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.
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.
SADIE MUFFLEY LENTZ
Sarah Elizabeth “Sadie” Muffley was listed as a seamstress in an 1890 census substitute (city directory) of Quincy. Sadie was living with her mother Julianna Wilhelm Muffley at the rear of 518 Vermont Street. Brothers Franklin, Joe, and Will were all married and living elsewhere.At that time, William Henry Lentz was also living in Adams County, Illinois, and was presumably still a harness maker (as he was in the 1880 census). I suspect that he was known to Joe Muffley, a harness maker at Schott Saddlery then. Henry Lentz’ first wife Mary “Maggie” Wiester died in October, 1891, and was buried in the family plot in Halstead, Harvey County, Kansas. W.H. and Maggie had 5 surviving children. I have been in contact with a descendant of one of these kids (William Arthur Lentz), and from this descendant I have received the photos of W.H. Lentz, the tombstones, and newspaper clippings. Particulars of this Lentz family may be found at Ancestry.com, under Johannes Adam Lentz. Information on Sadie is in the Howlett-Muffley tree at Ancestry.com
Sadie Muffley and William Henry Lentz were married on October 11, 1892. They moved to farm at Halstead, Kansas. Sadie’s mother Julia Muffley went to stay with Sadie for “an extended visit”, according to the 7 July, 1893, edition of Halstead Independent. The following week, this weekly periodical announced the 10 July birth of the son of Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Lentz: Harold Leland Lentz. (pictured below). There was an announcement on 24 November, 1893, that W.H. Lentz was building an addition to his house, located in the south of Halstead.
Julia A. Muffley died on March 8, 1894. Her body was transported by train from Halstead to Quincy. Accompanying her body were Sadie and her husband. At Kansas City, they were joined by Will and Lillie Kimmel Muffley, who had come down from their home in Omaha. The arrival of the train, and the funeral on March 10, 1894, were announced in The Quincy Daily Herald. The location of the burial is unknown.
In the 1900 census of Halstead, the Lentz household consisted of Sadie, William, his kids Ivy and Floyd, and Harold, age 6. Harold Leland Lentz later married Evelyn Shriver. Their daughter Leona Lentz Monroe reported that family photographs and records were lost when a basement flooded.
SADIE MUFFLEY LENTZ and her son HAROLD LELAND LENTZ
During a visit to Halstead, Harvey County, Kansas, in early December 2013, this writer visited the grave of Sadie Muffley Lentz, plus Sadie’s home at 702 Main Street. Just to clarify, it was Sadie’s mother Julianna Wilhelm Muffley whose body was shipped from Halstead back to Illinois for burial. Sadie was buried in the Lentz family plot just north of Halstead.
Sadie’s passing at age 72 was chronicled in 2 articles in the Halstead Independent: February 20 and 27, 1930. She died on February 18, following a bout with spinal meningitis. Her services were at the Methodist Church. The first article announced the upcoming funeral events, and the second long article was her obituary. The second article mentioned surviving family, including: Husband W.H. Lentz; son Harold L. Lentz of Salina; step-sons E.C. Lentz and F.G. Lentz of Medina, Ohio; H.C. Lentz of Chicago; W.A. Lentz of Halstead. Step-daughter Ivy E. Carson of Orosi, Calif. Three brothers: F.B. Muffley of Hannibal, Mo.; Joseph Muffley of Kewanee, Ill.; Wm. E. Muffley of Washington DC.
I didn’t realize it during my visit, but Ivy E. Lentz Carson had lived just across the street at 703 Main in Halstead in the 1940 census. By 1930, Ivy was already the widow of Charles C. Carson.
According to the obituary, Sadie was born near Tylersburg, Pennsylvania, on March 17, 1857. We know that Tylersburg was the closest large town to the family farm and mill on Muffley Run in Clarion County,Pennsylvania. Sadie was a small child when she was “…taken to Quincy, Illinois, by her mother, her father having died several years earlier. She grew to womanhood at Quincy, where she spent the happy years of childhood under the influence of those who cared for the best in life.”
So, Joe Muffley (1854-1955) lost his grand-daughter Mary Louise Muffley in 1926, then his wife Emma Jane McCreary Muffley in 1928, and then his sister Sadie in 1930. In 1930, Joe was living in Kewanee,Illinois, with his son Albert (normally an electrician), who was temporarily a confection salesman. Things were looking up by 1941, when Joe, his son Albert, and Joe’s daughter-in-law Edna Jagger Muffley went on a road trip. There was a stop in Salina, Kansas, at the home of Sadie’s son Harold Leland Lentz.
On the December 2013 trip, this writer photographed the Harold L. Lentz former home at 212 West Jewell Avenue, Salina. At this location on Sept. 2, 1941, Harold and Evalyn Shriver Lentz were visited by Illinois kin Joe, Albert, and Edna Muffley (Harold’s maternal uncle, 1st cousin, and cousin’s wife, respectively), who were en route to kin in Denver. They then went onward for a drive into the Rockies, and then returned toIllinois via the Robert Muffley family brand-new home in McCook, Nebraska.
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| Joe, Harold, Evalyn and Edna |