KINFOLK
By
Elizabeth Thrash
Brady
ADDENDUM - Thrash Origins:
Recent research by Robert M. Brady and
Howard Brady has confirmed Elizabeth Brady’s conclusion that our Thrash family
has the same origins as the Thrush family of southeastern Pennsylvania and of
Hampshire and Mineral Counties in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. The
original German name was, variably, Dreish, Freish, or Reisch. All three were
used, but apparently they were all the same family. (One of the early things
you learn when doing family research is that consistent spelling of names is
rare.)
Two sources say the family immigrated
from Switzerland, but other records have the family immigrating from
Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany in 1750. (Darmstadt is a few miles south of
Frankfurt). It is probable that the family originated in Switzerland, but then
moved to Darmstadt, before emigrating to America.
They were almost certainly Mennonites or
related anabaptist Protestants. These people left Switzerland to escape
religious persecution, and settled in the upper Rhine valley in Germany. After
a generation or so, the Catholic princes of these German states also began
persecuting them, and many emigrated to Pennsylvania in the middle 1700’s,
including ancestors of the Amish and other “Pennsylvania Dutch.”
The genealogy records of Mary L. Thrush
Markley (written in 1944) were posted on the web by a Donald Thrush, now
deceased, at:
http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/h/r/donald--p-thrush/index.html
This record indicates that five adults
immigrated from Darmstadt to America in 1750, arriving at the port in
Philadelphia. Dates are for immigrant qualification by pledging oath of
allegiance to the British crown:
J. J. O. Dreish Aug. 15, 1750
J. Jacob Freisch Aug. 24, 1750
J. Leon Reisch Aug. 24, 1750
Joh. Conrad Reisch Aug. 31, 1750
Jacob Frasch Sept. 29, 1750
Apparently, in spite of the variable
spelling, these people were closely related, and the name “Thrush” was soon
adopted. Tradition states that they were cousins and brothers. J. Jacob Freish
became Jacob Thrush in subsequent records, and J. Leon Reisch became Leonard
Thrush. Apparently Jacob (b. 1712) was the father of Leonard (b. 1733).
Leonard was old enough at the time of emigration to take the oath of
allegiance; the other children of John Jacob were not. Jacob and his son
Leonard settled in the Cumberland Valley.
Based on information submitted by
Donald Thrush, a tree posted at:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=thrush4&id=I06
for this family includes a John
Thrush II:
JOH.
JACOB (FREISCH) THRUSH b:
1712
2
LEONARD (FREISCH) THRUSH
b: 1733
2
JACOB (FREISCH) THRUSH
b: 1742
2
PETER (FREISCH) THRUSH
b: 1745
2
RICHARD (FREISCH) THRUSH
2
JOHN (FREISCH) THRUSH II
+
MARGRET MILLER
3
SUSAN THRUSH
+
JOHN GREENFIELD
3
MICHAEL THRUSH
b: 1798 d: 18 APR 1859
+
CATHRINE UMSTOTT
3
RICHARD THRUSH
b: 28 SEP 1800 d: 5 MAY 1887
+
FRANCIS ROGERS
b: 26 OCT 1810 d: 5 MAY 1868
***
3 MARGRET THRUSH b. 1807 d 1889
+
GEORGE BANE
Although this tree does not include
John III, it overlaps and confirms the records given by Elizabeth T. Brady in
Kinfolk. Both sources state that John II married Margret/Margaret
Miller, and web references and our documents confirm that she came from
Philadelphia. Other sources indicate that John II was born in 1768 in
Lancaster, PA; Margaret Miller was born in 1774, and they were married in 1795
in Lancaster. Records indicate that John II died in 1848. If the combined
information from two sources is correct, John II/Margaret had the following
children:
Susan (m. Greenfield) [ed. Greenwalt?]
Michael b. 1798 m. Catherine Umstott
b.1802
Richard b. 1800 m. Francis Rogers
John III b. 1802 in Lancaster Co. , m.
Rachel Umstott b. 1808
Mary Ann b. 1805 in Rockingham Co. Va.,
m. Staggs
Margret b. 1807 in Hampshire Co. Va., m.
George Bane
(Another reference, given later, also
lists a Nancy Catherine born in 1812.) Note that the places and dates of birth
of the children confirm the moves of John II given in Kinfolk. Although
the information from Donald Thrush does not include John III, the census
records for Hampshire County in 1830 indicate no people named Thrush, but four
Thrash Households, headed by:
John Thrash
Michael Thrash
Richard Thrash.
John Thrash Jr.
This same Hampshire census also shows
five families with the last name of Umpstott, which provided spouses for
Michael (Catherine) and John (Rachel). Kinfolk states that Samuel
Umstott was Rachel’s father, but other sources indicate that Samuel was
Rachel’s brother, and that their father was Jacob. Samuel was born in
1799, and Rachel was born in 1808. This is somewhat confirmed by the recorded
family tree at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mdmalone/Surname%20Pages/umstot.htm.
This family name is spelled in many
different ways, such as “Umstadt” in the 1840 census. Additional variants are
given in Kinfolk.
The section of Hampshire County where
these families lived later became Mineral County, WV. It is unfortunate that
U.S. census records include only the name of the head of each family before
1850.
We are confident that John Thrash (Sr.)
in the Hampshire 1830 census is the same as John Thrush II, in both the Thrush
family records and in Kinfolk, and, of course, John Jr. is the same
person as we’ve been identifying as John III.
In the 1840 Census of Hampshire County,
the first three Thrash households are still present, but John Jr. is missing.
