm (b. 1800) & would have been a contemporary cousin of our Julianna Wilhelm Muffley (b. 1820) & of Julianna’s brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm (b 1831).

At www.gedmatch.com Rudolph Wiester Sr. descendant A044554 has a Chromosome 6 shared segment of 20.8 centiMorgans with Gary’s 3rd cousin Bill T826229. Bill’s & Gary’s Most Recent Common Ancestors were Thomas Muffley & Julianna Wilhelm (daughter of Sarah Ann Wiester).

Julianna’ brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm was an ancestor of Gary’s & Bill’s cousin Joyce. At AncestryDNA, Joyce & Gary have shared atDNA segments at 4 chromosomal locations (total of 37 centiMorgans), some of which must be Wiester genes. Joyce & Gary both match Donnanewton2cu who descends from Rudolph Wiester Jr. via son Samuel (b. 1843) & his son George Alfred Weister/Wiester (b. 1875). Additionally, Rudolph Wiester Sr. may have had a sister Elizabeth, one of whose reported descendants is also an atDNA match with Gary.

Julianna Wilhelm (daughter of Sarah Ann Wiester & Jacob Wilhelm) was born Nov. 18, 1820. Her 1849 marriage with Thomas Muffley happened at Poke Run Presbyterian Church, Washington Township, Westmoreland County Pennsylvania. The Poke Run vicinity was the scene of a lot of Muffley, Wilhelm, & Wiester activity. Poke Run is near the Wiester Cemetery & Wiester Crossroads. The current Wiester community lies on Route 286, west of the intersection with Route 66, just southwest of Poke Run, which is in turn southwest of current Muffley Hollow in Bell Township. There are several Weister & Wiester burials in the Poke Run Church Cemetery. Our Muffley Cousin Becky attended Poke Run growing up, & is familiar with the Weister/Wiester surname. Becky’s ancestor Israel Muffley (b. 1824) was a brother of our Thomas Muffley (b. 1821) who married Julianna Wilhelm.

At Find A Grave.com there is a burial of some W. J. Wiester (b. 1854; d. 1920) at nearby Pine Run German Reformed Church. Memorial # 122604418. On that web page, there is a church (built 1875) photo by Alan Saltsman, with whom I have corresponded about grave photographs. Alan’s list of Pine Run burials: www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.usa.states.pennsylvania.counties.westmoreland/5803.2/mb.ashx Note the Weister, Muffley & Yockey listings. An 1861 Pine Run Church founder was
Elizabeth Muffley (1784-1875), widow of Jacob Muffley (1784-1844). My 3rd great-grandparents. The Pine Run Church core members had come west from Yockey’s Schoolhouse meeting house. Elizabeth was the mother-in-law of Julianna Wilhelm Muffley. The quest to find the maiden name & ancestry of Elizabeth continues, & it looks like DNA will be the only solid route forward. We have a short list of possible surnames. This church is near Apollo Penn., one of the places visited many years ago by my father Robert Muffley. There are 9 Muffley burials listed online for Pine Run. Including Rebecca Thompson Muffley (1834-1909), 2nd great-grandmother of my Muffley Cousin Rebecca “Becky”. When younger, Becky was on a scavenger hunt & first encountered the grave of her ancestor with the same first name. Memorable.

In the 1820 census, a group of Wiester households appears on the same Westmoreland County Penn. page as Isaac Muffley, & some familiar Yockey, Ringle, & Carnahan people. From the work “Westmoreland in 1825” (tax records) we know that Washington Township was the location of several known Muffley (including our Jacob, plus brothers Isaac, Joseph, & William) households. Adjacent to the east is Bell Township, scene of more Muffley, Yockey, & kin activity.

