1May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".2Census, Federal 1910, Bow Creek, Rooks, Kansas. "Name: Josiah Thompson
Age in 1910: 53
Birth Year: abt 1857
Birthplace: Wisconsin
Home in 1910: Bow Creek, Rooks, Kansas
Race: White
Gender: Male
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Weltha A Thompson
Father's Birthplace: New York
Mother's Birthplace: New York
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Josiah Thompson 53
Weltha A Thompson 52
Ashley F Thompson 16."
1May Sommers, May Sommers personal family history of the DeMouths, Written for her children in 1936, unpublished, Personal files of Dianne Z. Stevens, 1301 Reetz Road, Madison, WI 53711. "Demouth Family History
dated June 1936
This history is of my Mother's ancestors, and my father's what little is known of them.
This story begins many years before the Revolutionary War. It follows down through the years the history of my people, covering a period of about two-hundred years of time.
William Levi was born in Germany in 1737. At the age of thirty he was sold to the English army to fight against the colonists during the Revolutionary War. These Germans were Hessians. William being one of them. They were lured on board the battle-ships to see the interior. Then the gangplanks were lifted and the ships sailed away. William Levi hated the English and got out of fighting every apportunity. He would play off sick at their military drills, etc. One cold night when snow was on the ground he took off his shoes and tied them on his feet, heels front and toes of the shoes facing backwards so the British would think he had gone in the opposite direction! In a short time he safely reached the American lines. Levi was a miller and was following his trade when carried off to America.
After the Revolutionary War ended, he went back to his trade and married a girl by the name of Abigail Mudge who was of English descent. Abigail's grandparents came over to this country on the Mayflower, not sure, and brought with them a pewter platter which they gave to Abigail. This platter many years after was melted and molded into spoons, one of which the writer posesses.
Abigail's second husband was Mr. Lamb, by whom she had two children. He was killed in the Revolutionary War fighting against the English.
There was an incident happened along about this time, no date to make sure when it happened, which shows are folks were in poverty. One dark night a wagon drove up which was loaded with barrels of flour being taken to the British soldiers. One barrel had rolled off and the head broken in. The driver went to the house where some of my folks lived and told them about the broken barrel and said he would give it to them, half or more was still in the barrel and clean. He would give them this barrel if they would remove every trace of the flour that was scattered, in other words, cover his trail. They studied a little. It was abetting and helping an enemy but their family was hungry and no harm could come of it probably, and they accepted the barrel of flour and covered the flour in the road with dust. It was the Colonists that must not know that the British were near. Such is war.
Abigail now a widow marries William Levi the Hessian who was brought to this country on a British warship. We have no proof of this marriage but we have proof of the 1740 marriage first one. This week came the following from Sharon, Conn. The town clerk sends a notice of David Skinner's marriage to Abigail Mudg in 1740. Also D. Skinner died August 12, 1740, her husband.
K. B. Hotaling, Town Clerk
The above item is all the proof we have of the authenticity of our history, all else has been carried down by word of mouth and may be correct and may not be.
Where was Abigail Mudg between 1740 first marriage and 1797 when my grandmother Mariah was born, supposed to be Abigail's child by William Levi. I think a generation was skipped right here. We know the date of 1740 must be trueit coming out of a book of vital statistics. We know 1797 must be correct for my grandmother remembers things she saw in 1800, she was three years old then.
Abigail's name was first Mudg then Skinner, she then married and changed name to Lamb, then married William Levi. Eight children were born to them as follows: William, Oliver, John, Phoeba, Mariah, Betsy, Frances and Elizabeth, twins who died in infancy. William Levi and Abigail his wife spent most of their lives near Sharon, Connecticut.
We drop all these children but Mariah my grandmother. She was born in 1797. She learned to write on birchbark by the light of a fireplace. She learned to spin wool on a tall spinning wheel, being very young and small, her father had to make her a bench on which she would walk back and forth as she spun.
We will now turn to my mother's father's people. Many years before the Revolutionary War, there were a Mr. and Mrs. Demouth who came from Holland and settled in New Jersey. To them was born in1770 a son Jacob.
They owned 300 acres of landabout twenty miles fron New York City. They had but one child, Jacob, who at his parents death inherited everything they left, three hundred acres of land with a beautiful stone mansion on it, archards, flowergardens, etc. We have no record of Jacob's wife.
One or both of them did not seem to know how to handle an estate as in course of time all was lost. Jacob had a conscience and it would not let him keep those thirty slaves, so in 1810 he freed them. That of course was a loss of much money. That and other things caused the estate to be sold piece by piece until finally the family got in hard straits.
It was in the great mansion Jacob and his wife's children were born nine of them who were: Frederick, Adam, James, John, Thomas, Jacob, Mary, Betsy, and Charlotte. Jacob Demouth, the father of these nine children was a prominent public man. He was Justice of the Peace of Pequat Township, Morris County, New Jersey for thirty years. He belonged to the Methodist church. But we must now follow one of these children down the line, one of them is related to us, it is John. John Demouth was my grandfather.
At the age of twenty-four he became acquainted with Mariah Levi. She had come from Connecticut to New Jersey to keep house for her brother. At the age of twenty-three she and John Demouth were married (my grandparents). The wedding was in the year 1818. The first two years of their married life were spent in Connecticut, after which they returned to New Jersey. John was a farmer. To this union six children were born: Samuel, Chalon, James, Jacob, Frances and Semantha, my mother the youngest of the family.
John and Mariah raised their family in New Jersey then migrated to Wisconsin in 1848. Semantha was twelve years old when her parents moved to Wisconsin. It was in Wisconsin John Demouth was killed by a tree falling on him that he had just chopped down. His grand-daughter May was about one year old in 1861. . . .
A cousin, Frank Barber, was visiting in New Jersey and saw the place where his mother and mine (sisters) had lived. Demouth was their maiden name now changed to Frances Barber and Semantha Webster. Cousin Frank also saw the place where the old mill had been when slaves worked in it. That was before Jacob Demouth freed his slaves.".2Ancestry.com, FamilyTree of amaclaney.