(Ed's Note: During a site visit to Zanesville, Ohio in 2003 I worked with some members of the Muskingum County Genealogy Society. They were in the process of putting together a families and history book, so I wrote an article concerning Joseph and Barbary Resch for the time spent there starting in 1833. Below is the text. The Society did a wonderful job putting together a beautiful book which is part of my library.)
| Joseph and Barbary (Grass) Resch immigrate to America with their five
children, Leborius, Philip, Teresa, Catherine and David in 1833 from
their farm near Fulda, Hesse Cassel, of the Confederation of German
States. Joseph was 50 and Barbary, his second wife, was 37. Their
three older children, borne of Joseph’s first wife, Catherine, were
aged 13-20, the two youngest were toddlers, ages 1 and 3. Joseph (b. 1782) was 'a farmer in good circumstances in Germany,
owning 125 acres of land.' He married Catherine and they had three
children: Leborius (1812), Philip (1815) and Teresa (1820).
Catherine died and Joseph married Barbary (b. 1795). They would
have five children: Catherine (1830), David (1832), Joseph (1835) -
first born in America, Elizabeth (1836) and Anna Mary (1838). The Resch family probably departed from Bremen or Bremenhaven in the
spring of 1833, crossing the Atlantic in about 60 days. They arrived in
Baltimore around July and continued westward to the Ohio lands. 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, they traveled another 71 miles following
the path of Zane's Trace to Zanesville. Upon arrival, Joseph purchased 100 acres of land 4 miles southeast of
town from Isaac Barton for $400. The Resch family is Roman Catholic. Joseph his some neighbors,
John Weigand and Casper Hagel are listed as some of the first
parishioners who helped establish the German Catholic Church, Saint
Nicholas of Myra in1842. 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. Philip
married Mary Hough in 1839 and they reside in Licking Township. 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 passes, 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 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
elected to 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. Leborius and Barbara farm in Zanesville, their family would expand to
fifteen children. Around 1867, they move to Brown County following
Joseph and Barbary. Jesse and Teresa have two more children, George (1857) and Isabell
(1863). They move 20 miles south to Moxahala in 1870. Jesse
dies in 1896 and Teresa, age 76, dies the following year. They are
buried in New Lexington. Joseph and Barbary farm northeast of Mount Sterling. He died in 1856 and Barbary in 1867. They are buried in St. Mary's Cemetery. |