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]

Notes:

Niagara Gazette - 7/1957

IN 1810.JOHN WITMER and
his family consisting of his wife
and eight children left Lancaster,
Pa., in a Conestoga wagon with
a four horse team. All their worldly
possessions were in that wagon.
They were bound for the
Niagara Frontier. The trip was
made in late August and early
September and required 18 days.
The route was circuitious until
they reached Batavia from whence
they followed the Buffalo road
to Black Rock and thence down
the river to Devil's Hole where
they took a road which had been
chopped out by Isaac Swain. This
led to his clearing where the Military
road crosses Gill Creek, dose
to the northern boundary of the
Town of Niagara.
Mr. Swain had. partially cleared
the timber from about 40 acres
and erected a good-size log house.
John Witmer had purchased this
100 acre farm of Mr. Swain who
then moved to the Town of Porter
and settled south of Youngstown.
At this period (1810) there was
only one other clearing on the
Military road in the present town
of Niagara.
A short time before John Witmer
brought his family from Pensylvania,
he bad ridden through
on horseback and purchased his
land. When he left his old home
he had cut a slender branch from
a Locust Tree to use as a switch.
When he reached his new home
he planted the switch in the rich
soil in front of the log cabin. The
switch, so the family tell me, took
root and today one may see as I
did, on the east side of the military
road some 25 odd feet north
of the Gill Creek crossing, a large
gnarly old locust tree that has
every earmark of being old enough
to verify the family legend.
* ° *
WHEN THE TOWN of Niagara
was organized in April 1812.
John Witmer was elected one of
the "pathmasters." In 1817 he
built a small sawmill on Gill
Creek near his home and in 1818
began to saw and sell lumber.
"A great many of the first frame
houses in that part of Niagara
and adjacent towns were built of
lumber from his sawmill. Last
week I called on Mrs. -Theresa
Morrison and Miss Serena Witmer
of 1024 Grove Ave., who are great
granddaughters of John Witmer.
They were most hospitable and
very willing to help me complete
this story. One incident they told
me was about Benjamin Witmer
son of John, and their great uncle
who as a boy of 17 during the
War of 1812, ventured down to
the bank of the Niagara opposite
one of the teaters of battle on the
Canadian, side and as he peered
through the bushes a four-pound
cannon ball came whizzing across
the river and took hit hat off his
head. When be had recovered
from the shock he found the cannon
ball imbedded in the earth
and took it home and it is still
kept by these ladies as a memento
of those troublous times of long
ago.
Abram Witmer, a brother of
John, came to the Frontier in
1811 from' the same place in
Pennsylvania. His wife and four
children came with him. Their
trip was similar to John's. They
settled on a tract of land purchased
from the Holland Land
Co. It was on the Saunder's Settlement
road just east of Sugar
Street, and on the west abutted
on the Mile Reserve. He built,
a log house and began to clear
his land. At the first town meeting
in 1812 he was also elected
a pathmaster. When the War
broke out he took his family back
to Pennsylvania. The Witmer brothers
were Mennonites and had
religious scruple against war.
« » *
OUT OF AN estimated total of
337 homes along the Frontier, the
English and Indians looted and
burned all but a few that were
somewhat isolated. Fortunately
Abram Witmer was one of these,
so that when they returned everything
was just as they had left it.
When the weather was too bad
to go to Porter's Grist, Mill at
the Falls they used a hollowed
[out stump and a spring pole with
a stone tied to it for a pestle to
grind their grain.
In the spring of 1836 Benjamin
Rathbun came to Niagara Falls
to invest in real estate and erect
buildings. He heard that Abram
Witmer Jr., had a brick kiln
where he was making brick for
his house. Mr. Rathbun entered
into a contract with father and
son to make 300,000 brick for
him which he would pay for on
delivery. They had made and delivered
about two-thirds of the
contract when Rathbun's business
empire founded more or less on
credit, failed - partly, on account
of the financial panic of
that year and partly because of
unscrupulous deals.
The Witmers lost heavily but
made the best of a bad deal, selling
the bricks left on their hands
wherever they could find a market.
Abram ST., was a carpenter
and cabinet maker as well as a
farmer.
Among documents found in the
old Court House attic were two
legal papers dated 1853 containing
the signatures of Abram 'Witmer
and Tobias, another son.
Abram, ST., died Sept. 4, 1851.
Christian H. Witmer, the oldest
of Abram's seven sons operated
Judge Porter's Grist mill near the
present River end of First street
He also had a mill of his own
somewhat later, on the high bank
of the River near the Whirlpool
Bridge. On Sept. 17, 1859 while
working on the raceway he fell
into the water and was carried
down into the River and to his
death in the Whirlpool.
,* ° *
TOBIAS WITMER was born in
1816 at Bellvue, (Suspension
Bridge). He was one of the first
surveyors of that region, his maps
being still the main reliance for
lot lines, etc. He was quite a
genius, being an inventor, author,
poet and a preacher' besides a
Civil Engineer. One of his inventions
was the bicycle wheel. He
made the spokes of the wires from
an old hoop skirt. He also invented
a corn sheller, an automatic
railroad switch,- pile driver,
portable signal tower for use
in the Army, fire escape, etc.
-He-taught school for a time.
In 1861 although he had a family
of 12 children he enlisted in a
Civil War Regiment He died in
1897 in Williamsville, Erie Co.,
leaving a record of accomplishments
that seldom is equalled.
Elias Witmer, twin brother of
Tobias, finished his schooling at
the Lewiston Academy after which
he learned the tailor's trade. Later
he taught school, but finding his
health impaired he stuck' to farm-
ing the rest of his long life.
Practically all the advancement
of the Niagara Frontier, from its
wild state to the highly developed
status? of 1918, was. encompassed
in his life. In his youth oxteams
were a common sight along Portage
road. He "was in Buffalo oh
Oct 26, 1825, to see the official
opening of the Erie Canal and saw
DeWitt Clintonon the "Seneca
Chief and heard the cannon
"telegraph that carried the notice
of the starting of the Seneca
Chief on its voyage to the Atlantic
Ocean.
# ° °
ELIAS WITMER was greatly
interested in the Niagara County
Pioneer's Assoc, organized in 1877
and was one time vice president
He was a regular attendant at
the Olcott Pioneer's Picnics. In
1914 when he was 98 years old
he planned to attend the picnic,
writing, a card to the Secty., George
S. Gooding in advance signifying
his intentions. He died Feb. 23,
1918, aged 102 years, in the
homestead built by his father in
1821.
On the 1852 map of Niagara
County there are shown nine
families of Witmer's living at different
points in the Town of Niagara.
The two first Witmers,
John and Abram, reared 17 children,
most of whom survived and
married.
A few moved out of Niagara
County, but the majority of them
lived and operated various types
of business in this County. The
Witmer road connecting Hyde
Park Blvd. with the Military
road perpetuates the family name.
There are today in Niagara
Falls six families descended from
the two pioneer brothers, .John
and Abram. They are Orlando
B. Witmer, 2215 Pierce Ave.; M.
T. Witmer, 1301 Ferry Ave; Miss
Emma A. Witmer, 1600 Cleveland
Ave.; Christian H. Witmer. 1174
Haeberle Ave.; and my collaborators,
Miss Serena T. Witmer and
Mrs. Theresa Morrison, 1024
Grove Ave. Also a great great
grandson, Robert C. Witmer,
2913 Michigan Ave.