Fast-forward to Quincy, Illinois, 1870-1890. Wiester-descendant Adam Biddle Wilhelm (ancestor of Cousin Joyce) was a saddler & harness dealer, at Welton & Wilhelm. For a time, Adam’s nephew Franklin Biddle Muffley (ancestor of Cousin Bill) was a harness-maker, e.g. in 1873 while living with his mother Julianna. “Biddle”/Frank’s brother Joe Muffley (my 1st great-grandpa) was a harness maker for all of his working life, & attributed his longevity to avoidance of “bumming around”. Sound advice? I wonder what he meant. Henry Lentz (future husband of Sadie Muffley) was in those days a harness maker, had married Maggie Wiester in Quincy on November 3, 1869, & somehow knew Maggie’s cousin (1st, once removed) Sadie. In 1880, the Henry & Maggie Wiester Lentz family lived in Liberty Township, southeast of Quincy in Adams Co. Ill. Cousin Sadie Muffley, age 23 in 1880, lived with her mother Julia, & sibs Joe & Will (bookbinder who eventually worked & lived in D.C.). After 1880, the Lentz family had moved on, eventually (by 1884?) to Halstead Kansas. In 1890, Sadie was a seamstress & living with her mother Julia at the rear of 518 Vermont, Quincy. Maggie Wiester Lentz died in February 1891. Henry & Sadie married in Quincy, October 11, 1892. Contrary to some online trees, Sadie & Henry had only 1 child: Harold Leland Lentz. Kids of Henry’s 1st wife Maggie lived with Sadie & Henry, so census returns might give the wrong impression as to their mother. A photo of Sadie’s & Henry’s home in Halstead appears in the photo album of Emma Jane McCreary Muffley, wife of Joe & sister-in-law of Sadie. I have visited Halstead Kansas & have viewed the exterior of their home.

For those with Ancestry.com access, find my Muffley tree under GaryMuffley62. My autosomal DNA findings at www.gedmatch.com appear under kits A693287 & T203534. Check my GEDmatch kits for my e-mail address. I have several atDNA matches in various databases with people having Muffley, Yockey, & Wiester ancestries. Still working on Wilhelm. Is there a Biddle ancestry?

It is doubtful that this Wiester ancestry discovery would have even been possible without the assist of DNA: To have been never more than a suspicion until the convincing convergences of atDNA connections which we have seen so far. A work in progress. Sending all Wiester-of-Westmoreland atDNA raw data to GEDmatch (free; easily done in minutes) would be a big help to this research.

MUFFLEY & YOCKEY DNA UPDATE

In the AncestryDNA database, Gary has autosomal DNA (atDNA) shared segments with J.M., a descendant of Lebbens/Lebbeus Muffley, called “Lebbeus” in this blog’s section on Muffley of Wisconsin & on his tombstone. He was called “Lebbens” in other documents. J.M. & Gary have 17.1 centiMorgans total of shared segments at 2 chromosomal locations. By chance, Dr. Mark Paul Muffley, grandson of Lebbeus, reportedly lived in Lincoln Nebraska when Gary arrived there in 1961 to attend the University of Nebraska. I have a faint memory of hearing this. Lebbeus Muffley (b. 1837) was my 1^st cousin, 4 times removed. The Most Recent Common Ancestors (MRCAs) for me & my descendants versus descendants of Lebbeus were Johannes (son of Niclaus) & Maria Barbara Yockey Muffley. At www.findagrave.com Lebbeus’ Memorial# is 62836261. At one time he was a hotel keeper in Boscobel Wisconsin, & also was a fruit grower at the time of another census.

Our Muffley cousin Don Anderson, now deceased, descended from John R. Muffley (b. 1824), who was a brother of Lebbeus. Don had a collection of Muffley memorabilia which was in danger of vanishing upon his death. Hopefully, something was saved.  A photo of Lebbeus was part of that collection. Lebbeus was a first cousin to Thomas Muffley (b. 1821), who was the father of our Joe Muffley, Franklin Biddle Muffley, Sadie Muffley Lentz, Will Muffley of D.C., & 2 who died young.

Johannes (son of Niclaus) & Maria Barbara Yockey Muffley were also the MRCAs for me versus my atDNA match at AncestryDNA “Keaters4”. My atDNA shared segment (Muffley or Yockey??) with Keaters4 is only 9.9 cM, & he does not show up as my joint match with J.M. Johannes’ & Maria’s son John “Jacob” Muffley (b. 1784) was my ancestor. Jacob’s brother Joseph (b. 1797), “The Teacher”, was the ancestor of atDNA match J.M. Their brother Wilhelm/William (b. 1789) was the ancestor of Keaters4.

