Aaron and Keziah (Stout) Strimple
 
“Eine Kleine Deutsch Musick”
(A Little German Music)
 
Ancestor Story Submitted by Lee Martin
First Families of Huron County Member #356

​My German ancestor came to the New World from the Old World in the 1750s and trekked into Ohio the first half of the 19th century. AARON STRIMPLE, the grandson of Johann Stremple, arrived in Philadelphia on 16 October 1752 as an emigrant from Germany and immigrant to the British Colonies aboard the Snow Kitty under the command of Theophilus Barnes. Nothing is known about Johann Stremple other than he probably farmed or was involved with agriculture like his father, Nicholaus, a shepherd for the town of Obereschbach, Germany. Johann married Christiana Sax and had six children by her; however, a marriage record has not been found for Johan and Christiana to date. Their eldest son, John, served in the 2nd and 4th New Jersey Regiments of Foot under George Washington’s command during the Revolution, based on muster rolls. John received no pension for his service, but he was mentioned in his friend’s Revolutionary War pension as being married to his first wife in Swedesboro, New Jersey, in what is now Trinity Lutheran Church.
 
AARON STRIMPLE and KEZIAH STOUT [were married] about 1828 in New Jersey, most likely in Hunterdon County. A search in the Family Search microfilm records gave a negative result for a marriage record. The first five children of Aaron and Keziah were born in New Jersey before the family trekked west to Ohio with other families by wagon train. Aaron and family reached New Haven Township in 1839 about a month crossing through the Allegheny Mountains, rented a home in New Haven, and moved again to Richland County where the last three children were born. Aaron rented farm property, saved money for more than 10 years and bought 80 acres of land south of the Richland-Huron County border on 1 April 1854 with his son John. Four years later, Aaron bought four and a half acres across from the border, in Greenwich Township, and sold it to his son John for his homestead; four months later, Aaron bought another 40 acres north of the County line and sold it to John for his son to farm.
 
The 80-acre farm Aaron and John bought in 1854 remained in the Strimple family possession until DUDLEY STRIMPLE sold the farm 29 October 1964 and removed to Adario. The Strimples, Aaron, Keziah, John, and William, were Methodists and listed in the Minutes of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Greenwich Township in 1871 and 1874 as part of the Shiloh Circuit. Nearly ten years later in 1883-1884, Greenwich nearly went bankrupt during the Great Depression, 1873-1896, because the village “owed $780.79” to local farmers who loaned money to the town to keep it financially stable, but ran “a deficit of $424.12” in 1884. The following year in 1885, the village borrowed nearly $1,000.00 to keep it afloat. The local farmers “Burrows, Aaron Strimple, William Knapp, and Hossler were names that appeared frequently as sources of loans. When a note came due they borrowed from someone else to make payment.”
 
Aaron’s youngest child, William, served in the Civil War, served in Grant’s Army at the Siege of Vicksburg. After his discharge at Vicksburg, William went home and worked the farm with his father until he [Aaron] died in 1891. In his Will, Aaron left the farm to his wife plus $1,500.00 for her support; his sons, John and George, received $1,500.00 each; his daughters, Sarah and Judith, received $1,500.00 each; his son William received $2,000 and the 80-acre farm south of the county line; his daughter, Elizabeth, received the farm plus $450.00; and to his granddaughter, Delfa Strimple, Aaron willed $1,000.00 to her when she turned 21. John and George served as executors of the estate. Aaron signed the Will and witnessed by W. H. H. Gorham and his wife Mary. W[illiam] H[ezekiah] H. Gorham is William Strimple’s brother-in-law (his wife Harriet Eliza Gorham’s brother, descendants of John Howland, passenger on the Mayflower) and the second mayor of Greenwich.
 
[Information in brackets was inserted by the webmaster for clarification.]