The Search for Malcom Bramel's Heirs

"Hello! I'm from the federal government. I'm contacting you about unclaimed benefits for which you might be eligible." Most everyone has received a communication like this and dismissed it as a scam. But once in a rare while, it turns out to be real.

Such was the case for our family in May of 2019. My father phoned to notify me of a letter he had received from Veterans Affairs. He had been identified as possible "next of kin" to Malcolm Bramel, who died in 1965 and left no beneficiary for a death benefit. My follow-up telephone conversation with Mr. Gallagher, the case investigator in the Philadelphia office of Veterans Affairs, confirmed the legitimacy of the claim. Apparently, the file had been opened and closed several times over the course of more than half a century since Malcom's death in California. But with the growing popularity of ancestry research and the availability of online records, new clues had led the investigator to my father. I engaged in a quest to assist Mr. Gallagher in identifying and locating any and all eligible beneficiaries.

Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California

Little was known about my father's paternal side of the family. To complicate things, my dad was probably in the very early stages of dementia by that time. So it stands to reason that he did not realize or remember that Malcolm was his uncle, his father Vernon's younger brother. There was also another brother, Henry, and an older sister, Esther. But Vernon almost never talked about his childhood, his siblings, or his family in general. For decades, we were only told that his family came from Kentucky and that he ran away from home at a young age.

My research of Bramel ancestry ramped up in 2012 after having been derailed by a lack of first hand testimony. I composed a letter to a man named Jerry Bramel of Toledo, Ohio. My research had identified Jerry as a son of Vernon's youngest brother, Henry. My dad and some of his siblings recalled Vernon attending the funeral of Jerry's brother Robert Bramel in 1958 after he drowned in a quarry west of Toledo at age 20, the only mention he ever made of his family. Jerry responded via e-mail to my inquiry with a trove of photographs, newspaper clippings, and documents, including the 1965 death certificate for Malcolm Bramel. Jerry mentioned his half-sister Patricia who was living in their father's old house in Toledo, where the documents were found. After Jerry passed away in 2015, Patricia and I began to correspond via mail and telephone.

Malcolm Bramel died in Los Angeles in 1965

Second-hand testimony from Jerry and Patricia provided a new perspective about the upbringing of my grandfather and his siblings based on stories told by their father Henry. Patricia wrote that the parents of the four Bramel siblings, George Pearce Bramel and Sally Mae (Nolan) Bramel had apparently divorced around the time of Henry's birth in 1917. The couple had met in Lexington while George, a native of Mason County, Kentucky, was attending College of the Bible there. They were married in 1905 at the home of Sally's parents, William and Susan (Johnson) Nolan, in Lexington. After the divorce, Sally and the boys were living in Covington, Kentucky, and she remarried to a man named Taylor sometime after 1920. When Sally died in 1925, the court determined that the boys should go live with their biological father, George, even though the stepfather had offered to adopt them. Their sister Esther had been living with their paternal grandmother, Amelia (McIntire) Bramel, in Maysville, Kentucky and attending high school there.

January 13, 1904

Married November 9, 1905

Meanwhile, George Bramel had married for a second time in November of 1918 to a Tennessee woman, Elizabeth "Bessie" (Lewis) Hatcher, the widow of Henry Hatcher, and they had relocated to Toledo. Since college, George had been a minister, serving small town congregations in several midwestern states. But in his new career, he was driving a dairy delivery truck in Toledo. Bessie had two sons from her first marriage in Tennessee, Raymond and Hurstell. Ten year-old Hurstell was killed in an accident involving an automobile in 1921. George and Bessie had a daughter, Mary Kathleen Bramel, born two weeks before Hurstell's death. Patricia shared that neither she nor anyone in her family had ever heard about the existence of her father's half-sister Kathleen until I shared my research with her.

Hurstell Hatcher Death Certificate (Informant: George Bramel)

As Patricia tells the story, George traveled to Kentucky to pick up the three boys after the death of their mother. Rather than taking them into his home and raising them, he dropped them off at the orphanage in Maumee, the Lucas County Children's Home. The boys never had any contact with their father after that. 

Lucas County Children's Home, Maumee, Ohio - closed 1986

In my effort to find any unknown relatives who might be beneficiaries of the Malcolm Bramel death benefit settlement, I focused on the half-sister, Mary Kathleen Bramel. My previous research efforts had turned up nothing beyond her school days at Toledo Libbey High School. But a renewed search resulted in a 2014 obituary from Cleveland, Tennessee. 

This discovery revealed a previously unknown living cousin who would rightly hold an equal stake in the insurance settlement, Jerry Harris, Jr. of Cleveland, Tennessee. With some internet sleuthing, I came up with a mailing address and sent off a letter to Mr. Harris:

May 10, 2019

Mr. David Jerry Harris, Jr.

Cleveland, Tennessee

Dear Jerry,

I apologize for this intrusion. I’ve been researching Bramel ancestry for several years, and I believe you are a first cousin to my father, so please correct me if I have the wrong person.

My dad, Vernon Bramel of Danville, Kentucky, received a letter from Veterans Affairs this week. It seems that his father, also Vernon Bramel, had a brother named Malcolm who served in the military for a couple of decades from the 1930’s to the 1950’s. Malcolm died in 1965 with a small insurance policy through Veterans Affairs which was never claimed, and they are attempting to find next of kin before closing out the file.

I’m helping my dad with this matter to identify any heirs of Malcolm who would be entitled to a share of the settlement. Malcolm was married briefly and divorced with no direct heirs. His siblings are all deceased. In the next generation, my dad and his three living siblings in Virginia, Oklahoma, and Florida would seem to be entitled to a share, as well as a surviving daughter of Malcolm’s brother Henry in Ohio.

I believe from my research that your mother was Mary Kathleen Bramel, born in Toledo, Ohio in 1921. If this is true, then you too would be entitled to one-sixth of the insurance settlement. Don’t get too excited because it’s only $5,000 divided six ways. I’m just trying my best to make sure no one is left out.

You can contact me via email or via my cell phone xxx-xxx-xxxx to confirm your identity. If you are eligible, then Veterans Affairs will mail you information including a claim form. In the meantime, I think you’ll be interested in the research materials I’ve attached.

I will look forward to hearing from you!

