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Author: slhenderson151
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Classification: queries
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Mary Ann Nihiser
Just a bit of background first on the Nihiser/Nihizer family. My wife is a descendant of
this family as follows:
George Nihiser born about 1788 in Germany and wife Catherine Tertes Nihiser born about
1790 in Shenandoah Virginia married 1-April-1808 in Virginia. Migrated west into Ohio
with the Kitchen family prior to 1826 which is the first proven date we see George on an
Ohio Tax report. They settled in the Hocking County area and had the following known
children:
George JR, William, John, Joseph, Rebecca, Sarah, Amos, Stephen**, Kezziah, we suspect a
few others that died in childhood as well. My wife's line is Stephen and yours as
well.
Stephen Nihiser born 1829 married Sarah ( Sally ) Kitchen born 1822 on 25-August-1844 in
Hocking CTY. They had the following children:
Mary Ann, Daniel, John Jacob**, Martha, Samuel, Phoebe, Benjamin Franklin, Simeon Stephen,
Catherine, Adeline, Stacy. John Jacob is my wife's line, after the untimely death of
parents Stephen & Sarah he took over as the caretaker for all the other siblings. He
served in the Civil War and is buried along with his wife Lucinda Klinger in Oak Grove
Cemetery located in the City of Logan, Hocking County. Parents Stephen & Sarah Kitchen
Nihiser are buried in Nihiser Cemetery which is still located on the original family
homestead in Hocking County.
For many years we all assumed Mary Ann Nihiser to have been the first child of Stephen
& Sarah Nihiser but a closer look at census records for 1850 and 1860 started to show
problems with this. Remember that Stephen and Sarah did not marry until 1844 so on the
1850 census Mary Ann should be no older than 6 but she is recorded as being 9 years old
which places her birth about 1841 a full 3 years before they married. This age is
supported again on the 1860 census which shows Mary Ann as age 19 again confirming a birth
about 1841.
Mary Ann Nihiser married Henry Dexter Joy on 19-March-1862 in Hocking County. At this
point I started communicating with some Kitchen family members who were also researching
the Nihiser/Kitchen line. They have a death record for Mary Ann Nihiser that states her
birth 18-Mar-1838 and died 23-July-1909 in Hocking County, buried in Oak Grove Cemetery
section H159D, Henry Dexter Joy died 17-Feb-1922 and is also buried in Oak Grove Cemetery
section H139.
So now we seem to have a problem, Mary Ann Nihiser was born prior to Stephen and Sarah
Nihisers marriage which makes us assume Sarah Kitchen was married before this or had a
child out of wedlock. The Kitchen side based on an old family bible seems to make this
assertion:
Prior to Sarah Kitchen's marriage to Stephen Nihiser she was apparently married
briefly to a Daniel Proof/Prough out of this union Mary Ann was born. Stephen and Sarah
Nihiser married in 1844 and Mary Ann simply became part of the Nihiser family from then
on. According to the Kitchen side Mary Ann Nihiser Joys death record indicated her parents
as a Daniel Proof and a Miss Kitchen not Stephen and Sarah Kitchen. This lends further
proof that Sarah Kitchen was married prior to her marriage to Stephen Nihiser.
Sarah Kitchen born 1822 was the daughter of Daniel Kitchen and Phoebe Pincock Kitchen.
Interestingly enough upon Daniels death Phoebe married into the Nihiser family. She
married a Jacob Nihiser 11-July-1830.
The Kitchen family bible makes a notation next to Mary Ann Proof ( later Nihiser ) that
her Indian Name is " Toknee". It has been the Kitchen family lore that they were
of Indian blood at some point. From what I know from the Nihiser side the Kitchen family
were originally trappers and traders which would mean they had relations with the Indian
tribes in and around the Hocking County area. I have never heard the Choctaw's as the
connection but that could certainly be true as they were in the Ohio area at this time
prior to 1826. The Kitchen bible seems to indicate that Mary Ann was at least part Indian
as was her mother Sarah Kitchen Nihiser. None of this can be proven but the fact that the
Kitchen bible makes note of it would seem to prove it. Given the attitudes of people back
then and even up into the early 1900's saying you were of mixed blood was not always
met with a great response which is why I suppose families usually made little note of it
or rarely talked of it. M!
y wife's Nihiser side said it was a rumor as well but discussed it very little; it
was not until I located the Kitchen connection that it seems to have been borne out as
true.
The Kitchen side I talked to years ago was related to a Charles SIX who also had Indian
blood in him. The person I got this information from had a grandmother whose name was Mary
Elizabeth JOY and states that Mary Elizabeth married a half Indian by the name of James
SHAW, had a son named Elmer Shaw and then later married Charles SIX. So it seems no matter
how you look at it Indian blood is there whether way back from the Kitchen or perhaps the
Shaw side as well. What tribes are involved though seems to be a matter of debate.
Hope this helps you some, I really have not done much with the Kitchen/Joy side as my wife
is a Nihiser and I have made that my formal research area but always have made note of
marriages out of the family to people like KITCHEN, JOY, KUHN, PHILLIPS etc, it all makes
a great story.
Thx
David Thomas
Columbus Ohio
28-Jan-2010
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