Snyder Community
Hale County, Texas
Mennonite Colony Families
Joseph K.
(1863-1963) and Mary (Gingerich) (1867-1942) Hartzler
Joseph and Mary were my great-grandparents. Their marriage license was issued on
December 28, 1888, in Wayne County, Ohio,1 and they were married on
January 1, 1889. Their first two children, David and
(Lydia) Ellen, were born on the family farm near Holmesville, Holmes County,
Ohio, in 1890 and 1891 respectively. Sometime before the births of sons Ray
(1897) and Ira (1900), the family relocated to Wayne County, Ohio, adjacent to
Holmes County on the north. Ira is the toddler beside his mother in the portrait
above, so I estimate the date to be about 1902. The picture's folder is
marked "Drake, Loudonville, Ohio." (Photo from the
Vita Hartzler Deneke Collection.)
1900
Federal Census - Orrville village, Baughman Township, Wayne County, Ohio, ED
#139, sheet 23B
Joseph K. - aged 36, born Oct. 1823, married 11 years, born
in Ohio, parents both born in Ohio, dry good merchant
Mary - aged 31, born Aug. 1866, mother of four children, four
children living, born in Indiana, parents both born in Ohio
David J. - 10-year-old son, born Feb. 1890 in Ohio
Lydia E. - 8-year-old daughter, born Oct. 1891 in Ohio
Ray - 3-year-old son, born Apr. 1897 in Ohio
(Baby) [Ira] - 1/12-year-old son, born Apr. 1900 in Ohio
The family portrait at right, submitted by J. Hartzler, shows
the family in about 1913 in Texas. Alta, the little girl on her mother's lap,
was born in the Snyder Community in September 1911. Compare this family portrait
with the one of the Peter Snyder family and notice
the pillar on the right side of the photo. The families may have visited the
same photographer!
Family members are: front row (left to right) Paul, Joseph, Alta, Mary; back row
(left to right) Ray, David, Ellen (my grandma, Mrs. Orville Snyder), Ira.
The family moved from Orrville, Ohio, to the Snyder Community shortly after the
Peter Snyder family, probably March 1907. Like the
Snyders, the Hartzlers had two tents, one for their quarters and one to shelter
the animals they had brought with them from Ohio. (Photo on left submitted by
J. Hartzler.)
Building the barn was the first priority. They lived in the loft of the barn
until the house was ready for occupancy. In fact, Joseph and Mary's son Paul was
born in that barn in July 1907. By the time daughter Alta was born in 1911,
Joseph had built his family the house pictured below, using lumber he had
brought from Ohio. (Photo from the Vita Hartzler Deneke
collection.)
1910
Federal Census - Justice precinct - No. 1, Hale County, Texas [same
page as Perry Smith, Milton Near, Jonas M. Kreider, and John
Hartzler]
Heartzler [sic] Joseph K. - age 46, born in Ohio, both
parents born in Ohio, farmer
Mary - age 42, mother of five children, five children living,
born in Indiana, both parents born in Ohio
David J. - 20-year-old son [married Ida B. Kreider, daughter
of Jonas M. and Catharine Kreider]
Lydia Ellen - 18-year-old daughter [married Orville A.
Snyder, son of Peter B. and Ida Snyder]
Ray - 13-year-old son
Ira - 9-year-old son
Baby [Paul] - 2-year-old son
1920
Federal Census - Precinct 1 (Part of), Hale County, Texas
Joe K. - aged 56, born in Ohio, father born in Ohio, mother
born in Pennsylvania, farmer
Mary - aged 53, born in Iowa, both parents born in Iowa
Ray - 22-year-old married son
Ethel M. - 21-year-old daughter-in-law, born in Indiana,
father born in Illinois, mother born in Ohio
Ira J. - 19-year-old son
Paul - 12-year-old son, born in Texas
Alta - 8-year-old daughter, born in Texas
The
Joseph Hartzler family appears to be the last of the colonists to leave Texas,
having lived there from almost seventeen years. (The
Ferdinand Rastetters stayed in Hale County.) In January 1924, with only the
two youngest children remaining at home, Joseph and Mary left Texas and returned
to Wayne County, Ohio, where they had lived before.
1930 Federal Census - Green Township, Wayne County, Ohio
Joseph K. - aged 66, occupation: painting buildings
Mary A. - aged 63, born in Indiana, both parents born in
Ohio, homemaker
Paul J. - 21-year-old single son, laborer in a greenhouse
Alta - 18-year-old single daughter
Mary passed away in 1942, at the age of 74. Joseph lived to be 99 years old and
I remember him from my childhood. He passed away in 1963 and was buried beside
his wife in the cemetery of the Oak Grove Mennonite Church near Smithville,
Ohio. His obituary in the local paper said he was survived by four children, 24
grandchildren, 43 great grandchildren, and 4 great-great-grandchildren.2
Their youngest child, Alta Hartzler Conrad, born in the Snyder Community in
1911, still lives in Ohio and has been at great source of help to me in my
family history research.
Joseph's
obituary
- Gospel Herald - Volume LVI, Number 4 - January 22, 1963 page 95 or
96
Mary's obituary
- Gospel Herald - Vol. XXXV, No . 7 - May 14, 1942 - page 158 or 159
Footnotes
1. I found it very interesting to note that on the Wayne County, Ohio,
court house record of Joseph and Mary's marriage license, which was filled in
by a clerk rather than the applicants themselves, one word had been scratched
out. Joseph, a devout Mennonite, undoubtedly refused to swear to the truth of
the information given on the application. So on the record, the printed word
"sworn" in the phrase "Sworn to and subscribed before me" was crossed out and
the word "affirmed" substituted. Those unfamiliar with Mennonites' opposition
to the swearing of oaths may be surprised to know that the Article II of the
Constitution of the United States gives the President the option of stating an
affirmation rather than taking an oath. "Before he enter on the execution of
his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:--'I do solemnly
swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of
the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and
defend the Constitution of the United States.'"
2. "Joseph Hartzler Succumbs At 99," Rittman
Press, Rittman, Ohio, January 10, 1963, p. 1.
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