Genealogy of the Exline and Axline Family
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GENEALOGY OF THE EXLINE AND AXLINE FAMILY BY EDYTHE WILSON THOESEN Boulder, Colorado 957 Pleasant EMMA MILLER EXLINE Dallas, Texas 6032 Connerly Drive AND LEO L. HOLZ Los Angeles, California 417 Lewis Street THE EXLINE AND AXLINE GENEALOGY 3 CONTENTS Page F O R E W O R D by LEO HOLZ . 5 Ex p 1 an at i on of C o de by LEO HOLZ 7 Outline of Early Generations of Exlines 9 SECTION I: The Oechsleins of Switzerland and America; including the American pro genitor Christopher Axline. the father of the following three sons: . • . 1 7 SECTION I[: Adam Exline of Bedford County, Pennsylvania, and his descendants 27 SECTION I I I: George Exline of Pennsylvania and Hardy County, Virginia, now West Virginia and his descendants . l l 7 SECTION IV: The Settlement of Loudoun County. Virginia and Johannes Axline of that County and descendants • . • . 157 INDEX Axlien - Axline . i i Exline . Viii Index Surnames . XV iii 4 THE EXLINE AND AXLINE GENEALOGY 5 FOREWORD It was the intention originally of the authors to preface this work with a defense of Geneo.logy, but as the work progressed it became more and more evident that such a defense is unnecessary. Geneo.logy, -that is family history, - undertakes to recount the origin and peregrinations of the various members of the family, so far as such information is obtain able. In that respect its purpose is practically identical with that of his tory in general. In fact, general history is me re 1y the sum total of the histories of the various families of any one nation. In this connection we might quote Ralph Waldo Emerson, - "There is nothing that solidifies and strengthens a nation like the reading of that nation's own history, whether that history be recorded in books or err1- bodied in customs, institutions, and monuments." So in a lesser degree 1s this true of the history of families. Genealogies in general uncle rtake to recount the details of the life of various members of the family, so far c1;s such information is obtainable; but it is quite apparent that such details cannot be obtained of all the mem bers of the family. The Genealogist must be satisfied with tracing out the wanderings of the principal lines of de scent. This information is obtain able to some extent from the living members of the family, but it must be checked and verified from vital statistics. These latter, when obtainable at all, are frequently n1eager and in many cases inaccurate. The Genealo gist mu.st be content with obtaining partial proof, and in many instances must rely upon inference only. Sometimes the only clue to genealogical puzzles is found in Wills and Deeds. There is a temptation sometimes for Geneologists to rely upon family traditions; these, when carried down through generations, are of great value in tracing the wanderings of early members of the family. At other times, however, such traditions may be very misleading. Probably in no family is this mo re true than in the Exline -Axline family. The authors do not claim infallibility in sifting out the various le gends and data, as they are merely human, but they have been able, how ever, to correct many errors in dates and in family traditions. On the other hand, they have in all probability made many errors of their own, both typographical and th rough oversight. But they have tried to eliminate the hazard of guess and inference as much as possible and to replace legend and tradions with known facts or at least with inference which show some trace of probability. The authors make no claim to having produced a complete record, or even to approximate that ideal. They do, however, claim to give an ac count of the early home of the family and of the origin of the American branch; and they attempt to trace with some degree of accuracy the paths taken by the earlier branches. Several years more of effort and a considerable outlay in expense would be necessary in order to make the record as nearly complete as had been planned by the authors in the early days of their research. At that time they had planned a fairly complete family tree. As that is now seen to be entirely out of the question the problem has resolved itself into one of tracing the major lines of the family. The uncertainty of this existence makes it necessary that this work be issued in its present state and form for it is now apparent that if some Exline genealogy is not produced now, no good one ever will be, as the earlier generations upon whose mental recollections and family Bible re cords much of the account of the earlier generations is dependent, are fast leaving us. Another gene ration and it will be forever too late to compile an authentic account of our family's early history. But this record, it is hoped, will set straight that portion of the beginnings of Exline-Axline family, 6 THE EXLINE AND AXLINE GENEALOGY and will give at least the outline of the later lines in correct form upon which subsequent Genealogists may work in reasonable confidence of the accuracy. Authority for data should be given i_;1 genealogical work when practi cable, but such is impossible in a work of this· size. In many instances various sources of authority differ. County court records are the most reliable, though seldom complete enough to solve many problems in early chronology. Church records come next and would be of great value were it not that in early days the church clerks were frequently young people who saw no reason for recording an item in other than its simplest form, and were themselves often so illiterate that in some cases the same fami ly in the Baptismal Records at the same church had its name spelled dif ferently at each successive baptism, creating almost a nightmare to the Genealogist. Finally, it is found that family Bible records are frequently very inaccurate, sometirr1~~ s crediting births to the wrong parents, sometimes crediting supernumerary children to a family,·_ sometimes incorrectly dat ing births and marriages. One striking instance of this occurs in one of the Exline families, where the data on a family of twelve children was re corded by two different sources, each copying the record from a family Bible. They agreed on the names of the children, and on the order of their birth, but the actual dates differing in every case, varying from days to months and to a year. This simply indicates that some of the dates were entered from memory, after the lapse of some time. Of later years the various County Vital SLatistics Records ~havt:· been more carefully kept, and this fact together with the improved method of keeping the Federal Census Records since 1850 have greatly facilitated genealogical research. But for the years prior to 1850 the labors of the trained Genealogist are still ind is pensible. - - - -rewritten from various sources 7 EXPLANATION OF THE CODE In practically all Genealogies some code or index 1s used in con nection with each name to identify the holder thereof; to distinguish him from others of similar name, and to establish the family group and gener ation to which he or she belongs. The authors of this Genealogy have personally examined many such codes, some of which are practically useless, others vague or misleading, and so complicated as to be almost unintelligible; and very few of which show in eyery case the complete line of descent, except the system of giv ing after each name, in parenthesis, the names of all direct ancestors, sometimes in direct order, sometimes in reverse order, with an index figure showing the generation to which the name belongs. This method, however, while definite, has the disadvantage of being awkward and cum bersome when used in connection with every entry. The authors, therefore, have adopted a code which seems to them to offer the maximum intelligibility. It is a modified form of one which has been found occasionally in other Geneologies, and seems to them to be the most satisfactory. This system is simple in the extreme. Preceding the name of the individual is a group of letters which shows clearly the generation to which he belongs and his line of descent. For example the original progenitor is 11 11 coded simply A ; his children will be designated "a", "b", "c" etc., in the chronological order of their birth, suffixed to the "A" of their father; 11 11 11 11 thus: Aa, Ab, Ac, etc. The next generation will be coded a , b , "c'', suffixed likewise to their father's code, thus: Aaa, Aab, Aac; Aba, Abb, Abe; Aca, Acb, Acc. Each succeeding generation gets its own letter, af fixed to the code of its forebears. This method offers positive identifica tion, for it will be evident that no person's code will ever be duplicated elsewhere in the family. The number of letters shows the generation to which he belongs, and the letters themselves show his line of descent, with no confusion. To ascertain the parentage of any person in the Genealogy it is necessary only to drop the final letter of his c·ode; what remains will be the code for his father; dropping two letters will leave the code for the grandparents. As these codes occur in the genealogy in alphabetical order it is a very simple matter for any person to trace his ancestry back to the first progenitor.