Judies and Eutzlers: two families of the township's first decade

1830 – 1880

The Judies: Samuel Judie the elder, a Pennsylvania native, brought his family to the county "in a very early day" (Chapman, p. 820). His son Samuel Judie (b. in this township 17 December 1836) was schooled at "Dutch island," married Martha Vroman in 1860 — daughter of Daniel Vroman of this township, the surname printed Vroman in this sketch and Vrooman in the father's own, as flagged in the settler roll — and farmed section 12 on 130 acres; six children, three living (Hattie, Emma, Pardon). The younger son Daniel Judie (b. 22 March 1842) stands in the Wars file at full size for his three years in Company F, 29th Indiana and the cap shot from his head at Shiloh. The 1875 directory adds two Judies of the first generation: Paul Judie (section 35) and Joseph Judie (section 34), both of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, settled 1833 — relations of Samuel's unstated in any source read, and not assigned.

The Eutzlers carry a three-way arrival conflict of their own. George Eutzler the younger (Chapman, p. 810) was born in Jackson County, Ohio, 18 June 1829, son of George and Elizabeth (Holmeshead) "Entzler" — the sketch's heading prints Eutzler, its body Entzler — "who removed with their family to this county in 1831"; the father died 1 January 1861, the mother 5 November 1876; George married Anna Vesey 6 April 1853 and held 560 acres in section 26. Howard (vol. 2, p. 934): the father, George E. Eutzler, a Pennsylvania native, married Elizabeth Hollingshead in Ohio (eight children), and "in 1832 the family established their home in St. Joseph county" on the old Eutzler homestead, the father purchasing 320 acres and dying at 70; the wife Anna was a daughter of George and Olive (Graham) Vesey, "long numbered among the leading residents of Penn township" — the Vesey name runs through the township's marriages (Emily Vesey married Robert H. Crooks; Roxey R. Vesey married Frederick G. Eberhart). The 1875 atlas footnote gives a third dating: "Geo. Eustler… located on Sec. 25" in 1830. Three datings — 1830, 1831, 1832 — and three spellings of the name stand as the three sources print them. Jacob Eutzler, proprietor of the stillborn Greensburg plat of 1835 in range 3 east, stands in the rival-plats article; his relation to George's family is unstated and unassigned. Fannie Eutzler, who married William Moon, stands in the Moon article.

Sources:

1. Chapman, p. 810 (Eutzler), p. 820 (the Judies); Howard, vol. 2, p. 934 (Eutzler); 1875 Atlas, pp. 76, 89.