KINFOLK

THE THRASH FAMILY IN AMERICA

I have no way of knowing which, or if any, of the traditions concerning the beginnings of the Thrash family in America are true. One legend states that five brothers came over together from Europe; another that there were two, another only one. These claims all say the person or persons came to the new world from England. But another version definitely gives Switzerland as the land of origin and that the name had been changed from "Thrush" to "Thrash," by the branch of the family who emigrated to West Virginia from Pennsylvania. (See new information on later pages.)

——————————————

Up until 1983 I assumed that the family was definitely of English origin. This assumption was strengthened on Jan. 4, 1945, when I read a letter in the home of a Thrash family in Lancaster, Ohio. This letter was written by Louis Dale Thrash, Jr., of Ashville, North Carolina. It was as follows:

"The name `Thrash' is almost dead in England, its original country. By an odd coincidence I noticed the name Thrash in Time Magazine. I wrote to Native High Court, Judge Walter Thrash, in South Africa. His family came to South Africa from England in 1903. Back in England there was a Miss Anna Thrash, a 56 year old unmarried midwife. She had a brother with two daughters. Since these are the only Thrashes that Anna knows about, the name is probably headed for extinction there."

When we talked with Mary Thrash, of Clarksburg, W. Va., her records seemed to me to have a ring of authenticity. She believes that the Thrash family came from Switzerland to America. It was she who said that the name had been changed.

I do remember my father saying once that "Thrash" and "Thrush" were from the same family. When we researched the Hampshire County, W. Va., Court House records we came across both spellings, but only followed through on the "Thrash" spelling.

This county was the birthplace of our progenitor, Michael Thrash, who married Rachel Elma Crislip. If I had known for sure that the name had been changed I might have been able to learn more of the early history of the family. Since research is tiring, time consuming and expensive I may have to leave further research to someone younger.

In the early 1940s I was told by an elderly aunt that my great-grandfather's first name was "John" and that his wife's name was "Rachel" but she could not remember her family name. Later I learned that it was Oomsteott and that her father was Samuel Oomsteott.* By the time of her death the name had  undergone several changes in spellings as was common with foreign names. (Omstott, Umstott) They were of German origin.

—————————————————

* Correction - Jacob Umstott was Rachel's father. Samuel was her brother. RMB Click here for Jacob's descendants 5-14-2003

In my research I found many legal documents concerning a "John Thrash" and his wife, Prudence, sometimes written simply as "Prudie." Since I was never able to connect this "John" with Rachel I thought that my great-grandfather must be John Thrash, II. It was not until 1983 that I obtained, through Patricia (Patty) Jones, a third cousin, the early records of the late Guy Tetrick, of Fairmont. They are now in the possession of his son in Clarksburg, W. Va. His records and the records of Virginia Thrash Chapman, of Johnstown, W. Va. show that our ancestor was married twice.

The last death that Mr. Tetrick recorded for the Thrash' family was in 1915, so they are very old. When I found the will of John Thrash, on Oct. 19, 1977, 1 knew that I had found a valuable genealogical resource. The year before my son had sent me two xeroxed pages from the Roane Co. history which I found interesting, also.

All the children named in the history are by the first wife, Rachel. Another quote from the book which concerned the family:

_______________________

*S. Columbus THRASH m. Mary Carminta HARDMAN; children were A'bertus, Fred & Beulah THRASH. Source: http://www.pa-roots.com/~roane/ffolder/hardman.html

*More "Marple" history

*THRASH, Columbus to Alice W. WOOD (different "Columbus")
Groom 21, of Frontier Co., born Barber Co., West Va., son of Richard THRASH and Eliza J. BEAM. Bride 23, born Va., daughter of James H. and Columbia WOOD. Issued 11 May 1883 by L. WESTGATE, Co. Clerk. Wed 13 May 1883 by Rev. Geo. C. CAROTHERS, at Wm. H. MILES home, Frontier Co., Witnesses: Mrs. D.C. BALLANTINE, W.L.McCLARY and Mr. and Mrs. W.H. MILES. Source: Summer 1978 NEBRASKA ANCESTREE - Vol 1, No 1, Page 12 http://www.rootsweb.com/~nesgs/Ancestree/vol01/v01n01p09.htm

All the children named in the Roane County History were named in the will, as well as eight additional children. Michael was given the full name in the will. In the will the three sons by the second wife, Worthington, Joseph Warren, and Nathaniel Green were willed 80 acres, 79 acres, and 53 acres in that order. In return each was to pay $666.66, plus a later payment of $400.00 each. These three were to be responsible for the maintenance of the mother. A later codicil gave the farm tools to Joseph and Nathaniel.

The next children mentioned in the will were sons, Richard, Jacob, and William, who were to receive $200.00 each. The 7th child named was Katherine, who had married a Watson but was deceased. Her children were to receive $200.00 also. My grandfather, Michael, was to receive $300.00 and Eliza (Armstrong) $250.00. Laverna was the 13th and last child mentioned. She was to receive $250.00. This will was made in 1878 and probated in Harrison County 10 years later.

Singers Glen, Va., Sept. 6, 1984:

Around Christmas time in 1983 I received a letter from Patty Jones, who is a granddaughter of my first cousin, Amy Wilson. In the letter she stated that she had received some very interesting information from Vaughnita Yost Thrash, while doing research in the Fairmont, West Virginia public library.

