Ancestry

The purpose of this page is to outline the ancestry of William Edgar Bogan through his parents William Harrison Bogan and Leah Ann Kunkle and through Jessie's parents Alvin Smith and Eliza Van Voorhees.

Stories and detailed information are available in the Bogan Wiki and Genealogical Database referred to in the sidebar. I will only oultine the lineage of my great grandparents. The family picture here shows the family of Henry Harrison Bogan taken sometime into the very early 20th century. Esther, the youngest daughter was born in 1889 and Henry Bogan died in 1913 so this photo was taken around 1910-1912.. Ed's mother, Leah Anne, was the daughter of Charles Kunkle who had a farm just north of Galion, Ohio. Leah lived on until 1934 and below there is a. snapshot below showing her holding some of her great grandchildren.

Bogan Origins

The Crawford County Bogan family is from the city of Darmstadt south of Frankfurt, Germany. A single young family member hired out as a Hessian soldier to the British to fight the colonists in the American Revolution. He was captured at the battle of Yorktown, VA and incarcerated in Frederick, MD. After the war he stayed, married a good German girl and used his training in the army to became a physician in that city.

His oldest son, John Henry Bogen (1), also became a physician but decided to leave for Ohio, in about 1835. He sold his current land near Lovettville, VA and traveled to Stark County, OH and purchased land in Nimishillan township but left there in 1840 to try Marion County. It took a third move into Crawford County, north of North Robinson in 1848 before he settled down.

During all this moving, he brought his whole family with him and all but one settled in Crawford County. In Stark County, the three oldest found spouses and all started families. His son, Joseph Bogan, purchased land south of North Robinson after trying to farm in Indiana for a few years. Henry Harrison was the third son of Joseph and eventually took over the farm in 1887. William Edgar was destined not to farm but became a manager of the sawmill in North Robinson. It was Edgar's brother, Frank, and his sons who continued farming.

Kunkle Origins

The Kunkle family also comes from Germany but from an area east of Frankfurt near the Bavarian border in the town of Florsbach. They also arrived in North America around 1776 as Hessian soldiers. There were three Kunkle brothers who came but left the British army before the end of the American Revolution and settled in southern Pennsylvania, south of Harrisburg in Shrewsbury Township, York County. The Kunkles stayed there for two more generations. Henry's son, John Michael Kunkel, had a son, Charles C., who decided to moved to Ohio in 1835. He established a small farm just north of Galion, and married Elizabeth Dohm, the daughter of a family there.. Leah was the 7th child out of 13 and she married William Edgar Bogan in 1870.

Jessie May Smith's Ancestry

Jessie May Smith married William Edgar in December 1893. She was daughter of Alvin Oliver Smith and Eliza Van Voorhis who lived on a farm on the next road south of the Bogan farm.

Smith Origins

Alvin Smith was the son of Joseph Smith who came from Perry County, PA and carved his farm from a wooded 150 acres in 1837. Alvin was born on the farm to Joseph's second wife, Nancy Kirkpatrick, and took over the farm when his father died in 1870. He had married Eliza van Voorhis the previous year.

Alvin's grandfather, John Joseph Smith had immigrated to the United States from Wittgenstein, in Baden, Germany in 1797 and settled in Wheatfield Township of Perry County, PA. Joseph was born in 1809 and the youngest son of John Joseph. He left Pennsylvania for Ohio when he was 28 years old.

Van Voorhis Origins

Almost all of Edgar and Jessies ancestor were of German orgins and much of Crawford County where they lived was inhabitated with German-americans. The Van Voorhis' were from the Netherlands. The family immigrated to New Amsterdam in 1660 when it was in Dutch control. The family has a long history in New York state, and expended up the Hudson river to Dutchess County where Eliza's father, William Roe van Voorhis was born in 1803. William moved to Ohio with his father Samuel N. van Voorhis in 1821, one of the earliest settlers in Crawford County.

At that time Crawford County had few occupants. Samuel did not come directly to Ohio from New York state. The following is a description from "Old and New Monongahela" by Van Voorhis

"Somewhere between the years 1809 and 1812, Samuel N. left New York state with his family to seek a new home in western Pennsylvania. They traveled in a two horse waon rigged with yankee harness and other accoutrements, aft eh the style of the day. They came direct to his father's * and in a short time were domiciled in the old log house that stood near the present entrance to Van Voorhis cemetery. He, for awhile taught school in what was then known as Hair's school house. After a not very long time he moved into a log house on the joel Butler farm, near the present Black Diamond Railroad Station above Monongahela City. Sometime prior to 1820 he moved to Crawford County, Ohio and located near where now stands the city of Bucyrus, whihc was then considered on the frontier of settlement. They moved in a two-horse wagon drawn by a stout yoke of oxen and one horse in the lead; took with them one cow and calf. Here Samuel N. and his wife Sallie, spent the remnant of their days and now lay side by side in Whetstone cemetery, Samuel having died February 24th, 1857 and his wife September 220th, 1848."

Sameul purchased 80 acres in Whetstone township (Crawford County) and farmed. William married in 1824 (age 21) and moved to Michigan. He returned when his wife died in 1842 and the next year married Almeda Johnson who would be Elisa Van Voorhis mother in 1848. Eliza married Alvin Smith in 1869 at the age of 21.

(1) The spelling of the family name was Bogen for the first two generations in North America, but the children of John Henry and all after that used the spelling, Bogan.

(2) Samuel N. van Voorhis' father was Captain Daniel van Voorhis who had left his wife and two children to fight for the colonist in the American Revolution. He never returned to Dutchess County and Samuel and his sister were raised by their grandparents when their mother died in 1777. Daniel had moved to Washington County, PA (south of Pittsburg) after the war, re-married and started another family. Daniel must have had some contact with Samuel in order that Samuel was able to find him.

Published on 06.08.2021