Jakob married Barbara E. Pfalzgraf about 1865 in Ohio, USA. Barbara (daughter of Georges Michel Pfalzgraf and Elisabeth Diehl) was born on 2 Sep 1845 in Seneca Township, Monroe County, Ohio, USA; died on 9 Jan 1928 in Monroe County, Ohio, USA; was buried on 11 Jan 1928 in Calais Cemetery, Calais, Seneca Township, Monroe County, Ohio, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Published in the Monroe County Beacon, July 16, 1964 and by Clermont C. Pfalzgraph, Grandson of George Michael Jr. and Elizabeth Diehl Pfalzgraph

George Michael Pfalzgraph Jr. was born in 1809 in the family home, which was a stone house approximately two and a half miles from the Rhine River. George Michael Sr?s mother was buried on Easter Sunday 1832 which was the same day that his family joined with other families and departed for LeHarve, France as the first step of their emigration to the United States. Included in the party were George Michael Pfalzgraph Sr., a cousin, and a maiden, Elizabeth Diehl, who later became the wife of Michael Jr. In another account (see below) it was noted that Elizabeth?s father was angry about her emigrating to the United States.

Based on oral histories and our interpretation of scant records, it was not unusual for the early settlers of Miltonsburg and Monroe County villages to leave substantial (stone) homes in Germany and France and accept the crude dwellings and conditions of the American frontier as their new home. Making the journey with other family members and close family associates such as Elizabeth Diehl as well as other families from the same general area was also a common pattern. Once a family settled in United States, other family members and acquaintances naturally joined them at least for a time in this country. This pattern helps to explain why we found that almost everyone who lived in Miltonsburg in the nineteenth century seemed to be related to someone else who lived in the village.

The Pfalzgraph party landed in Baltimore, Maryland in July of 1832. They then took tobacco wagons returning to Barnesville, Ohio.

Using returning tobacco wagons to get to Monroe County helps confirm an oral history explanation that Baltimore Road in Miltonsburg was so named because it was the road taken by the tobacco wagons as they left the village headed for the tobacco warehouses and auctions in Baltimore.

From Barnesville, George Michael Sr. went to Monroe County and paid $1.25 per acre for 40 acres of government land near Woodsfield and put it in Michael Jr?s name as he was the only child. The cousin headed south upon reaching Barnesville and was never heard from again. George Michael Sr. was a stonecutter by trade. He never remarried; could not speak English and died July 5, 1852. George Michael Jr., who was 23 years old when he arrived, was a teamster before coming to the United States. He died January 3, 1867.

Their first work on the 40 acres was to dig a spring (well?) which still provides water. They built a (log?) house, which had dirt floors, in three days. No glass or metal of any kind was used in the construction of the house. A hole was cut for a window. When it was cold something was hung over the opening. Boards in the door were split from a tree and wooden hinges and a wooden lock was installed. The roof of the cabin was held in place by weight poles.

They made all their furniture. The chairs had three legs like milk stools except a little higher. The table was made from a big block of wood about eight inches thick which was taken from a tree split in half. Holes were bored in it and posts were driven into them for legs. They cooked in a fireplace and slept on the floor.

A year after they established their home in United States, the grandmother (Elizabeth Diehl) wrote and told her father that they had two hogs to butcher, 40 bushel of wheat and a good supply of potatoes. She also told him that they had to burn wood to get rid of it. He could not believe this but seven years later her father?s family (the Diehls) emigrated to the United States.

Georges married Elisabeth Diehl about 1832 in Dambach, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France. Elisabeth (daughter of Valentin Diehl and Margaretha Salomea Rauch) was born on 2 Mar 1811 in Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; died on 17 Jul 1883 in Seneca Township, Monroe County, Ohio, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Georg married Eva Magdalena Lett on 18 Jun 1808 in Dambach, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France. Eva (daughter of Johannes Lett and Barbara Wagner) was born on 10 Sep 1786 in Wineckerthal, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; died on 17 Apr 1832 in France. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Valentin married Margaretha Salomea Rauch on 4 Feb 1801 in Wineckerthal, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France. Margaretha (daughter of Martin Rauch and Maria Urban) was born on 3 Apr 1786 in Wineckerthal, Bas-Rhin, Alsace, France; died on 21 Aug 1871 in Ohio, USA; was buried in Miltonsburg Cemetery, Malaga Township, Monroe County, Ohio, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]