Hans Adam Sontag
and his wife Anna Elisabetha Pfaff
and Some of Their Descendants
Motsolf Family

Soon after I posted information on the Motsolf family I received electronic mail from Gerhard Marzolph providing me with information on the family of origin of Jacob Motsolf. I thank Gerhard for that information, which is the basis of the information shared below on that generation.

JOHANN GEORG MARTZOLF was born at Printzheim, Lower Rhine, Alsace, France, on 26 March 1763 and died at Wolschheim, Lower Rhine, on 3 January 1821. He married at Printzheim on 9 February 1790 MARIE LAMBS, who was born at Wolschheim about 1772.^[1]

The Martzolf family lived in the province of Alsace, a German-speaking province of France along the Rhine. Their home of Wolschheim was a small community, which today has a population of slighty more than 300. During the lifetime of Johann and Marie, France passed through the traumatic transitions of the French Revolution. As a border region, the Alsace was often near the scene of conflict and occasionally occupied by foreign forces.

Of the fourteen children of Johann and Marie, at least five died in infancy. Three sons migrated to America.

Johann Martzolf and his wife Marie Lambs had the following children:

1. ANNA MARIE MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 20 December 1790; d. at Furchhausen, Lower Rhine, on 8 June 1869; m(1). at Furchhausen on 4 June 1813 GEORGE GOETZ, b. at Furchhausen on 19 June 1780, d. there on 11 October 1838; Anna Marie m(2). at Furchhausen on 18 January 1840 MICHAEL BLAESS b. at Ingenheim on 14 January 1812.
2. JOHANN MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 1 June 1794; d. there on 4 October 1795.
3. MARGARETHA MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 16 March 1796; d. at Duntzenheim, Lower Rhine on 3 September 1834; m. at Duntzenheim on 14 February 1826 JEAN PIERRE GRAF, b. at Dossenheim, Lower Rhine, on 7 September 1791, d. at Duntzenheim on 15 December 1840.
4. MICHAEL MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 22 August 1797; d. there on 1 September 1853; m(1). at Wolschheim on 5 July 1830 MARIE CATHARINE HILBOLD, b. at Reitwller, Lower Alsace, on 3 October 1802, d. at Wolschheim on 15 April 1841; Michael m(2) at Wolschheim on 22 January 1842 MARIE CATHERINE HAMMANN b. at Wickersheim, Lower Rhine, on 20 December 1818, d. before 1900. Children of Michael and his first wife:
   1. Michael Martzolf b. at Wolschheim on 26 August 1833, d. at Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France; m. at Nancy on 17 January 1860 Marie Catherine Diemer b. at Wolschheim on 23 April 1834, d. at Nancy on 8 April 1905.
   2. George Martzolf b. at Wolschheim on 25 March 1836, d. at Romans, Drτme, Rhτne-Alps, France on 24 November 1858.
   Children of Michael and his second wife:
   3. Marie Catherine Martsolf b. at Wolschheim on 26 February 1843, d. at Saverne, Lower Rhine, on 8 December 1900; m(1) at Wolschheim on 19 April 1864 Jacques Metzger b. at Imbsheim, Lower Rhine, on 5 September 1836, d. at Wolschheim on 24 Juny 1873; Marie m(2). at Wolschheim on 12 December 1875 Jacob Kauffmann b. at Imbsheim on 23 April 1845, d. at Saverne on 12 April 1901.
   4. Marguerute Martzolf b. at Wolschheim on 28 November 1845, d. at Saverne on 20 December 1909; m. before 1874 Georg Breckheimer b. at Flφrsheim, Main-Taunus-Kreis, Hessen about 1845.
   5. Anne Marie Martzolf b. at Wolschheim on 18 June 1849, d. at Saverne on 4 August 1910; m(1). at Wolschheim on 23 May 1874 Joseph Sieben b. at Niederlauterbach, Lower Rhine, on 29 April 1847, d. before 1883; Anne m(2). at Wolschheim on 19 December 1883 Friedrich Albert Moser b. at Windstein, Lower Rhine, on 11 January 1854.
