The Life and Times of Isaac Metzker

Isaac Metzker lived his entire life in what is now North Woodbury, Pennsylvania. He was born on January 24, 1809 to Christina Hoover, age 30, and John George Metzker, age 38. The Metzker/Metzger family were early settlers of Bedford County, coming to the area from the Old World in the mid-1700s.

Isaac grew up on a farm learning what would become his trade in then Woodbury, Bedford County. Woodbury became a part of Blair County in 1846 when it was formed from parts of Bedford and Huntingdon counties. Isaac’s farm at that time included 80 acres of farmed land producing: 250 bushels of wheat, 150 bushels of corn and oats each, 100 bushels of rye, 15 bushels of potatoes and 10 tons of hay. On October 1, 2015 the Metzker family was added to the First Families of Blair County recognizing them as original residents of the new county.

By 1879 with son Samuel, the Metzker farm had improved another 20 acres adding an apple orchard sweet potatoes and clove seeds to the mix. Corn became the predominate crop selling 700 bushels. 1879 was also a pivotal year for the family as matriarch Anna Lantz Metzger died of catarrh fever, a disease affecting the respiratory organs in November.                  

Anna Lantz Metzker
incorrect headstone

Not much is known about Anna Lantz and what is known is not set in stone. The US Mortality Schedule gives us the information on her death above, while her headstone lists her death as 26 Feb 1881. As she does not appear on the 1880 census and Isaac is listed as a widower, it appears the headstone is incorrect. Anna was born 8 Aug 1814 in Pennsylvania; who her people were are currently a mystery. She married Isaac about 1832. The couple had 10 children: William, Rebecca, Catherine, Nancy, John, Virginia, Eliza, Samuel, Anna, and Elizabeth in 21 years. Anna was a homemaker and a member of the German Baptist Brethren Church. After her death, widowed daughter Eliza Hudson moved home with her children to help care for Isaac.

Isaac Metzker(Metzger) Farm
Mennonite Cemetery is between 147 and 141

Isaac led a productive life for another twelve years with a prosperous farm which while having passed out of the family, is still in existence today. Two of his children; Virginia Metzker Stoner and Samuel passed before Isaac. He spent his last days at the home of his grand-daughter Charlotte Ebersole McGraw and his great-grandsons Earl & Herbert. He died on September 18, 1891, in his hometown, having lived a long life of 82 years, 7 months and 24 days. Isaac, Anna and much of their family are buried down the road from the farm in the Mennonite Cemetery in Martinsburg.

Note: If you have any information on Anna Lantz Metzker’s ancestors please comment below.

Sources:

1. Non-population Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850-1880: Agriculture (62 rolls); Roll 2: 1850 Agriculture: Blair-Carbon counties; Roll 34: 1880 Agriculture: Blair-Bedford counties

2. U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1880; http://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=usmortality&h=2420442&ti=0&indiv=try&gss=pt

3. Year: 1880; Census Place: North Woodbury, Blair, Pennsylvania; Roll: 1103; Family History Film: 1255103; Page: 445B; Enumeration District: 174; Image: 0449

4. Isaac Metzker Obituary; Altoona Tribune, 22 Sep 1891 pg 4

5. Findagrave.com; http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=MET&GSpartial=1&GSbyrel=all&GSst=40&GScntry=4&GSsr=4481&GRid=27263514&

Newest Blair County Founders Recognized

Jacob Shoenfelt II was born 9 Sep 1792, near Hagerstown, Maryland and died in his 91^st year on 14 Apr 1884. His parents, Jacob the 1^st and Elizabeth Baker Shoenfelt settled on land given them by Jacob I’s father William Shanefelt, near Woodberry, Bedford County in the spring of 1796. According to a 1946 Altoona Mirror article, the land William purchased has remained in family hands for 166 years.  Jacob I with the help of Jacob II built the family home there (now known as Taylor Twp, Blair County) in 1812. The family of eight were of the German Reformed faith and although Jacob I became a Dunkard preacher later in life, Jacob II remained with the German Reformed. Of hardy German stock, Jacob II did not learn to read or speak English until he was an adult.

Jacob and Elizabeth Marks celebrated the arrival of daughter Elizabeth in 1802. Betsy grew up in Huntingdon Boro. She married Jacob II at an early age. They raised their family of thirteen (Henry, Joseph, Elizabeth, George, Sarah, Jacob, Andrew, Isaac, Mary, Susan, John, Harriet and James) on the Plum Creek farm.  The family resided in Woodbury in 1846 when Blair county was formed and in 1856 when their section of Woodbury became Taylor Twp. Jacob II out lived his wife Elizabeth and his children: daughters Elizabeth, Sarah, Harriet and sons Issac and James. 

While Jacob was primarily a farmer in his later years. As a young man he was a wagoner transporting pig iron from Maria Forge to Pittsburgh before the construction of highways.

