David Rash

 

Ewalt Joseph David Resch emigrated with his parents from Hesse Cassel in March, 1833 and traveled by sailing ship from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore, Maryland.  David was the youngest of five children; his parents were Joseph and Barbary (Grass) Resch.  They came to America seeking new economic opportunities.

 

Joseph Resch (b. 1783), his father, was a farmer in good standing.  They farmed 125 acres near the city of Fulda, Hesse Cassel.  They were Hessians.  Joseph's first wife, Catherine, and he had three children, Leborius (b.1812), Phillip (b.1815) and Teresa (b.1820).  Some unknown fate befell Catherine and Joseph married Barbary Grass (b.1795).  Catherine (b.1830) and David (b. January 8th, 1832) are borne by Barbary.  They set sail around the spring of 1833 - the trip would take around 45 days. 

 

Joseph and Barbary had their sights set on Zanesville, Ohio in Muskingum County.  They traveled in wagons to Zanesville along the recently completed National Road. The trip, 304 miles, took 30-40 days. They traveled in a wagon train, probably with many immigrants like themselves, to Ohio to secure good farm land, the 'Promise of America'.  Many of their party walked much of the way. They passed through the towns of Frederick, Hagerstown, Cumberland, Uniontown, Washington, and Wheeling; through the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio. They crossed the rivers Youghiogheny, Monongahela and the Ohio.  Around Uniontown, they passed General Braddock's grave and Fort Necessity, important historical sites in a young nation's past. Continuing on the National Road across the Ohio River, they traveled another 71 miles following the path of Zane's Trace to Zanesville.

       

Upon arrival, Joseph and Barbary purchased 100 acres of land 4 miles southeast of town from Isaac Barton for $400.  Zanesville would be David's home for the next 20 years.  A story, passed down in the family notes, relates David's early experiences in school.  His teacher taught him to write his name as 'David Rash', the name he would carry throughout the rest of his life.  Changing or modifying last names was not an uncommon occurrence for immigrants, but in this case, David, his brother and sisters (children of Barbary) and his descendants use the Rash spelling, and sometimes Rasch.  As for Leborius and Phillip, they and their descendants use the Resch spelling.

 

The Resch family is Roman Catholic.  Zanesville is a town of which the Catholics are English speaking, many of Irish descent.  A strong push through the Bishop of Cincinnati by the local Catholic German speaking population gained approval for a German Catholic Church.  Joseph and some of his neighbors, John Weigand and Casper Hagel, are listed as some of the first parishioners who helped establish Saint Nicholas of Myra in1842.  Along with the church, they established a German speaking Catholic school.  David, his sister Catherine, and his American born brother and sisters, Joseph (b.1835), Elizabeth (b.1836) and Anna (b.1838) probably all attended this school.  Growing up in Ohio, they learned their parents’ tongue of German but were also proficient in English.

 

David grew up to be a farmer as expected.  Families were usually large around that time because farms were so labor intensive.  Manpower was essential.  Yet during the time the Resch family farmed in Zanesville Leborius, Phillip, and Teresa married and moved to own their own farms.  Yet, they helped Joseph, who was 50 when he came to Ohio, in establish the Resch farm.  From record review, the Resch family was minimally affected by the financial Panic of 1837.  At that time, farmers could be self sufficient; needing money was not as it is today.  They survived and became prosperous.

 

Major family events for the Resch family in Zanesville were the births of Joseph, Elizabeth and, Anna.  Teresa married Jesse Stockdale in 1838 and moved to Springfield Township.  Phillip married Mary Hough in 1839 and they resided in Licking Township just to the northwest. Leborius married Barbara Geisler in 1846.  He purchased 34 acres a half mile south of the family farm. And lastly, Catherine married Sebastian Geisler in 1851.

  

            Joseph’s grandchildren born prior to 1853 follow.  To Teresa and Jesse; Mary Jane (1840), Robert (1842), Philip (1845), Sarah (1848), Abigale (1850), and Lewis (1853).  To Leborius and Barbara; Louisa (1847), John and Joseph (1849), Peter (1849), Philip (1850) and Andrew (1852).  And just prior to departing for Illinois, Catherine would bear Sebastian's first son and Barbary’s first grandchild, Joseph, in 1852.  Philip and Mary had no children.