5. PETER MARTZOLF^[2] b. at Wolschheim on 16 November 1799; d. at Indiana before 1856; m. at Hattmatt, Lower Rhine, on 23 February 1830 MARIE MEHL, b. at Hattmatt on 3 October 1797, d. at Spades, Ripley County, Indiana, on 10 November 1856. Children of Peter and Marie:
   1. Marie Martzolf b. at Hattmatt on 29 March 1830.
   2. George Martzolf b. at Furchhausen on 29 September 1833, d. at Kokomo, Ripley County, on 22 April 1854; m. about 1867 Margaret Struble b. at Baden on February 1842, d. at Kokomo on 3 March 1909.
   3. Johannes Martzolf b. at Furchhausen on 28 May 1836, d. at Spades on 22 April 1854.
   4. Catherine Martzolf b. at Furchhausen on 21 September 1839, d. at Lawrence, Douglas County, Indiana, on 20 March 1926; m. on 1856 Charles Joseph Fetty b, at Franklin County, Indiana, on 1837, d. on 1925.
   5. Christian Martzolf b. at Morris, Ripley County, on 22 January 1842, d. at Fort Thomas, Campbell County, Kentucky, on 20 November 1928; m. on 1866 Magdalena Nau b. at Germany on 6 August 1848, d. at Fort Thomas on 24 April 1918.
6. BARBARA MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 12 November 1801; d. there on 6 December 1801.
7. BARBE MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 9 February 1803; d. at Romansviller, Lower Rhine, on 17 December 1842; m. at Romansviller on 19 June 1832 CHRETIEN MUELLER, b. at Romansviller on 9 March 1810.
8. CATHARINE MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 13 October 1804; d. there on 16 November 1804.
9. PAUL MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 2 July 1806; d. at Balfort, Balfort, French-Comte, France, on 8 April 1831.
10. MARIE CATHERINE MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 28 November 1808; d. there on 1 June 1809.
11. JOHN MORTZOLF^[3] b. at Wolschheim on 26 February 1810; d. at Oneida, Knox County, Illinois, on 1884; m. before 1836 MARY ________, b. at Germany on 1818. Children of John and Mary:
    1. John W. Motzolf b. at Gorham, Fulton County, Ohio, on 1836, d. at Leavenworth, Leavenworth County, Kansas, on 5 June 1914; m. at Illinois on 1898 Anna Hedsel b. at Pennsylvania on 1 October 1873, d. at Leavenworth on 28 October 1963.
    2. Jacob Mortzolf b. at Steuben County, Indiana, on 28 December 1840, d. at Clinton County, Indiana, on 13 May 1926; m. at Ashland County, Ohio, on 15 September 1866 Mary Mathilde Crone b. at Juniata County, Pennsylvania, on 18 November 1838, d. at Clinton County on 17 November 1905.
    3. Caroline Mortzolf
12. THIBAUD MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 20 June 1812.
13. CATHARINE MARIE MARTZOLF b. at Wolschheim on 18 December 1815; d. there on 25 December 1815.
14. JACOB MOTSOLF b. at Wolschheim on 9 February 1817.

JACOB¹ MOTSOLF (Johann Georg^A) was born at Wolschheim on 9 February 1817 a son of Johann Georg Martzolf and his wife Marie Lambs, and died at Steuben Township, Steuben County, on 3 January 1887. He married first at Steuben Township on 19 December 1844 CATHARINE ELIZABETH NOLL. She was born at Stark County, Ohio, on 23 July 1826, a daughter of George Noll and his first wife Nancy Hall. She died at LaGrange County, Indiana, on 14 October 1863. Jacob married second ANNE ELIZABETH STUMPH, who was born at Germany about 1820-1.^[4]

Jacob Motsolf, the fourteenth of fourteen children, was born to a fifty-three year old father and a forty-four year old mother. His father died before Jacob's fourth birthday. I do not have any other information on Jacob's childhood - how long his mother lived - if she remarried - if some of Jacob's older siblings helped raise him. I simply do not have information. Two of Jacob's older brothers went to America before him. John emmigrated some time before 1836, when he had a child born at Ohio; Peter went some time between 1839 and 1842 based on the birth places of his children; Jacob arrived in America some time before his marriage in 1844.

