Children of George Michael (Jr.) and Elizabeth Diehl
Pfalzgraf
(Click on the above picture for enlargement plus the names of the people in the photo)
According to information given by Clermont
Pfalzgraf, Rockport, WV, and Sam Pfalzgraf, Cameron, Ohio, and an article
published in the Monroe County Beacon July
16, 1964, the Pfalzgrafs were once wealthy and influential people living on a
manor near Paris, France, but later reduced to poverty. George Michael, Sr., b
1781 married Magdalena Leet, died 1832, forced to move to Alsace-Loraine near
Strausburg due to results of war. George Michael, Jr., was born here 1809. The
family home was a stone house about two and a half miles from the Rhine River.
Magdalena was buried Easter Sunday April 1, 1832 and George Michael, Sr.,
George Michael, Jr., and a cousin joined with a party and left for La Havre,
France, the sailing point. The men drove the four-horse wagon team loaded with
trunks and the women walked. They landed at Baltimore, Maryland, July 1832 and
took tobacco wagons to Barneville, Ohio, arriving there the last of
August.
George Michael, Jr., married Elizabeth Diehl, his
sweetheart who came with them, at Bamesville, Ohio, 1832. George Michael, Sr.,
bought land from the government in Monroe County $1.25 per acre, 40 acres, and
put it in his only child's, George Michael, Jr., name. They dug a spring for
water, built a house in three days, built table and chairs all from trees they
cut down from the property. The doors had wooden hinges and wooden locks. Holes
cut in for windows, but no glass, hung something over them in cold weather. The
roof on the cabin was held in place by weight poles. They cleared land and
sowed wheat the same fall. Elizabeth Diehl had been employed in a castle in
France and greeted guests at the door, so she had fine clothes that she sold at
Wheeling and the money used to buy wheat, that she carried to a water mill
three miles away. George M., Sr., died from whooping cough 1852. He lived with
his son and family, never spoke English and never remarried.
George Michael, Jr., died 1867 and his wife
Elizabeth died 1883. They were' parents of fourteen children: Jacob married
Caroline Bintz; Rosina married Philip Christman; John married Catherine
Christman; Elizabeth married Gottleib Eberle; Magdalena married Chris
Kindelberger; Fredericka married Jacob Christman; Mary Ist married Philip
Neibch, 2nd married Lewis Neuhart; Sarah (Sally) unmarried; Barbara 1st married
Jacob Rubel, 2nd married Greenbury Crawford; Lewis married Elizabeth Miller;
Eva married John Christman; Louisa married Frederick Koehler; Christina married
Alexander Brownfield; George married Sophia Kilbum. George Michael, Sr., was a
stonecutter and George, Jr., a teamster. Submitted by Laura A. Kahrig
Provided by Lena Kahrig Pettit -- e-mail: [email protected]