Best Regards,

Kurt Bramel

The following week, I received a telephone call from Mr. Harris, a widower with two children and four grandchildren. He told me all about his mother and his grandmother, from the time they left Toledo and relocated to Chattanooga. George apparently abandoned them sometime around 1930, and then Bessie and Kathleen left Toledo about 1938. Raymond Hatcher stayed in Toledo for a few years, working in the hotel and hospitality industry, before he too returned to Tennessee. He and his mother were temporarily living in Miami at the time of the 1950 Census, on which Bessie's marital status was listed as "separated" rather than divorced. Kathleen Bramel took a job as a salesperson at Miller Brothers, a department store chain based in east Tennessee. She worked at their flagship store in downtown Chattanooga, a four story building that featured two snack bars and a tea room. It's there where she met David Jerome Harris.

1939 employee photo

Kathleen Bramel identified in company photo

Kathleen at age 19, married Mr. Harris, age 29, and moved with him to the Harris family farm near Apison, east of Chattanooga, with his mother, two older sisters, and a brother-in-law. Two sons were born, David "Jerry" Harris, Jr. in 1941 and Brian Wood Harris in 1943. The family ran a dairy operation for several decades before the farm was sold. Jerry lost his mother and brother in 2014. At the time we connected, he was living in the old family home near Cleveland.

Plowman Cemetery, Apison, Tennessee

Among the documents contributed by Jerry Bramel, from the old Henry Bramel home in Toledo, there was a newspaper clipping announcing the marriage of his aunt Esther Bramel to Charles Hopper. The announcement came from George's sister Nancy Mae, who had married a steel truss bridge magnate named Benjamin Jones. According to Jerry, it was one of Esther's numerous marriages. Did any of these unions result in a cousin who would be eligible for a share of the Malcolm Bramel settlement?

Esther Bramel's third (est.) marriage, circa 1940, announced by Nancy Mae (Bramel) Jones

Esther Mae, the eldest of the four Bramel siblings, was born to George and Sally Mae in 1906 in Kentucky. George's ministry career landed the young family in Ohio and then Indiana for a time, and they appear on the 1910 Census for West Lebanon, Warren County, Indiana. After her parents divorced, she alternated between her paternal grandmother in Maysville and her mother in Covington. She appears in the 1920 Census for both households, Covington enumerated in mid-January and Maysville enumerated in late-January. An apartment in Covington housed Sally Mae and all four Bramel children, Sally's widowed mother Susan Nolan, and a co-worker of Sally who was lodging with the family. The Maysville home of Amelia Bramel, widow of Alonzo Wellwood "Wood" Bramel, was occupied by Esther, Amelia's daughter Hassel, and Hassel's second husband, Charles Hopper. This is the same Mr. Hopper who Esther would marry two decades later. Esther had previously married Robert Allars in Toledo and also a Mr. Sacks apparently in Philadelphia. She married for the final time in 1951 to Lloyd Galbreath in Cleveland, Ohio. They moved to Jacksonville Beach, Florida, where they resided for the remainder of their lives. Esther died in 1981, and for the purpose of locating next of kin for the insurance payment, my research did not uncover any evidence that Esther ever had any children.

George, Sally, and Esther Bramel, circa 1908

My grandfather Vernon Bramel was born on June 18, 1910 in West Lebanon, Indiana, where his father was pastor of the Christian Church. His two younger brothers were born in Kentucky. Henry was born on March 24, 1917 (confirmed), but the date of Malcolm's birth remains unclear. I had long suspected that both Vernon and Malcolm misrepresented their age during their time at the orphanage in order to qualify for better options. Vernon was placed with a foster family at a farm in Sandusky County, and then Malcolm enlisted in the U.S. Army. Vernon had always told his family that he was born in 1908, the date listed on his drivers license and cemetery headstone. But I located his actual birth record in the vital records department in Attica, Indiana confirming the 1910 date. That birth record revealed another previously unknown fact about my grandfather, that his first name was Clyde. Vernon was actually his middle name.

Christian revival in West Lebanon, Indiana - 1909

Malcolm enlisted in late 1927 during an era in which the age requirement for enlistment was seventeen with parental consent or eighteen without. Malcolm's birth date is listed on his death certificate and all military records as January 18, 1910, but I suspect it was actually 1911 or 1912, given that his older brother's confirmed date of birth was March of 1910. It is possible and even likely that Malcolm's enlistment occurred prior to his true sixteenth birthday. With a lack of official records in the orphanage setting, unverifiable vital statistics were discerned by the child and accepted by the recruitment officer tasked with meeting recruitment goals.

Malcolm Bramel was assigned to First Battalion, 7th (and later 12th) Field Artillery at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas. He traveled by train from Toledo to New York City. Then on December 1, 1927, he boarded the Chateau Thierry at Fort Slocum on Davids Island in the western end of the Long Island Sound for transit to Texas. Military records confirm his active duty at Fort Sam Houston through his discharge on April 25, 1934. An absence of records suggests a gap in active duty for the next three years, although it seems Malcolm remained in San Antonio and probably worked for the military in some capacity.

Then in 1937, Malcolm accepted an assignment with 11th Field Artillery at Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Territory of Hawaii. He traveled to Fort McDowell in the San Francisco Bay for his March 12th embarkation. He traveled aboard the St. Mihiel to Honolulu, arriving for duty on March 18, 1937. He remained at Schofield Barracks with ranks of Private First Class and Corporal until December 28, 1939, at which time he returned to Fort McDowell. Notably, Malcolm's assignment ended two years before U.S. military installations at Oahu were damaged or destroyed during a surprise arial attack by Japanese forces, killing more than 2,400 Americans and plunging the United States into war.

Malcolm Bramel's next assignment appears to be at Fort Lewis near Tacoma, Washington, as enumerated on the 1940 Census. Malcolm married Miss Elsie Perry on September 21, 1940 before the Justice of the Peace for Pierce County in Tacoma. The marriage was short lived and Elsie had moved on to her second marriage by 1946. 

As the war ramped up in the Pacific and in Europe, a defense distribution depot was established in San Joaquin County in central California. A review of city directory records suggests that Malcolm was living in Stockton during the wartime years and working at this depot, whose mission was to purchase, store, and ship necessary supplies to armed forces in the Pacific war as well as the Western Front in Europe.

Back in Ohio, the youngest of the three brothers, Henry Carl Bramel, was just eight years old when their mother died. With Vernon having been farmed out and Malcolm having joined the Army, Henry was left with fewer options. It seems that he alternated between the orphanage, distant family, and foster care during his childhood and teen years.

