Logan County, Ohio is just north of Champaign County..
Frederick County, Virginia was formed in 1743 from Orange County. Old Frederick County included all or part of four counties in present-day Virginia: Shenandoah, Clarke, Warren, and Frederick, as well as five in present-day West Virginia: Hardy, Hampshire, Berkeley, Jefferson and Morgan.
In 1607 the London Company established Virginia as the first permanent New World English colony.
Barbara Kibler Pence was born about 1762 in a part of Frederick County, Virginia that is now Page County. Her parents were Henry and Mary Kibler.
She married Lewis Pence on April 15, 1782 in Shenandoah (now Page) County, Virginia. Lewis was born in 1754 in Frederick (now Page) County, Virginia.
Lewis and his father, Jacob, both served in Captain Michael Reader's company in the Revolutionary War.
Barbara and Lewis' children included:
Susannah Pence (1782, married George Meyers),
Jacob Pence (1783),
Elizabeth Pence Buracker (1783, married Adam Buracker and John Hower),
Barbara Pence (1787, married Jonah Phillips),
Martin D. Pence (1791, married Elizabeth Corder),
Mary Pence (1793, married John Nunn and John Long),
Henry Pence (1794, married Elizabeth Mouser),
Ann Amelia Pence (1795, married Johannes Blouse),
Catherine Pence (1799, married Jonathan Baylor), Adam Pence (1802, married Mary Printz (Prince) daughter of Adam Printz son of Gottlieb Printz), and
Lewis Pence (1804, married Savilla Norman).
Lewis and Barbara, conveyed all but about two acres of their to Jacob’s son, Emanuel Pence, in 1800 and on September 14, 1819 they sold 350 acres of land in Shenandoah County to John Garber for $6,553 and another 168 acres to Charles Beazley for $3,780.
The family moved to Champaign County by October 19, 1820. They had enough money to purchase 702 acres of land from his cousin, John Pence, son of Henry for $12,680. They built a log house when they arrived.
Barbara died in September, 1825 in Champaign County, Ohio. Lewis died in 1832 in Champaign County, Ohio. He is buried in Nettle Creek Cemetery in Champaign County, Ohio.
Shenandoah County, Virginia was established in 1772. It was originally Dunmore County.
In 1831 Page County, Virginia was
created from
Rockingham
and
Shenandoah
Counties. Originally it was part of Frederick County.
The Henry Kibler Homestead
photo taken about 1926
a few miles east of Luray, Virginia
Champaign County, Ohio was created March 1, 1805 from Greene and Franklin counties. On March 1, 1817 the present boundaries were established when Logan and Clark counties were formed. An 1800 census counted 100 settlers.
Many settlers in the Shenandoah Valley were Germans from Pennsylvania called the "Shenandoah Deitsch."
The National Road (Cumberland Road) was built by the federal government and connected the Potomac and Ohio Rivers. Construction began in 1811 at Cumberland, Maryland. The road crossed the Allegheny Mountains and southwestern Pennsylvania and reached Wheeling, West Virginia in 1818. It then crossed Ohio and Indiana and stopped at Vandalia, Illinois.
from A History Champaign County Adam Pence, retired farmer; P. O. Westville. Among the many pioneers of this county we find Adam Pence living in an old-time cottage under the beautiful hills that overlook the Mad River Valley. He is one of our comfortable men, retired from active business, and with his wife, three sons and two daughters, lives a happy, contented life, surrounded by domestic comforts, and free from care.
Adam was born in Shenandoah Co., Va., probably in 1802; his parents, Lewis and Barbara Pence, emigrated to Ohio in 1820; they are both of German descent, and Mrs. Pence came from Germany. Their children (eleven in number) were born in Virginia, the youngest being 21 years of age; four of them were married. Lewis had considerable money when he came here, and purchased a section of land, afterward buying 300 acres more; this he divided among his children at once, and they set to work and soon those who were married had a comfortable log house erected.
Adam, our subject, is now living in the house first built, in 1821, and which has been occupied by his family for fifty-nine years. He was married to his present wife, Mary Prince, a native of Kentucky, in 1824; they were both hard workers, saved their money, and soon had gained enough to purchase 240 acres of land; this was in turn divided among their children, of whom they had nine, seven sons and two daughters.
Three sons are married; Wesley married Emily Strickler; Adam, Jr., wedded Nancy McCarty, and William married Mary Miller. The two daughters are named Sarah and Elizabeth. There are also three sons living at home Henry, John and David. Adam Pence has also raised another man, who might properly be reckoned a son, named Charley M. Overhulse. The sons living at home have lately added to their possessions 200 acres more land, purchased in partnership, lying west of the home farm.
Their father still owns his original tract of 100 acres given him by his father, with an income sufficient to furnish every comfort while they live. We have been to many farmhouses, but the culinary skill of the mother and her daughters cannot be excelled by any housewives in the county. Their habits are of the quiet sort, for which the pioneers are noted, and the family are members of the Lutheran Church, to which Mr. and Mrs. Pence have belonged for nearly three-quarters of a century. They are noted for their honesty, and as neighbors, enjoy the confidence of all with whom they are acquainted. This sketch will ever be a source of pride to their descendants as indicating the character of their ancestry, and the high esteem in which they are held in the community.
Lutherans are Protestants who follow Martin Luther's religious teachings, especially the doctrine of justification by faith alone.
Settlers often built log cabins as their first homes.
