Rodeffer Family
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RODEFFER FAMILY OF ROCKINGHANl COUNTY, VIRGINIA .A.. RECORD OF -rHE DESCENI)A~TS OF CO~RAD Ai\D NANCY ~HQ\\'! AL1~ER ROI)EFFER 1805--19.J.8 Publ?°shecl by CARRIE RODEFFER POWER UNDERvVRITERS ---o--- l\IRS. SALLIE R. ROLSTON :MRS. ZELLA R. FA"CLK BENJAl\tIIN SAMUEL RODEFFER GEORGE CONRAD RODEFFER CHARLES CEPHAS RODEFFER JOSEPH SAlVIUEL RODEFFER :MOFFET F. LONG COPYRIGHTED, 1948, BY CAIU!IE RODEFFER POWER P,·i,,ted l>y SHE?-;A~OOAH PRESS DAYTOX, YIGRINIA 1948 CARRIE RODEFFER POWER The Autho1·-61.; CONTENTS 1. Dedication . .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. v 2. Fore,vord . .. ... .. .. .. ... .. ........ .. .. .......... ... .. ... ....... ... .. ...... vi 3. From the Rhine to the Shenandoah . .. .. .. .. 1 4. Oath of Allegiance .............................................. 16a 5. The Rodeffers in Pennsylvania Records . .. .. .. 17 6. Name Changes and Variations . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 19 7. The Sho\\"alters· . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 21 8. William Rodehafer ..................................................... 23 9. Other Rodeff er Connections ....................................... 25 10. George Rodeffer ........................................................ 25 11. John Rodefer, Sr........................................................ 26 12. The Shenandoah Rodeff ers . .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ... .. 26 13. Other Gern1an Immigrants ...................................... 28 14. Explanation of Listings .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 30 15. Genealogical Record .. .. .. .. .. .. .. ........................ 31 16. Roster Index . .. ... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 237 'Dec{i crt ti cJ11 1. To the memory of our family's ,vise ancestors, ,vho chose America to be our homeland, and, within its borders, selected one of its garden spots, the Shenandoah Valley of ,rirginia, for their home; 2. To the success and happiness of the generations of our present, scattered from the Atlantic to the Pacific and engaging in many forms of productive endeavor; 3. To the increased perpetuity of that success and happiness for our generations to come; and 4. Especially to the blessed n1emory of Conrad and Hannah lVIyers Rodeffer, the Author's father and mother, ,vhose love and sacrifices gave her a joyous girlhood and established the foundation of a happy life, This Book ls Affectionately Dedicated. The family relationship is the oldest and n1ost sacred of human life. Even God, in the Bible, is regarded as Father, and mankind as His children. Because of the depth and sanctity of the blood tie, kindred usually turn to each other for sympathy and understanding, or for inspiration to nobler living. It is but natural and proper that persons of the same family connections should seek to know more about each other. This interest extends not only back to those who have gone on before but feels -outward for those ,vho are living today. This book has been compiled as a medium through which the Rodeffers of Rockingham County, Virginia, and their connections, past and present, n1ay be bound together through a knowledge of each other. Too long the priceless facts about the lives of our forefathers have remained un recorded. Neglect in many cases has allowed the data to escape forever beyond our reach. In this account, a conscientious attempt has been made to roll back th~ curtain of time as far as public records reveal, and to collect in permanent form the principal available facts about the lives of those of the present, in order that they shall not be lost to the generations of the future. Through fifteen years the Author, by correspondence, by personal calls at many homes, and by searching in public archives, has painstakingly compiled a roster, com plete vvith fe,v exceptions, of some 1,300 descendants of Conrad Rodehafer and Nancy Showalter, ,vho were mar ried in Harrisonburg, Virginia, January 24, 1805. The search has included the public records at Manyunk, Mont gomery County, Pennsylvania, no,v a part of the City of \"l Philadelphia; the historical societies at Germanto,vn, Nor ristown, Philadelphia and West Chester, Pennsylvania; the Pennsylvania Archives at Harrisburg; the Library of Con gress, at Washington; the county court houses of Philadel phia, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester, of Pennsylvania; and of Augusta, Rockinghan1, Shenandoah and Frederick, of Virginia. The Author is indebted to Colonel Henry W. Shoen1aker, State Archivist, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ,vho made available a photostatic copy of the Oath of Allegiance and signatures of Palatines ,vho arrived at Philadelphia from Rotterdam, Holland, October 30, 1738, aboard the ship Elizabeth, among whom was Andereas Rothenheffer, the ancester of the Rodeff ers of Rockingham County, ·virginia. Thanks and deep appreciation are extended to Joseph S. Rodeffer, of Mt. Morris, Illinois; .Mrs. Kate Bowling, of Verona, Virginia; Mrs. Harry Meyerhoeffer, of