Matthias Friermood was born in Virginia. His father was also named Matthias.
He married Martha Hill.
Their children probably included:
Reuben Friermood (1779),
George Friermood (1786),
Catherine Friermood (1786, married Jacob Huffman),
Martha Friermood (1788, died young)
John Friermood (1792)
Eva Friermood (1795, married Martin Baker),
Christina Friermood (1801, married Matthias J. Huffman),
Barbara Friermood (1802, married John Baker).
The family were early pioneers of Clark County, Ohio. They settled in German Township as early as 1805 or 1806.
Reuben Friermood was born about 1779 in Virginia..
He married Sarah Kizer
Jacob Friermood (1820),
John Friermood (1822) ,
Reuben Friermood (1823),
George Friermood (1825, married Catherine Michael) ,
William Friermood (1826) ,
Elizabeth Friermood Baker (1828, married Silas Baker),
Mary Friermood (1830),
Jane Friermood,
Catherine Friermood (1835), and
Martha Friermood (1836)
from Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties, Indiana
Matthias Friermood, having been born in Hamburg [Germany]. Matthias Friermood, when a boy of fourteen years, ran away from home and came to America, working his passage on a ship, and upon landing in this country made his way to Ohio, which was then a territory. There he lived and labored the rest of his life.
His son was in the War of 1812 and experienced many of the hardships incident to life in the Western Reserve at that early day. He died at a fort on lake Erie. In Clark county he accumulated a large tract of land, to the amount of eleven hundred acres, and when he died, at a venerable age, he left to his children a valuable estate. His wife, whose maiden name was Nancy, or Patsy, Hill, survived him a number of years, her age at death being about ninety.
Rockingham County, Virginia was established in 1778 from Augusta County. European settlement began in the 1740s.
Reuben Friermood, [Sr.], the father of William, was a son of Matthias and Martha (Hill) Friermood, and Matthias was a son of Matthias.
The younger Matthias Friermood was a Virginian by birth and by occupation was a blacksmith and farmer. He married in his native state Miss Martha Hill, and he and his wife became pioneers of Clark county, Ohio, their settlement in German township of that county being as early as 1805 or 1806, while the Indians were still there. The red men were friendly to the Friermoods and would frequently go to Grandmother Friermood and say, "Good woman, give me milk;" and she would give them mush and milk, of which they were very fond.
These worthy pioneers of Clark county acquired and improved a fine farm of six hundred acres. Their children were George [Friermood], Eva [Friermood], Barbara [Friermood Baker], Martha, Catherine, Christiana, Reuben and John. John [Friermood] died in a block house during the War of 1812, and Martha died when young.
The father died at the age of seventy years and his wife was seventy-two when she passed away. They were members of the Lutheran church.
A blacksmith forges and shapes iron with a hammer and anvil.
Their son, Reuben Friermood, our subject's father, was born in Virginia, September 13, 1779, and, like his father, he was both a blacksmith and farmer. As a blacksmith, however, he did only his own work. At the time his parents moved to Ohio, as above recorded, he was a boy of eight years, and on his father's frontier farm in Clark county he was reared, his educational advantages being limited to a short training in the "three R's."
He married, in that county, Miss Sarah Kizer, who was born in Virginia, June 20, 1795, a daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Kite) Kizer. Philip Kizer was one of the frontier settlers of Clark county. He built the first corn mill, or "corn-cracker," as it was called, in his part of the country, on Mad river, and subsequently he erected a flouring mill at the same location. He was regarded as one of the wealthiest men of his locality, and left to each of his children a tract of land on which they settled. His children were William, Michael, John, George, Sarah, Betsy, Katie, Annie, Mary and Peggie. He was a middle-aged man when he died, and his wife lived to a ripe old age.
Reuben Friermood after marriage settled at the old Friermood homestead, a farm of two hundred and ninety-three acres, and there took care of his aged mother during the latter part of her life. To him and his wife were given the following named children: Jacob, John, Reuben, George, William, Elizabeth [Friermood Baker, marriedSilas Baker], Mary, Jane. Catherine and Martha.
