Joel WITWER

                   Abraham Witwer, the only child of his parents, born near New Holland, Pa., was brought up by his widowed mother.  But by reason of being an orphaned child he became a great favorite of his Grandfather HAnsel and his Uncle Abel, who took much pleasure in teaching him in all the different arts and sciences that he was inclined to adapt himself to, as Abel was a natural genius and mechanic of various kinds, and as Abraham had a natural desire and pleasure to be working in wood he thus soon acquired the efficiency of making anything out of wood, and they made furniture and coffins and did quite an extensive business in undertaking.  But before Abraham reached his majority he fell deeply in love with Elizabeth Sowers and they were married on August 17, 1817, and Abraham then bought six acres of land situated two miles southwest of NEw Holland, along the Turnpike road to Vogansville, and he built a neat little home on this land and a carpenter shop in which, besides farming his little land, he did carpenter work, cabinet work and undertaking, and here they brought up quite a large family and they so prospered that in 1832 he sold his little six-acre farm to a Mr. Brubaker and bought ninety acres from his mother, who had inherited a large farm from the Summa estate (her parents).  On this ninety-acre farm was a one-story stone house and quite a large stone barn, and he built himself a good-sized carpenter shop along the turnpike road, just a little ways from the house, which was just to the outside of Vogansville.  The carpenter shop was not very far from the stone house and whenver they heard the saws rattling in the carpenter shop it was a sure sign that a funeral was in the near vicinity.  A death occurring in the neighborhood, he would go and measure the corpse and cut a stick the exact length of the corpse and then make the coffin according to that measure.  These sticks he would mark carefully and tie them up in bundles and preserve them, of which he had quite a lot of them of all different lengths, that he had stored away.  The coffins were made of wild cherry or black walnut wood, according to the choice of the customer.  Thie would be highly polished and varnished on the sides and top; the top generally was raised in the middle.  H had a large and fine hearse and carried on the undertaking business quite exclusively, while his sons did the work on the farm, and he prospered.  This farm was situated northeast of Vogansville, just to the edge of the village along the road leading to New Holland, and was land of very excellent quality and in 1843 he sold htis property for $8,500.  He then made a trip to Ohio and the country suited him so well that he went back to Vogansville and built himself a large wagon with a covered box on and in the spring of 1844 hitched four good horses to this wagon and one to the buggy and they made a trip across the mountains.  Cyrus, then being about eighteen years of age, drove the team all the way.  They came to Ohio.  Abraham bought 160 acres of first-class land in the southeast corner of Summit County, Ohio, on which was two sets of buildings and a saw mill, which he bought for $6,400, and as he was now so well situated he sold this farm to his sons Jonathan and Cyrus in partnership in 1849, and he bought fity-two acres of land adjoining this farm on the east, situated in Stark County Ohio.  This little farm had good buildings on and he built himself a carpenter shop out  to the road, where he whiled away the evening of his life, making peices of furniture as keesakes for his grandchildre, and as I was quite young then he gave me-"the compiler of this work"- a screwdriver and told me that his uncle Abel made it for him and that I should take good care of it, that when I would get older I would appreciate it more than I did then at that time, and I wish to say that he was right, not for the value of it, but becasue my grandfather appreciated the gift of his uncle to him in carefully preserving and appreciating it, and then that he though that well of me to give me a token of his love in pr
esenting me with a gift of that kind is what puts tha value to the article; and the screw-driver that closed he doors to many mortals for the last long rest on this earth, they had gone to their quiet closet to moulder to the dust from whence they came.  Grandfather Abraham Witwer died November 20, 1870, aged 73 years and 23 days, and is buried at Mt. Zion, one half mile south of the southeast corner of Summit County, Ohio, in Plain Township, Stark Coutny, Ohio.  Abraham Witwer and wife were devoted members of the Church of the Brethren, then known as the Dunkard church, and they used to hold their meetings in the houses in winter and in the barns in the summer time.  Grandmother Witwer survived him for many years and many good words of counsel did I receive from her.  She died April 25, 1888, aged 87 years and 17 days, and is buried in the new grave yard of the Church of the Brethren, just about 100 yards from the southeast corner of Summit County, Ohio, just across the south line and west of the corner, but in Stark County, and about twenty-five feet south of the county line, close to the grave yard fence.  Here just west of this grave yard at the crossroad and about 200 yards west of the southeast corner of Summit County, the Church of the Brethren built quite a large church, and as Grandmother WItwer contributed considerable towards this edifice and grounds it was her desire to be buried there, which is just half a mile north of where her husband, Abraham Witwer, is buried.
SOURCES:
    1. Witwer genealogy of America by Ananais Clime Witwer and Rev. Geo. Witwer  1909 So. Bend Indiana