Catherine Noll was one of nine children of her mother; one of twelve children of her father. Some time between her second and seventh birthdays her mother died and her father remarried. When she was about twelve of thirteen her family migrated from Stark County, Ohio, to Steuben County, Indiana. They were farmers, facing the challenge of clearing previously uncultivated land.

Jacob Motsolf and Catherine Noll were aged twenty-seven and eighteen, respectively, at the time of their marriage. The 1850 Census reported them living at Salem Township, Steuben County. The family consisted of Jacob, 33, Caty, 21, Debault, 3, Mary, 1, and Susmund, two months.^[5] The census taker misspelled the names of Theobald and Sismund, both of whom died in childhood.

The 1860 Census reported the family at Milford Township (South Milford Post Office), LaGrange County, consisting of Jacob, 43, farmer, Katharine, 32, Mary, 11, in school, and Ava, 4.^[6] Three of their first five children had died.

Jacob Motsolf enlisted in the Union Army on 12 September 1862, the birth day of his seventh child, and was discharged on 10 June 1865.^[7] Older than most of the soldiers, he rose to the rank of full corporal. His regiment, the 87^th Indiana Infantry Regiment, saw action in Kentucky and Tennessee, and then joined Sherman's march to the sea. The list of their military engagements follows (as reported in wikipedia)^[8]:

• Pursuit of Bragg to Crab Orchard, Kentucky, October 1–15, 1862. Battle of Perryville, October 8.
• March to Nashville, Tennessee, October 16-November 7.
• Duty South Tunnel, Pilot Knob, and Gallatin, Tennessee, November 8–26, and guarding fords of the Cumberland until January 29, 1863.
• Duty at Nashville, Tennessee, until March 6; Duty at Triune until June. Expedition toward Columbia, Tennessee, March 4–14. Franklin June 4–5.
• Tullahoma Campaign June 23-July 7. Hoover's Gap June 24–26.
• Occupation of middle Tennessee until August 16.
• Passage of the Cumberland Mountains and Tennessee River and Chickamauga Campaign August 16-September 22. Battle of Chickamauga September 19–21.
• Siege of Chattanooga, September 24-November 23.
• Chattanooga-Ringgold Campaign November 23–27.
  • Orchard Knob November 23–24.
  • Missionary Ridge November 25.
• Demonstration on Dalton, Georgia, February 22–27, 1864. Tunnel Hill, Buzzard's Roost Gap, and Rocky Faced Ridge February 23–25.
• Reconnaissance from Ringgold toward Tunnel Hill April 29.
• Atlanta Campaign May 1 to September 8.
  • Demonstration on Rocky Faced Ridge May 8–11.
  • Battle of Resaca May 14–15.
  • Advance on Dallas May 18–25.
  • Operations on line of Pumpkin Vine Creek and battles about Dallas, New Hope Church, and Allatoona Hills May 25-June 5.
  • Operations about Marietta and against Kennesaw Mountain June 10-July 2.
  • Pine Hill June 11–14.
  • Lost Mountain June 15–17.
  • Assault on Kennesaw June 27.
  • Ruff's or Neal Dow Station July 4.
  • Chattahoochie River July 5–17.
  • Peachtree Creek July 19–20.
  • Siege of Atlanta July 22-August 25.
  • Utoy Creek August 7.
  • Flank movement on Jonesboro August 25–30.
  • Battle of Jonesboro August 31-September 1.
• Operations against Hood in northern Georgia and northern Alabama September 29-November 3.
• March to the sea November 15-December 10.
• Siege of Savannah December 10–21.
• Campaign of the Carolinas January to April 1865.
  • Fayetteville, North Carolina, March 11.
  • Averysboro March 16.
  • Battle at Bentonville March 19–21.
  • Occupation of Goldsboro March 24.
  • Advance on Raleigh April 10–14.
  • Occupation of Raleigh April 14.
  • Bennett's House April 26.
• Surrender of Johnston and his army. March to Washington, D.C., via Richmond, Virginia, April 29-May 19.
• Grand Review of the Armies May 24.