 

            As their time in Zanesville passed, Joseph realized opportunities to own greater tracts of farmland lay westward.  Land in western Illinois' Military Tract at reasonable prices influenced his decision to provide greater economic security for his family.  He observed local farmers pulling up stakes and going westward.  Two of his neighbors, John Weigand and Casper Hagel Jr., also felt the same way.  John and his family farmed just east of the Resch farm.  Casper and his family lived on his parent's farm also just to the east.  Leborius, Catherine and Philip would remain in Zanesville with their families.

 

            Around 1853, they depart for Mount Sterling, Brown County, Illinois.  Joseph is 70 and Barbary is 59.  Going westward, the last site of Zanesville is the Y-Bridge spanning the Muskingum and Licking Rivers.  The uniqueness of this view would be a memory they would hold of their initial years in America.

 

            They traveled by wagon train to Mount Sterling, Illinois passing through the town of Chicago. The trek included the families of John Weigand, Casper Hagel, Sebastian Geisler (husband of Catherine Resch) and Joseph Resch.  Anthony Krupp and others also made up the party.  These were the next generation of Americans.  Though considered immigrants, this mixed group of young and old had already experienced a number of years in America.  The younger generation followed the lead of the seniors in their group, including Joseph.  David, now 22, his brother Joseph, Sebastian Geisler, and Anthony Krupp would form a special bond of friendship during these years which would carry them through the rest of their lives in Mount Sterling.

 

Mount Sterling is located in Brown County in the bulge of Illinois.  The area is rich farmland with an Irish and German population.  Many of the Irish settlers had recently left Ireland because of the great famine. Over the next couple of years they all start farms northeast of Mount Sterling along an area soon to be known for the German farmers living in the area.  It will be known as Dutch Ridge.   Dutch Ridge is a hilly and forested tract, extending northeast from Mount Sterling embraced by the South Fork of Shelby Creek and West Fork off the LaMoine River.  Both flow northeast to LaMoine which then empties in the Illinois River nine miles further east.

 

Joseph buys 240 acres 4 miles northeast of Mount Sterling.   But he is over 70 years old, and responsibility for establishing the farm falls upon the shoulders of David, his brother Joseph, Mother Barbary and sisters Elizabeth and Anna.  He lived another two years and died in 1856.  Elizabeth married Anthony Krupp in 1856, the same gent who came to Mount Sterling from Zanesville in 1854 with their party.  They buy acreage just to the west of the Rash farm. 

  

As in Zanesville, Mount Sterling had only one Catholic Church.  Originally, they attend Saint Patrick's Church, Mount Sterling's first permanent Catholic institution.  As the Catholic population increased, parishioners established a new church in 1862, known as Saint Mary's Church.   Six years later, a committee of German Catholics gain approval from the Bishop to establish a church to be known as Saint Joseph's Church.  This church would minister to the Germans in their native language.  About 35 families participate in the original parish; the Rash family is one of these families.  They are parishioners in Saint Joseph's for the remainder of their time in Mount Sterling.

 

By 1860, David is courting Margaret Crummy (b.1842), a young Irishwoman, who immigrated to America in 1845 with her family.  She is living with a family just north of town working as a domestic servant. They marry November 26th, 1861.  By now, David is farming the original land and his brother Joseph is farming land just adjacent to the east.  Joseph Rash marries Sarah Prillmayer in 1862.  In 1863, David legally becomes owner of the farm.  He and Margaret start their family.  Frank is born in 1863, Charles in 1865, Frederick in 1866, Mary Ellen in 1868, Ida in 1871, Anna in 1876 and finally Edward in 1877.

 

I would be remiss if I didn't say something about the Civil War here.  Brown County, like the rest of the Illinois counties, sent many men to fight the war, many did not return. In 1862, a military census is taken, by direction, a list of able bodied male citizens of the County of Brown between the ages of eighteen and forty-five years, in pursuance of General Orders No. 99 of the War Department, and instructions of the Adjutant General of the State of Illinois.  Both David and Joseph Rash are listed, but are exempt from duty in the Civil War either because of their ages and/or being farmers.