Reuben Friermood, the father, died of typhoid fever, at the age of fifty-one years. He was a member of the Lutheran church and a liberal supporter of the same, and politically he was first a Democrat and later an old-line Whig.
Indiana became a state in 1819. The north was settled by people from New England and New York, the center by people from the Mid-Atlantic states and Ohio, and the south by people from Southern states, particularly Kentucky and Tennessee.
from Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties, Indiana
Jacob Friermood, son of Reuben and father of the subject of this sketch, was born in Clark county, Ohio, on the old homestead, May 12, 1820. There he grew up and married, the lady of his choice being Elizabeth Baker, who was born in Clark county, in April, 1822, daughter of John and Susan (Norman) Baker, both the Normans and Bakers being of German descent and having come to Ohio from Virginia.
Jacob Friermood settled on the home farm after his marriage and resided there until 1851, when he moved to Grant county, Indiana, and located in Sims township, buying eighty acres of land and subsequently adding another eighty thereto. His first work here was to build a log cabin. Other improvements followed, and in the course of time his farm was one of the best in the vicinity. He continued his residence upon it until 1891, when he returned to the scenes of his childhood in Clark county, Ohio, and there lived retired until his death, at about seventyeight years of age. He was a member of the German Reformed church. His children are Samuel, Dr. Ezra K., Sarah, deceased, Zachariah T., Susannah, William E., deceased, John T., Letitia and Jacob L.
Jacob Friermood and two of his brothers were in the army. He enlisted August 15, 1862, for three years or during the war, as a private in Company I, Ninety-ninth Indiana Volunteer Infantry, under Captain M. V. Powell, and served until he was honorably discharged at the close of the war. He was mustered out at Washington, D. C., June 5, 1865, and honorably discharged at Indianapolis on the 1 5th of the same month. In the early part of his service he was crippled from marching and was detailed for hospital and commissary service, in which capacity he was active until he was honorably discharged.
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.
Settlers often built log cabins as their first homes.
Biographical and Genealogical History of Cass, Miami, Howard and Tipton Counties, Indiana
William Friermood, whose name initiates this review, dates his birth on [the] Mad river, in German township, Clark county, Ohio, February 3, 1826, and his youthful days were passed not unlike those of other frontier farmer boys. Industry was among the first lessons he learned and the farm work he had to do left him with little time to attend school. Farming has been his life occupation. After his marriage, which event occurred early in the year 1850, he settled on the home farm in Clark county, Ohio, but the following year he came over into Indiana and located in Grant county, entering eighty acres of land. His only start in life was one hundred dollars, given him by his father, and with this for a foundation, and with the assistance of his faithful wife, he accumulated a competency and made an comfortable and attractive home, at one time owning five hundred acres of land. He is a typical pioneer and substantial farmer, who gave each of his four children eighty acres of land, retaining one hundred and eighty for his own use, all of which is valuable farming land; and besides, he owns choice property in the town of Converse.
The children of William Friermood are:
Reuben, born December 30, 1850, and died when about ten years of age;
Martin B., born February 26, 1853;
Mary C., September 12, 1856;
Charlie O., January 28, 1860;
Squire S., August 23, 1862, and
William A., January 13, 1866.
George Friermood was born in Clark county, Ohio. His father, Reuben [Friermood], was a pioneer, and married Sallie Kizer. Their children were Jacob, Reuben, William, George, Mary, Catharine, Elizabeth and Martha. Reuben was an early settler in Clark county and died there.
George Friermood married Catharine Michael, daughter of Adam Michael. The Michaels were of English descent. Mr. Friermood, after the birth of his first two children, moved to Delaware county, Indiana, and settled in the woods. About 1853 he moved to Grant county, Indiana, and again cleared up a farm in the forest. His children were: Adam, Mary F., Simon and William.
He enlisted in the Civil war, as a private, for three years, in the Ninety-ninth Regiment, Company I. He was killed in the first Atlanta campaign. Politically he was a Republican. His first wife died in 1861, and he married a second time, about 1862, just before enlisting, Christina Landis, and they had one child, Lavina, born after Mr. Friermood went to war.
