TUSCARAWAS COUNTY OHIO - BIO: Some ROTH family history *************************************************************************** OHGENWEB NOTICE: All distribution rights to this electronic data are reserved by the submitter. Reproduction or re-presentation of copyrighted material will require the permission of the copyright owner. *************************************************************************** File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by VICTOR ROTH marcat@tusco.net January 2, 1999 *************************************************************************** If this is suitable information, Pleas use it. My wife and I have been working on a journal for about 3 years. Please let me know what you think! Regards, Victor Roth vwroth@hotmail.com -------------------------------------- A brief history The name "Roth" is of German origin,possibly from rote-(red),or from roodt(farmer). The translation of rote or roodt to Roth is a matter of conjecture. Patriarch,Christian Roth SR of German descent,came with his family to Ohio in the year 1821 from Northhampton Co., PA. He was accompanied by his first wife, Elizabeth Musselman and seven children,George,Christian jr.,John,Sarah,Anna, Polly and Elizabeth. Of the seven children listed we have information concerning only two - Anna & Christian jr. Anna married Dr. Enoch G. Wolf. Born in Oldtown Valley, Ohio on April 11, 1827, he was the youngest son of William & Catharine Wolf who emigrated from Washington County, PA to Tuscarawas County, Oh. This union was blessed with four children; Joseph F.,Mary, John and Finley.(at the time of this writing, aprox. March 15, 1852, John & Finley were deceased.) Dr. Wolf owned 200 acres of fine land, and practiced medicine in this vicinity for twenty-five years. He laid out Wolf's Station in April, 1874; He took an active part in the Marietta Railroad; donated right of way and gave $200.00; built the station at his own expense; got up the post office free of charge; served as Postmaster for the last eight years. He was a Mason, and himself and wife were members of the Methodist ! Protestant Church. Dr. Wolf was instrumental in building the Methodist Episcopal Church here, and built the Methodist Protestant Church of this place all at his own expense, in 1882, costing about $2,500.00 . Christian Roth JR became head of the present Roth families after the death of his eldest brother, George. Christian JR was born in Northhampton County, PA, September 12, 1813. He was eight years old when his family traveled by covered wagon to Ohio from an unknown location near Nazareth, Northhampton County, PA. His father, grandfather and great-grandfather were farmers, the latter of whom was scalped by the Indians, and the grandfather was a Commodore in the navy, a native of Pennsylvania. The family settled in Trenton, OH (now Tuscarawas) in 1821. His education was derived from the subscription schools held in log schoolhouses, and he was reared to farming. His family farmed for several years on rented land near Trenton. In 1827 or 1828, his father purchased a piece of woodland 3 & 1/2 miles west of Trenton (now the village of Tuscarawas) that at the time of this writing was owned by Mr. Ben Metzger. He and his sons built log buildings a few hundred yards East of the present buildings and began to clear the land for farming. The family was poor, the father and oldest son, George, were not strong. Those two and the mother, Elizabeth, did most of the farm work and the second son, Christian, who was then 15 but large and strong for his age, went to work for a contractor, who was building a section of the Ohio canal. The wages were 50 cents per day and board, the work hard, hours long and the board extremely plain. He worked steadily at this job for two years. The hard work of founding a home in the new country brought the mother to an early grave. Her strength and determination had been the main factor in clearing the land and paying for the new home. An incident Christian JR often related to the family helps to show the nature of his mother. " On the morning they were leaving the old home in PA the relatives and friends came in to help pack and to say good bye, someone said to mother " now we will see you cry once". She said nothing but when the wagon was loaded and they were ready to start, she could not be found, a mile or so along the route she was waiting for the wagon. She had slipped away and avoided the farewells rather than breakdown and have it said that she "had cried" ". At her death she left a family of seven children. Christian the second son was the originator of the brand of the family forming the larger part of this history. John, Sarah, Anna, Polly and Elizabeth were the others. Christian Sr. Roth was again married to a Mrs Burroway, there were no children to this un! ion. Christian Sr.died about Nov. 1849. Christian JR grew to manhood strong of build and of character. A man of high morals, he was a respected citizen in his community. He purchased the home farm which grew to 184 acres of well-cultivated land. He farmed and raised stock for many years and lived there until his death of dropsy at age 76 . NOTE: The author or authors of the above compiled information are unknown as well as some sources. The story of Elizabeth (Musselman) Roth was preserved for us by Fletcher Eugene Roth, a grandchild of Christian JR. Some of the other information can be found in a book titled "History of Tuscarawas County" published by Warren Beers Co. 1884 and reproduced by Unigraphic, Inc. 1973 Reference page numbers: 673, 916, 674, 677, 979 Written in 1998 Victor W. Roth, Dover, Ohio e-mail: vwroth@hotmail.com