The first Europeans settled in the Northwest Territory in 1788. Migrants came from New York and New England. Ohio was admitted to the Union as the 17th state on March 1, 1803.
American pioneers migrated west to settle areas not previously inhabited by European Americans.
Mary (Maria, Polly) Branstetter Enoch was born on September 27, 1808 in Heidelberg Township, Northampton County, now Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Daniel Branstetter and Christina Bauman.
She came with her family to Ohio about 1818 where they were early pioneers.
She (Polly Branstuller) married William Enoch on November 20, 1828 in Clark County, Ohio. (Enock in the 1831 indenture) William was born on July 22 in Pennsylvania. His parents were William Enoch and Mary Teagarden. William Sr. was one of the earliest settlers of Clark County, Ohio and served in the War of 1812.
William and Polly's children included:
Mary Enoch Welty (1830, married Emanuel G. Welty) and
William Enoch (1836, married Harriet Lower/Lour).
William built a grist mill in Clark county.
They appeared in the 1830 census of German Township. The household consisted of a man between 20 and 30 (William age 26), a woman between 20 and 30 (Mary age 24) and a female child who was less than four.
Mary died before the 1840 census.
William was still in German Township in 1840. The household consisted of a man between 30 and 40 (William age 36), a girl between 10 and 15 and a boy who was less than five.
William died in 1846.
At the time of the 1850 census, 14 year old William Enoch was living with his sister and her husband, E. G. and Mary Welty.
An indenture is a legal contract for labor or land. Two copies on the same sheet were separated with a jagged edge so that the two parts could be refitted to confirm authenticity. An indentured servant worked without wages for a specified time to pay a debt and was bound to the employer. In the 17th century, nearly two-thirds of settlers came as indentured servants to pay for their passage.
Heidelberg Township, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania originally included Washington Township and Slatington. It is located on Trout Creek and Jordan Creek.
Northampton County, Pennsylvania is on the eastern border of the state in the Lehigh Valley. It was formed in 1752 from parts of Bucks County. Easton is the county seat.
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania was first settled about 1730 and officially constituted in 1812 with the division of Northampton County.
Pennsylvania is one of the 13 original states and was originally founded in 1681 as a result of a royal land grant to William Penn, the son of the state's namesake.
A grist mill is a building where a miller grinds gain into flour.
from Genealogical Collection 20th Century History of Springfield, and Clark County, Ohio by Hon. William M. Rockel
Enoch's Mill. On the south side of the creek, not far from the residence of J. S. Peneten and William Funkhouser, was erected in 1820 by Henry Enoch, father of David Enoch, who is still living and residing near Tremont, a grist-mill. There was conducted with it a still. How long this was operated is not now known, but it has many years been abandoned.
Some time after the construction of the mill William Enoch, a brother of Henry, built a grist-mill nearly opposite the present residence of Michael Shawver. This was operated for some time but has long since been abandoned. A depression in the ground near the saw-mill conducted there at this time by the Shawvers indicates the existence of a mill in that vicinity at one time.
Clark County, Ohio was formed March 1, 1817, from Champaign, Madison and Greene Counties. The first settlement was in 1796. The inhabitants of German Township were German Lutherans who came from Virginia.
