One Switzer Family in Columbiana County - - Mine!

As stated in They were Shouting “Hey! What About Me? I had put research on the Switzer family on the back burner for many years. They just seemed too complicated. After all, there were three men named Jacob Switzer residing near each other in Columbiana County, Ohio at the same time. And two of them were about the same age and both had a wife named Catherine! And the resources for figuring them out simply were not available at that time.



There was some information on “my” Switzer family from a biography of Jacob Yarian and one of his son Jonathan Yarian. The full text of the biographies, including sources, can be read in the post mentioned above. Was it all true? Or were just parts of it valid? Below I've abstracted the basic information (shown in blue bold type) and what I've discovered (a combination of new info found in June at the Family History Library and old stuff) will be in normal black type.



One biography stated that Elizabeth Switzer was born near Lisbon in Columbiana County on September 23, 1815. The other one stated she was born September 24, 1815 in Columbiana County, Ohio.

Jacob and Elizabeth Yarian are buried in Randolph Hillside Cemetery in Portage County, Ohio. Their gravemarker shows that Elizabeth was born September 24, 1815 and died July 3, 1894. Jacob was born December 24, 1812 and died March 26. 1895.



As far as where she was born, I haven't yet determined where exactly the family was living but it was in either Salem or Fairfield townships both of which are just north of Centre township. The town of Lisbon, is in Centre township.

She married Jacob Yarian on April 2, 1835 in Columbiana County.

Their marriage is recorded in Columbiana County Marriage book 3 page 48, and they indeed were married on April 2, 1835.

The marriage record of Jacob Yarian and Elizabeth Switzer. Cropped portion of image downloaded from FamilySearch database "Ohio, County Marriages" on May 28, ...

Her parents were Jacob and Mary C. Switzer. Elizabeth was the oldest of their seven daughters.

The final settlement document in the estate file for Jacob Switzer (packet number 4962 dated November 7, 1859) named his heirs: his widow, Leathy Switzer; Jacob Yarian & wife; Jacob Monanack & wife; Peter Buckecker & wife, Daniel Deemer & wife. Marriage records of Columbiana County provided the first names of the Switzer daughters: Elizabeth married Jacob Yarian, Barbara married Jacob Manaweck, Rebecca married Peter Buckecker and Susan married Daniel Deemer. The names of the other three daughters, if there were that many, remain a mystery.



Leathy was Jacob's second wife. Columbiana County marriage book 38 page 168 shows that on March 10, 1853 Jacob Switzer was married to Leathy Bricker.



In Columbiana County marriage book 1 page 95 we find the record of the marriage of Jacob Switzer and Caty Brinker on February 26, 1811.



Confirmation that Caty Brinker was the mother of Elizabeth was found in a deed dated August 11, 1849 in which the heirs of Catherine Sweitzer were selling land that had been given to her by her father Andrew Brinker. (More on that discovery in a future post!)



The families of the four Switzer daughters have been found in census records through 1870 and it seems that Barbara was the oldest, being a year or two older than Elizabeth.

One biography states that Jacob Sweitzer was born in Switzerland. He was reared in that country and at the age of 27 came to America, locating in Columbiana County where he secured a tract of timbered land and literally hewed a farm from the wilderness. The other biography says that Jacob and Mary C. Switzer were natives of Pennsylvania.

The 1850 census of Salem Township, Columbiana County (p280) shows Jacob Switzer and Catherine A. Switzer, both age 65 and both born in Pennsylvania. I'm fairly certain that this is “my” Switzer family since Daniel Deemer and his wife Susanna are listed immediately after Jacob and Catherine.

Jacob and his wife survived to be old people. He passed away at the age of 87 and she at the age of 83.

According to Columbiana County Cemetery Inscriptions Volume 13, Jacob and Catharine are buried in the English Lutheran Cemetery in Salem Township. The transcription for Catharine says she was the wife of Jacob and that she died March 6, 1852 ae 64y 8m 17d. However, this puzzles me just a bit for two reason. First, Catherine was 65 years old in the 1850 census so either the census is wrong or the stone was difficult to read and mis-transcribed. Could the 4 in her age really be a 7? And second, the heirs of Catharine Switzer sold 213 acres of land on August 11, 1849 that had been deeded to her. Perhaps they were selling it on her behalf and simply releasing their claim to the land since it was sold for just $1 (one dollar) to Thomas McCoy. I have not yet researched to see if he is somehow related to them.

The cemetery transcription for Jacob Swettzer shows that he died November 2, 1859 ae 71y 9m 29d. As a side note, Jacob's second wife Leathy was also buried in the same cemetery. She died January 17, 1859 ae 79y 11m 25d.

Since I am approaching the age of 64 I can't really say that 64 is old ;-) but 79, yeah, I guess that's old. But neither Elizabeth nor Jacob reached the age of 83 or 87 as recorded in the biography.

Jacob Sweitzer and Ephraim Holloway were brothers-in-law of Martin Hoke. They entered section 25 about the year 1804.

This is not “my” Jacob Switzer. A deed record dated January 20, 1832 shows Jacob Switzer and Elizabeth his wife selling 156 acres in the NE ¼ of S 25 T15 R3 to Daniel Switzer for $1500 and other considerations. This land was granted to Jacob Switzer by Patent. (Again, more on this Jacob and this transaction in a future post.)

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As with most family biographies published in county history books in the late 1800s and early 1900s there is some good/accurate information and some bad/inaccurate information. It is up to us, the family history researchers, to determine which is which!