Henry Bramel with his mother Sally Mae

In addition to their father, the Bramel brothers had several other relatives living in or near Toledo during those years after their mother's death in 1925. In part, this can be attributed to the so-called "Hillbilly Highway," referring to the migration of Kentuckians and others native to Appalachia to the industrialized regions of the North, beginning after 1910 and continuing for half a century. Prior generations of Bramels had primarily farmed their lands in southern Mason County since the 1812 arrival of George's great-great grandfather Jonathan Bramhall, a veteran of the American Revolution, from Charles County, Maryland. The Nolans of Kentucky originally settled along the Kentucky River south of Lexington near Old Cane Springs Church, which the family helped to establish. Henry Noland, also a patriot of the American Revolution and a great-great grandfather of Sally Mae, operated Noland's Ferry beginning before 1800, connecting College Hill Road in Madison County to southern Clark County at the confluence of the Red River.

William John Noland (1775-1858), Sally Mae's great grandfather

Patricia Bramel shared with me that she knew of a first cousin, John Nolan, born in 1938 and still living in Toledo. He is actually the son of Sally Mae's youngest brother John Nolan Sr. who had left Kentucky for Toledo and was working as a machinist for a spark plug manufacturer as of 1920. His mother Susan Nolan, maternal grandmother to the Bramel brothers, appears to have left Covington and was living in Toledo, perhaps with John, until her death in 1929. Esther Bramel, after her 1925 graduation from Maysville High School and the death of her mother, found her way to Toledo, where she was married for the first time to Robert Allars on December 5, 1925. Additionally, the boys' paternal grandmother Amelia Bramel, accompanied by her daughter Hassel, had visited with her other daughter Nancy May who resided in nearby Detroit, according to a 1927 newspaper clipping announcing Amelia's passing.

Mary Amelia (McIntire) Bramel (1849-1927)

Amelia Bramel death notice - 1927

Seated: Susan (Johnson) Nolan (1850-1929)
Standing: Sally Mae (left), Unknown sister? (Right)

The question of whether or not any of these relatives intervened at all with the boys in the orphanage is left to speculation at this point. But Patricia Bramel did share this with me regarding her father, Henry:

My dad ran away from that hell hole orphanage at age 14 years and went back down to Kentucky to be with Sadie Caldwell, his 1st cousin (Sadie's mother and Sallie Mae were sisters). She basically took care of him for awhile. Eventually, my dad came back up here to work. Plus Vernon was here.

Patricia's timeline places Henry at the orphanage from 1925 to 1931, and she makes no mention of intervention from family members in the Toledo area. Sadie Caldwell, the cousin who took in Henry, was one of four children born to Eva Nolan, who married Joshua Caldwell in 1892. They had a son and three daughters before Eva's untimely death about 1901. The son, Smith Henry Caldwell, went to live with his father in Winchester, Kentucky. The three young daughters, Fannie, Elizabeth, and Sadie Mae, were raised by nuns at the Sisters of the Good Shepherd, a convent in Fort Thomas. Perhaps this made them more sympathetic than other family members to Henry's plight.

Two of the three Caldwell sister lived to be over 100

Henry stayed with Sadie in the Covington area for a couple years or so before returning to Ohio. He went to work on Amiel Helle's farm east of Toledo in Jerusalem Township, in the vicinity of what is now Maumee Bay State Park. Henry and the farmer's daughter Sophia began a relationship and were married on June 18, 1935.

He worked for Helle's and that's where he met Sophie, got her pregnant, and a "shotgun" wedding occurred. My dad was only 18 years old when Jerry was born January 18, 1936, and Bob was born a year or so later. My dad was a dumb kid who had no male role models in his life since he was 8 or 9 years old. So consequently he cheated and left Sophie and the boys. Vernon never forgave him and never had anything to do with my dad again.

Patricia's account squares with the testimony from my dad and his siblings. Vernon disassociated with Henry because he felt a man should never abandon his family in the way that his own father George had done to him, his mother, and his siblings. It seems that George, after leaving his second family behind in Toledo, spent some time in Columbus, where married for a third time to Leone Morris. They relocated briefly to Houston, Texas before settling permanently in Shreveport, Louisiana. George died there in 1963, Leone in 1984.

Forest Park Cemetery, Shreveport, Louisiana

Henry worked on a crew building county roads through the Work Progress Administration, a federal agency created during the Great Depression of the 1930's to provide jobs for millions of Americans while shoring up infrastructure. After his divorce, he moved into Toledo and worked in the burgeoning automobile parts industry for the remainder of his career, retiring in 1977 from City Auto Stamping Company. Henry developed a shaping machine for which he received a patent in 1950. He was married briefly to Juanita Fern Schooner in 1947. Then he married for a third time in 1951 to Edna Marie Eckhardt. Patricia was born the following year. Meanwhile, Sophie and their two sons settled in the nearby village of Millbury, where the boys attended Lake High School. She remarried to Andrew Cook.

1958 death notice for Robert, son of Henry and Sophia

Vernon, at age fifteen, probably resided in the orphanage only for a brief period before being farmed out. He went to live with the Harold and Jennie Hufford family on their farm west of Fremont. By all accounts, the Huffords were kind-hearted people who treated Vernon very well. As a testament to this, Vernon maintained contact with them and even took his children to visit with them years later.

The Hufford farm was situated where U.S. Rt. 6 meets State Rt. 590 six miles north of the village of Bettsville. Just to the southeast of Bettsville at Maple Grove, a large stone quarry operated by Dolomite Products Company had been ramping up production since the onset of the war in Europe a decade earlier, World War I. The main product was dolomite flux widely used in the steel industry. Vernon was hired there in 1927 and would work there for the next 49 years. The name of the company later changed to Basic Refractories and then Basic, Inc., and Howard P. Eells Jr. was its Chairman and Chief Executive.

Cleveland businessman H.P. Eells Sr. acquired the quarry from Holran Stone Co. in 1908

New signage for Basic's Maple Grove operation, 1949

Vernon met Marietta Semer soon after his arrival in Bettsville, and no one is quite sure how or why they met. My best guess is that some of her Semer brothers were working at Dolomite Production, as most working age males in the area did at some point, and perhaps that's how they were introduced. Vernon and Marietta were both age seventeen when they were married.