The surname of Jacob Muffley’s wife Elissabetha/Elizabeth has long eluded us, & atDNA searches have not yet revealed anything conclusive. Their son Thomas Muffley (b. 1821) & his wife Julianna Wilhelm were the MRCAs for me versus Cousin Bill Clarkson. We have small shared chromosomal segments in the Family Tree DNA database.

Also at AncestryDNA, I have atDNA matches under the alternate spelling “Muffly”. Cousin “K.K.” by kovelant has with me 11.9 cM shared segment, & kovelant herself has with me 10.2 cM. In the Hunter Family Tree by kovelant, ancestry is traced back to Catherine Muffly (1803-1860) who married Joseph Schmidt. Catherine reportedly died in Northampton County Pennsylvania at a time when my closer kin were in Western Pennsylvania. Thus, the MRCA might be more remote, possibly back to Niclaus Maffli (b. 1707, Switzerland) & his unknown wife (reportedly Wyant).  One more generation back from atDNA cousins via MRCAs Johannes & Maria.

I also have at AncestryDNA some atDNA cousins via the surname Yockey, including Keaters4. The whole Muffley & Yockey atDNA cousins’ picture would be greatly clarified if several Muffley & Yockey descendants would send (quickly & easily done, without cost) their raw autosomal DNA data from testing lab databases to www.gedmatch.com  My kits at GEDmatch are T203534 (FTDNA) & A693287 (AncestryDNA). GEDmatch has several sophisticated data analyses tools. My atDNA cousins who chose to do this may contact me at my e-mail address appearing at GEDmatch, & I will help with data analysis.

In the AncestryDNA database, K.L. by dogl1958 has with me a total of 20.3 cM shared segments on 2 chromosomes. Unfortunately, we are not given the crucial chromosomal location data by the lab, which choses to be unnecessarily unhelpful. In the Lloyd tree, K.L. descends from Peter Yockey (b. 1760), brother of my ancestor Maria Barbara Yockey Muffley. Thus, the MRCAs for me & K.L. would have been Christian Yockey (b. 1720) & wife Maria Catharina Christ. Recall that Christian Yockey & Niclaus Maffli/Muffley were shipmates, arriving in 1737 in America. Fortunately, the Lloyd atDNA testing also appears at Family Tree DNA, where we see that Don has with me on Chromosome 10 17.26 cM of shared segment. Also at GEDmatch, Don’s Kit A626478 shows the Chromosome 10 match with my Kit # A693287. 

At AncestryDNA, paphrag by tpw1986 has with me 15.9 cM of shared segment. The Walker tree shows ancestry back to Magdalena Yockey Stoehr (1811-1844). However, the tree Home Person also has in common with me Van Ness & Van Voorhees ancestries. Which of these ancestries account for the atDNA match? We need to know the chromosomal locations & triangulations to other kin. No GEDmatch, no conclusions here.

AncestryDNA does offer a solution in the case of my atDNA match with H.H. by Rhonda Kavorkian: Christian Yockey & Maria Catharina Christ as MRCAs, but based only upon our listed trees & a dinky 6.5 cM shared segment.

My yDNA currently shows only one close match: Richard Muffley. Known MRCA = Niclaus Maffli/Muffley. My FTDNA Kit 170106 appears in a large miscellaneous group in the Swiss yDNA Project at www.familytreedna.com/public/switzerland/default.aspx?section=yresults  This, however, does not reflect the finding from a British lab that I am positive on the SNP marker S21, placing me in the subclade R1b1a1a2a1a1 in the 2017 classification by the International Society of Genetic Genealogy www.isogg.org Germanic, not Celtic.

SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA

According to a Muffley history of 1889, Nicholas was unmarried upon arrival in America. He married before land purchases. Nicholas reportedly married a Miss Wyant in America, probably by 1739. Their children included 4 known sons: Peter, Christian, Joseph, and John/Johannes. Nicholas took a sacrament in a Moravian church (which served persons of other denominations), but later was a member of a Lutheran congregation.

