A history of the Ausmus Bollinger connection with ties to the peninsula section of Union County.
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The Early Hunter/Ausmus/Bollinger Connection in Claiborne County, Tennessee
Over the years much has been speculated about the inter-relationships of the families of Hunter,
Bollinger and Ausmus who were early settlers on Davis Creek in ClaiborneCounty. Unfortunately, much of this, errors included, hasfound its way into print and is thus treated as fact by many, and the errors go on forever. To quote from Lazarus Long, "I shot an error into the air, and it just keeps ongoing, and going, and going, an d going, and going."
It seems most of these errors have been introduced byresearchers into the Ausmus family. First, in submissionsmade to the late Lawrence Edwards for inclusion in "OldSpeedwell Families" and second by the late Harry Ausmus inhis bo ok, History of the Ausmus Family. The first part ofthe Harry Ausmus book, in so far as it mentions the earlyHunter family, is pure fiction. The early portion of thePhilip Ausmus family history is little better. The errorsof Harry Ausmus, Rosalie Keever and John F. Valentine, whowere collaborators with Harry Ausmus, have been picked up by other compilers of family history an d are continuing to be perpetuatd.
This is not invidiousness on my part because I'm also a descendant of Philip Ausmus. It 's meant to set the record straight and perhaps enjoin others who are compiling familyhistories to be more thorough in their research and moreaccurate in their presentation. All of us who enjoy thepursuit of family history owe it to our ancestors to befactual.
Most of our ancestors lived a simple hard working lifeand inaccuracies or embellishments would probably be thelast thing they wanted or needed. By leaving their established countries, crossing a dangerous ocean on smallsailing ships, and th en by living on the frontier with aconstant threat of Indian uprisings and other hardships,they demonstrated a courage and a hardiness that does notneed to be embroidered or embellished.
Some of the claims made for Philip Ausmus that need tobe further explored are:
1.He was a Dunkard Minister. Not true. He wasEvangelical Lutheran as is demonstrated by the
baptismal record s of four children.
2.He was a founder of the Davis Creek Baptist Church. Not true. From the minutes of the
Church he was never even a member.
3.He donated the land for the Church. Not true. The land was contributed by Henry Hunter, who owned land on both sides of Davis Creek and the site was deeded to the Church by his son, Joseph Hunter, in l827 ( LiberM:294).
4.He was a very early resident on Davis Creek. Not true. He resided on or near Little Cherokee Creek inWashington County Tennessee until after l800 and by thenthe community on Davis Creek was well established. His son, John Ausmus, was admitted to the Davis Creek Baptist Church on November 6, 1802 by experience,meaning he had not been previously baptized into the church, and his s on, Peter Ausmus, was admitted throughexperience on February 12, 1803.
Son Peter and Philip(Sr. or Jr.?) Ausmus first appear in the area of Claiborne county on a Grainger-County Tennessee petitionin l803 (Claiborne county was created from part of Grainger county in 1801). From Washington County Tennessee land records (Liber ll:60) Philip's son, HenryAusmus, was still residin g near the headwaters of Little Cherokee and Sinking Creeks in Washington CountyTennessee until at least l806.
5.During Indian uprisings people congregated at his housefor protection. Probably not true. By the time Philip was in the Davis Creek area of Claiborne county theIndian problems were essentially over. If people felt it necessary to assemble it was probably at the GeorgeYoakum place as it was one of the earliest and most defensible in the neighbourhood.
6.The name of his last wife and the mother of hislater children was Elizabeth Neva. According to the gravestone in the Ausmus Cemetery, Speedwell, herchristia n name was Elizabeth, but this wife is certainly not the mother of his children and NEVA was probably not her family name. In 1998 a checkof the internet for the name NEVA reveals only about 100 familes of the name in the United States, butmore signifi cantly the name appears to be of Spanish origin, a nationality not encountered on theamerican frontier during that era.
Now, to establish the relationship between the familiesof Philip Ausmus, Henry Hunter and Frederick Bollinger.
A tradition has survived in the Speedwell area that Joseph Hunter, son of Henry and Barbara (Bollinger) Hunter,was a nephew of Henry Ausmus. It w as probably an attempt toestablish this relationship that led Harry Ausmus into themistakes he published in the Ausmus family history. A similar tradition was preserved and recorded in an Arkansasbranch of the family by descendants of a daughter of Henryand Barbara (Bollinger) Hunter. In this tradition the father of three Bollinger (original German spelling)children died whe n they were young and their mother marriedan Ausmus. It was through pursuit of this tradition thatthe relationship was established. Proof is still missing,but the evidence is very convincing. The father of thesethree Bollinger children was Isaac Bollinger, and they wereborn in York county Pennsylvania.
The three children of Isaac Bollinger were:
Mary Bollinger (June 26, 1764 - September25, 1844), married Samuel Weaver October 7,l783 in Washington County Tennessee. Proofof the place and date is found in her application for continuation of the Revolutionary war pension of Samuel Weaveron file in Kentucky State Archives. Samuel Weaver was a founding member of the DavisCreek Baptist Church on October 1, l797. His wife Mary (Bollinger) Weaver and hersister, Barbara (Bollinger) Hunter, were admitted to the church by letter, meaningfrom another church of the same beliefs, on November 2, 1798. Susanna Ausmus, who was probably a half sister to Mary (Bollinger)Weaver and Barbara (Bollinger) Hu nter, wasadmitted to the church by experience on the same day. On August 16, l8l5 Samuel Weaversold his Claiborne County prop erty to Henry Hunter (Liber D:412) and moved to Laurel County Kentucky.