Jacob must have been able to go home on leave at least once, as Catharine had another child born during the war years. Catharine died in 1863, probably in giving birth to her eighth child.

Jacob Motsolf was well acquainted with loss: the death of his father when he was 3; the deaths in childhood of three of his first four children. In 1865 he returned home, after over two and a half years in war, grieving the death of his wife, who had died at home. He returned to care for his children ages 14, 9, 4 and 2. The 1870 Census reported widower Jacob Motsolf and his children back in Salem Township (Angola Post Office) as follows:^[9]

Daughter Mary had married three months before the census, and was living on a farm with her husband and his parents in the same township.^[10] The census record suggests that the remaining eldest daughter, Eva, age fourteen, had assumed the homemaking responsibilities, although she and her younger siblings were all attending school

In 1871, Jacob Motsolf, 54, married Anne Elizabeth Stumph, 51. Daughter Eva married in 1878. The 1880 Census reported the Jacob Motsolf family at Salem Township, consisting of Jacob, 63, Anne, 59, Peter, 19, Charles, 17, and Malinda, 16. Jacob, a farmer, suffered from a rupture and rheumatism; the two boys were working on the farm; Anne and her step-daughter Malinda were keeping house.^[11] Daughters Mary and Eva lived nearby - on the same page of the census record - with their families.

The remainder of the family changed rapidly after 1880. Peter married in 1880, and died in 1882, leaving one child. Charles married about 1882-3 and was reportred in the 1900 Census farming in Salem Township. With him were his wife, Ida, 34, and their daughter, Effie, 15.^[12] Malinda "Linnie" married in 1890; in 1900 she was reported in Jackson Township, Steuben County, where her husband, Emmet Wehrly farmed; their daughter, Gwendoline, was 5.^[13] I do not know when Jacob's second wife Anne died; she does not appear in the 1900 Census.

Jacob Motsolf and his first wife Catherine Noll had the following children:

1. THEOBOLD² MOTSOLF b. at Ontario, LaGrange County, on 3 November 1846; d. there on 15 June 1858.^[14]
2. MARY² MOTSOLF b. at Indiana on June 1850; d. at Steuben Township on 1923; m. at Steuben County on 6 March 1870 ISRAEL GREENO, b. at Indiana on 13 March 1842, d. at Ashley, Steuben County, on 20 September 1919.^[15]
3. SISMUND² MOTSOLF b. at Indiana about March 1850.^[16]
4. GEORGE² MOTSOLF b. at Ontario on 4 June 1853; d. there on 13 February 1855.^[17]
5. EVA² MOTSOLF b. at Steuben County on 5 April 1856.
6. PETER C.² MOTSOLF^[18] b. at Ontario on 9 August 1860; d. at Steuben Township on 28 February 1882; m. on 1880 ZORA V. CALAHAN, b. at Henry County, Indiana, on 29 November 1862, d. at Steuben County on 14 April 1953. Zora m(2). at Steuben County on 19 April 1885 JOHN LOUIS ANSTETT b. at Steuben County on 12 December 1856, d. at Salem Township on 26 August 1925. Child of Peter and Zora:
   1. Alma Motsolf b. at Indiana on December 1881.
7. CHARLES² MOTSOLF^[19] b. at Ontario on 12 September 1862; d. at Salem Township on 10 April 1944; m. about 1882-3 IDA E. ZIMMERMAN, b. at Ohio on December 1865, d. on 1941. Child of Charles and Ida:
   1. Effie Motsolf b. at Indiana on February 1885.
8. MELINDA GERTRUDE² MOTSOLF^[20] b. at Ontario before 14 October 1863; d. at Jackson Township, Steuben County, on 31 December 1901; m. at Steuben County on 30 October 1890 EMMET M. WEHRLY, b. at Wells County, Indiana, on 13 April 1862, d. on 9 September 1932. Child of Linnie and Emmet:
   1. Gwendoline Wehrly b. at Indiana on December 1894.