Nicholas Muffly had a son Peter, and a son John, as well as the other kids. Peter had a son John. The Johannes/John Muffly who was my ancestor was almost certainly the brother of Peter, not the son of Peter (the latter view is reported by some researchers). My father, Robert Pierce Muffley, concluded that our John was the brother of Peter, after searching old records in all areas of Pennsylvania associated with our ancestry. John the brother of Peter migrated to Westmoreland County Pennsylvania, married Maria Barbara Yockey, and died in Westmoreland in 1813. John the son of Peter died in Lehigh County, according to the 1889 “Genealogical Record of the Muffly and Eckert Families” by Joseph Robert Muffley (1837-1908).

Nicholas’ first known land grant by the Penn family was in 1745. This was at Maxatawny Township (then Philadelphia County, later Berks County). Over the years there were acquisitions, sales, and gifts of parcels of the Maxatawny land, east of Kutztown. My father Robert P. Muffley mapped the location of the Muffly’s Maxatawny holding, and I have visited this place. Nicholas deeded some land to his eldest son Peter in 1763, the year of the end of the French and Indian (Seven Years) War.

Well before the Revolutionary War, Nicholas had moved away from Maxatawny to Northampton County. During the war, Private Peter Muffly of Northampton Co. Penn. was in the Company of Capt. Frederick Coons, and this company was part of the militia regiment of Lt. Col. Frederick Kerns. Also in the Northampton militia was Frederic Sechler, ancestor of Kathryn Carson Muffley, my wife.

Nicholas Muffly died in 1786, thus after the Revolutionary War, but before the first U.S. census of 1790. Nicholas and his Wyant wife were buried at the Old Towamensing (now St. Johns) Church cemetery, in Palmerton, north of Lehigh Gap, in Carbon Co. (then Northampton Co.) Penn.

WESTMORELAND COUNTY, SOUTHWEST PENNSYLVANIA

My ancestor Johannes/John Muffly (born in Berks Co. Penn.) probably migrated to Westmoreland Co. in the fall of 1773 with the Yockey family, who had lived near the Muffly clan in southeastern Pennsylvania. John Muffly may have married Maria Barbara Yockey as early as 1775, but various researchers place it later. In 1776, the Yockeys had bought 500 acres of land at the site of future Bell Township, Westmoreland County. Muffley, Yockey, and related kin attended Yockey’s Meetinghouse (later St. James German Reformed and Lutheran Church), southwest of Salina, Pennsylvania. There are Muffley and Yockey graves there. Near St. James Church is Muffley Hollow (so labeled with a road sign) and the site of Adam Carnahan’s Blockhouse. Incidentally, the graves of Christian and Catharina Christ Yockey are reportedly in Bell Township, Westmoreland County. Catharina’s mother, Anna Götz Christ (born in Alsace), had made it to Berks Co. Penn. before her death.

Westmoreland was a frontier, subject to Indian attacks. The fall 1773 Yockey migration into the area took place as Lord Dunmore’s War was heating up. John Muffly signed the 1774 Fort Allen Petition, along with his kin, or future kin, Peter Wannamaker (Peter Muffly married Catherine Regina Wannamaker), Christian Yockey, and Abraham Yockey. The petition stated, in part, “…there is great reason to fear that this part of the Country will soon be involved in an Indian war.” It went on to note how defenseless the area was, emphasizing vulnerability of many people. The populace were filled with … “apprehensions of seeing their Hepless Infants fall a sacrifice to savage Cruelty…” The petition appealed to Gov. Penn to provide protection. Dunmore’s War ended following colonists’ victory over the Indians at the Battle of Point Pleasant, Oct. 10, 1774.

Westmoreland County during the Revolution was subject to attacks by the Indian allies of the British. Local defenses decreased when Gen. Washington sent the Westmoreland 8th Regiment east in early 1777. That year, settlers in the vicinity of Muffley Hollow had to pull back south towards Hanna’s Town, & there was also an attack on Carnahan’s Blockhouse (just above Muffley Hollow). Twin American offensives against the Iroquois League in 1779 helped, but nevertheless Senecas and British rangers were able to burn Hanna’s Town in 1782. (Hanna's fort pictured- south of Muffley Hollow).

On April 16, 1784, John Jacob Muffly was born in Westmoreland Co., and he appears in records as the son of Johannes & Maria Yockey Muffly. John Jacob was called Jacob, to distinguish him from his older brother John Muffly Jr. Jacob was the known grandfather of Joseph Pierce Muffley, my great-grandfather.

