Jacob Anton Striffler

Notes:

According to the Rev. Roy J. Striffler, the Striffler's emigrated from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France to New York State in 1830. They were part of the German-speaking population of Alsace. Some of the older Striffler family members recalled a family joke---there were 11 boys in the family, and all of them had a sister Susanna. She married Christian Oscar Lenzner. Family genealogists have only been able to account for eight of the 12 children however. Two of the boys married Benkelman sisters. One son married Mary Rommel, and as there were several Benkelman/Rommel marriages as well, the two families became further intertwined.

Although the family originally settled in New York only Jacob's son David remained in New York. Peter pushed further west, to Kansas. Around 1880, most of the others settled in Cass City, Michigan, where they lived until their deaths. They cut off the stumps remaining on the land they built and turned the wilderness into fruitful farm land.

(Excerpted from Art Peck's THE TEN BENKELMANS WHO EMIGRATED TO AMERICA. He in turn references a September 4, 1950 article from the "Striffler-Benkelman Broadcast", Volume 13, Cass City, Michigan)

Both the flyleaf of the Striffler family Bible, and the tombstone of Jacob Striffler in Lancaster, showed him to be be born in Kirrberg, "departmente de Rhein." (Jacobs, p. 164). In the chapter on the Striffler family in her unpublished 1981 manuscript, BonnieMargaret Jacobs noted that widely spread family stories stated that the Striffler family originated in Switzerland (p. 164). It would appear these were either errorneous, or that the family moved from Switzerland to Alsace.


BonnieMargaret Benkelman Jacobs, in an undated family report she prepared for some of the descendants of the Striffler brothers who married Benkelmann sisters, wrote that birth records had been of the children born to Jacob and Otillia "Have been extracted from the French civil records and translated, and show 8 children born in France, two of whom died while still just children (one was only 15 months old, the other just a few months past their sixth birthday). She stated that "these official civil records support the oft repeated family joke, "There are seven brothers and each one has a sister." On page 165 of her unpublished 1981 manuscript documenting the Benkelman family, she repeated this saying, adding however that "one Striffler heard the riddle with 11 brothers and it should be noted that there is still much to be learned about this family."

With the records in France showing 8 children were born there, and census records show two known children born in the United States, it appears we can account for 10 of the 11. It is possible that records may be uncovered one day to find the final child, or that this final son may have been stillborn or died at a young age, and his memory passed down only through the family joke or riddle.

Jacob married Ottila "Odila" "Otil" Zimmerman on 4 Nov 1809 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany. Ottila was born on 10 Nov 1790 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 17 Sep 1863 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Henry Striffler was born on 4 Aug 1811 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 11 Jul 1883 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
2. Peter Striffler was born on 15 Mar 1815 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 17 Jan 1882 in Bluff Creek, Pottawatomie County, Kansas.
3. Jacob Striffler was born on 17 Feb 1817 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 25 May 1818 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany.
4. Jacob Striffler was born on 31 Mar 1819 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 24 Sep 1895 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried on 26 Sep 1895 in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
5. Christian Striffler was born on 17 Jun 1821 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 18 Sep 1827 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany.
6. Susanna Catharina Striffler was born on 6 Aug 1823 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 28 Apr 1905 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
7. Joseph Striffler was born on 18 Sep 1825 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 25 Feb 1902 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
8. Christian Striffler was born on 8 Dec 1827 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 6 Feb 1911 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
9. John "Uncle John" Striffler was born on 15 Mar 1833 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; died on 12 Jul 1922 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
10. David Striffler was born about 1836 in Amherst, Erie County, New York; died on 30 Dec 1872 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; was buried in Lancaster Rural Cemetery, Lancaster, Erie County, New York.