Dear Pennsylvania Genealogy Listers, dear Lancaster County genealogists and dear
Washington County listers,
I am hot on the trail of my great-great-grandfather, whose name was Abram (sometimes
Abraham) ZIEGLER (sometimes Zeigler, but we all are familiar with the problem of German
-ie- becoming English -ei- ).
He was born in 1821, in Pennsylvania, but I don't know where, and he married one
Elizabeth Ross, also born in 1821. Their first child, Jane Brown ZIEGLER was born in 1845
in Lancaster Co. Their second child, Thomas Jefferson ZIEGLER, my great-grandfather whom
I'll call TJZ, was born in Carlisle, Cumberland Co., as was his sister Mary C. ZIEGLER
(married name Benton) in 1847. Then the family moved west, settling in East Finley,
Washington Co., Pennsylvania. I have found them in the 1860 and 1880 Federal censuses for
Pennsylvania.
The very kind (and very, very learned) folks at the Cumberland Co. Historical Society
cannot connect my Abram Ziegler to the other Zieglers living in Cumberland Co. at the
time. The Ziegler mailing list has been understanding, but also unable to help.
I do not know if there is a possible Adams Co. connection as well, since after TJZ got a
medical discharge from his unit in the Civil War (most of his right elbow got blown away
during the Battle of the Wilderness), he first went to stay with Joseph and David ZEIGLER
(sic) in Adams Co., before returning to his parents' home, which now was in
Claysville, Washington Co.
He married in 1866 and moved to Ohio in 1878, and died in Savannah, Ohio in 1903. His
wife was named Nancy Garrett Gibson, born in 1842, in Washington Co., and Nancy's
father was named Samuel A. Gibson, born in 1819 in Pennsylvania, and her mother was named
Margaret Thompson (who was born in northern Ireland and came to the States as a child).
I would be grateful for any help in my search: here are the three areas I need help in:
1. Precise birth dates and places for Abram Ziegler and Elizabeth Ross, and their
parents' names...
2. The death and burial data for the two of these as well.
3. Any information about Gibsons in Washington Co.
I'd be happy to help anyone with research in Germany, since I live and work here now.
I'm a professor at the University of Wuppertal (not far from Duesseldorf) and I live
with my wife and family in Muenster.
Thanks.
Jeff Richards
Muenster, Germany