        

In 1860, Catherine (Resch) Geisler dies at age 30, possibly in childbirth.  Guardianship of her children passed to her husband Sebastian.  He is charged with raising a very young family of five and also providing for their livelihood working the farm.  Joseph, the eldest, is just 8, and Elizabeth is the only girl, a very young 5 years old.  These must have been very hard years for Sebastian.  Catherine was Barbary's oldest daughter; she had experienced the great adventure of emigrating and living in a new land.  One can only hope that she enjoyed life during her short time on earth.  Seven years later, Sebastian dies after a sudden fall from his horse leaving the guardianship of his five children and farm to Joseph Rash.  David and Margaret also help raising Sebastian and Catherine’s children.   The 1870 Brown County Census shows Casper, Elizabeth and Henry Geisler living with David and Margaret and their four children; Joseph and John Geisler living with Joseph and Sarah Rash on their farm due east of David's. 

 

Anna Rash dies in 1865, after a two year illness.  The early deaths of Anna and Catherine must have been very difficult times for Barbary, her sons and her only surviving daughter Elizabeth.  Anna, an American born citizen, must have been a great help to her mother and family, especially in the move from Ohio to Illinois.  She died after a very short life of 27 years.  Two years later, mother Barbary dies.  She was 72.

 

            Farming in the 1870s to 1900 were difficult times.  Farm production was continually impacted by the introduction machines capable of plowing, planting and reaping thousands of times more that human labor could ever accomplish. As a result, more and more acres west of the Mississippi River came into large scale production and farming elsewhere became increasingly specialized and more commercial.  Increasing production and decreasing demand for farm commodities caused prices to fall in the 1870s and 1880s in the face of rising costs associated with transportation and borrowing for land purchases, improvements and equipment.  Although the last quarter of the nineteenth century was generally considered to be one of continual, but rocky expansion, it was not without setbacks. Three economic declines, in 1873, 1884 and 1893, some more severe than others, marked the swings of the economic cycle. Prices in general trended downward after 1873, and lasted until 1896 or 1897. This deflation, resulting mostly from the failure of the money supply to keep pace with the rapid increase in the volume of goods produced affected agricultural goods as well as manufactures. During 1883, at the start of that particular economic slowdown, 10,299 businesses closed their doors. Not until 1886, after a slow but steady improvement, did economic conditions in general recover. Many citizens felt like they were living through a "great depression," even though production expanded nearly continuously until 1893, when a true depression hit the country.

            In March, 1890, Joseph Rash is stricken down by paralysis as a result of a brain hemorrhage. He had been working his fields. Joseph was known as a 'highly respected citizen' amongst the townspeople.  A great loss for David, as he and Joseph were the closest of brothers.

            As this decade progresses, David and Margaret's family married and moved away from Mount Sterling. Frank Rash married Julie Leister of Chicago. Charles married Margaret Kestel of Joliet.  Fred Rash married Sarah Tracy of Mount Sterling.  Mary Ellen Rash married Joseph Kestel (Margaret's brother) of Joliet.  Ida Rash married Gerald Cronin of Mount Sterling.  Anna Rash married James Madden.  Edward Rash married Agnes Weisgerber.

       

David Rash dies of dropsy in Mount Sterling September 22nd, 1905.  He was 73.  A few years prior to his death, he and Margaret moved to Mount Sterling city proper.  His obituary notes him as 'an industrious and honest man'.  Margaret lived on until 1916.  She had moved to Saint Vincent's Home in Quincy, Illinois in 1910 and died there at age 74. Her obituary details her life as a long, devoted catholic, a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis and the Crusaders of the Holy Land.  They are both buried in Mount Sterling at Saint Mary's Cemetery in the old South section close to the west end.

       

 David Rash was the youngest Resch to immigrate to America.  He grew up never knowing his origins in Germany, but realizing the freedoms and lifestyle of a young America.  He was a family man who raised his family in the church promoting good values and a staunch work ethic.  His namesake is carried on by David Paha.  David is the son of Jack Paha, the grandson of Joseph Paha, the great grandson of Ida Rash, the great, great grandson of Charles Rash and finally the great, great, great grandson of David Rash.