The 1790 census shows John Mufly in Washington Township, Westmoreland Co., Penn.; he was head of household in which were 3 males under 16, and 5 females. The 3 boys would be John Jr., our Jacob, and William (3 more sons born later). The five females would include Maria Barbara Yockey Muffley and daughters Susanna, Sara, Catherina Elizabetha, and an unidentified female (more daughters were born later). This John Mufly household was listed on the 1790 census next to that of Abraham Yockey, near Adam Carnahan, and on the same page as Peter Yockey and Christian Yockey.

John Muffly Sr. appeared in the 1800 and 1810 censuses for Westmoreland. Our Jacob Muffly (born April 16, 1784) probably married before 1808. The surname of his wife Elizabeth/Elissabetha is unknown. Some of Jacob’s brothers married Yockey cousins. Jacob’s brother Joseph was a teacher, married Eliza Eckles, and they were the ancestors of e-mail correspondents of mine in Illinois.

Maria Yockey Muffly died in 1812 in Bell Township, Westmoreland Co., the township in which lies Muffley Hollow, and her husband Johannes/John Muffly died the next year. John Jr. inherited the family land, some time following the September 25, 1813, death in Westmoreland County of their father Johannes Muffly. There was war with Britain from 1812 to1815.

Before the 1813 death of Johannes, his son Jacob Muffly lived in Franklin Township (e.g. 1810 census). Jacob and his wife Elizabeth moved into Washington Township.
Jacob Muffly (b. 1784) appeared in Washington Township in the 1820, 1830, and 1840 censuses. Jacob and Elizabeth had 8 known kids, including Thomas Muffly (b. Oct. 18, 1821). Also in the 1840 census was the household of Jacob Wilhelm, probable father of Julianna Maria Wilhelm, future wife of Thomas Muffly. Because of the long distance between the Muffley home in Washington Township and the Yockey’s Meetinghouse (St. James) in Bell Township, Elizabeth Muffley (well after her husband Jacob’s death in 1844) helped to found the Pine Run Church (Yockey’s Schoolhouse) - pictured below.

On January 30, 1849, Thomas Muffly (b. Oct. 18, 1821) and Julianna Maria Wilhelm (b. Nov. 18, 1820) were married in Washington Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. They were married near Mamont village, at the Poke Run Reformed Presbyterian Church, as later were Rebecca Thompson and Israel Muffly (brother of Thomas). I correspond with a descendant of Rebecca and Israel.

Thomas and Julia Muffley had 6 children, some born in Westmoreland County, and some after the move to Clarion County, Pennsylvania. The kids were: Jacob Milton Muffley (b. Jan. 21, 1851); Franklin “Frank” Biddle Muffley (b. Feb. 20, 1853); Joseph “Joe” Pierce Muffley (b. Nov. 7, 1854); Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Muffley (b. Mar. 17, 1857); William Edward “Will” Muffley (b. Oct. 5, 1859); and Mary Katherine Muffley (b. Oct. 8, 1861).

CLARION COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

The Thomas Muffley family was still in Westmoreland Co. in 1850, but by 1860 they were in Farmington Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. Thomas farmed and had a sawmill there, on “Muffy Run”. Two miles straight northwest of Tylersburg the road crosses a small creek (once Muffy Run, on an 1865 map). Just before the creek on the right was the land of the Thomas Muffley family. I think that if one follows the creek downstream (to the east), the mill was close to the junction with Knapp Run. The ruins were slightly visible when my father Robert P. Muffley visited the site, and I have only a single blurry photo of the site. It is not known at what time the family might have visited relatives back in Westmoreland, but my great-grandfather Joe Muffley (b. 1854) recalled visiting kin at the Pine Run Church and in North Washington, Westmoreland Co. Penn.

The Civil War began in 1861, and the young Mary Katherine Muffley died on Oct. 8 of that year. On March 2, 1862, Thomas Muffley died of cholera. His widow Julia Wilhelm Muffley apparently could not afford a headstone for Thomas. It is believed that he was buried at a Lutheran church cemetery (pictured) about 1.5 miles west of the Muffley land, at the junction of Hwy. 36 and Road T-598. Julia sold the land on May 1, 1865. After the Civil War ended, the widow Julia Muffley took the remaining 5 kids by riverboat to Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, home of her brother Adam Biddle Wilhelm.

