Harshbarger line: Benjamin Buchtel 1806-1872

It's relatively easy to write (and read) about ancestors who were fine, upstanding people.  It's harder to read and write about those who perhaps didn't meet life's challenges as well as others did.  Benjamin Buchtel may belong to the second category, although he seems to have stayed out of trouble with the law.  But let's start at the beginning.

Benjamin was born in Rebersburg, Pennsylvania on or before February 4, 1806.  His parents were Solomon and Mary Margaret Reber Buchtel, and 6 of his great grandparents had been born in Germany but had come to America and then settled in Pennsylvania during the middle 1700s (mostly).   Benjamin's parents left Pennsylvania to move to Portage County, Ohio (possibly the part that later became Summit County) sometime in or before 1815, when Solomon first bought land there.  Benjamin would have been a young boy at the time, and the War of 1812 was just concluded when the Buchtel family moved, probably mostly by boat, to Ohio.  

We know nothing of Benjamin's life in Ohio until 1844, when he married Barbara Burkholder Long, a young widow and the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Miller Burkholder.  He was 38 years old at the time, which is quite late for a man to marry for the first time, and she was eighteen.  I have searched for another marriage record for Benjamin (not exhaustively, but I've looked in the usual places) and haven't found one, so that will remain a mystery for now.  Barbara was not yet 18, although the marriage record from June 1844 says she was.  Her birthdate is given in other sources as September 22, 1826.  But Barbara was surely older than her years, for she was a widow and a grieving mother, whose first child, at least, had died at an early age.  

I've not found Benjamin in the 1840 census, which probably means he was a tick mark in someone else's family listing.  In 1850, he and Barbara are listed in Brimfield, Portage County, Ohio, with three children (Joseph, Betsey, and Fanny) and with Susan Long.  Susan was likely some sort of relative to Barbara's first husband, Thomas Long.  Benjamin's occupation that year was listed as "cooper".  

Sometime between 1850 and 1860 the Buchtels moved to Whitley County, Ohio.  Barbara's family was there, and she may have encouraged the move west.  By 1860, Joseph is no longer with the family and there are four new names-Susannah, Margaret, Solomon, and Thomas, who was just six months old.  He is listed as a farmer, but it must have been a small farm, for his real estate is valued at just fifty dollars and his personal property at twenty-five dollars.  An 1860 deed totals his land at just two acres, so he may have been a laborer for someone else, also.  

As of June 1, 1870, (census day), the family was still together, with four children. Thomas must have died, but there is a new name, Evy.  Benjamin is now listed as a day laborer.  The census also notes that he cannot read or write, although Barbara can.  

The census doesn't show us what home life was like for the couple, but we have legal documents, a divorce filing by Barbara in March of 1871, that life at home was miserable.  Benjamin had apparently been an acceptable husband for much of their marriage, but "is now and has been for six or eight years past an habitual drunkard".  The suit goes on to state that he failed to provide for her and the two children still at home, and that when she, Barbara, was able to go out and work among the neighbors, Benjamin would take the money from her by force and threats and use it to buy intoxicating liquors rather than buying food and clothing for his family.  There were also allegations that he beat her, which were supported by a dozen witnesses.  Barbara got her divorce.

The only clue we have as to what changed Benjamin (if in fact he changed but let's hope he did) is that their youngest daughter, Evie, born about 1864, was blind. (She may have had other physical challenges, also, but that is unknown at this time.) This would fit in with the 6-8 years past that Barbara mentioned in the divorce filing.  Benjamin didn't live long after the divorce, the Columbia City Post noting on January 18, 1872, that "Benjamin Buchtel, aged 75 years or more, fell dead last Sunday morning.  He lived near William Tannehill in the township."   

Benjamin did, wittingly or not, do one final good deed.  He didn't change his will after the divorce, so that Barbara inherited land and a small estate from him.  She soon married Daniel Kemery, who was the father in law of two of her daughters, but died herself in 1877.  

It's hard to read this about an ancestor, and easy to find fault with him.  But since we didn't walk in his shoes, or understand what pressures he was under, let's simply acknowledge his faults and also the fact that he is an ancestor, and this family wouldn't have happened without him.

The line of descent is:

Benjamin Buchtel-Barbara Burkholder

Fanny Buchtel-Adam Kemery

Della Kemery-William Withers

Goldie Withers-Grover Harshbarger

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

Their children