Person:Frederick Leathers (1)

Still another non-English Leathers family sprang even earlier from Switzerland. Coincidentally, his name was Johannas Leder, born sometime between about 1660 and 1670. By 1691 he had immigrated to the United States, specifically to Lancaster County (later to become York County), Pennsylvania, where he had a son, Frederick Leder, Leeder, Lederer, Lether, Leather, or Leathers, depending on which document you see him listed on. Frederick in turn married Anna Elizabeth and they had six children beginning with Jacob Leathers in 1732, all of whom took on them the name "Leathers". So here is yet another non-English root to the Leathers name originating this time in Switzerland. Frederick Leathers II 3rd generation

1) FREDERICK LEATHERS II was born in 1732/29 in Lancaster County (now York Co), Pennsylvania. After his father?s death in 1749, he lived with Martin Eichelberger (he was about 17). There was a great German migration to this area of Pennsylvania between 1749 and 1754. He married 1st probably about 1753. The French and Indian wars from 1754 to 1763 halted most of the German migration, and with numerous Indian attacks many settlers began to move back to safety east of the Susquehanna River. The Germans settlers in this area supported the British during this war. [In Germany during the 30 Years War (1618-1648), the French had used a scorched-earth policy on the already poor German farmers, not only taking their food and little money, but also burning their fields and their houses. Later, when the Germans began fleeing their country in droves about 1708, Great Britain took them in and helped many of them find passage to America.] At the end of the war German migration renewed again. Iron deposits were found about this time and a forge and furnace was built for production of iron. During the Revolutionary War many cannons and cannon balls came from this forge for the Continental Army. Living in Dover twp, near the military prison at Hellam, it seems that the Leathers family would have been involved somehow in the Revolutionary War. In 1777 the Continental Congress crossed the Susquehanna River and passed through Hellam on its way to safer quarters in Yorktown, during the British occupation of Phildelphia. In 1778 4500 British and Hessian prisoners were marched through Hellam and on to Charlottesville, VA where they were imprisoned. In 1783 there was one church building, but more than one congregation who shared it. (The German Reformed and Lutherans, who shared a common heritage and language often formed union churches and shared a building, meeting at different times.) [Pictured: Ludwig Miller's sketch of "Singing Choir" inside the Old Lutheran Church of York, Pennsylvania in 1800.] Frederick was living in York Co., Pa. in 1783 when he was appointed the guardian of David Shirk (brother of Barbara, Mary & Joseph). In 1790 after the War the Leathers family moved to Bald Eagle Valley in Centre County, Pa. along with the Shirk family, the Hubers, Bechtels and other residents of York Co. This was a "new" area opening up which had been purchased from the Indians in 1769. Iron was discovered there and several forges began springing up along the Creek which flows along the Bald Eagle Mountains. The Leathers land was on the west or north side of the Bald Eagle Creek (probably near what is now Milesburg, Pa.) Frederick married 2nd about 1794 York Co, Pa. to Jane Dill Lewis (no children). Two years later he died in 1796 (age 64) in Bald Eagle Valley (Mifflin Co until 1800, now Centre Co), and was buried in Centre Co, Pa. His second marriage to Jane Dill Lewis was an unfortunate match. She had quite an infamous reputation owing to the fact that she was the mother of the infamous Pennsylvania robber, David Lewis, who was just as famous in that region as Jesse James is in the midwest. His marriage to her was a shock to the Leathers children. Frederick had been a man of substance when he left York County, and yet he only left 5-10 shillings to each of his children and left the rest of his estate to his wife. All of his children went to court to try the validity of his will. He was buried in Centre Co, Pa. Not long after he died, his son Frederick III moved to Ohio, giving his brother Jacob the power of attorney to sell his land. Children:

1a) FREDERICK LEATHERS III, born 1754; m Eve Barbara Shirk (daug. of John & Barbara); moved to Fairfield Co., Ohio by 1799; d 1821 Ohio. Children: 1a1) Jacob Leathers, b abt 1776, Pa; m Eve Ann Hay; d 1843, Ill. 1a2) Frederick Leathers IV, b 1778, Pa; m Elizabeth Stolter; d 1849, Ohio 1a3) Elizabeth Leathers, b pa; m Jacob Sell (or Gesell) 1a4) Daniel Leathers, b Pa; m Molly Kistler; d 1825 1a5) Joseph Leathers, b Pa; m Barbara Leathers 1a6) Barbara Leathers, b Pa; m Abraham Middleworth 1a7) David Leathers, b Pa; m Sarah Stookey 1a8) Samuel Leathers, b Pa; m Magdalene Lantz 1a9) Mary Leathers, b Pa; m William Middleworth 1a10) Christian Leathers, b 1800 Pa; m Catherine Shupe

1b) JACOB LEATHERS, b 1756, Dover Twp, York Co, Pa.; m bef 1784 in York Co, Pa. to Mary W. Shirk (daug. of John); he was a gunsmith; d Mar 23, 1843, Howard twp, Centre Co, Pa; buried Sand Hill cemetery. 1b1) Jacob Leathers Jr., b 1784, York Co, Pa.; m Elizabeth Houser 1809; d 1855; children (all born in Centre Co, Pa): John (1809), Barbara (1811), Martin (1813), Mary (1815), Elizabeth (1817), Jacob Houser (1819), Martha Ann (1821), Samuel (1824) 1b2) Mary Leathers, b 1786, York Co, Pa.; m Christian Bechdel II about 1803; d 1851/61, Liberty, Centre Co, Pa.; ch: Mary C (1804), David, Elizabeth, Christian, Joseph, Jacob, Susan, Samuel, Sarah, Rebecca, Daniel, Nancy (1835) 1b3) Barbara Leathers, b 1787, York Co, Pa.; m Joseph Leathers 1b4) Elizabeth Leathers, b 1788, York Co, Pa.; m Jacob Bechdel; d 1842 1b5) Joseph Leathers, b 1790, York Co, Pa.; m Mary Holter; d 1842; ch: Samuel B. (1826) 1b6) John Leathers, b abt 1792 Dover twp, York Co, Pa.; m ? Bechdel; d 1869 1b7) Daniel Leathers, b 1797, York Co, Pa.; d 1877 1b8) Frederick Leathers, b 1798 in Mt. Eagle, Centre Co, Pa.; m 1st Nancy Barthhurst (4 ch), 1819 Mt. Eagle, Centre Co, Pa; m 2nd 1828 to Rebecca Working (4 ch); m 3rd abt 1850 to Jane D. Stiver (no ch); d 1877 Mt. Eagle (age 79); children: Nancy?s: Hannah (1821), Elizabeth (1823), Martha (1825), Mary (1827); Rebecca?s: James R. (abt 1830), Nancy E. (abt 1832), Frederick M. (abt 1840), William Thomas (1844)

1c) JOHN LEATHERS, b 1758, Lancaster Co, Pa.; m Mary? Bechtel; d 1815 in Ohio. The tomb-stone at right of a Frederick Leathers buried in the State Old Insane & Penal Cemetery, Columbus, Franklin County, Ohio. The circle of graves this marker is in seems to be asylum graves. Since he would have been born in 1780, it seems that he could have only been the son of John.

1d) BARBARA LEATHERS, b 1760 Lancaster Co, Pa.; m Henry Bream

1e) MARY LEATHERS, b 1760/5 Lancaster Co, Pa., m 1st Richard Malone; m 2nd 1786, Joseph Shirk (son of John); ch: Frederick & Morgan Malone; Elizabeth, Jacob, John (1787) & Joseph (1793) Shirk

1f) SUSANNAH LEATHERS, b 1764, York Co, Pa.; m John Biegler

1g) DANIEL LEATHERS, b 1774, York Co, Pa.; m Fanny Fierchies. In 1820 he was in Fairfield Co., Ohio

1h) JOSEPH LEATHERS

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Frederick Leathers III 4th generation