Vernon and Marietta, married November 26, 1927

Vernon and Marietta rented a very rudimentary house situated on farmland next to the railroad tracks just south of Bettsville. All five sons were born there between 1928 and 1935, Richard Eugene, Malcolm Earl, Charles Everett, George Raymond, and my father Vernon William. By about 1940, they had saved enough to purchase that same house along with three lots at the southeast corner of Bettsville in what was known as the Andrews Addition, or "The Ridge." The cost of the land, the house, and the relocation of the structure a quarter of a mile down Seneca Street totaled $900. A daughter was born in 1942, Sally Darlene.

Vernon had no more than an eighth grade education, but he was very well-read and self-taught from publications like Popular Science and Popular Mechanics. He built a galley-style kitchen along the north end of the house. There was no indoor bathroom until Sally was about junior high age, at which time Vernon built a back addition with a shower and toilet, along with a septic system. He made cinderblocks by pouring cement into molds and used them to build a barn where they kept a pair of dairy cows. They cultivated a large vegetable garden next to a root cellar. Vernon built a tractor from scrap parts and rented a field out in Liberty Township where he and the older sons planted, harvested, and sold popcorn for supplemental income. He used lumber from the stone quarry's discarded dynamite crates to build tables, benches, and even toys.

Sons of Vernon and Marietta Bramel, circa 1939

In the years following World War II, all five sons served in the military in some capacity. Meanwhile, their uncle Malcolm Bramel returned to Texas and served out the remainder of his military career in the newly created United States Air Force. He achieved the rank of First Lieutenant at the Goodfellow Air Force Base near the west Texas city of San Angelo. He married a junior high music teacher from Iowa, Hazel Gertrude Palmer, but they remained married only until the mid-1950's. Malcolm retired from the Air Force in July of 1952. He relocated to Los Angeles for the last decade of his life.

Article from a military publication in Germany

Vernon, Marietta & Family, circa 1957 (first reunion in 11 years)
Vernon Jr., Charles Everett, Sally, Earl, Vernon, Richard Eugene, Marietta, George

Spouses: Joanne Fuller (Charles), Sally, Madonna Henderson (Richard),
Marietta, Sharon Jeanette (Vernon Jr.), Virginia Maggard (Earl)

Four of about 20 grandchildren next to Vernon's cinderblock barn, circa 1958
David, Richard, Sandra, and Jennifer

 

Vernon with Basic Inc. CEO Howard P. Eells, Jr. at a company event, ca. 1956

Basic, Inc. - Maple Grove facilities, 1975

Vernon continued his employment at Basic, Inc. until his retirement in 1976. That same year, he received an inheritance from the estate of his aunt Nancy Mae, widow of Benjamin Jones. He and Marietta purchased a mobile home recreational vehicle and embarked on numerous vacation trips.

1976 death notice for Nancy Mae Bramel, Akron Beacon

Marietta and Vernon with their mobile home, 1987

Satisfied that all the living heirs of the Malcolm Bramel life insurance benefit had been identified and located, Mr. Gallagher of Veterans Affairs mailed out claim forms for the eligible beneficiaries. Ultimately, the $5,000 benefit, a ceremonial gesture for the most part, was shared between Vernon's three living children and their cousin in Toledo. The other living cousin in Tennessee, unknown before this project, opted out of his share.

One of the beneficiaries was Malcolm Earl Bramel, the namesake of this article's central character. Uncle Earl was instrumental in providing some of the anecdotes and photographs compiled for this project. As his physical being succumbs to the inevitable and natural decline of his 94 years, his mind, memory, and wit remain as sharp as ever. I'm proud to call him my friend, and to him I dedicate this article.

Malcolm "Earl" Bramel

Update: Uncle Earl passed away on May 9, 2025 at the age of 95. He was the last of the five brothers.

LINKS:

The story behind Vernon Bramel's Big Inheritance

Amelia Bramel's grandfather, Alexander McIntire, was an early Kentucky frontiersman who was Killed by the Shawnee.

Marietta's father, William Semer, moved the family to Bettsville after a lengthy military career that began at Fort Zachery Taylor, Key West, Florida

The Bramel DNA project traces our ties back to Medieval England.

A tribute to my father: Vernon William Bramel

Descendants of Alonzo Wellwood Bramel and Mary Amelia McIntire

Generation 1

1. ALONZO WELLWOOD "WOOD" BRAMEL (William Washington Bramel, James Alexander Bramel, Jonathan Bramhall) was born on 26 May 1856 in Lewisburg, Mason County, Kentucky. He died on 05 Nov 1916 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He married MARY AMELIA MCINTIRE (daughter of Alexander McIntire Jr. and Miriam Lyons) on 02 Apr 1885 in Fernleaf, Mason County, Kentucky. She was born on 04 Sep 1849 in Mason County, Kentucky. She died in 1927 in Detroit, Michigan. 

Maysville Cemetery, Mason County, Kentucky

Alonzo Wellwood Bramel and Mary Amelia McIntire had the following children: 

2. i. GEORGE PIERCE BRAMEL was born on 26 Feb 1886 in Mason County, Kentucky. He died on 4 Aug 1963 in Shreveport, Louisiana. He married (1) SALLY MAE NOLAN (daughter of William Henry Nolan and Susan Johnson) on 09 Nov 1905 in Lexington, Kentucky. She was born in Sep 1880 in Lexington, Kentucky. She died on 23 Aug 1925 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He married (2) ELIZABETH LEWIS on 15 Nov 1918 in Anderson County, Tennessee. She was born on 23 Jul 1890 in Roane County, Tennessee. She died in Jul 1979 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He married (3) LEONE MORRIS about 1938 in Columbus, Franklin, Ohio, United States. She was born on 24 Mar 1903 in West Virginia. She died on 21 Oct 1984 in Shreveport, Louisiana. 

George P. Bramel (1886-1963)

ii. LESLIE BRAMEL was born on 03 Nov 1887 in Mason County, Kentucky. He died in Jun 1967 in Soap Lake, Grant County, Washington. 

iii. NANCY MAE BRAMEL was born in Dec 1889 in Kentucky, United States. She died on 24 Feb 1976 in Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio. She married (1) WARREN HAGER WILKINSON on 7 Nov 1914 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born on 05 Jan 1887 in Columbus, Ohio. He died on 17 Oct 1975 in Duval County, Florida. She married (2) BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JONES (son of Benjamin Enoch Jones and Harriet Bellars) on 10 July 1931 at Mackinac Island, Michigan. He was born on 28 Sep 1884 in North Lawrence, Stark County, Ohio. He died on 26 Jul 1967 in Ravenna, Portage County, Ohio. 