Article by Clarence O. Lewis, Niagara County Historian

ALSO

Tonawanda News - 7/18/1970

By WILLARD DITTM AR
President
Historical Society
of the Tonawandas
Witmer Road, connecting
Niagara Falls Boulevard
and River Road in North
Tonawanda, was named for
a family of early frontier
settlers.
In 1810, John Witmer and
his family, consisting of his
wife and eight children, left
Lancaster, Pa., and settled
on a 100-acre farm on
Military Road, which he had
purchased from one Isaac
Swain. At that time there
was only one other clearing
on Military Road.
Abram Witmer, a brother
of John, came to the Niagara
Frontier in 1811 from the
same place in Pennsylvania
with his wife and four children.
They settled on a tract
of land purchased from the
Holland Land Co. on
Saunders Settlement Road.
When the War of 1812 broke
out, Abram took his family,
which had grown larger,
back to Pennsylvania. The
Witmer brothers were
Mennonites and had
religious scruples against
war.
Tobias Witmer, one of
Abram's seven sons, was
born in 1816 at Bellevue
(Suspension Bridge) and
became one of the first
surveyors of the region. He
made several maps of early
Tonawanda which are still
the main reliance for lot
lines and street boundaries.
On an 1852 map of Niagara
County there are shown
nine families of Witmers
living at different points in
the Town of Niagara. The
two first Witmers. John and
Abram. reared 17 children,
most of whom survived and
married.