Frederick Bollinger, (c1767-c1843), married Elizabet h Weaver. Frederick lived for someyears on Davis Creek, but also sold hisproperty to Henry Hunter upon moving to Illinois, possibly in company with PhilipAusmus Jr., Peter Ausmus or John Ausmus, his probable half-brothers. Frederick latermoved to Mad ison County, Arkansas.
Barbara Bollinger (1769 - December 3, 1846)married Henry Hunter, son of John andBarbara (Bowman) Hunter. This marriageprobably occurred on Cherokee Creek inWashington County Tennessee about l788-89. Like most marriages of that area during that time it is not recorded. John Hunter hadsettled on Little Cherokee Creek inWashington County Tennessee in l783. He had lived on Linville Creek in Rockingham CountyVirginia since l773 when he moved there from the Conococheague Creek area of present dayWashington County, Maryland. He'd married Barbara Bowman, daughter of Jacob and Varena(____) Bowman in M aryland about l760.
In 1790 all three of these Bollinger children, withtheir spouses, were living on Weaver Creek in present day Pickens County South Carolina, but returned to WashingtonCounty Tennessee about 1794 as established by the minutes ofthe Ch erokee Creek Baptist Church.
In the l787 tax list for Washington County, TennesseePhilip Ausmus is enumerated on the same tax list with JohnHunter and John Hunter Jr. They were all living on Little Cherokee Creek. John Hunter Jr. married (Lic.) ElizabethOzman in Rockingham County Virginia in May l78l. It shouldbe noted that Ozman and Ausmus are separate families. Elizabet h Ozman was not the daughter of Philip Ausmus asstated by Harry Ausmus, but is probably connected in someway with the Ozman family of York county Pennsylvania, a well known family of that area.
Isaac Bollinger, father of these three Bollingerchildren, Mary, Frederick and Barbara, made his will Aprill, l770 in Codorus township, York County Pennsylvania and itwas proven on May 7, l770. In his will he mentions wifeChatarina (Catharina W.J.H.), son Frederick, and two other children, unnamed.
Philip Ausmus was a neighbour of Isaac Bollinger in YorkCounty Pennsylvania. On June l7, l767
John Meyor [Moyer]Sr. was issued warrant No. 3875 by the proprietors ofPennsylvania, Richard
Penn, son of William Penn, for l00acres of land in Codorus Township, York County
Pennsylvania. Adjoining properties were owned by George Ross, IsaacBollinger and Philip
Ausmus, spelled Asmus, the original and still accepted German spelling.
Philip Assimus, as spelled on the church records, and his first wife, Anna Elizabetha, were the parents of three daughters, Anna Elizabetha, born April 8, l762; Anna Maria,born October 30, l764 and Maria Catharina, born August l3,l768. These three daughters were baptized at the Stone (St.Jacob's) Union Church, (Evangelical Lutheran) Co dorustownship, Glenville, York County, Pennsylvania.
Philip Assimus and a second wife Maria Catharina hadson, Johannes Heinri ch, christened April 6, 1774 at the Middletown Evangelical Lutheran Church in Frederick County,Maryland. (This is Henry Ausmus of Claiborne County, bornFebruary l6, l774). So Henry Ausmus was not born in Augustacounty Virginia as stated by Harry Ausm us.
It should be noted that German families almost always bestowed two given names and the person was called by thesecond nam e. This may account for the unidentified "Mary" Ausmus who appears in early Davis Creek Baptist church records who is possibly Anna Maria Ausmus, the daughter of Philip and Anna Elizabetha (_____) Ausmus, born at York County Pennsylvania October 3, 1764.
Another piece of the puzzle drops into place with theminutes of the Cherokee Creek Baptist Church in WashingtonCounty Tenn essee. In a list of the founding members of theChurch is "Cathy OSAMUS, deceased". Unfortunately, the date of the list is no t preserved. The Church Covenant was adopted the first Saturday in September l783.
From the evidence available and giving due credit to the traditions that have been preserved, it seems probable that following the death of Isaac Bollinger in l770 and theprobable death of Anna Elizabetha, first wife of Philip Ausmus, he then married Catharina, widow of Isaac Bollinger,and became step-father of the three Bollinger children,Mary, Frederick and Barbara. They accompanied him on his move through Maryla nd to Washington County Tennessee where they each married. This, of course, makes the children of Philip and Catharina (______, Bollinger) Ausmus half-brothers and sisters of the three Bollinger children.
Now to review - traditions in both the Speedwell and Arkansas branches of the families have the mother of the Bollinger children marrying an Ausmus (in Speedwell byinferen ce; in Arkansas by tradition recorded by a daughterof Henry and Barbara (Bollinger) Hunter who is most likely to know the correct story of her mother's family). Fromland records we have Isaac Bollinger and Philip Ausmus asneighbours in York County, Pen nsylvania. We have IsaacBollinger dying in York County Pennsylvania in 1770 andshortly afterward, in 1774, Philip Ausmus, who was a next door neighbor of Isaac Bollinger, appears in Maryland with asecond wife named Catharina, the name of Isaac Bollinger's wife at the time of his death. We have Philip Ausmus inWashington County, Tennessee before October 7, l783 whereMary Bol linger married Samuel Weaver and on the l787 taxlist with John Hunter, father of Henry Hunter who married Barbara Bollinger. Additionally "Cathy" Osamus appears as deceased in an early Cherokee Creek Baptist Church list.
I'm very aware that reliance on traditions as a sole source of information is often a mistake; however, though all the facts may not be accurate there is usua lly a germ of truth in traditions. In this instance the facts supportthese traditions. Perhaps now some of our researchers c anfind proof. I'm convinced that Philip Ausmus married, as his second wife, Catharina (____) Bollinger, widow of Isaac Bollinger.
I'd be most appreciative of any additional information that may be located.
Compiled by: William J. Hunter
66 Glencairn Avenue
Ottawa
Canada K1S 1M6
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