Notes:

Niagara Gazette - 1/30/1925

Grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Simon
Wltmer of Grove Avenue,
Alvin Frederic Wltmer, Jr.. only
child of Mr. and Mrs. A S Witmer of
Baltimore, Md., and grandson of Mr.
and Mrs. Simor Witmer of Grove
avenue, this city, died at his home In
Baltimore, early Thursday morning,
following a brief attack of spinal
menlngitis, aged 14 years. The funeral
will be held from the home of
his grandparents. Mr. and Mrs M.
Alexander at Wilmington. Del-, where
he will be buried.

Artemus married ALEXANDER, Marguerite on 28 Jun 1909 in Wilmington, New Castle County, DE. Marguerite (daughter of ALEXANDER, Mayrice F) was born about 1893 in DE; died in May 1966 in Polk County, FL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Niagara Gazette - 6/29/1909

A n n o u n c e m e n t lias been made of t he
m a r r i a g e of Mr. A. S. W i t m e r . formerly
of this city now of W i l m i n g t o n . D e l ..
to Miss M a r g u e r i t e Alexander. The
c e r e m o n y took place on S a t u r d a y . J u ne
26th. a t the h o m e of t h e b r i d e ' s p a r e n t s
in W i l m i n g t o n Del Mr. a n d Mrs Witmer
will spend their honeymoon in this
city the guests of Mr. Witmer's par-
ents, Mr. and Mrs. S. Witmer of Grove
avenue.

Notes:

Niagara Gazette - 10/10/1933

WITMER-At the o l d homestead. 1024,
Grove avenue. Simon, beloved husband
of the late Mary Barbara Witmer, at
1:20 a . m , Oct. 10th, 1933. He is survived
bv six children: Simon C . Chicago.
Ill., Artemas S., Baltimore. Md., Malc
h am T., Orlando B., Theresa M. I Mrs.
Murdo Morrison, and Serena T., all of
t h i s city; six grandchtdren also survive:
Mrs. Charles H. Noe and Fred C. Witmer.
Chicago, til., Robert C. and Ruth
E. Witmer, Wm. Angus and Mary Isabelle
Morrison, all of this city. Funeral
service will be In charge of Rev. J. I.
McCullough, Fredonla, N. Y.. on Friday
at the home at 2 p. m. Burial will be
In Rlverdale cemetery.

Simon married SCHNEIDER, Mary Barbara on 23 Dec 1869 in Niagara County, NY. Mary (daughter of SCHNEIDER, Rev Theobald and GRAUER, Anna Katharina) was born on 28 May 1847 in Ontario, Canada; died on 1 Apr 1927 in Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY; was buried in Riverdale Cemetery, Town of Lewiston, Niagara County, NY - Section 5. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Niagara Gazette - 4/2/1927