Benjamin and Nancy Mae (Bramel) Jones, Lavern Lloyd Jones and Harlene, circa 1932

3. iv. MIRIAM HASSEL BRAMEL was born in Mar 1892 in Mason County, Kentucky. She married (1) ARTHUR BARKER CRASK (son of John R Crask and Mary Crask) on 31 May 1910 in Tuscola, Douglas County, Illinois (Rev. George P. Bramel, brother of the bride, officiated the ceremony at the court house). He was born on 30 Aug 1890 in Warren County, Indiana. He died on 21 Dec 1949 in Los Angeles, California. She married (2) CHARLES CLARK HOPPER (son of Charles C. Hopper and Anna Clarke) on 16 May 1917 in Greensburg, Decatur County, Indiana (they lived with her mother per 1920 census). He was born on 12 Jul 1895 in Mason County, Kentucky. He died on 11 Mar 1959 in Mason County, Kentucky. She married (?) LAUDER. He died in Michigan. 

Generation 2

George Pierce Bramel and Sally Mae Nolan had the following children: 

i. ESTHER MAE BRAMEL was born on 6 Dec 1906 in Kentucky. She died on 5 Feb 1981 in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida. She married (1) ROBERT L. ALLARS on 5 Dec 1925 in Toledo, Ohio. He was born 15 Dec 1899 in Illinois. She married (2) Mr. SACKS about 1927. She married (3) CHARLES CLARK HOPPER (son of Charles C Hopper and Anna Clarke) about 1945 in Augusta, Bracken, Kentucky, USA. He was born on 12 Jul 1895 in Mason County, Kentucky. He died on 11 Mar 1959 in Mason County, Kentucky. She married (4) LLOYD MERRILL GALBRETH on 1 Oct 1951 in Cleveland, Ohio. He was born on 14 Aug 1905 in Chicopee, Hampden County, Massachusetts. He died on 16 Apr 1978 in Jacksonville Beach, Duval County, Florida.

4. ii. CLYDE VERNON BRAMEL was born on 18 Jun 1910 in West Lebanon, Warren County, Indiana. He died on 23 May 1992 in Toledo, Ohio. He married MARIETTA SEMER (daughter of William Lampson Semer and Nettie Blanche Russell) on 28 Nov 1927 in Belmor, Putnam County, Ohio. She was born on 01 Mar 1910 in Fort Schuyler, Bronx, New York. She died on 04 Aug 1993 in Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky. 

iii. MALCOLM BRAMEL was born on 18 Jan 1912 in Kentucky. He died on 04 Apr 1965 in Hawthorne, Los Angeles County, California. He married (1) ELSIE PERRY (daughter of Earl H. Perry and Addie Bacey) about 1940 in Tacoma, Pierce County, Washington. She was born about 1923 in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin. He married (2) HAZEL GERTRUDE PALMER (daughter of Lowie C. Palmer and Jessie M. McMasters) about 1948 in San Angelo, Texas. She was born on 14 Jul 1918 in Soldier, Monona County, Iowa. She died in Mar 1994 in Denver, Denver, Colorado. 

iv. GEORGE BRAMEL was born on 26 Jan 1913 in Knox County, Indiana. He died in 1913 (speculative). 

5. v. HENRY CARL BRAMEL was born on 24 Mar 1917 in Mason County, Kentucky. He died on 16 Sep 1984 in Toledo, Ohio. He married (1) SOPHIA A. HELLE on 18 Jun 1935 in Lucas County, Ohio. She was born on 25 Oct 1914 in Lucas County, Ohio. She died on 22 Jun 1999 in Oregon, Lucas County, Ohio. He married (2) JUANITA FERN SCHOONER on 27 Aug 1947 in Toledo, Ohio. He married (3) EDNA MARIE ECKHARDT (daughter of Arthur Robert Eckhardt and Marie Eleanor Mominee) on 12 May 1951 in Toledo, Ohio. She died on 15 Sep 1980 in Toledo, Ohio.

Henry C. Bramel (1917-1984)

George Pierce Bramel and Elizabeth Lewis had the following child:

vi. MARY KATHLEEN BRAMEL (daughter of George Pierce Bramel and Elizabeth Lewis) was born on 12 Apr 1921 in Toledo, Ohio. She died on 28 Jul 2014 in Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee. She married DAVID JEROME HARRIS, SR. about 1940 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He was born 3 Aug 1907 in Jefferson County, Tennessee and died in Aug 1971 in Hamilton County, Tennessee.

Arthur Barker Crask and Miriam Hassel Bramel had the following child: 

i. RUBY LOUISE CRASP (daughter of Arthur Barker Crask and Miriam Hassel Bramel) was born on 26 Jun 1911 in West Lebanon, Warren County, Indiana. She died on 15 Oct 1984 in West Covina, Los Angeles, California, United States of America. She married (1) ORVAL M. TYLER (son of James Crettington Tyler and Nora Jane Young) in 1929 in St. Joseph, Indiana, United States. He was born about 1908 in Indiana. He died on 20 Sep 1977 in Los Angeles, California. 

Generation 3

Clyde Vernon Bramel and Marietta Semer had the following children: 

i. RICHARD EUGENE "TUFFY" BRAMEL was born on 27 May 1928 in Bettsville, Seneca, Ohio. He died 11 Apr 2018 in Punta Gorda, Charlotte County, Florida. He married MADONNA HENDERSON (daughter of Shirley J. Henderson and Helena Depinet) on 09 Dec 1949. She was born on 17 Mar 1931 in Ohio. She died on 6 Jun 2020 in Punta Gorda, Charlotte County, Florida.

Richard "Tuffy" and Madonna Bramel, 2011

ii. MALCOLM EARL BRAMEL was born on 19 Feb 1930 in Bettsville, Seneca County, Ohio. He died on 9 May 2025 in Emporia, Greensville County, Virginia. He married (1) VIRGINIA ROSE MAGGARD. She was born on 04 Sep 1925 in Whitesburg, Letcher County, Kentucky. She died in 2010 in Lexington, Kentucky. He married (2) KATHERINE KNIGHT (daughter of Wilbur Haywood Knight and Allie Morris). She was born 20 Jun 1938 in Greene County, Virginia.