1a) FREDERICK LEATHERS III was born in 1754 in York County, Pennsylvania. He married about 1775, York Co, PA to Eva Barbara Shirk (daughter of John Shirk & Barbara Hoover/Huber; see SHIRK family). (Her great-grandfather, Ulrich Schurch, and Frederick?s grandfather, Frederick Leder I both came to America on the same ship, the Mortenhouse, in 1728.) They lived in York Co. and Centre Co., Penn. It?s not known what part he may have played in the Revolutionary War. James Smith of York signed the Declaration of Independence. Smith was one of the most prominent residents of York county and hosted members of the Continental Congress, which when they arrived, found a town with very few young men left, since most of them had joined the Contenential army. "York Town seems quite deserted." a diarist wrote in 1776, "on account of the departure of all men under fifty years of age. Our young men had to leave for the army in Jersey." York's daily routine is at a standstill. "All business and every occupation are prostrate, all shops are closed. How many prayers and tears will now be brought before the Lord, by parents for their children, by children for their parents, by wives for their husbands." York county strongly supported the Revolutionary War in its early years. Col. Thomas Hartley observed that the York area "has armed first in Pennsylvania and has furnished more men for the war and lost a greater number of men in it than any other district on the continent of the same number individuals." In 1777 the state required an oath of allegiance to the King, designed to separate patriots from tories. Those not adhering to the oath cannot vote, hold public office, or buy or sell real estate. Many York county residents felt the oath was "impolitic, severe, cruel, unjust, breathing tyrany (sic) and injudicious." In Sept 1777 the British pushed the American army out of Philadelphia, and the Continenial Congress had to reconvene in the frontier town of York, York County. They met in the Colonial Courthouse in York, and passed the Articles of Confederation. Thomas Paine was also there writing ?these are the times that try men?s souls.? The Continental Congress continued there until June 1728 (9 months later) when the British evacuated Philadelphia. John Adams, while in York with the Continental Congress, wrote: "The People are chiefly Germans, who have (church) Schools in their own Language, as well as Prayers, Psalms, and Sermons so that Multitudes are born, grow up and die here, without learning the English." In 1780 Pennsylvania became the first state to outlaw slavery, but those born before that date remain enslaved. In 1782 Methodist bishop Francis Asbury preached in York county, making 12 visits to the county in the next few years.

In 1790 he moved with his father to Bald Eagle Valley in Centre County, Pa. His father?s second marriage in 1794 caused great discomfort in the family, and probably not too long after his father died in 1796, Frederick was ready to move again. Around 1800 (before Ohio became a state in 1803) Frederick moved his family to Amanda Twp., Fairfield County, Ohio. He evidently had purchased land there by 1799 and took his older sons to prepare a dwelling, because he and some of his older sons signed a petition to congress in August 1799 from ?the subscribers residing on the publick lands on the East side of the Scioto River, in the Territory Northwest of the River Ohio.? He probably brought his wife and younger children to the land in 1800 after his youngest child, Christian, was born in Jan. 1800. His son, Jacob, married Eve Ann Hay in 1802/3 in Ohio. The Hay family had moved to Ohio from Virginia in 1802. (See HAY family) In the southern part of [Amanda] township Frederick Leathers is considered the first settler. He settled near Amanda and kept one of the first taverns in the county, and the first in this township. He built the first log house in Amanda, in which he ran a tavern. It was located on the old Chilicothe road (between Lancaster & Chilicothe, now state highway 159) about 100 yards east of the village. Isaac Griffith?s son, Samuel, said, ?The best house in the community was the Leathers? house. It was a large house of hewed logs and two stories high.? A still-house was operated on the premises, which supplied the beverage in universal demand at that time. It was the aim of Leathers to make his tavern a central point, and for that purpose he succeeded in establishing three for four public roads which crossed or terminated at his place. These roads were later changed..4 He was the landlord here until the spring of 1819, when he sold his house and tavern and 300 acres to Isaac Griffith, who had moved there in 1818 1,3. Isaac kept the tavern open until 1854. In 1858 the building burned down. (Source #3 says it was located on the old Circleville Rd.) Samuel Griffith also related, ?There was very little cash in the country. Everything was done by trading. A day?s labor was twenty-five cents in trade.... Our post-office was at Lancaster [about 10 miles NE]. There was one mail each way in a week. We brought our salt from Zanesville? [50 miles NE].4 ?The first mennonite settler in Fairfield County seems to have been martin Landis, Sr.... For some time they met for worship in the bar-room of the Leather?s House, a tavern several miles south of Lancaster.? 5 Frederick died in 1821 in Amanda, Fairfield Co, Ohio (southeast of Columbus). Barbara died after 1827. (They don't seem to be on the 1830 census of Amanda twp, Fairfiield Co, Ohio) Children: (all born in Penn., all married in Fairfield, Co., Ohio)

