Kinexxions
Berlin Family Chronicles
- john & susanna (huffman) berlin -
Susannah Huffman was born March 9, 1804 in Columbiana County, Ohio. Her parents "may"
be John and Catharine (Coy) Hoffman, of Frederick County, Maryland but I have not been
able to confirm it.
Born on December 8th, 1792 near Abbottstown in York (now Adams) County, Pennsylvania, John D. Berlin was the eldest of nine children of John Frederick and Juliana (Dietzler) Berlin. John Frederick Berlin was a cordwinder (ropemaker) and also a shoemaker. By the time he died in 1843 all of his children had moved to Ohio.
It is not known for sure when John D. Berlin settled in Columbiana County, Ohio but on
February 16th, 1826 he was married to Susannah Huffman in that county. On May 26, 1827
their first child, Solomon, was born. They remained in Columbiana County, near
Washingtonville, for the next 20 years and had eight more children: Catherine, 1830;
Lydia, 1832; Josiah, 1834; Jacob, 1836; Mary, 1838; Sarah, 1840; Elizabeth, 1843; and
Lovina, 1845. In 1846 the family moved to Rootstown in Portage County and lived there
for 18 years. Their youngest son, Joseph Milton was born in 1848. He was killed in
the spring of 1856 in a wagon accident, he was seven years old.
Solomon was married in April 1851 to Fianna Slabaugh and it is reported that they
“almost immediately” emigrated to Elkhart county and settled on a farm in Locke
township.
Catherine was married to Fred Richmond about 1855 and after several years
in Iowa, they too settled in Locke township, Elkhart county.
In September 1857, Josiah was married to Julia Slabaugh, sister of Fianna who had
married Solomon. A year later, Lydia married Myron Collins. They remained in Portage
county for several years.
Jacob was listed as living with Solomon and Fianna in the 1860 census for Locke
township. Along with them was aunt Polly, their father’s sister. Jacob was one of
the first to answer the Union’s call to arms and enlisted in Company “C” Ninth Indiana
Volunteer Infantry on September 5, 1861. Just seven months later, on April 7, 1862,
Jacob met his death on the battlefield of Shiloh in western Tennessee during the second
day’s fighting. He was 25 years old. When the G.A.R. post in Nappanee was established,
it was named in his honor.
On August 28, 1864 Sarah was married to George Greene. The following week John D.
Berlin, with his wife Susannah, two daughters Elizabeth and Lavina, and their son Josiah,
and his family, made the journey to Indiana where they settled in Locke township,
Elkhart county about a mile north of present day Nappanee. Listed with John and Susan
in the 1870 census for Locke township was his sister, Polly and his brother Frederic, a
potter who was also blind.
Three of the daughters remained in Ohio for a while longer: Mary who was single and
worked in the office of a print shop, Lydia who was married to Myron Collins, and Sarah
who had just gotten married to George Greene. Mary and Lydia would eventually find
their way to the family in Indiana, but Sarah would remain in Ohio all her life though
she did make at least one visit to Indiana.
Lydia's husband, Myron Collins, died of illness in a Nashville hospital April 26, 1865
and Lydia would remain a widow until 1875 when she married Henry Woodruff and moved to
LaCygne, Kansas. After Henry died in 1898, Lydia came to Indiana to be with her family.
Mary moved to Indiana after the war and opened a millinery store in Goshen. In 1875 she
married Lewis B. Winder and settled in the Locke-Nappanee area.
On March 12, 1867, Elizabeth married Samuel D. Coppes. In 1869 they moved to Missouri
where they lived for four years. They returned to Locke in 1873 and lived in the
vicinity of Locke and Nappanee the rest of their lives.
Lovina, my 2nd Great Grandmother, married Eli Yarian on September 22, 1866. They lived
in the Locke area the remainder of their lives.
Descendants of John & Susanna Berlin
Obituaries, Photographs & Other Documents
Content and Design ©2004 Rebeckah R. Wiseman
kinexxions.com
Comments or Questions? Contact Me