How did the name originate? It has gone through numerous spellings the past several hundred years. One conjecture, as good as any, is that the people who lived near where the wolves crossed a stream and soon found themselves known by that (Wolf-fijord). When surnames became common they found themselves so named. That the wolves had something to do with it isn't far fetched. They were probably Vikings living along the North Sea or the Baltic, but gradually moved down into Germany by the 1600s and on to America in the early 1700s.
According to stories handed down through descendants of Frederick Wolford and Elizabeth Caskner, the first of the line to come to Pennsylvania was a Hessian soldier in the American Revolution. The British army did have its Hessian troops in the colonies. Research has shown; however, that the first was in the Montgomery County part of what was then Philadelphia County long before the Revolution. He could have been a Hessian soldier at one time as they were numerous not only in Prussia, but as mercenaries in the employ of other nations, or perhaps he just lived in Hesse.
We still have more research to do in the Montgomery County part of what was then Philadelphia County before we can do much German research as we do not know the given name of our immigrant ancestor or exactly when he died, only that he was deceased before April 9, 1751 when his son Gottfried was confirmed at Augustus Evangelical Lutheran Church at Trappe in Providence Township. We have found out more about his wife. Perhaps we will be able to trace him through her if we should be so fortunate as to find they were acquainted before she came to America in 1728.
Another possibility is to find out more about the older Abraham Wolford (spelling varies) who sponsored Abraham, son of Niklas Wolford and Catherine, October 28, 1750 in the same church at Trappe. We know Niklas didn't come to America until 1743 and was still living in 1775, but we don't know whether the older Abraham came a lot earlier or the relationship--father, brother, or some other relationship. An Abraham Wolford was on the New Jersey tax list in 1778, not very far away.
The earliest Wolford we have found in Pennsylvania is Anna Catherine Wolfhardt born October 6, 1663 at Castle Steinberg, Germany (daughter of Johann George Wolfhardt born December 31, 1639, Castle Steinberg, Germany). Anna Catherine married Jacob Schwab and came to America with their children. They settled in the Conestoga Valley near Mill Creek, Lancaster County. This location isn't all that far from Johann Wolfhardt, who came to America in 1739 and settle in Tulpehoken, Berks County. His son, Johann George, born in 1725 and died in 1794 in Cocalico Township, Lancaster County. Johann Wolfhardt who came in 1739 was born in 1695 supposedly in Switzerland.
Another early Wolford in Pennsylvania was the Rev. Michael Wohlfahrt who tried to reform the Lutheran Church. The church denounced him as a heretic and recommended that he be sent back to Holland, but he was not sent back. Born in Memel, Prussia in 1687, he had done missionary work as far south as North Carolina. After being denounced by the Lutherans he became a Dunkard or Seventh Day Adventist and was a co-worker with Conrad Beissel in the Ephrata Cloister where he died in 1741. We have not found proof he had a family, but he was closely associated with the widow Eckerle, whatever that signifies. Johann Marthin Wolfhardtt purchased lot #81 in the town of Meshlenberg (now Sheperstown). He died in Winchester, Virginia and information was given that he was the son of a German Lutheran evangelist who made a trip in 1722 down through the Shenandoah Valley to North Carolina. John Martin died in 1780, will recorded at Martinsburg, West Virginia named children Jacob, John, and Elizabeth. John moved to Kentucky in 1798. This sounds like the same minister.
__________ Wohlfarth died before April 7, 1751. Married about 1728 to Anna Maria Cunigunda. Anna died after 1756. Anna Maria Cunigunda and Angelica Meiss came to Pennsylvania in 1728 from Zweibruchen, Nohefelden District, Saar, Germany. The collective farm area where they lived was called Ellweiler. The relationship, if any, to Angelica Meiss is not known. Anna Maria married not long after her arrival. We know definitely that she was the mother of Gottfried, born in 1737, and that the following were almost the only Wohlfarths recorded in the same church records, probably Gottfried's siblings:
It is possible Anna Maria Cunigunda Wohlfarth had more children not found
in the records searched. A James Wolford born in 1739, who married Mary
Disffindorfer near Lancaster, Pennsylvania by 1759 and lived in Frederick
County, Maryland during the Revolutionary War period and died in Bedford County,
Pennsylvania in 1811. James does not appear in any Bedford census, but
apparently lived near Adam and Gottfried in Londonderry Township and his eldest
daughter Mary, born in 1760, married Abraham Amrine there and moved to the Ohio
frontier (Belmont County then Union County, Ohio) with children of Adam and
Gottfried. Just below Adam Wohlfarth in Codorus Township, York County, in
Frederick County (Manchester, Carroll County) a Frederick Wohlfarth and wife,
Anna Maria, had a child (said to be male but abbreviation was same as mother) on
May 4, 1783. There was an old Frederick in the 1790 Bedford County census,
Londonderry Township. If he wasn't another brother perhaps he was a second
generation.
