This is an attempt to help to know who we are,
and remember where we came from; these are the "Roots" that have
nourished our blossoming trees, allowing us to grow. It is dedicated to
all who have paved the roads for us, and the world we live in.
If any errors are found I would like to correct them, or if you would just like
to tell me about the ancestors you found here, please contact me at: jerrygarrison@yahoo.com
. I do try and reply to all who write. This revision may have
changed a search engine referral page; if so, please
Kitts, Elizabeth OH RICHLAND CO. VERNON TWP 084 1830
??Kell, Elizabeth OH RICHLAND CO. VERNON TWP 278 1840
??Getrosht, George OH CRAWFORD CO. VERNON TWP 340 1850
?? Getrosht, George OH CRAWFORD CO. VERNON TWP 1851
?? Getrost, Leonard OH CRAWFORD CO. JACKSON TWP 363 1850
?? Getrost, Leonard OH CRAWFORD CO. JACKSON TWP 1851
Biographical Sketch. [copied from a document supplied by Denny Bishop, 20 Nov., 2000]
Rebecca (Kitch) Bishop, subject of this sketch, is the youngest daughter of George M. and Elizabeth (Gardner) Kitch. Her ancestry from the remotest knowledge of them, lived in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, not many miles from Carlisle, the County Seat. Here her paternal great grand parents lived and for aught we know were native. Her maternal great grand parents were Martin Kitch and a Miss .... Smucker, the latter a native of Germany, the former of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Their daughter Catherine Kitch, married William Gardner, grand parents of our subject, and the result of this union was fourteen children, ten girls and four boys, extending from December 28th, 1790, the date of the birth of Elizabeth the eldest, to Jan. 24th., 1811, the date of the birth of John K. the youngest. Two of these twin boys died in infancy: all the others grew to robust maturity and were remarkable for physical strength and longevity. One of the girls, Rebecca, though small of stature could stand on the edge of a half bushel measure and shoulder a sack containing three bushels of wheat.
The sixth of February 1812, Elizabeth the first born of the above family, married George M. Kitch of whose Ancestry nothing positively is known except that he was in some way related to his wife's grandparents. Of this union nine children were born, five girls and four boys. Two of the number, George and Julian died in infancy, one Margaret, at the age of eleven, and one Jacob at the age of seven. The remaining five grew to maturity and of this number our subject was the youngest. She has not only survived all the others but has also reached a greater age than any of them and is still (Mch, 20th, 1902) living. After three or possibly four, children and been born to them in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, the family moved to Ohio, in the year 1817, and settled in Tuacarawas County, about three miles from New Philadelphia. Here all the remainder of their children were born, including our subject, who first saw the light on the 14th. day of November 1824. In Spring of 1827, when Rebecca was two and one-half years old, the family, in order to improve their prospects, moved farther west, to Richland, now Crawford County, Ohio, where a family of Campbells, sister and brother in law to her, and a family of Werts, cousins to Mrs. Kitch settled about the same time. Here in a log cabin on the Banks of Lost Creek they lived and here a few months later, Mr. Kitch died, in his thirty-seventh year. He had supported his family in the practice of his trade, that of shoemaker. When he, the bread winner, had fallen, the family were indeed in a hard strait: a widdow with six small children, the eldest 13, and the youngest only one, all in the dense forest with no land of their own and all their neighbors just beginning to open up their farms by clearing off the timber and building their log cabins. No one had a surplus and no one could do much for another no matter how much they might desire to. This new county was a wilderness of forest of heavy timber, without roads or bridges, full of wolves and other wild animals. But Mrs. Kitch was equal to the emergency, being of an ingenious turn of mind, and driven by hunger and need, she, instead of selling his tools, took the up and made and mended shoes for all the neighborhood. This she continued to do for a good many years while the children did the work inside and outside the house. Rebecca's earliest recollections were of this home and these environments. Toil, privation, a measure of parental neglect, lack of schools and religious and social privileges, - these were the conditions. The family were Lutherans and the mother was of strong and rugged religious convictions. With the other children Rebecca when old enough, was taught and catechised and received into the Lutheran Church, having been baptised in infancy. Of her development into womanhood, her later religious life, her marriage to Jacob B. Bishop, the rearing of her large family of children, their removal to western points and finally to Putnam County, Ohio, others may write later. These things I have written because of a deep and tender love for her and in confident hope of meeting her soon in heaven.
(Robert Conden)
From OH BLM records:
KITCH, ELIZABETH OH 08/06/1834 2531 OH0570__.055
This page was made possible through the help of many
people.
First, and foremost, I want to thank my ancestors, without whom I wouldn't be
here, and without whom I wouldn't be the same person I am. Second, all of the
people on the Kitch-L list who
have helped and given encouragement, but especially for the major contributions
by Linda (Antram) Smith and Tom Kitch; these two furnished both inspiration and
names and dates, as well as a sounding board for my ideas. In addition I
have had help and support from too many others to name here. It is
appreciated, and as long as we keep living, our genealogy will continue growing.