John + HERSHEY, Barbara. Barbara (daughter of HERSHEY, Christian and HERR, Barbara) was born on 13 Apr 1767; died on 4 Nov 1856 in Town of Niagara, Niagara County, NY; was buried in WItmer Memorial Cemetery, Niagara Falls, Niagara County, NY. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Niagara Gazette - Abt 7/1957

By CLARENCE O. LEWIS
Niagara County Historian
IN 1810.JOHN WITMER and
his family consisting of his wife
and eight children left Lancaster,
Pa., in a Conestoga wagon with
a four horse team. AM their worldly
possessions were in that wagon.
They were bound for the
Niagara Frontier. The trip was
made in late August and early
September and required 18 days.
The route was circuitious until
they reached Batavia from whence
they followed the Buffalo road
to Black Rock and thence down
the river to Devil's Hole where
they took a road which had been
chopped out by Isaac Swain. This
led to his clearing where the Military
road crosses Gill Creek, close
to the northern boundary of the
Town of Niagara.
Mr. Swain had. partially cleared
the timber from about 40 acres
and erected a good-size log house.
John Witmcr had purchased this
100 acre farm of Mr. Swain who
then moved to the Town of Porter
and settled south of Youngstown.
At this period (1810) there was
only one other clearing on the
Military road in the present town
of Niagara.
A short time before John Witmer
brought his family from Pensylvania,
he had ridden through
on horseback and purchased his
land. When he left his old home
he had cut a slender branch from
a Locust Tree to use as a switch.
When he reached his new home
he planted the switch in the rich
soil in front of the log cabin. The
switch, so the family tell me, took
root and today one may see as I
did, on the east side of the military
road some 25 odd feet north
of the Gill Creek crossing, a large
gnarly old locust tree that has
every earmark of being old enough
to verify the family legend.
* • *
WHEN THE TOWN of Niagara
was organized in April 1812.
John Witmer was elected one of
the "pathmasters." In 1817 he
built a small sawmill on Gill
Creek near his home and in 1818
began to saw and sell lumber.
"A great many of the first frame
houses in that part of Niagara
and adjacent towns were built of
lumber from his sawmill. Last
week I called on Mrs. Theresa
Morrison and Miss Serena Witmer
of 1024 Grove Ave., who are great
granddaughters of John Witmer.
They were most hospitable and
very willing to help me complete
this story. One incident they told
me was about Benjamin Witmer
son of John, and their great uncle
who as a boy of 17 during the
War of 1812, ventured down to
the bank of the Niagara opposite
one of the teaters of battle on the
Canadian, side and as he peered
through the bushes a four-pound
cannon ball came whizzing across
the river and took hit hat off his
head. When be had recovered
from the shock he found the cannon
ball imbedded in the earth
and took it home and it is still
kept by these ladies as a memento
of those troublous times of long
ago.
Abram Witmer, a brother of
John, came to the Frontier in
1811 from the same place in
Pennsylvania. His wife and four
children came with him. Their
trip was similar to John's. They
settled on a tract of land purchased
from the Holland Land
Co. It was on the Saunder's Settlement
road just east of Sugar
Street, and on the west abutted
on the Mile Reserve. He built,
a log house and began to clear
his land. At the first town meeting
in 1812 he was also elected
a pathmaster. When the War
broke out he took his family back
to Pennsylvania. The Witmer brothers
were Mennonites and had
religious scruple against war.
« » *
OUT OF AN estimated total of
337 homes along the Frontier, the
English and Indians looted and
burned all but a few that were
somewhat isolated! Fortunately
Abram Witmer's was one of these,
so that when they returned everything
was just as they had left it.
When the weather was too bad
to go to Porter's Grist, Mill at
the Falls they used a hollowed
out stump and a spring pole with
a stone tied to it for a pestle to
grind their grain.
In the spring of 1836 Benjamin
Rathbun came to Niagara Falls
to invest in real estate and erect
