Life Sketch of John Leonard Hiibner

By George Hiibner

My father John Leonard Hiibner was born in Unterpreuschiwz [a] , Bavaria [b] , Germany 11 March 1847. He was the only child of a second marriage. He had several older half brothers and sisters by the name of Hermansdorfer. He was five feet eleven and a half inches tall, had dark hair and gray eyes. He weighed around 180 to 190 pounds.

He with all other German boys had to be trained as soldiers about four weeks every year. In September they were sent to camps and drilled and trained for soldiers. They were also forced to go to school until fourteen years old.

Father was a soldier in the French and German wars[c] of 1870-71. He never fought or shot to kill although bombs fell around him. At one time bombs fell so close they were forced to move back. It was raining and snowing and the soldiers were tired and wore out. They put up some poles with a straw roof and all crowded[d] under this shelter. Some of their legs were sticking out in the cold and were frozen. Father got his legs frozen so badly they sent him to a hospital, there they thought he would loose his legs so he was released from the army and sent home. His legs got well but big holes and scars were left on them. They never bothered him after they got well.

His half brother George Hermansdorfer had been living in America for several years. He went back to Germany for a visit and took some corn with him, the first they had ever seen. They planted it but it never matured. George stayed a short time then returned to America. He took a wife with him from Germany her name was Ehman.

Father was a cooper (maker of barrels) by trade. He worked for a man by the name of Butner. It was there he met mother, she was Mrs. Butners sister.

After father got out of the army he said he wanted to be a free man and live in a free country. He was treated so mean he never wanted to go back to that again. Father and mother decided to go to America. They had heard this was a good place for young people to get a good start. There was so much red tape to go through to get married in Germany they decided to go to America and get married. Mothers folks didn’t want her to go but fathers mother wanted him to go because he had a half brother and sister there and if there should be another war he would have to go back and fight.

Mother brought her seventeen year old cousin, John Hermansdorfer with her. They were 14 days on the water. Hermansdorfer had enough money to get him to New York so mother and father paid his way to Charleston, West Virginia from there. He lived with them for a while then went in business for himself.

They were married by minister Alford Tylley in the office of Vinton Z. Copen who was the Justice of the Peace.

They went about seven miles north-west of Charleston, West Virginia and bought a sixty four acre farm at fifteen to twenty dollars an acre. Father cut timber and built a two room home in the forest. The house didn’t have any doors on it and the gnats were so thick they built a fire on the dirt floor so make a smoke to keep them away. He added two more rooms onto this house then later added two more making a six room house, four downstairs and two upstairs, also built a big porch. They cooked on an open fireplace as all the people did then.

Father had never farmed until he came to America. He bought a horse, it was old but it had lots of sense. They worked with a jerk line. When you wanted to go to the left, you pulled on the line and hollered haw, then when you wanted the horse to go to the right you pulled on the line and called gee. The horse would understand and when father told him to go one way it would go the other way. It knew more about farming than father did.

They got some chickens. One night something got after them, dad found a possum in the coop. He got an ax and beat it over the head, it began to show its teeth or grin at him. He thought he had killed it but it was only acting possum. He went back to bed and soon heard the chickens again. The old possum had another hen. The second time he chopped its head off to make sure it was dead.

He never liked hunting as his neighbors did. He worked hard all of his life never visited much but liked to have company. He became very angry if people wouldn’t eat with him, taking it as an insult. He always had wine in his cellar and drank a glass of wine or cider every night before he went to bed. I never saw him drunk or never heard of him being intoxicated.

He only took one trip that I know of. He went to Ohio with his nephews the Ehman boys to get a team of horses. They bought the horses and shipped them to Charleston on a steam boat.

They belonged to the Lutheran Church. They went to church and payed their dues as required. They believed this to be the right church.

Father died of a kidney trouble at the age of sixty years. Before he died he owned 223 acres of land. He was buried on the farm in the family cemetery.

Notes

“The mother of John Leonard Hiibner was Mrs Rhoda Marie ___________ Hermansdorfer. She was a widow[e] with several children. She married Mr Hiibner, believed to have been a soldier. She was again left a widow and people used to feel sorry for her because she had to work so hard to support this little boy. While chopping wood the ax slipped and chopped into her leg so after that she walked with a terrible limp.”

--- Tessie Hermansdorfer

“I don’t know who was living with grandma Hiibner over there at the last. She might have lived with some of her children or grandchildren of Hermansdorfer.”

--- Elizabeth Lewis

How many children did Rhoda Marie and Mr Hermansdorfer have ????

“My mothers sister Anna Parchent came to America in 1874, she had a little girl born to her. They stayed with my parents for a while then aunt Annie got work. Mother kept the little girl, she lived to the age of fifteen then she died. Aunt Annie then married John Nartz a farmer. They had three children, Mary, Sadie, and Will. Anne and John were buried on the Nortz farm.

Do you know anything about this girl, name etc. ???

Will Nortz was born 30 March 1887, Charleston, West Virginia died 27 October 1955 Portland, Oregon. Buried Madras, Oregon

 

 

The Hiibner name has never been changed. My parents always wrote it Hiibner and I never heard the speak of changing it.

--- aunt Elizabeth

“I saw a hotel, even stayed at it by the name of Hiibner.”

--- Gene Hiibner

“There are lots of ads in Germany like: Hiibner storm doors etc. I saw the name many times while there.”

--- George[f] Cleon Housley