See volumes 1 and 2 Pennsylvania German Church Records of Births, Baptisms, Marriages. Introduction by Don Yoder. Pennsylvania German Immigrants 1709-1786. Edited by Don Yoder from lists consolidated from yearbooks of German Folklore Society.
Cunigunda is sometimes given as Kunigunda. The name when used to designate female could have been spelled that way, perhaps for a male as Cunigunda. The widow Wohlfarth's name was sometimes spelled Wolfartin, denoting female. The first h in Wohlfarth was soon dropped. It designates a long o as in Woolfard. Spellings varied from Wolfhardt, Wohlfarth (most of the early church records in Philadelphia County), Wolfart, Wallfart, etc., until Wolford became the most accepted form. The other spellings are still used in some places.
The widow Anna Maria Cunigunda Wohlfarth could have been custodian of the parochial house. She witnessed at least six marriages, apparently not related, between 1753-57, several of which took place in the parochial house. Was she merely a convenient witness? The younger children could have remained with her as she kept the parsonage in readiness for the visiting ministers. It this was true it would rule out Rev. Michael as her spouse. It is extremely doubtful that the Lutheran church would have his widow in the employ unless he abandoned her before going into the Ephrata cloister.
This family probably started moving out of Philadelphia County (the part now Montgomery County), at least part of them, about the time they disappeared from church records (1757) into Lancaster and York counties (and perhaps upper Frederick County in Maryland) before reaching Londonderry Township, Bedford County, along the Maryland border during the Revolutionary War. Some are reported to have been there by 1776. Several had land grants by 1785. Gottfried appears on the 1784 tax list but was probably there earlier.
Gottfried Wohlfarth born in 1737 to _______Wohlfarth and Anna
Maria Cunigunda in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Married ________ by the
late 1760s or very early 1770s. Her given name could have been Barbara or
Elizabeth. After his confirmation in 1751 at 14 years of age, we lose him as far
as documentary evidence goes until he appears on the Londonderry Township,
Bedford County, Pennsylvania tax list in 1784, but it is believed he moved out
from Philadelphia County with others of his family about 1757 through Lancaster
and York counties and perhaps Frederick County, Maryland toward Bedford County
where some of them were established as early as 1776, perhaps earlier.
Gottfried had three sons at home under 16 years of age in the 1790 census and four daughters in addition to his wife. He could have had older children living elsewhere. Other Wolfords living in Londonderry Township were John, Frederick, Adam, and Joseph. Joseph was a second generation. Frederick had the largest family--two sons over 16, six sons under 16, and a daughter in addition to his wife.
Gottfried was a miller on Little Wills Creek where Buffalo Mills is found on road maps today. The stream was navigable to Cumberland, Maryland. Gottfried was probably one of the farmers and millers/distillers in the Whiskey Rebellion. They were angered by the taxation procedure after having fought for independence for this very same reason (one reason), they also didn't have the money to pay the tax and tarred and feathered the tax collectors. In 1794, George Washington led 13,000 troops into Bedford to peacefully quell the rebellion. It was easier and more profitable to pack or ship whiskey to Philadelphia than it was to pack or ship grain.
Gottfried and his family probably started moving toward the Ohio frontier by September 11, 1799 when he signed a deed turning over all of his property in Londonderry Township to John Logue (50 acres) except the mill's moveable parts and the bottle cashs and bottle cloths, requiring a year's notice before leaving. He appeared back in Londonderry Township on July 9, 1801 to verify his signature and the actual deed was recorded October 20, 1801. At this time Gottfried was about 64 years of age. Since he does not appear in the 1800 census he must have been in Virginia (West Virginia) if not in Ohio itself. The 1800 Bedford County census has an Elizabeth Wolford in Colveraine or Providence Township with same number of children Gottfried had in the 1790 census plus a male and a female born after 1790; however, the deed states clearly that he was alive July 9, 1801.
Lutheran church records in Londonderry Township start after 1800, too late to help us with Gottfried's family. Ohio research suggests three sons, perhaps an older one than the three and a younger one born after 1790, for Gottfried. We know he had at least four unmarried daughters in 1790. In 1790, he would have been 53 years of age--not too old to have fathered younger children especially if his wife was younger or if he had more than one marriage as was often the case.
Moses Wolford born June 22, 1777, Pennsylvania and died September 12, 1845, Coshocton County, Ohio. Married circa 1803 to Nancy Ann ________. Her father was possibly Elijah Smtih. Nancy was born June 23, 1782, New Jersey and died September 6, 1856, Coshocton County, Ohio. Moses and Nancy are buried in Smith's Union Methodist Church Cemetery. Moses left a detailed will. He operated a distillery on his farm during the 1820s. He was on the Belmont County, Ohio 1808 tax list. He patented land in Coshocton County, Ohio in 1815 and 1828.
