Anna Elizabeth Reichert

Re: Susanne Richards

frankm9802 (View posts) 

Posted: 11 Mar 2009 5:34AM GMT

Classification: Query

Surnames: Richards Reichart Swisher Fleener Zimmerman Happes Wolfe

This is just an fyi to whoever may read this. I am descended from Jacob Swisher and Susanna Richards mentioned on this post as well. And I have a little bit to share on the "Indian Maiden". In the last year or so, I found some information from another researcher that shows that John Jacob Reichart/Richards was married to Maria Elizabetha Happes or Hoppis. A birth date of Nov 6, 1712 was given and birthplace of Altneudorf, Baden-Wurttemburg in the southwest part of Germany. Don't know where that information comes from but I will say it is more believable than John's wife being an Indian maiden. Members of this Richards family living in West Virginia fought against Indians and one of them named Arnold Richards died from wounds in 1782. If they built a fort named Richards Fort to fend off the natives, somehow I highly doubt that Arnold was half Indian. Let's just say the Indian maiden bit is something that someone added in along the way to spice things up when telling the family history. Alas, as it turns out this little Indian was likely born in Germany...

Maria's parents are listed as Johann "Hans" Michael Happes or Hoppis and Anna Elisabeth Zimmerman. A short little story about my uncle: he always claimed that he was part Indian. First, he said he was one fourth. Then, later he reduced the figure to one eighth and later one sixteenth after we had done some research. Alas, he passed away without ever knowing that he was far less than one sixteenth. Moral to the story: it helps to dig a little and then keep digging until the truth is unearthed. Although, I do believe was at least a little Indian.

Finally, my line:

1)Johann "Hans" Michael Happes 1688-1750 & Anna Elisabeth Zimmerman 1678-1742 2)John Jacob Reichart/Richards maybe these dates? 1718-1829 & Maria Elizabeth Happes/Hoppis b 1712 3)Conrad Richards 1747-1807(?) & Catherine (no last name on her yet) 4)Susanna (Rosanna) Richards ca. 1782/1786 & Jacob Swisher 1777-ca. 1871 WV 5)David Swisher 1804-1891 & Diademia Stanley 6)Elizabeth Susan Swisher 1838-1884 & Alexander "Alec" Robertson 1839-1907 7)Dora Alice "Al" Robertson 1870-1939 & James Isaac Fleener 1872-1936 (He got married at age 16) 8)Amanda Belle Fleener 1892-1944 & Artie Virgil Fleener 1889-1974 (a distant cousin several different ways) 9)Hallie Josephine Fleener 1911-1948 & Clarence Merriman 1898-1965 10) Franklin Merriman 1935-2006 - my father

Last but not least, I am working on a theory about John Jacob Reichart/Richards. It is entirely possible that John Richards who lived an age of 111 in Hawkins Co., Tn is the same John who had lived in Harrison Co., WV in the mid 1700s. There are several clues: 1) First John's son Jacob had apparently lived at Martinsburg, Berkeley Co., WV for a time around 1769. Why would this be important? Well, I found a Charles Wolfe who was born in 1746 in Berkeley Co. and later moved to Rogersville, Hawkins Co., TN which is coincidentally where the 111 year old John Richards lived when he died. So it shows there was migration from northern West Virginia and specifically from Berkeley Co to Hawkins Co., TN. Also Charles Wolfe's father John Nicholas Wolfe was born in Germany and died in Harrison Co., WV of all places. 2)Next we have Zomething that I noticed about 20 years ago which was a tombstone in Needmore Cemetery, Brown Co., Indiana. It was a dedicated to a child Conrad Richards 1882-1892. Why is it important? It just so happened that I had just learned of the Swisher ancestor named Conrad Richards 1747-1807. Coincidence? You decide. But if my theory is correct, then the boy Conrad was a great-great-nephew of the first Conrad. 3)It is known that the Richards family in Brown Co. and Monroe Co., Indiana is of German origin and that the name was not originally Richards as that is the Anglicized version. The original was something like Reichart, Reichert or Reichard(t). More specifically the 111 year old John Richards was said to be born in Germany. 4)The 111 year old John was born about the same time as John Jacob 1715/1718. Interesting isn't it? 5)The name of Naomi Richards... Naomi is an unusual name but it is found in the Richards family in Brown Co., IN. And also in the Richards family in Harrison Co., WV: Conrad Richards Jr. b 1778 was married to one Naomi Bennett in 1801. I do believe that she is the source of the name Naomi which was handed down in Indiana. 6)I don't have the specifics off hand. But, I remember seeing at least one Swisher stone in Monroe Co., IN near Unionville. It appears they lived there for a time in the 1850s and 1860s. This is significant because some of the Richards family lived nearby. Coincidence? I doubt it.

If one wanted to prove this theory, then I suggest that a Y-DNA test be run with a member of the Brown Co./Monroe Co. Indiana Richards clan and a member of the WV & descendants clan. Hopefully this would reveal a connection. Also does anyone know about a wife of Jacob Swisher named Rachel Curle (one source says Casto but I don't think so)? I've seen her death date listed as 1874 in DeWitt Co., IL. Were Rachel and Jacob divorced? That's all I can do for now. Hope someone is doing a dna test or will consider it to connect these two Richards families once and for all. Frank Merriman