Katherine, Marietta, and Earl, 1992

iii. GEORGE RAYMOND BRAMEL was born on 06 Jan 1932 in Bettsville, Seneca County, Ohio. He died on 22 Jan 2001 in Milford, Geary County, Kansas. He married (1) FREDA MELISSA COLLINS (daughter of Paul and Lillian Collins) on 10 May 1950 in Seneca County, Ohio. She was born on 18 Nov 1930 in Seneca County, Ohio. She died on 6 Jun 2020. He married BARBARA NELL "BOBBIE" BRITT on 1 Jul 1965 in Fairfax, Virginia. He married (2) ELSIE SHILEY about 1956. She was born on 21 Jun 1935 in Ohio. She died on 21 Jul 2005 in Ohio, United States. He married MARGUARITE SHILEY. He married CAROL J DEWEY. 

Freda and George, circa 1950

iv. CHARLES EVERETT BRAMEL was born on 14 Dec 1933 in Bettsville, Seneca County, Ohio. He died 15 Oct 2019 in Okemah, Okfuskee County, Oklahoma. He married (1) JOANN FULLER in 1957 in Missouri, United States. She was born on 19 Feb 1940 in Fort Leonard Wood, Pulaski County, Missouri. She died 22 May 2013 in Edmond, Oklahoma. He married (2) SHARON CHILDERS on 12 Jul 1996 in Eureka Springs, Carroll County, Arkansas. 

Charles Everett Bramel

v. VERNON WILLIAM BRAMEL JR. was born on 09 Oct 1935 in Bettsville, Seneca County, Ohio. He died 5 April 2025 in Danville, Boyle County, Kentucky. He married Sharon Lee Jeanette (daughter of Joseph Benjamin Jeanette and Winifred Chapman) on 09 Dec 1954 in Auburn, DeKalb County, Indiana. She was born on 16 Apr 1938 in Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio. 

Vernon Jr. and Sharon, 2014

vi. SALLY DARLENE BRAMEL was born on 14 Apr 1942 in Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio. She married MICHAEL KEAR (son of Russell Wayne Kear and Dorothy Marie Wahrer) in Oct 1966 in Lake County, Florida. He was born on 09 May 1944 in Tiffin, Seneca, Ohio, USA. 

Sally and Mike, 2013

Henry Carl Bramel and Sophia A Helle had the following children:

i. JERRY CARL BRAMEL was born on 10 Jan 1936 in Curtice, Lucas County, Ohio. He died on 29 Aug 2015 in Toledo, Ohio.

ii. ROBERT CHARLES BRAMEL was born on 08 Oct 1937 in Curtice, Lucas County, Ohio. He died on 17 May 1958 in Whitehouse, Lucas County, Ohio. 

Henry Carl Bramel and Edna Marie Eckhardt had the following child: 

iii.  PATRICIA ANN BRAMEL was born on 27 Nov 1952 in Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio. She married LLOYD GEORGE WHITAKER in Jun 1971 in Toledo, Ohio. 

Mary Kathleen Bramel and David Jerome Harris had the following children:

i.    DAVID JEROME HARRIS, JR. was born in 1941 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He married WILLIE "RUTH" GOFORTH on 28 Jun 1969 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. She was born on 11 Oct 1944 in Athens, McMinn County, Tennessee and died on 22 Nov 2016 in Cleveland, Bradley County, Tennessee.

ii.    BRIAN WOOD HARRIS was born 28 Jun 1943 in Hamilton County, Tennessee. He died on 8 Jul 2014 in Hamilton County, Tennessee.

 

Flacks and Osterholts Feud in Seneca County

A generations-old family feud in northwest Ohio reached its unfortunate climax in August of 1893. Newspaper stories were published throughout the United States describing the gruesome details from the scene of a brawl just north of the village of Bascom as three men reportedly clung to life and several others remained on the lam.

From the time of his arrival in Seneca County about 1830, George Flack had earned the reputation as the roughest, toughest man in the county, and perhaps all of northwest Ohio. George grew up in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and ran away from home at a young age to work on the construction of the Ohio and Erie Canal, connecting Lake Erie at Cleveland with the Ohio River at Chillicothe. For seven years, he lived and worked alongside some of the rowdiest humans in modern civilization. When he reconnected with his family in Ohio, he brought with him his rowdy ways. Few would dare cross him, yet there was always a huge target on his back, primarily of his own making.

Many of the early families who settled in northwest Ohio were descendants of German immigrants who had originally settled in southeast Pennsylvania or western Maryland. George Flack's father, John Lucas Flack, was born in 1778 on the Monocacy Creek near Emmitsburg, Frederick County, Maryland. John was the son of another John Lucas Flack, born about 1740 near Heidelberg in Germany. That part of Europe was being ravaged by various wars and conflicts during that era, which was one of the motives for the large number of Germans to start anew in America. Pursuit of religious freedom was another factor, and many Amish, Mennonite, and German Reform churches were spawned in Pennsylvania Dutch country. The elder John Lucas Flack and his wife, Barbara Duffer, operated a saw mill and were also engaged in farming in Frederick County. They were parents to at least two daughters and four sons. The three youngest sons would later relocate to the Tiffin, Ohio area.

The younger John Lucas Flack married Barbara Snyder in 1800, and they were my 5th great-grandparents. They relocated further west to the Connellsville, Pennsylvania area southeast of Pittsburgh, where all six of their children were born: Lydia (1800), John Lucas (1802), Barbara (1805), George (1809), Jacob (1813), and Lewis Snyder (1815). In 1826, much of the Flack family joined the German-American migration westward and settled in Seneca County, Ohio. The journey likely took about six weeks, traveling by horse and wagon. They would have traveled on the pike connecting Baltimore with Cumberland, Maryland, and then along the National Road through the Allegheny Mountains to Wheeling, where travelers could cross the Ohio River on a flatboat ferry.

Barbara (Snyder) Flack, my 5th great-grandmother

The National Road had opened in 1818 and provided a stone-paved route all the way to the Ohio River, and a bit beyond by that point in time. Along the road, there were inns and taverns about every mile, the travel plazas of their time, where one could get a meal, purchase supplies, or get repairs from a blacksmith. It should be noted that not all of these taverns were reputable or considered appropriate for families. As such, most pioneer families chose to camp with their wagon at designated places along the route, and the night time horizon was dotted with the flickering glow of campfires on distant hillsides. The road was more crowded than one would think, with curious travelers, teamsters hauling cargo in large Conestoga wagons, and herds of sheep and other livestock. But it’s the pioneer families moving westward, with household supplies and children in tow, that we most commonly associate with the National Road.