On our way home from Sharpes, Florida, to our home in Singers Glen, Va. we went quite a distance off the direct route home, in order to visit Troy's sister in Fayetteville, W. Va., and his brother in Clarksburg, W. Va. This route took us rather close to two amateur genealogists who had written us for information on the Thrash and Knaggs families. We stopped for short visits with each of them, Virginia Thrash Chapman of Johnstown, and Charlene Knaggs Gibson of Dailey, West Virginia. Virginia lives on the ancestral farm of John and Prudence Thrash. John is my great-grandfather, but Prudence Hickman Thrash was his second wife and I am a descendent of his first wife, Rachel Oomsteott Thrash.

From the evidence I have gathered I believe that John moved to this location after the death of Rachel. She is not buried in the cemetery in Johnstown, but John and Prudence are. Rachel is buried in Overfield Cemetery, near Philippi, Barbour Co. Virginia is of my generation, but much younger than I. Her grandfather was younger than mine and her father was not married until late in life. Virginia was born when he was 60 years of age and she is the only child. His wife taught school for 40 years and lived with her daughter at the time of our visit.

While visiting with Virginia we learned much about the two families of John Thrash and visited the impressive brick church constructed during the lifetime of our mutual great-grandfather. We found that the church would celebrate its 100 anniversary later that year. This special service we were privileged to attend.

Virginia gave me two pages of xeroxed materials which she had received from Mary Thrash of Clarksburg. When I studied it in connection with that received from Patty Jones, I concluded that they were from the same source. The xeroxed manuscript, which I received from Virginia Chapman states that the original spelling of the name was "Thrush," which was later changed to "Thrash." Another confirmation that my father had been right.

The above information was in the Mary Thrash manuscript. (Note that the information on the death of Michael Thrash is incorrect. His father died in 1850; this may account for the error. Michael died in 1903.) I learned from Virginia Thrash Chapman that Rachel is buried in Overfield Cemetery near Phillipi in Barbour Co. John and his second wife, Prudence Hickman, are both buried in Johnstown, Harrison Co.

All of the above ten children are mentioned in the will of their father, In the will Catherine is spelled with a 'K' but she was deceased at the time the will was written in 1878 and her children were to inherit $200.00. Mary Thrash's manuscript gives the names of four children--Green, Worthington, Joe and Frances, as being the children of John III by his second wife. In the will Frances is not named but the other three sons received the bulk of the estate, with some strings attached as to some payment for the lands received and the care of the mother. They were listed as Worthington, Joseph Warren and Nathaniel Green. Sometime later I learned that Frances had died in 1866, before the will was written.

If Mary Thrash and Vaughnita Yost Thrash are correct in their research our branch of the Thrash family originated in Switzerland instead of England. The following pages assumes that to be correct.

I received an email this morning from Ron McAvoy, the grandson of Sarah Virginia Staggs. He states that John brought the family to Hampshire (now Mineral) County in 1807. There is a relationship thru marriage established between the Staggs and Thrush families. The grandmother of Geary George Staggs mentioned above is Mary Ann Thrush, daughter of John. According to Ron, the Staggs family had been established in Mineral County since the 1770s. RmB 5-5-2003

THE THRUSH - THRASH LINE OF DESCENT

Marion had five children: Lanny, Sylvia, Heather, Drew and Jonathon. Howard had three: Robert Martin, Londa Beth and Mark Travis. At the present time (1993) Marion has 9 grandchildren: Anson, Kendal and Anna Mullen, Jeremiah and Joshua Crum, Savannah and Joseph White, Brian Brady, and Caitlin McLeod. Howard has two grandchildren, Patrick Ryan and Troy Robert (II).

Blossom and Ted had two children, Adriel Brady Thrash (Sonny) and Sharon Bea (Schaible). Sonny had two children, Wendy and Todd. Sharon had four, Julie, Marc, Stephen and Leigh Ann.

First wife was Rachel Oomsteott, the daughter of Samuel Oomsteott.* After her death, which occurred in 1850, he married Prudence Hickman, daughter of Elias Hickman. The first ten children were Rachel's and the last four belonged to Prudence (Prudie). (*Correction- Samuel, b. 1799,  was Rachel's brother. Their father was Jacob. RmB) Click here for Jacob's descendants 5-14-2003

Much of the information on this page came from the records of a Mr. Tetrick, and are held by his son, Guy, and were secured by Patty Jones of Fairmont, W. Va. His last entry date was 1915. The later dates were given me by Virginia Chapman, who lives on the ancestral farm in Johnstown, W. Va. Her father was John Jackson Thrash, son of Worthington. He did not marry until after the deaths of his parents, so was an elderly man when Virginia, his only child, was born. It seems that the father of this John Thrash was also John Thrash (II).

Click here for descendants of Jacob Umstott Helen K Benter contributed. 5-14-2003

——————————————————

Check this next UMSTOT tree carefully. It was noted by Helen K Benter that there were several mistakes in the UMSTOT info. http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~mdmalone/Surname%20Pages/umstot.htm

The last four children were by his second wife, Prudence Hickman. She was born 8-11-1822 and died 6-29-1891.

(In the body of his father's will Nathaniel is written as his Son, Nathaniel G., and in the Codicil to the will he is named as Nathan Green. The will was probated March 13, 1888. It is recorded in Will Book #7, on pages 173 and 174, in the Harrison County (W. Va.) Court House, Located in Clarksburg.) A notation in the court records of Rockingham County, Va. states that land was transferred from a "Thrush" to B. Huffman in 1803, but that the deed was lost or burned during the court house fire.

NEXT - John Thrash (III)