Mathias Wolford born in 1821, Coshocton County, Ohio and died in 1876,
buried in Wright Township, Jasonville, Indiana. Mathias was a cabinetmaker. He
married (1) December 12, 1845, Union County, Ohio to Eliza Emerson. Eliza born
in 1824, Ohio and died August 25, 1854, Coshocton County, Ohio, buried in Mohawk
Methodist Church Cemetery, daughter of Thomas Emerson and Delila Henry. Married
(2) March 18, 1856, Coshocton County, Ohio to Harriet Maines. Mathias owned a
farm in Jefferson Township, Coshocton County, Ohio before moving to Indiana.
See Emerson
Genealogy for more information.
Note by Elaine Wolford: The obituary of Francis Marion Wolford in the Odon Journal list two more sisters probably born between 1851-1854, if this is correct. I haven't found anything on them--names not listed. Could be they never came to Indiana or were half sisters. The obituary listed only four half sisters. There were five. Bob and I went to Bluffs, Scott County, Illinois in the 1970s to visit with a granddaughter of Florence Wolford Frohwitter. That's how we were able to find out as much as we did on the family of Mathias Wolford and that he moved to Greene County, Indiana and died in Jasonville in 1876. His second wife, Harriet Maines, born circa 1840. Harriet had a brother living in Scott County, Illinois. When Mathias died Harriet took all of her children and James Mathias who had come home from the Civil War and was living at home out to Illinois to live. She remarried later. The children weren't very pleased with the marriage.
Francis Marion Wolford born May 5, 1850, Coshocton County, Ohio and
died April 10, 1906, Newberry, Indiana. Married March 26, 1876, Newberry,
Indiana to Mary (Mollie) Caroline Wesner. Mollie born December 10, 1857,
Newberry, Indiana and died January 10, 1923, Coal City, Indiana, daughter of
John Edgar Wesner and Dicy Ebaline Killion. Both are buried in the Old Henry
Slinkard Cemetery. Francis lived in Ohio, Kansas, Missouri, and Indiana during
his life. Francis and Mollie homesteaded in Kansas, but returned to Newberry,
Indiana in 1900.
See Wesner Genealogy
for more information.
See Killion
Genealogy for more information.
Lillie Ethel Wolford born January 29, 1882 in a little whitewashed
cabin a short distance southwest of Newberry, Indiana. Later the highway between
Newberry and Elnora ran close and parallel to the front of it. When she was 3 or
4 years old her family moved to Kansas and Ethel cried to go back to the white
house. Ethel died July 24, 1963, Bicknell, Indiana. Married September 25, 1907,
Greene County to George Homer Brown. Homer born September 21, 1886 near Burns
City, Indiana and died November 7, 1930, Sandborn, Indiana, son of George Brown
and Sally Sipes. Both are buried in Sandborn, Indiana. As a family they lived in
Sandborn, west of Odon, south of Sandborn, and northwest of Sandborn.
See Brown Genealogy
for more information.
See Sipes/Gee
Genealogy for more information.
Clyde Victor Wolford born January 7, 1884, Newberry, Indiana and died March 28, 1968, Linton, Indiana. Married October 6, 1907, Newberry, Indiana to Lelia Genevieve Slinkard. Jenny born June 7, 1885, Newberry, Indiana and died October 20, 1963, Linton, Indiana, daughter of Henry Slinkard and Anna Della Pebbles. Both are buried in Newberry, Indiana, Slinkard Cemetery.
Marion Frances Wolford born December 7, 1896, Goshen, Missouri and died November 16, 1958, Coal City, Indiana. Married August 27, 1919, Greene County, Indiana to Irvine Pierce Hilburn. Pierce born April 20, 1892, and died June 7, 1964.
Dortha Eunice Brown born January 3, 1912, Newberry, Indiana and died
November 16, 1986, Bloomington, Indiana. Married August 18, 1933, Worthington,
Indiana to John Benjamin Van Horn. John born January 15, 1909, Kalamazoo,
Michigan and died November 2, 1980, Linton, Indiana, son of Charles Wesley Van
Horn and Minnetta Pearl Blackketter. Both are buried in Sandborn, Indiana.
See Van Horn
Genealogy for more information.
See Blackketter
Genealogy for more information.
Carroll Emil Wolford born September 24, 1914, Newberry, Indiana and died March 30, 1966, Newberry, Indiana, buried in Slinkard Cemetery. Married October 3, 1946, Elnora, Indiana to Elaine Campbell. Elaine born May 30, 1918, Pine Prairie, Louisiana, daughter of Harvey C. Campbell and Bessie Eva Elliott.
Carolyn Elizabeth Hilburn born April 25, 1921. Married March 31, 1946 to Dennis Verdon Swayze. Dennis born August 25, 1922.
Rosemary Edith Hilburn born November 23, 1922 and died December 2, 1991, buried in Beech Cemetery, Clay City, Indiana. Married March 6, 1945 to Bradford Fitzpatrick. Bradford born January 9, 1926.