buildings. He heard that Abram
Witmer Jr., had a brick kiln
where he was making brick for
his house. Mr. Rathbun entered
into a contract with father and
son to make 300,000 brick for
him which he would pay for on
delivery. They had made and delivered
about two-thirds of the
contract when Rathbun's business
empire founded more or less on
credit, failed — partly, on account
of the financial panic of
that year and partly because of
unscrupulous deals.
The Witmers lost heavily but
made the best of a bad deal, selling
the bricks left on their hands
wherever they could find a market.
Abram Sr., was a carpenter
and cabinet maker as well as a
farmer.
Among documents found in the
old Court House attic were two
legal papers dated 1853 containing
the signatures of Abram Witmer
and Tobias, another son.
Abram, Sr., died Sept. 4, 1851.
Christian H. Witmer, the oldest
of Abram's seven sons operated
Judge Porter's Grist mill near the
present River end of First street
He also had a mill of his own
somewhat later, on the high bank
of the River near the Whirlpool
Bridge. On Sept. 17, 1859 while
working on the raceway he fell
into the water and was carried
down into the River and to his
death in the Whirlpool.
,* • *
TOBIAS WITM'ER was born in
1816 at Bellvue, (Suspension
Bridge). He was one of the first
surveyors of that region, his maps
being still the main reliance for
lot lines, etc. He was quite a
genius, being an inventor, author,
poet and a preacher besides a
Civil Engineer. One of his inventions
was the bicycle wheel. He
made the spokes of the wires from
an old hoop skirt. He also invented
a corn sheller, an automatic
rairoad switch,- pile driver,
portable signal tower for use
in the Army, fire escape, etc.
He taught school for a time
In 1861 although he had a family
of 12 children he enlisted in a
Civil War Regiment He died in
1897 in Williamsville, Erie Co.,
leaving a record of accomplishments
that seldom is equalled.
Elias Witmer, twin brother of
Tobias, finished his schooling at
the Lewiston Academy after which
he learned the tailor's trade. Later
he taught school, but finding his
health impaired he stuck to farm-
ing the rest of his long life.
Practically all the advancement
of the Niagara Frontier, from its
wild state to the highly developed
status of 1918, was. encompassed
in his life. In his youth oxteams
were a common sight along Portage
road. He was in Buffalo on
Oct 26, 1825, to see the official
opening of the Erie Canal and saw
DeWitt Clintonon the "Seneca
Chief and heard the cannon
"telegraph that carried the notice
of the starting of the Seneca
Chief on its voyage to the Atlantic
Ocean.
# • •
ELIAS WITMER was greatly
interested in the Niagara County
Pioneer's Assoc, organized in 1877
and was one time vice president
He was a regular attendant at
the Olcott Pioneer's Picnics. In
1914 when he was 98 years old
he planned to attend the picnic,
writing, a card to the Secty., George
S. Gooding in advance signifying
his intentions. He died Feb. 23,
1918, aged 102 years, in the
homestead built by his father in
1821.
On the 1852 map of Niagara
County there are shown nine
families of Witmer's living at different
points in the Town of Niagara.
The two first Witmers,
John and Abram, reared 17 children,
most of whom survived and
married.
A few moved out of Niagara
County, but the majority of them
lived and operated various types
of business in this County. The
Witmer road connecting Hyde
Park Blvd. with the Military
road perpetuates the family name.
There are today in Niagara
Falls six families descended from
the two pioneer brothers, .John
and Abram. They are Orlando
B. Witmer, 2215 Pierce Ave.; M.
T. Witmer, 1301 Ferry Ave; Miss
Emma A. Witmer, 1600 Cleveland
Ave.; Christian H. Witmer. 1174
Haeberle Ave.; and my collaborators,
Miss Serena T. Witmer and
Mrs. Theresa Morrison, 1024
Grove Ave. Also a great great
grandson, Robert C. Witmer,
2913 Michigan Ave.

Johannes married SCHALLENBURGER, Maria about 1755. Maria was born about 1735; died between 1774 and 1840. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Christian + HERR, Barbara. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]