1a1) *JACOB L. LEATHERS, Sr., born about 1776/81, York Co, Pa; m abt 1803 to Eve Ann Hay. they moved to Wayne Co. (northern Ohio) about 1811/17; then moved to Ill. after 1840. Children: 1a1a) Susannah Leathers, b Ohio; m John Harpster 1a1b) John Leathers, b 1811 Ohio; m Elizabeth Slater 1a1c) Jacob L. Leathers, b 1810; m Mary Ewing 1a1d) William Leathers, b 1811; m Nancy Orum 1a1e) Elizabeth Leathers, b abt 1815; m Jacob S. Baker 1a1f) Silas Leathers, b 1821 Ohio; Marinda Ransom 1a1g) Mary Ann Leathers, b 1824 Ohio; m David Heral

1a2) FREDERICK LEATHERS IV, b Mar 22, 1778/80, York Co, Pa; m Elizabeth Stolter, May 11, 1802; on 1810 Tax list & 1830 census of Fairfield County, Ohio (city: Amanda). Frederick enlisted to fight in the War of 1812 in April, 1813 and served until the close of the war4. Elizabeth died July 4, 1846; Frederick died June 22, 1852, Amanda, Fairfield County; buried Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Amanda, Ohio. 1a2b) John B. Leathers, b Feb 14, 1812, OH; m Margaret Freymier aft 1842 Oh; d Nov 26, 1903; ch: Margaret (1944), William (1847), John A. (1849) 1a2a) Barbara Leathers, b 1818; m 1st Washington Reitenauer in 1831 Preble Co OH; m 2nd ? Guy; ch: Mary E. Guy (b 1834) 1a2c) Joseph Leathers

1a3) ELIZABETH ?Betsy? LEATHERS, b abt 1782 Pa; m Aug 25, 1836 to Jacob Sell (or Gesell/Gasell)

1a7) DAVID LEATHERS, b Jan 1790, Pa; m Sarah ?Sally? Stookey, June 28, 1814; 1830 in Fairfield Co, Ohio (Amanda) 1a7a) Christian Leathers; m Dec 31, 1855, Mary Ann Scarborough 1a7b) William Leathers; m Permelia ?; d Mar 19, 1864, Memphis, TN 1a7c) Randolf G. Leathers; m Apr 30, 1865, Shelby Co, IL to Mary L. Coloney 1a7d) David M. Leathers; m Mar 19, 1864, Shelby Co, IL to Lydia A Caccanover

1a8) SAMUEL LEATHERS, b abt 1791, Pa; m Magdalene ?Polly? Lantz, June 12, 1823; 1830 in Fairfield Co, Ohio; d abt 1834 1a8a) Rebecca Leathers, m William Patterson Bryan; ch: Daniel, James, Clarissa, Magdaline, Louisa, Martha J., Sarah, Martha, William H., Elmira F., Mary C., Semo 1a8b) Eliza Leathers 1a8c) Ezra Leathers

1a6) BARBARA LEATHERS, b abt 1792, Pa; m Abraham Middleworth, Jan 20, 1811 in Fairfield Co, Oh.; m 2nd John Small, Aug 18, 1850, Shelby Co, IL

1a9) MARY LEATHERS, b abt 1798, Pa; m William Middleworth, Jan 3/23, 1818 in Fairfield Co, Oh

1a10) CHRISTIAN LEATHERS, b Jan 10, 1800, Centre Co, Pa; m Catherine Shupe, April 8, 1824; 1830 in Fairfield Co, Ohio. (Madison township ?)