Bridge over Casselman River, original National Road near Grantsville, Maryland

Once across the river, the stretch of the National Road to Zanesville, which was a section of the existing Zane’s Trace, had just begun construction, so travelers sometimes took dangerous side roads for detour. From this juncture on north and westward to Seneca County, the travel would have been more difficult and time consuming, and for those seeing the area for the first time, they must have wondered why they ever left the comforts back east. The wife of John Souder, a fellow pioneer of early Seneca County, stated it best at about this point during their voyage when she said to her husband, “Any man that will bring his wife and child to a country as this ought to be shot.”

The area in Seneca County to the north and west of Tiffin was remote, forested, and swampy, and this is where John Lucas and Barbara Flack had purchased a land patent from the federal government for their homestead. The family built a log cabin and began the process of clearing the land and digging trenches for drainage purposes, with contributions from every capable family member. They were many miles from any other settlers, and for long stretches of time, they were among just their own family. One can hardly imagine the great sense of solitude these early pioneers must have felt. John Souder, who settled in Tiffin, wrote:

George Puffenberger lived in a cabin some distance west, and John Flack in (now) Liberty (Township), lived the farthest west of any man I could hear of. I was in the company with others in view of a new road and we stopped at Flack’s. It seemed very lonesome to live so entirely alone in the forest as Flack did. (Source: History of Seneca County, from the Close of the Revolutionary War to July 1880, William Lang)

John Lucas Flack purchased several land patents during those early years, and his holdings grew to 575 acres, nearly a full square mile. He submitted the petition to have Liberty Township carved from the Fort Seneca Township in 1832. The population of this area was only about a dozen in 1830, but it grew to more than one thousand by 1840. The Flack homestead was located between Bettsville, established 1838 in Liberty Township, and Bascom, established 1837 in Hopewell Township. Flack lands were located in Liberty, Hopewell, and Louden Townships. When John Lucas died in 1839, the land was divvied up between his heirs.

George decided to join up with his family and made his way to Seneca County about 1830. He had earned enough money working on the canal that he was able to purchase 96 acres in the southwest corner of Liberty Township and the northwest corner of Hopewell Township, just south of his father’s farm. He married Dorothea Maria Karshner in 1835, and they were my 4th great-grandparents. Dorothy reigned him in a bit, and they raised seven children on their homestead. The oldest was Jefferson Flack (1836-1913), followed by Wilson (1838-1923), Anna Elizabeth (1841-1936), Caroline (1844-1871), Louis Phillip (1846-1908), Francis (1849-1935), and George Dixon Flack, Jr. (1852-1860). Jefferson Flack married Harriet Lott, daughter of Reuben and Margaret (Michaels) Lott, in 1857, and they were my 3rd great-grandparents. Reuben was the son of Jeremiah Lott, a patriot of the American Revolution, and a link at the end of this article connects to his incredible accounts of the war.

Northwest Seneca County map 1891 highlighting Flack lands

The bad blood between the Flacks and the Osterholts traces back to the 1850s. Peter Osterholt (1811-1895), a German immigrant of Bavarian descent, stabbed George Flack, nearly killing him. Osterholt was able to avoid prison time by successfully using an insanity defense. George's descendants were never satisfied that justice had been served, and hard feelings persisted through the decades, even after George passed away in 1877. Hostilities escalated from time to time between the sons and grandsons.

A great-grandson of George Flack penned the following about George:

George was born in 1809 in Pennsylvania. He left his father's home in the year of 1823 at the age of fourteen. He left home on account of a severe whipping administered by his father for disobedience. He and his brother Jacob had been ordered to cut and fall a poplar tree parallel to the draw, and not across it, so that the tree would not break when it fell. But, George, being headstrong and peeved because he was obliged to cut the tree, cut it across the draw and of course it broke.

George lived at a time when strength and endurance were in the ascendency. All men, it seems, aspired to physical strength and courage and gloried in personal combat. George was never bested in a fistic combat. He measured 47 inches around the chest and, with ease, could lift a 400 pound barrel of salt by the chimes and, over the end gate, place it in a wagon box. His strength of fingers was so great that it was utterly impossible to break his hold once it was fastened.

 While working on the canal, he was with a rough crowd and learned to drink whiskey out of a teapot. After he married and settled down he would still become intoxicated three or four times a year. At those times he would do things that he would be very much ashamed of and would deliberately stay away from town as long as he could. When he would finally go to town he would again come under the influence of the liquor. On winding up one of those periods he stopped on his way from Tiffin to Bascom and there engaged in a game of cards. Presently there entered two strangers who asked the proprietor to be directed to see this man, Flack. It seemed that they were desirous of having some sort of prize fight. George heard them and said nothing, but finished the game. Then, pushing the table over, he introduced himself to the strangers, whereupon in short order he whipped them both at the same time. He then bought them a drink and proceeded homeward.

When he came to Ohio, his father had contracted to dig a mill race on the Sandusky River for a Mr. Umstead. George helped his father, as did some others. However, on the very first day, they had to discover who was the best man. So at noon he and the "bully" went at it hammer and tongs. For an hour and a half, they fought with varying success. His opponent was older and mighty good. He mighty near got the best of George when at the crucial moment his father said in German, "George, remember the name." That gave him new courage and he soon finished the fellow. After that he was called upon any number of times to defend his title and he always came away with flying colors. 

He was a man that read a great deal. Governor Charles Foster, for whom the nearby town of Fostoria was named, said of him, "he was the best-read and posted man in Seneca County, Ohio." This was considered quite a compliment.

The author of that biographical sketch, James Robert Flack (1914-2008), was a son of James Alpheus Flack (1873-1945), a principal character in the Flack-Osterholt feud. James' father Louis Phillip Flack (1846-1908) became entangled in some type of skirmish with one of Peter Osterholt's younger sons Fred Osterholt around lunchtime on Saturday August 19, 1893. One newspaper reported the day's events as follows:

The affray, in which Peter Osterholt, aged 83 years, and his sons, Perry, Fred, Frank and James, on one side, Charles Flack, a justice of the peace of Hopewell township, his uncle, Louis Flack, and two sons, James and Lloyd, were the principal combatants, occurred at the home of Peter Osterholt, in Bascom, and was the result of a family feud which started way back in the 50's, when Peter Osterholt stabbed and nearly killed George Flack, the father of Louis Flack. The feud had been handed down from generation to generation and numerous rows have occurred between the two families. 