Jacob Shoenfelt voted for our 4th President James Madison thru the 20th President James Garfield

In the last few years of his life he became a favorite subject of the Altoona Tribune. In a profile celebrating his 90^th birthday, the interviewer reports that Jacob II “voted for James Madison for President and voted at every presidential election since casting his vote for General Garfield for president in 1880. He only missed voting at two elections ever since he voted. He was a Federalist, Whig, American and Republican, always true to his party. He is a hale old man, and bids fair to be a centenarian. The lustre of his eyes is not bedimmed and he reads and writes without the use of glasses. He never used a pair of spectacles in his life. His memory is remarkably good and it is pleasing to hear him relate incidents and occurrences of long ago, speaking of the kind and charitable disposition of some of the early settlers of the Cove.” The Shoenfelts are purportedly buried in the Snowberger Cemetery in East Sharpsburg, PA.

Details from Isaac Metzker Farm Censuses of 1850 and 1880

Isaac Metzker's Farm was located in North Woodbury in Blair County, Pennsylvania. The following information came from the Agriculture Censuses in 1850 and 1880 with calculation for today's dollars.

1880 Isaac Metzker Farm

Son Samuel farming land for cut of profit

1879 stats: Total Income $716 which equals $17,047.62 in 2014

Livestock –    Cows: 2 calves born, 1 cow sold, 2 slaughtered, 1 lost; 208lbs of butter sold

                        Sheep: 3 lambs born

                        Chicken: 208 eggs produced

Crops-           Corn: 25 acres of corn produced 700 bushels

                        Oat: 5 acres oats produced 80lbs

                        Rye: 4 acres of rye produced 20lbs

                        Wheat: 24 acres of wheat produced 275lbs

                        Potato: 3/4 acres Irish potatoes produced 50 bushels; 2 bushels sweet potato

                        Orchard: 8 acres with 100 apple trees produced 250 bushels sold for $75

                        Forestry: 25 cords of wood cut and sold for $50

                        Hay: 1 Ton harvested

                        Clover Seed: 3 bushels

Expenses:

                        Building Repair: $15

                        Labor costs: 16 weeks $15

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Value in 1880 = $7732 Farmland $7200, Farm Equipment $75, Livestock $457

Value in 2014 dollars = $179,813.95

Acres: 108 acres improved land, 20 acres of forest and 1 acre of grassland not mowed

Livestock on hand 1 Jun 1880: 6 horses, 4 milk cows, 10 other cows, 9 sheep, 15 pigs, 50 chickens

1880 spring sheering = 9 fleeces weighing 40lbs      

1850 Isaac Metzker Farm

1849 stats:

Livestock –    Cows: 150lbs of butter sold

                        Animals Slaughtered for $85

Crops-           Corn: 150 bushels

                        Oat: 150 bushels

                        Rye: 100 bushels

                        Wheat: 250 bushels

                        Potato: 15 bushels

                        Hay: 10 Ton harvested

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Value in 1850 = $6451 Farmland $6000, Farm Equipment $100, Livestock $351

Value in 2014 dollars = $195,727.27

120 Acres = 80 Improved, 40 Unimproved

Livestock on hand 1 Jun 1850: 5 horses, 4 milk cows, 5 other cows, 10 sheep, 8 pigs

1850 spring sheering = 20lbs

Source:

Nonpopulation Census Schedules for Pennsylvania, 1850-1880: Agriculture(62 rolls);.

Roll 2: 1850 Agriculture: Blair-Carbon counties; Roll 34: 1880 Agriculture: Blair-Bedford counties

First Families

"I believe the dead rely on us to tell their stories and that leave is up to you and me." ~ Jessica Fletcher in Murder She Wrote

My 2nd great-grandfather has been inducted into the First Families of Blair County, Blair County in Pennsylvania was formed in 1846 from parts of Hunterdon and Bedford County. The county seat is Hollidaysburg, but the largest most recognized town is Altoona, originally home to the Pennsylvania Railroad. John saw the birth of that railway, the nation torn apart by civil war and the the introduction of automobiles making his saddlery business obsolete.

Blair County Townships Map

Below is my mini-biography submitted to the First Families of Blair County:

John L Ritts was born 30 Mar 1833 to Thomas and Catherine Lower Ritts in North Woodbury, Bedford County, Pennsylvania. The Thomas Ritts family which included son John and daughters, Catherine, Elizabeth, Martha, Mary and Lydia all resided in what became Blair County in 1846. John married Mary Shoenfelt in 1856 shortly after Taylor Township formed. John who followed in his father’s footsteps as a saddle and harness maker settled with his bride a few doors down from his parents in the new township. 

John and Mary had six children:

Catherine Jane (11 Sep 1857 - 28 Nov 1937) m. Peter Grove
Sarah Anne (27 Mar 1859 - 28 Apr 1943)
Albert S (27 Mar 1861 - 09 Jul 1951) m. Janet Butler
Harry Samuel (Apr 1863 - 04 Jul 1949) m. Elizabeth Hudson
Luria (1869 – bef 1880)
John Elmer (03 May 1871 – bef 1949) m. Rose Hardman

John served briefly in the Civil War as a Private. John and Mary were married for 48 years. While on the way to visit her sister, Susan Tipton, wife Mary was tragically killed as the trolley she was riding jumped the tracks plunging into the Juniata River. In a subsequent trial against Altoona and Logan Valley Railroad, John was awarded $1200. 

A lifelong resident of Blair County, John L Ritts passed away at age 78 of heart disease on 6 Jul 1911. He is buried in Antis Cemetery along with his son Harry’s family.