My family tree

Catherine Holstein was the sixth of George and Elizabeth Holstein's ten children. She married Theodore Saunders in 1790 , a few weeks before her 17th birthday. He was a wheelwright and practiced the trade in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania . Theodore was one of nine children of Jacob Sander, a shoemaker who immigrated from Germany in 1750, and his wife Susann ah. She had come from Switzerland. They married around 1758 and settled in Lancaster County. their home for 45 years. I n addition to making shoes, Jacob also made "whiskee" in a still he operated and willed to his youngest son upon his de ath. Catherine and Theodore Saunders became the parents of five children before deciding sometime between 1803 and 1805 to l eave Pennsyivania for more promising opportunities in the newly opened Ohio region. It was just after the State of Ohi o was created in 1803 from what formerly had been a part of the Northwest Territories. For many years before, the earli est settlers there had been subjected to fierce raids bv the Miami, Shawnee and other Indian tribes -- many of them le d by the Miami chief Little Turtle.But by 1795, after a decisive victory by General Anthony Wayne at Fallen Timbers, th e Indian wars essentially ended in Ohio; they did, however, continue to be a problem in the adjacent regions to the wes t. With peace largely restored, settlers began streaming into the area, some of them Revolutionary War veterans who rec eived land in payrnent for their service. The Saunders family had been preceded several years before by two of Catherine's sisters and their husbands who sough t ownership of a portion of the rich land that spread out from the Miami River in southwest Ohio. Barbara and Christin a Holsteinhad married brothers, John and Benjamin Knoop in Pennsvlvania in 1793 and 1795. The brothers were two of th e nine children of Jacob and Anna Knoop; Jacob was the son of a German immigrant father, she came to America from Switz erland. In 1797, John and Benjamin Knoop, together with two other brothers, crossed Pennsylvania and went down the Ohio River t o Cincinnati. From there they set out on a search for good farmland in the company of surveyors who were exploring th e Miami Valley area. They selected a section of land with a running spring which was near present-day Troy, Ohio and fi led a claim for it. Collectively, according to descendent recollections, they eventually claimed a total of 1800 acres. Their wives apparently came with them, or joined them almost immediately, as Benjamin and Christina's son Michael was b om in Cincinnati in 1797 and John and Barbara's son, Jacob, was bom in Miami County in 1798. Each was the first white c hild tobe bom intheir respective areas. They lived for two years at a stockade known as the Dutch Station, which the Kn oop brothers and others constructed to provide protection while they cleared their lands and built homes on their indiv idual properties. The Station wasa compound formed by erecting a line of log cabins that were joined together, formin g one side of a square, with the remaining three sides enclosed by palings eight feet high and firmly driven into the g round. After his land was cleared, John Knoop built a two-story rectangular log house set on large rocks at the four comers; i t had one room down, one room up and a large fireplace for heat, light and cooking. This was home for a family of nin e - father, mother,five boys and two girls. After building the house, John went back to Pennsylvania to fetch his age d mother, who made the grueling 500-mile journey to Ohio by horseback. The country was still very wild. Bears often came foraging for any food that was left unprotected and the farm animal s had to be put in a shed at night to keep them away from the wolves. Though largely peaceable by this time. the Indian culture still did not comprehend the concept of private property. Con sequently. since they believed the land could not be owned, only used and available to all. they often took what they w anted --livestock, crops and foodstuff. The story is told that one day when Barbara was preparing dinner, she stepped o utside for a few minutes; immediately, two Indians slipped in and began eating the meat she had placed on a pewter plat e. She came backin and, seeing what head happened, picked up the skillet in which she had cooked it and gave one of the m a hard blow on the back. The other one menacingly said "Give it to him White Squaw!" Assessing her vulnerability, sh e let them takethe meat, The pewter plate is a valued keepsake of Barbara Wilson Faust.. After joining the Knoops. who were by this time well established, Theodore Saunders scouted the area and in 1807 foun d a 100-acre tract to purchase. The document from the land office granting it to him was signed by Thomas Jefferson a s Presidentand JamesMadison as Secretary of State. Once located in Ohio, Theodore and Catharine added live more childre n to the five they had brought with them from Pennsylvania. Later, in I 828, he received another land grant, this one s igned by John Quincy Adams. The firstproperty apparently had been sold by this time. Theodore Saunders apparently was not as successful as his in-laws, who became most prosperous and whose descendants rem ain prominent today. He died intestate and the only personal property listed at his death in 1846 was: a bed and bolste rs, quilt, blanket. dresser, two chairs, candlestand, brass kettle, crosscut saw, drawing knife, steelyard and mall rin gs. Not much to show for a lifetime's endeavor. But he and Catharine did manage to rear ten children on a challenging new frontier.