At noon Saturday Fred Osterholt who became incensed at Louis Flack about a trivial matter, struck Flack and knocked him down. Flack's two boys, James and Lloyd, determined to punish young Osterholt for assaulting their father and jumping into a wagon drove hurriedly toward the Osterholt home. The young man saw them coming and sought shelter in the house, locking the doors behind him. Louis Flack and Squire Flack accompanied the young men, claiming all the while that they were going along to act as peacemakers, but they were soon mixed up in the scrimmage.

Louis Phillip Flack, circa 1907

The Flack boys burst into the Osterholt residence, breaking open five doors in order to reach Fred Osterholt, whom they followed into an upstairs chamber and beat almost to death with a club. Perry Osterholt was struck in the head with a large stone thrown by Lloyd Flack and will die. Old man Osterholt and two married sons living near by, James and Frank Osterholt, who came to their rescue, were also horribly beaten and cut up. The two Flack boys were also badly carved with a razor in the hands of Fred Osterholt.

Every resident of the hamlet and many neighboring farmers, fully 300 persons, surrounded the house during the riot. When the affray ended the interior of the Osterholt home presented an appearance more like that of a slaughter house. James and Lloyd Flack, mounted on swift horses and plentifully supplied with money, decamped as soon as the bloody work was ended, and a detachment of citizens headed by Tiffin police are hot on their trail. Justice Flack has disappeared. Louis Flack was arrested and held to await the result of the wounds inflicted on the Osterholt boys. The most intense excitement prevails in the village.

Another article described the events even more dramatically, and the names of the Osterholt boys are switched:

A family row at Basom, a town near Tiffin, resulted in the fatal injury of one man, while two others are frightfully wounded. James and Lloyd Flack went to the house of Perry Osterholt, forced their way to his bedroom and beat him into insensibility with a picket torn from a fence. His father, 83 years of age, was knocked down and brutally kicked. Fred Osterholt, who came to the assistance of his father and brother, was struck in the temple with a bowlder. His skull was fractured. Lewis Flack, father of James and Lloyd, and their cousin Charles Flack, a justice of the peace, also became engaged in the fight.

Three hundred villagers gathered about the house and the Flacks would have been lynched had they not made their escape. A search has been made for them without avail, as they have been secreted by their relatives, among whom are some of the most influential men of Seneca county. Perry Osterholt will die. His brother Fred, it is feared, cannot recover and on account of their father's extreme age, his injuries may also prove fatal.

In the days following the horrible event, old man Osterholt overcame his injuries and made his way to Tiffin to file murder charges against the Flacks. Fortunately, none of the Osterholts' injuries proved to be fatal. Perry Osterholt took the worst of it and was feared to have suffered permanent brain damage after being struck in the temple by a rock. He lived a short life, passing away 11 years later at age 31, but whether or not his head injury contributed to his early departure is unknown to this researcher. Louis Flack was first to surrender, followed by his sons Lloyd and James. The cousin Charles Flack, son of Wilson Flack, spent a couple weeks in hiding before making his surrender.

Charles Flack's surrender

A few months later, all four Flacks along with Fred Osterholt plead guilty to assault and battery. Each was fined $10 plus court costs. With this sentence, the long-standing feud apparently came to an end, as no record of further hostilities has been found.

Five plead guilty

In an ironic twist, one of the brothers at the Osterholt compound who joined in the fighting was actually married to a Flack girl. Frank Osterholt's wife Jane "Jennie" Flack was a daughter of Jefferson and Harriett (Lott) Flack and a sister of my great great-grandmother Nettie Flack. Nettie had married Homer Chapman in 1892, and their farm was a few miles away in Liberty Township. Follow the link at the end of this article for the story about the Chapman farm and the Chapman family of Seneca County.

Nettie Flack Chapman with great-grandchildren, circa 1950

Greg Addis, Diana Chapman, Beverly Addis, Robert Chapman Jr., 

Gary Jeanette, Sharon Jeanette (my mother)

Jefferson Flack farmhouse in Louden Township, circa 1910 (colorized)
Front: Edna, John, and Earl (children of Homer and Nettie Chapman), Harry Chapman (Homer's brother);
Back: Nettie (Flack) Chapman, Harriet (Lott) Flack, Jefferson Flack, Homer Chapman

Left: Mary Ellen "Ella" (Flack) Kime (1872-1958), sister of Nettie (Flack) Chapman
Right: my great grandmother Edna "Mertie" (Chapman) Hanson (1894-1980), daughter of Nettie

A small, secluded cemetery, nestled between two crop fields in the middle of the southwest quarter of section 29 in Liberty Township, serves as the final resting place for many of the early Flack pioneers. It's known as the Null Cemetery, and it is accessible via a grass lane on the north side of County Road 592 a quarter mile east of its intersection with State Route 635. Some of the notable interments there are John Lucas Flack (1776-1839) and his sons Jacob Flack (1813-1867) and Lewis Snyder Flack (1815-1866). George Flack's grave is a half-mile to the south in the St. Andrew Cemetery.

Lane to Null Cemetery, Liberty Township

Gravesite of John Lucas Flack, my 5th great-grandfather

Notwithstanding the occasional brawl with their neighbors, and the angry lynch mob in Bascom, the Flacks were generally respected as leaders within the community.

 

The Flack family has been fortunate in having men and women who excelled in many fields of endeavor. We, as a family, have had members who were pioneers and were responsible for clearing the land and draining swamps; converting the wilderness into good farm land. They were builders of bridges and roads to make it possible to get the necessary materials and farm products to markets; they were carpenters, blacksmiths, wagon-makers and people of industry, who were far ahead of their time. We have had schoolteachers, professors and lawyers who have excelled in their profession. It can be seen that the Flack family's roots run deep in the sub-soil of the development of the country. We as a family, have every right to be proud of our heritage. 

-James R. Flack, Sr. 3rd great-grandson of John Lucas Flack, Sr.

Links:

More about the Jeremiah Lott lineage here: Jeremiah Lott, Hero of the Revolution

Homer and Nettie Chapman family and the history of the Chapman farm here: Chapman Farm in Liberty Township