Henry Becher ¹

   Another name for Henry was Henry Beecher.²

   FamilySearch ID: L83L-QNP.

  General Notes:

Further research is needed to confirm the sons and grandsons of Henry. We have assumed father/son relationships based on finding them living together or next door in the 1850 census, but they could be cousins etc. Finding their birth records in Pennsylvania can confirm.

  Noted events in his life were:

1. Book: ³
From: Studies in Anabaptist and Mennonite History, Mennonites of the
Ohio and Eastern Conference

Settlement in Stark County

The Stark County settlement in Nimishillen Township, about four miles northeast of Louisville, traces its first settler to John King (an Amishman from Pennsylvania) who purchased land in 1819 just south of the present Beech Church.'' Michael Schloneger, Sr., purchased 350 acres in Washington Township in 1822. Other families came into the community and by 1830 a log building served as a meetinghouse on the Michael Schloneger farm.

The prominent family names of the early years were Conrad, Schloneger, King, Miller, Sommers, Schmucker, Becher, Krabill, Ramseyer, Graber, Klopfenstein, Linder, and Maurer. These families came directly from Alsace-Lorraine territory in France, and from the Canton of Bern in Switzerland. Their chief reason for coming to the United States was to avoid military draft during the post-Napoleonic era in Europe.

Early leaders included Jacob Conrad, Sr., who had been ordained as a minister for the Montebeliard congregation in Alsace. He was the first minister of the Stark County settlement. John Schloneger, son of Michael, was the first bishop, being ordained briefly as a minister before moving to Ontario, Canada. David Maurer was the first deacon and was ordained before 1850. For some years he was the only church leader, and ministers from Holmes County, Abraham Mast and Moses Miller, assisted him. From 1859 to 1870 John K. Yoder of Wayne County had bishop oversight. He was succeeded in 1870 by Michael Schloneger, Jr., who died in 1906.

2. Property on 23 Aug 1833 in , Tuscarawas, OH. ⁴ Records with the Bureau of Land Management show:
Purchased in the Zanesville office for land in the US Military District
Beecher, Henry
1833 Aug 23
Tuscarawas County
Range 02
Tract 10
Subdivision 23.

3. Census in 1850 in Nimishillen Twp., Stark Co, OH. ² The 1850 census recorded Joseph Beecher, mason, 37, was living with wife Louisa, 26; Angeline, 6; Catharine, 5; Joseph, 2, and Magdaline, 4 months when the census was recorded on 29 Nov 1850. Also with them is Henry Beecher, 87, presumed to be Joseph's father, as both were born in Pennsylvania, although Henry's age might suggest Joseph is a grandson. All the others were born in Ohio. Joseph's real estate was worth $2,000.

On the next sheet is Simon Becher, shingle maker, 55, living with wife Mary; 53; Simon, cigar maker, 18; Joseph P., cigar maker, 14; Emanuel, cigar maker, 13. Everyone was born in Pennsylvania.

Next door is Joseph Becher, cigar maker, 25; Justina, 24; the preceding born in Pennsylvania, and the following born in Ohio: Ellen 3; Samuel, 2.

Henry married.