1a4) DANIEL LEATHERS, b abt 1801, Pa; m Molly Kistler; 1820 in Fairfield Co., Ohio; d 1825

1a5) JOSEPH LEATHERS, b abt 1802, Pa.; m Barbara Leathers; 1820 in Fairfield Co, Ohio; died before 1830

_________________________ FOOTNOTES & SOURCES: 1. History of Fairfield County, by Miller about 1912. 3. Pioneer Period and Pioneer People (of Fairfield Co., Ohio), by Wiseman. 4. History of Fairfield & Perry Counties Ohio, Their Past and Present. By A.A. Graham, W.H. Beers & Co, Chicago, 1883, p. 199. 5. The Fairfield County, Ohio, Background of the Allen County, Ohio Mennonite Settlement 1799-1860, by John Umble, The Mennonite Quarterly Review, Vol VI #1, Jan. 1932, ed Harold Bender.

The below will of my other ancestor Mathias Saylor leads me to believe that this ancestors name is Leatherman instead of Leathers.

In the name of God Amen. I, Mathias Saylor of Hagerstown,Washington Co., MD being weak in body but of sound mind and memory thanks be toGod for the Same, do make Ordain publish and declare this my Last Will and Testament in manner and form following/Imprimies/first I recommend my Soul into the hands of Almight God, who gave it and my body to the Earth to be decently baried, and as to worldly Estate which it has pleased God to bless me with I giveand Bestow in manner and form following. I leave to my son Peter Saylor threehundred acres of land with all the buildings, that he now lives on for Ever onthe Condition that he pays the following legacies out of the said estate. After my decease to my children hereafter names I leave to my daughter Catherine Leatherman Fifty Pounds Specie wife of Frederick Leatherman and to daughter MaryWilt, wife of John Wilt One Hundred Pound Specie, and to my son John Saylor, One English Shilling Sterling he having before received his share of fortune and to my daughter Magdelena Nigh wife of George Nigh, One English Shilling Sterling she having before received her share of fortune and to my daughter May Elizabeth Harry wife of Jacob Harry One Hundred Pounds Specie, and to my dauther Susannah Harry wife of Martin Harry one Hundred Pounds specie, and to my daughter Elizabeth Harry wife of John Harry one Hundred Specie, and to my beloved wifeMagdelena Harry I leave as follows to be paid by aforesaid Son Peter Saylor Yearly and every year during her Natural Life. Twenty Bushels wheat, twenty bushels Rie, Ten bushels of Corn, half a Hundred weight of Hemp from the Break, 1 load of Hay from the first crop and one load of hay from the second crop. Two barrels of Cyder yearly and to take her choice of Six Apple Trees. I likewise leave to my aforesaid wife the House in Hagerstown which I now live in with all the furniture and Bonds, Cash & c which are now due or owing to me, but it is my Will and Pleasure that if my said wife should so happen to marry again aftermy decease, then I do order that my said House & c in Hagerstown shall immediately be sold and the money so accruing shall be divided share and share alike between all my daughters before named, my sons excepted and I do here-by consititute and appoint Peter Wagoner and Henry Weigle of Hagerstown whole and sole Executors of this my last Will, hereby revoking all former Will and Wills made byme before. In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand and affixed my Sealthe day and year above written. Note: Note: Mathias M. Saylor [sea;] Note: Mark x Seal Note: Signed & Sealed & Delivered Note: by the Testator as his last Will Note: and Testament. Peter Wagoner, Henry Weigle, Note: William Ransom 1 Change Date: 10 NOV 2002

1. ↑ Founder of Amanda Township.

   Amanda Township was established in 1805. In legal terms it is known as Township 13, of Range 20. Some of the early settlers were Warren Spitler, William Ward, Frederick Leathers, William Hamilton, Thomas Barr, John Christy, and men with the last names of Norris and Dennison. The Presbyterians built the first church in this township in 1838 and was organized by Rev. Hogue, the first minister was William Jones.