Person:Henry Trenner (1)

Notes

Henry Trenner was born in Germany c.1750 and came to America as a Hessian soldier during the American Revolution.

According to the "Spaid Genealogy", he was taken prisoner at Trenton in 1776 and held at the POW camp at Winchester, Va. At the camp the prisoners were lightly guarded and allowed to associate freely with the local German residents. If they wanted to they were allowed to work and reside at the local farms. After the war the German soldiers were offered a choice to stay in America or be repatriated, Henry chose to stay.

When and where Henry and Elizabeth Secrist first met and when they married is unknown.

On May 16, 1790 they purchased a farm in the southern part of Frederick Co. on Lick Run, a branch of Cedar Creek (FCDB-41,p-124) and lived there for nearly thirty years and then in 1817 they sold their farm and moved to Guernsey Co., Ohio where Henry purchased a farm near Ava.

According to Henry's will, which he wrote on Oct. 25, 1829 and proved in Guernsey Co. on Nov. 26, 1829, at the time of his death he owned 280 acres of land in Frederick Co. Va. and 270 acres in Guernsey Co. He bequeathed to his second son Henry the Ohio home place with 190 acres and he was to provide for Elizabeth for the remainder of her life. The balance of his land in Ohio and Virginia was divided between his oldest son Jacob and youngest son Michael. His daughters Catherine Fishel, Elizabeth Albin and Sarah Frye received their inheritance in cash.

Henry was one of the Guernsey co. settlers from Virginia who persuaded Rev. William Godfrey Keil to move from Virginia to Ohio and become the minister of the newly formed Mount Zion Church.

Henry and Elizabeth had seven children; Jacob, Henry Jr, Catherine, Michael, Mary, Sarah and a son that was listed on the 1810 Frederick Co. census as being under the age of ten, nothing more is known of him.

Henry and Elizabeth were buried on their farm in what became known as the Trenner Cemetery.

1.   Secrest, Abraham Thompson. Spaid genealogy : from the first of the name in this country to the present time, with a number of allied families and many historical facts. (unknown: unknown, 1922)
   357-358.

   [Note: A.T. Secrist's notebooks, which include a copy of Henry Trenner's will, are housed at the Cambridge Library, Cambridge, Ohio.]

2. ↑ 152389218 , in Find A Grave
   no photos, last accessed Sep 2022.