John Hetzler, Sr. and [Unk] Ashbaugh

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Husband John Hetzler, Sr. ^{1 2}

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           Born: 18 Nov 1787 - Haines Twp, Centre Co, PA
     Christened: 
           Died: 6 Jan 1879 - Venango Co, PA
         Buried:  - Rockland Cemetery, Rockland Twp, Venango Co, PA 3

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         Father: Frederich Hetzler (1757-1835)
         Mother: Barbara Singer (1762-1810)

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       Marriage: 

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   Other Spouse: Elizabeth "Betsy" Troutner (1791/1793-1855) 1 2 - 7 Jun 1813

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Wife [Unk] Ashbaugh ⁴

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: Bef 1879
         Buried: 

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Children

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General Notes: Husband - John Hetzler, Sr.

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"[He] was born in Centre County, Pa., in 1787, then later moved to Monroe County, N.Y. He located in Rockland Township, Venango County, Pa., in 1819; then returned to Monroe County, N.Y., in 1832, returning to Rockland Township in 1837, where he died in 1879." (3)

He was a soldier in the war of 1812, and witnessed the burning of Buffalo, taking part in the battle of Black Rock, where he was captured by the British, being imprisoned in Montreal for three months before his exchange, which took place at Lake Champlain. He walked home from that place. [CAB, 666]

It was in 1818 that he first came to Venango County, PA, where he purchased one hundred acres of land to which he returned the next year with his family, bringing all the household effects in a wagon. At that time the only improvements on the tract were a one-story log house and a barn, and he had to work hard to get it under cultivation. He acquired considerable land, which he gave to his grandsons. In 1843 he erected on his home place a large double brick residence, which is still [1918] in use, and his son John put up a frame dwelling there later. John Hetzler (Sr.) was one of the most enterprising men who settled in this region. He brought the first threshing ma­chine used in this vicinity, a sweep horsepower outfit with “chaff piler”-simply a cylinder which threw straw, chaff and grain into one heap behind, the separating being done after­ward by laborers, with rakes, forks and a fanning mill. He made use of a separator as soon as one had been devised. He and his sons were well known as threshers throughout this section. The family went back to Monroe County in 1832, to care for Mr. Hetzler's aged parents, remaining until 1837. [CAB, 666]

He met his second wife at St. Petersburg, Clarion County, PA, twelve miles distant from his Venango County home, where he attended the German Reformed Church, for he never learned English. [CAB, 667]

1 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 666.

2 Mrs. Harold V. Linn, Daniel Smith - Pioneer Settler of Rockland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania (Venango County, PA: Privately published, 1961), Pg 125.

3 Venango County Historical Society, Venango County Pennsylvania Cemetery Records and Early Church Histories, Vol. 5, Rockland Township (Franklin, PA: Venango County Historical Society, 1997), Pg 89.

4 Charles A. Babcock, Venango County, Pennsylvania, Her Pioneers and People (Chicago, IL: J. H. Beers & Co., 1919), Pg 667.