Our 3rd Generation in America- Mary and Catherine Shedenhelm

      In 1766, Frederick Schittenhelm and his wife emigrated from Germany to America, where they built a life together in Maryland and reared four children: Jacob, George, Catherine, and Elizabeth. These four people comprised the 2nd generation of our particular branch of the Shedenhelm family tree in America. Their journey began in Aach, Germany. They settled in Frederick County, Maryland and many of them stayed there. Others, however, continued to moved west and migrated to Ohio, where land prices were attractive.
      Jacob and his wife, Mary Walter, had five children (three of whom married into the Lease family- Mary, Thomas, Catherine, Delilah, and Reuben, George and his wife, Catherine Lease, had six children: Levi, Elizabeth, Henry, Grafton, Mary, and Barbara. Elizabeth and her husband, Nathan Brasher, Jr. had ten children: Freeman, Barbara, Nancy, Owen, Esther, Solomon, Catherine, Elizabeth, Hiram, and Perry. Catherine and her husband, Anthony Elkhart also had ten children: Betsy, Susan, Barbara, Catherine, Levina, Lewis, Eden, Polly, Grafton and John.
      Taken together, thus first group of cousins represents the 3rd generation of Shedenhelms in America. Jacob's children were Sheetenhelms, George's children were Shedenhelms (except Barbara), Elizabeth's children were Brashears, and Catherine's children were Eckharts.... but they were family. By 1840, many of them had migrated to Ohio, and by 1855, many more had moved to Iowa. Grafton's son, Frances (Frank) relocated to Michigan and embraced the surname, Shetenhelm, which is the most dominant form of our name in Michigan to this day. One branch of our family found their way to Oregon, another to California, and yet another made Illinois their home. We may encounter some of these people as we move along, but in the beginning... the 3rd generation of our family in America consisted of 31 people.
      As I approach 70, I know that time will not allow me to experience the joy of discovering the rich lives that most of these relatives lived. We will encounter some of them from time to time... but my primary focus will be on George Shedenhelm, my 3x great-grandfather, and his descendants- and most especially on Grafton Shedenhelm, my 2x great-grandfather and his many children. Since we have already discussed two of George's sons- Levi Adam and Henry- I will offer a few comments about his daughters before I move on to Grafton.  Catherine Sheatenhelm married Anthony Eckhart and they had 11 children together. Like many others in our family, Catherine and Anthony migrated to Ohio and, in 1860, they were farming in Falls Township in Hocking County, Ohio. Indeed, in 1860, Anthony owned property valued at $3000 and the record also shows that his son, Eden, farmed nearby at that time. Finally, Catherine;s sister, Elizabeth, married Nathan Brashear, Jr, who belonged to a well-established American family. In fact, according to the 1790 Federal census 25 Brashears/Brashares were identified as "heads of households."