However, a John Thrash does show up in the Harrison County census in 1840, We
are certain that this is the same person as John Jr. in the 1830 Hampshire
census. Apparently he was living in a section that was split from Harrison
County in 1843 to form the western part of Barbour County. In the 1850 Barbour
census, John Thrash is listed with his wife Rachel and children with names
that match our family records, as given in Kinfolk.
A major problem in these early records
is conflict in the assumptions about the parentage of John II. Kinfolk
sources list the children of John I as:
Martin R.
Barney [prob. Barnabas]
Richard
Daughter [Susan?] (m. Greenwalt)
Daughter (m. Fry)
Daughter (m. Andrew Foor)
John II
John II was said to be the youngest son,
and the only son born in America. The record suggests that John I emigrated to
America with three sons, and the daughters were also born in America. However,
this list of siblings does not match the information given by Donald Thrush
for sons of John Jacob Thrush (i.e. Leonard 1733, Jacob 1742, Peter 1745,
Richard and John.)
(Incidentally, the Thrush family records
suggest that “Andrew Foor” should be listed as “Foose,” )
Another listing of persons named John
Thrush is at:
http://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=SHOW&db=:2028354&surname=THRUSH%2C+John
THRUSH, John
b: 1712 in Switzerland d: 1782 in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
THRUSH, John
b: 1768 in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania d: 1848 in Hampshire County,
Virginia
The 1768 birth date of John II fits
reasonably with the birth dates of his children (1798-1812). The place and
date of his death also are supported by census records, i.e. he appears in the
1840 census of Hampshire County, but not in the 1850 census.
However, if John II is the child of John
Jacob Thrush 1712, then John Jacob I would have been about 56 years old at the
time of John II’s birth. However, the age gap, in combination with reduces the
odds that John 1768 is the son of John Jacob 1712.
Some further light is thrown on this by
another section of the Thrush genealogy records, p. 29-30:
John Thrush, son of [John] Jacob Thrush,
the immigrant, probably born in America. He was paying tax on 212 acres of
land in Hamilton Township, Cumb. Co. in 1780 (S V, Vol. VI, P 313).
John Thrush was a private 1st
class in 1781 in Captain Patrick Jack’s Company 6 of the 4th Batt.,
commanded by Lieut. Col. Samuel Culbertson…
This virtually rules out the 1768 birth
date for the immigrant’s son, since he couldn’t have been a tax-paying
landowner at the age of 12, or a soldier at 13. However, a birth date for this
John Thrush shortly after the immigrants’ arrival in 1750 would be consistent
with this listing. Conclusion: John Thrush/Thrash 1768, our ancestor, is
not the same person as the John who is the youngest son of the immigrant
John Jacob Dreisch/Thrush. The son of the immigrant was born in 1750 or
shortly thereafter.
Several given names are used repeatedly
within the family, which can be very confusing for researchers. For example,
Leonard 1733 has children named Barnabas, Richard, Martin, and Susannah, which
fits, more or less, with Elizabeth’s list of John II’s siblings. However,
Leonard’s children also include David, Peter, Cathrine, Rosanna, Jacob and
Leonard (II). Leonard II, who was apparently the youngest, was born in 1760.
And no child named John or Johannes is listed in the rather exhaustive records
for Leonard 1733.
The frequent use of the same given names
(e.g. Richard, Michael, Barnabas, Martin, Jacob, Catherine, Susan/Susannah),
in both our and Donald Thrush’s records confirms that we are, beyond any
doubt, related to one of the families that emigrated in 1750. Within the
genealogy given by Donald Thrush, there are also marriage links to the Fry and
Umstott families, which are also mentioned in Kinfolk.
However, the mismatch in the two
siblings lists and other records indicate that there are definite errors in
the genealogy given by the Thrush family, and likely errors in that given by
Elizabeth.
In addition, if we were to assume
Donald’s records are correct, we must throw out Elizabeth’s list of siblings
for John II. Since this list has several given names that show up repeatedly
in the Thrush genealogy given by Donald, it is likely to be valid.
The extensive records of Donald Thrush
deal primarily with the descendants of Leonard Thrush 1733, and Peter Thrush
1791, and they seem to be complete. We apparently are not descended in either
of these lines. That leaves other possibilities:
John II 1768 may be the child of one
of the other original five immigrants, possibly either J. J. O. Dreish, or
Joh. Conrad Reisch, if we assume that the John Thrush who married Margaret
Miller had a father also named John, making him John Thrush II. (The Thrush
records say “There is a family tradition in the line of Leonard Thrush that
five adults of the name Dreisch came to America at or about the same time.
The exact relationship of these five is not well established, but they are
supposed to have been brothers and cousins. Two of these, it is said,
settled in the Cumberland Valley, one in Baltimore, and as to the other two,
tradition is indefinite.”) Judging from the records I’ve reviewed, I
consider it likely that all of the Cumberland Valley Thrushes are
descendants of John Jacob Dreisch, so connections to the other immigrants is
unlikely.
Possibly John 1768
was the grandson of John Jacob Thrush (immigrant) through his son John, born
on or after 1750. Early marriage and close-spaced generations were common,
but this seems a bit too close.
Or John II 1768
may a grandchild of John Jacob, either through Jacob 1742, Peter 1745 or
Richard (birth year not known). I consider this by far the most likely
possibility. The Thrush family records referred to above state that they
make no attempt to trace descendants of these three children of immigrant
John Jacob Dreisch/Thrush.
Howard Brady
Revised June 6, 2005
Respond to Robert M Brady
bradytrilogy@yahoo.com or Howard Brady
hbrady1@cfl.rr.com