Staunton, Virginia; Mrs. Willie Long Driver, of Weyers Cave, \lir ginia, and Mrs. V. Pearl Runcle, of Bridgewater, Virginia, for detailed information on various branches of the family; also to Mrs. Zella R. Faulk, of Modena, Pennsylvania, and Mrs. Willie B. Hilkert, of Arlington, Virginia, for aid in searching the Pennsyvania records upon ,vhich ,ve base our early ancestry in America; also to Charles C. Rodeffer, of Keswick, Virginia, for the article on Palatine background and other valuable assistance; and to all who, in any ,vay, helped to make this book possible. It is hoped that the present generation ,vill take up the torch where this record leaves off, and carry it on, both by inculcating within their children a deep interest and pride in their family's history, and by building upon it from time to time the records of future generations. Also the Author hopes her work will be received in the same spirit of love and appreciation in which it has been written, and that it ,vill be faithfully cherished by members of the family as an inspiration to higher achievement and Godly liYing. Our people left one of the garden spots of Europe-the Rhine Valley-and came to one of the garden spots of ...4..merica-the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The land of our ancestral nativity was known for a century as the Palatinate, which formed two states of the old German empire until about 1740-Upper Palatinate and Lower Palatinate. Our progenitor, as far as we can determine, came _from Lower Palatinate, which lay west of the Rhine and included a strip of its valley eastward, centering about a third of the way from the source of the Rhine in Switzerland to its mouth, 400 miles away in Hol land. On the west it bordered the French provinces of Al sace and Lorraine, which were taken from the French by the Germans in 1870 and were won back by the French in \V orld War I. Again in World War II, the bloody heel of lVIars trod all this area, which once more underwent its oft repeated ordeal of being a battleground. ~4..mong Lo,ver Palatinate's leading to,vns were Heidel berg, seat of one of the most famous of German universi ties; Worms, ,vhere in 1521 Martin Luther on trial defied all state and church authorities and precipitated the Pro testant RefoTmation, and l\fannheim, which Palatines ,vho later became ...i\mericans remembered in naming a to-\vn in Pennsylvania. These may be found on maps of Germany today, and were in news accounts coming from the Ameri can Army during its advance into Germany in the Spring of 1945 . ...i\s bones of contention in the wars and inheritance squabbles of German rulers of the Eighteenth Century, Upper Palatinate eventually became absorbed into Bava ria, while Lower Palatinate was divided between Bavaria, Prussia, Baden and Hesse, other German states. Lower 1 RODEFFER FAl\1ILY OF Palatinate is said to have occupied 2,082 square miles, ,vhich n1ade it about three times the size of Rockingham County. It ,vas reported about 1700 to have around 500,000 people, or 250 to the square mile, while in 1939 the same area ,vas estimated to have 1,000,000 people, or about 500 to the square mile; so it has long supported a dense population. By contrast, Rockingham County even today has little bet ter than an average of 50 persons to the square mile. It ,vas a land of valleys formed by the Vosges and llardt mountains and the Rhine and its tributaries, ,vhere the earth put forth an abundance of grapes and other fruit, corn, vegetables and flax. And the area was rated as one of the n1ost fertile parts of Europe. Had ,ve only a diary of Andereas Rothenheffer, our ancestor ,vho risked his life in the Atlantic crossings of that time on the ship Elizabeth, and if it covered the years up into 1738, then we could know why he decided to come to Pennsylvania, what kind of a trip he had, and how he made his home at Philadelphia. Lacking such a priceless document, we can only try to reconstruct his probable •2X• periences through the record of the thousands of Palatines ,vho came as he must have come, fleeing an Egypt of op pression for the Land of Canaan that was America. I. WHY THEY CAME What circumstances could have driven the home-lov ing Palatines across three thousand miles of raging .i\tlan tic into a strange country, when shipping conditions were so horrible as to be almost beyond conception for us today? The answer to that question has negative and positiYe phases-repelling forces and attracting forces. In the role of repelling villains in the story were such characters as the electors of the Palatinate, ,vith their disregard for human rights, and the rulers of nearby states (notoriously including Louis XIV of France, the Hitler of his day), who scourged the area with their wars. Important on the attracting side of the migration ,vas Queen Anne, of England, who came to the throne in 1702, and ,vho adopted a policy of encouraging harassed German ROCKINGHAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA Protestants to settle in English territory in the N evv World. She hoped th us to bolster British po,ver there against the rivalry of Ca thoLc France and Spain.