A large circle of relatives and
friends will grieve to learn of
the death of Mary Barbara Witmer,
a life-long resident of the c i ty of Niagara
Falls, after a n i l l n e s s ranging,
over a period, of about five months.
She had been in ill health for a number
of years, but for the most part of
the time was able to attend to her
many little duties In the household.
Although relieved for several years
of the heavier responsibilities by h e r
industrious and untiring daughters,
Mrs. Theresa M Morrison, and Miss
Serena T., h e r advisory capacity .served
in good, stead, always displaying
the well-matured, judgment of o n e
whoso training had been well founded.
She w a s a n ardent lover of maternal
companionship and while act-
in g In a n advisory capacity with her
daughters during all these years, s he
was well blessed with the continual
companionship of h e r aged mother,
Mrs., Catherine Schneider of 1516
Ontario avenue, whose 100th anniversary
was celebrated on May 31 s t last
year and w h o will deeply moun her
departure.
Mrs. Witmer was t h e oldest of thirteen
children born to the late .Rev.
Theobald Schneider a n d Catherine
Grauer Schneider, on May 28th, 1847,
while Rev. Mr: Schneider was serving
as an ttlnerary minister for the
Evangelical association near Toronto,
Ont, a n d her early religious
training was derived through that
church and for which, in connection
with her mother, she held a h i gh regard
throughout her whole life.
On Dec. 23rd, 1869 s h e w a s given in
marriage to the Rev. Simon Witmer,
the eleventh members of another,pioneer
family of twelve, whose parents
settled in Niagara county In 1810, t he
second white family to take up their
abode in this section of t h e country.
Seven children were born as a result
of this happy union, six of whom are
living Malcham T., Simon C, Orlando
B., Artemas S., Theresa M. ( n ow
Mrs. Morrison) and Serena T. The
oldest one, Alvln F. preceeded her
March 3, 1909. Besides the s ix children
who survive her, she is also
mourned by three brothers, George
H., Jacob A. and John C. Schneider,
and four sisters, Mrs. Amanda C.
Eberling and hte Misses Sarah V.,
Nellie S. and Rose E. Schneider, as
well as s i x grandchildren. t
After her marriage, Mrs. Witmer
associated herself with the Free
Methodist Church in this city, so that
she might be the better able to c o operate
with her husband in his
chosen religious sphere, and t o the
time of her death she exhibited'at all
times to a full measure that spirit of
service so helpful and much appreciated
in the dark hour, never failing,
although family demands were pressing,
to stand ready to pass the c up
of cold water to those In need. A
very prominent trait was her ability
to mentally retain and relate past occurrences
of apparently very small
moment and especially was this true
religiously, her songs alone in both
the German and English language
ringing unceasingly her true spirit
with which she was peculiarly endowed.
Mrs. Witmer and her devoted
husband celebrated their golden wedding
anniversary on Dec. 23, 1919.
The-funeral will be held from her
late residence, 1024 Grove avenue at
2:30 p. m. Sunday, April 3rd, and t he
body will be borne to its last restingplace
in Rlverdalo cemetery by her
four sons, her son-in-law, Murdo
Morrisson and W. Sherman Farrington
of Buffalo. Rev. J. I . McCullough,
pastor of the Free Methodist
Church will officiate at the funeral.
He will be assisted by other ministers,
friends of the diseased

Notes:

Buffalo NY Morning Express - 5/16/1881

Benjamin Witmer, one of the first settlers In
Western New-York, died at his residence, four
miles northeast of Niagara Falls, on Tuesday, the
10th inst., aged 86 years, and was buried on Thursday,
the 12th, in the family burying-ground on the
old homestead, where he had resided since 1842.
The Rev. John Strickler, of Clarence, assisted by
the Rev. Mr. Leonard, of La Salle, and the Rev.
Mr. Snyder, a neighbor, conducted the funeral
services, which were attended by a very large concourse
of his relatives and acquaintances, among
whom were many who had known him over half a
century.
Mr. Witmer's ancestors were of those Christians
who are known as Mennonites, from Simon Menno,
a Reformer, cotemporary with Luther, who in the
Netherlands renounced the Roman Catholic Church,
in which he was a friar, and became a leader
among the Ana Baptists, a considerable portion of
whom assumed his name to designate their peculiar
sect. Religious persecution by the Romanists
drove these Mennonite ancestors from their native
countries in Europe, and thousands of their devoted
compeers, in the early part of the sixteenth century,
settled in Lancaster County, Pa., then called the
"Garden of America," where they soon became a
numerous, prosperous, and a happy people, mind-
ing their own business and letting other people do
the same, which sometimes is styled selfishness. In
course of time the more enterprising, among whom
were some styled " Tories " because they would not
fight against King George in the War of
the Revolution, sought homes in Western New-
York and the neighboring province of Up-
per Canada. In August, 1810, John Wit
mer, the father of the deceased, sold out his
home in Pennsylvania, six miles west of Lancaster
City, and with a four-horse team brought
his family via Harrisburgh, past the mouth of
Lycoming Creek, over Williams's road via Block
House and Blossburg, down the Tioga Valley to
Painted Post, thence to Dansville, N. Y.. Batavia,
Black Rock, and down Niagara River to Devil's
Hole, from which Mr. Isaac Swain had cut a road
through the woods to his farm on lots 30 and 34.
which the father purchased of Mr. Swain, and
made it his future home. But war's end again
drove these inoffensive people from their wilderness
homes, and in 1813 John Witmer, the father, and
his brother Abraham Witmer, who had settled on
the adjoining farm, took their helpless families to a
safe reheat in the interior, John going to Dansville,
N. Y., and Abraham returning to Lancaster County.
Benjamin, however, being a lad 17 years old (he
was born in Lancaster County, Pa., March 21.
1795). was employed voluntarily as an artificer in
building the fortifications at Fort Niagara, the
religious tenets of the Mennonites forbidding their
taking up arms, the Government, on the other
hand never requiring them to violate their conscientious
scruples. One day as he was coming
from the fort, up the river to the top of the mountain
at Lewiston, he, with his two companions,
were espied by the men at the battery across the
river on Queenston Heights, and were fired upon,
the cannon ball, a six pounder, burying itself in
the ground near by. The ball was afterwards dug
up by Mr. Witmer and has ever since been kept as
a kind of heir-loom in the family, the children
often amusing themselves by rolling it over
the chamber floor to produce artificial thunder.
After the war was over both families returned and
made permanent homes at the places first purchased.
In 1817 Benjamin built a saw-mill for his father, at
the homestead, on Gill-creek crossing of the military
road. This mill was instrumental in preparing
most of the lumber used for building in that vicinity
for many years, and is still used during the wet
season. He next went to Erie County and built a
saw-mill for Christian Long, one mile north of
Williamsville. He also built another for Joseph
Getz, on Ellicott's creek, and another for Christian
Frick at Skinnersville, now Wolf's.
Here he made the acquaintance of Miss Anna
Maria Heil, daughter of John HeiI, whom he married
in 1835, and settled on his farm, where now
the Lutheran church stands at Eggertsville. Here
five of his children--John in 1835, Mary in 1836,
Sabina in 1838. Barbara in 1830, and Benjamin in
1831-were born. In 1831 he sold out and moved
to the farm next west adjoining the old homestead,
which is now occupied by his son Elder Martin
Witmer, where he lived until the death of the old
grandfather John Witmer, in 1843, when he took
possession of the homestead. His family was increased
by the births of Martin in 1833. Henry in
1835, Elisabeth in 1836, Leonard in 1838, Anna in
1839, Esther in 1841, Simon in 1843, and Elias in
1844. These all survive him except Barbara, who
died in 1864. His wife died in 1871, and is remembered
as one of the most exemplary women.
Mr. Witmer, although of a very unassuming character,
was an active, industrious, frugal and ex
emplary man-a kind though commanding father,
stamping a virtuous and determined character upon
his large family, the good influence of which has
reached out far beyond his own family. He was
respected by all who knew him, and he retained the
vigor of a strong mind to the last day, dying at
peace with all men, and, as the writer is assured
from an Interview had on Saturday before his death,
he died in the full assurunce of the Christian's hope
of eternal lite.
All his children except Leonard, Elias and Esther,
who are living in the far West, were present at the
funeral, and the tears of affection were soothed by
the smiles of Heaven, shed down in ihe blossoms of
promise of the lovely May day, and the kind greet-
Ings of a sympathizing crowd of spectators.
T. W.

Benjamin + HEIL, Anna Maria. Anna was born on 26 Oct 1803 in PA; died on 26 Mar 1871 in Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY; was buried in WItmer Memorial Cemetery, Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Theobald married GRAUER, Anna Katharina on 13 Jul 1846. Anna (daughter of GRAUER, Daniel and RUCKWIED, Anna Maria) was born on 31 May 1826 in Mähringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; died in Oct 1927 in Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY; was buried in Riverdale Cemetery, Town of Lewiston, Niagara County, NY - Section 5. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]