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This is article 13 in the French-German Heritage Series. It was written by Bernard L. Allen, Ph. D. History,
for the WV Honey Festival with the assistance of Artsbridge and the Parkersburg News, July 1988.
The second Swiss-German family in Wood County and the initial first generation Swiss-German family
to settle in Wood County and remain here was that of Stephen Affolter. Fifty-two years old, five feet four inches tall
with black hair, an oval face and brown eyes, he was a laborer in Seuzingen, Switzerland, when he was issued a passport in
Berne, Switzerland, on February 26, 1866, for the purpose of leaving for America. He was also married and the father
of four boys and a girl. The purpose given for his emigration from Switzerland was to join relatives already in the
United States.
One son, Frederic, had preceded him to the United States in 1862; he eventually married Mary Meider,
who was a member of the Red Hill Evangelical United Brethern Church and a resident of the Loomis Ridge area of Wood County.
Frederick had been born in the Canton of Berne in 1839.
The daughter, Elizabeth, who accompanied her mother and father as well as another brother to the
United States, had been born in the same canton. Specifically, she was born in Lautizkan. Three years after her
arrival in America she was married in Pittsburgh to a Civil War veteran of the Union army. As the Battle of Chancellorsville,
the same one which took the life of the famous Confederate general with Wood County roots ("Stonewall" Jackson), he was shot
through the nose, and the round was lodged in the roof of his mouth. His name was George Beorn.
The couple came to Wood County and began to farm along Gillespie Run between two important 19th
century Wood County roads -- the Parkersburg-St. Marys Turnpikes and the Old Northwestern Turnpike. Their post office
address was Boreman, West Virginia.
At this location, they raised five sons and four daughters while Mr. Beorn became involved in county
politics as a Republican, served as County Road Surveyor between 1876 and 1878, and deeded an acre of land at Red Hill to
a group interested in constructing a Lutheran Church. When completed in 1887, it was the first Lutheran church in Wood
County. It's founding, dedication, and growth will be the subject of a future segment of this series sponsored by the
West Virginia Honey Festival with the assistance of Artsbridge and the Parkersburg News in preparation for the French-German
Fest to be held between six and eight on Saturday, September 24, 1988, at the City Park.
When Beorn and his wife died the Beorn homestead was conveyed to their daughter and son-in-law,
Sophia and Elmer Boone. Near it, across Gillespie Run, was the picturesque Affolter homestead. A photograph of
it accompanies this article. The photograph and most of the material for the accompanying narrative was provided by
the present Affolter occupying it, Mrs. Annabelle Affolter Edwards. Her great-grandfather, Stephen Affolter, died on
February 6, 1894, and is buried in the cemetery which had been opened alongside the aforementioned Red Hill Luthern Church.
Today it is neatly kept and can be found a short distance south along Dutch Ridge Road off U.S. 50 East.
A short distance away to the north in the Red Hill United Methodist Church cemetery, equally neat,
can be found the gravesites of his son and daughter-in-law, Frederic and mary Meider Affolter. At the time that they
were interred in the early 1920s, the cemetery was known as the Red Hill Evangelical United Brethern Church Cemetery.
To reach it, turn left instead of right at the U.S. 50 Dutch Road intersection.
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Other Publications
PEARSALL History & genealogy of the Pearsall family in Eng.& America, by
C.E. Pearsall. 1806p. 3 volume set. 1928.
*can be ordered from Higginson Book Company (link above)
NUZUM The Nuzum Family History, compiled by HW Williams, 1st edition, 1951 (rare)
*check Mountain Heritage Books
NUZUM The Nuzum Family History, updated by Charles E. Haggerty, 2nd edition, published
by David G. Nuzum, 1983. ***I HAVE THIS BOOK
BEESON, BABB A Genealogy of the Beeson-Beason Family in America, by Mickey Elliott
BABB Babb Families of America, by Jean Sargent
METZ, BRECHBIEL/BRECKBILL/BRECHBILL The German Church Records of Western Pennsylvania, 1772-1791,
Volume 1, Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, by Paul Miller Ruff, 1984
STUMP HISTORY AND BIOGRAPHY COUNTIES OF WHITE AND PULASKI, INDIANA. Historical and Biographical.
Illustrated. Chicago; F.A. Battey & Co., Publishers. 1883.
Chronicles of Border Warfare by Alexander Scott Withers, 2001 Reprint ***I HAVE THIS BOOK
Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants in Pennsylvania by Prof. I. Daniel Rupp, reprinted 2006 ***I HAVE
THIS BOOK
KINCHELOE, MCPHERSON, and Related Families by Lewin Dwinell McPherson, copyrighted
1951. ***I HAVE THIS BOOK
History of Roane County West Virginia by William H. Bishop, 1927. ***I HAVE THIS BOOK
Jackson County, West Virginia Past and Present, 1990 - available at the Jackson County Historical
Society
Genealogical and Personal History of Beaver County, Pa. by John W. Jordan, 1914 (Piersols)
Genealogical and Personal History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania by John W. Jordan, 1912 (Piersols)
Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Chester County, Pennsylvania by Winfield S. Garner, 1893 (Piersols)
HARRISON COUNTY, WV : TITHABLES 1800 PARTIAL LISTING
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