MUFFLEY KIN OF WISCONSIN

The 1860 census of Farmington Township, Clarion County, Pennsylvania, shows us the family of Thomas & Julianna Wilhelm Muffley. They had a sawmill on Muffley Run. Young Joseph Muffley (Gary’s great-grandfather) was 7. Meanwhile, some of Thomas’ first cousins had gone on to live in Grant County, Wisconsin, after living on a farm in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania (1850 census). These were some of the 10 kids of Joseph and Eliza Muffley; Joseph the teacher was a brother of Jacob Muffley, Thomas’ father.

By 1860, Thomas Muffley’s Cousin John R. Muffley, cabinet maker, was well established in his place of business, a furniture store adjoining at some point his funeral parlor in Boscobel, Wisconsin. J. R. Muffley’s biography is at www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wigrant/bio218.htm It is of note that this biography states that J. R. Muffley’s grandfather John Muffley was a soldier in the Revolution for 6 years: My ancestor Johannes Muffley (d. Sept. 23, 1813), husband of Maria Barbara Yockey. I knew that Johannes’ family lived right on the frontier under frequent attack by the Indian allies of the British, but I had not previously heard the 6 years figure mentioned.

John R. Muffley’s sister Barbara Ann Muffley Houghtalling was an ancestor of my Illinois cousins with whom I correspond. There was also a brother Lebbeus. Brothers Simon P. Muffley and Franklin C. Muffley fought in the Civil War. Altogether there were 10 siblings. Don Anderson, great-grandson of John R. Muffley, resides now (2010) in the old family home in Boscobel, has photos of J.R. and Lebbeus, and has Civil War memorabilia, including two sabers and a tintype photo.

On March 2, 1862, Gary’s great-great-grandfather Thomas Muffley died of cholera in Clarion County, Pennsylvania. Later that year, Thomas’ first cousin Simon P. Muffley enlisted in Company I of the 25th Wisconsin Infantry. On January 16, 1863, Simon’s brother Franklin C. Muffley joined the same unit. At times, the 25th Wisconsin served in close proximity to Illinois regiments in which served Gary Muffley’s kinsmen John Chancey Weidenhamer and Albert Straub. See http://jaggerline.blogspot.com/

In March, 1865, Weidenhamer, Straub, and the two Muffleys would have been at the Battle of Bentonville, N.C. All of them presumably would have also been in the vicinity of the Confederate surrender to Gen. Sherman at Bennett Place (just west of Durham), on April 26, 1865. The Union army then moved north via Richmond toward Washington, D.C. However, before leaving North Carolina, Franklin C. Muffley transferred (May 15) from the 25th to Company G of the 12th Wisconsin Infantry. At some point, Franklin reportedly picked up two sabers as souvenirs, and these exist today in Boscobel.

These Illinois and Wisconsin units were involved in the Grand Review in Washington, D.C., May 24, 1865. However, it is not known if Simon Muffley was able to march in the parade, as he was mustered out two days later with wounds. The 25th Wisconsin lost 460 men during the war, more by disease than by combat. Franklin C. Muffley had a variety of health problems (records online at Ancestry.com) when admitted in 1908 to the U.S. Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers in Milwaukee. His next of kin was listed as Barbara Muffley Houghtalling.

The various Muffley people in Boscobel were quite prominent. Lebbeus was listed as a hotel keeper in the 1880 census. The brother Thomas was a cabinet maker, as was John R. Muffley. By the 1900 biography, John R. Muffley’s business had been in operation for 54 years. In that same year, Simon P. Muffley worked as a messenger in the House of Representatives, and later he lived in San Diego and Long Beach.

Don Anderson’s friend Joe Chamberlain had contacted me via Facebook, having run across some of my family history information on the Internet. I have mailed quite a bit of Muffley family data to Don. The photo below of the Muffley & Sons furniture and funeral business of Boscobel indicates the year 1912. John R. Muffley died in 1914. Gladys Muffley (pictured) was Don’s mother.