Huffman Family Tree

A Short History of the Huffman Family in (West) Virginia, Ohio, and Indiana

    Huffman Family Reunion in Indiana 1900

Huffman Family Migration

Like the Quaker Hadley family, the Huffman family migrated from Europe primarily to escape religious repression. the American colonies offered the possibility to create a new life and build a new farming community which they would own and control, unlike the life which they left behind. The Huffman family, the Hadley family, and many of their contemporaries would migrate in groups - sometimes whole communities, since this provided extra protection and mutual support during the dangerous and arduous travel across the Atlantic, which could sometimes take months, and then in locating and settling a new community in the American wilderness. This page describes this eventful journey.

The Huffman Family

Conrad Huffman (Conrad Hofmann) was born in Germany in about 1715 and his family came from the Palatinate area of south-west Germany, where Germany, France and Belgium come together.

The late 1690s to the 1730s was a period of religious persecution and terror in the Palatinate. The region become involved in the War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714) and then rapid changes in rulers.

"...This War brought terrible devastation upon the Palatinate...thousands of Protestants emigrated to America and planted Piety in Pennsylvania..." ¹

France under King Louis XIV sought to gain control over the Palatinate through military terror. The historian William Beidelman wrote ⁴:

"...The spirit which controlled the soldiers of the French king can be judged, by the order which Louis XIV made to his subordinates in his command: "seek people in the country capable of setting fire to houses at night, in order that places too remote to be reached by troops, might nevertheless submit through fear, to the levy of contributions."

Beidelman wrote further:

"...The war of the Spanish succession broke out in 1701, and continued until the peace of Utrecht in 1713. During the continuance of that war the Palatinate was repeatedly overrun by hostile armies, and the land laid waste. It was during those years, that the emigration from the Palatinate to Penn's province began in earnest, and bv the end of the war many thousands had found new homes in Pennsylvania, who formed a nucleus around which many thousands more gathered in the coming years.

The family of Conrad Huffman was of the "Personal Piety" or "Pietism" movement of Lutheran Protestants at that time. Pietism was in opposition to these state religions and was therefore systematically suppressed. This group was also opposed to the baptism of infants, putting them into opposition of the established church.

Followers of the Personal Piety movement often experienced suppression by authorities. As Ronald Gordon ³ wrote:

"...The ruthlessness of the government in suppressing Pietism eventually resulted in the departure of a large number of...[the government's] subjects."

In 1739, Conrad and several other German families from the Palatinate area emigrated to the American colonies, landing in Philadelphia. Some remained in Pennsylvania, while most seeking farming land moved as a group down the Shenandoah Valley, diagonally across the Pennsylvania-Maryland boarder into what is today West Virginia (which was in the mountainous western extreme of Virginia in that era). This was an arduous trip taking several months, and these families moving as a group were able to help each other and reduce the risk - yet the difficulties remained formidable.

    migration down the Shenandoah trail

These families followed the teaching of Pietism and also believed in baptism when old enough to understand and accept the gospel, rather than of infant baptism. They were therefore sometimes referred to as "Anabaptists" or shortened to "Baptists".

Other German immigrants, such as Henry Huffman (1734) and Johannes Heinrich Huffman, or John Henry Huffman (1735) had previously arrived in this same western area of Virginia, and had likely come from the Palatinate area or the Rein-Westphalia area. In any case, there are a number of "Huffman" names and other German immigrants in Virginia from 1713 through 1739 who may have aided these German families.

After this arduous migration from Philadelphia, Conrad and the other German families found fertile farming lands in Hampshire County, just below the Pennsylvania-Maryland border in what was then the mountainous west of Virginia, and is now in West Virginia.

In 1749, Conrad married (Elizabeth ?) Kuykendal, who was born in about 1726. The Kuykendal family was Dutch in origin, first emigrating from Holland to New York (still Dutch at that time), in the Hudson River valley in about 1650. According to Dutch Reformed Church records, and the 1919 research of Dr. George B. Kuykendall, the Kuykendal family that lived in Hampshire County, Virginia (now West Virginia) had located there from the Delaware Water Gap region of Pennsylvania as early as 1743.

Elizabeth Kuykendal might have been daughter of Elizabeth Brink and Johannes Kuykendal (born 1713). Another historical source states:

"...from 1652, Dutch settlers carried copper ore from rich mines located near the Delaware Water Gap to Kingston, New York..."

Since Johannes Kuykendal married his wife in Kingston, and he was known to work in the Delaware Water Gap area, he may have been involved in this copper mining.

Johannes Kuykendal settled in Hampshire County in 1743, along with his brothers his brothers and uncle. Dr. Kuykendall states:

"After getting to what is now Hampshire county, West Virginia, Johannes, Sr., or John [Kuykendal], his brothers Nathaniel, Abraham, Uncle Matthew and others of the family located on the south branch of the Potomac..."

This was the same location in Hampshire County as the German families that had migrated with Conrad Huffman.

The Kuykendall graveyard near Romney in Hampshire County has a grave: "E. Kuykendall: died Mar 31, 1816 in the 79 year", but this seems not to match the presumed age of Conrad Huffman's wife. Many Kuykendalls still live in Hampshire County, 200 years later.

Conrad and Elizabeth Huffman had 9 children:

- Elizabeth Huffman

- Adam Huffman

- Benjamin Huffman, our ancestor (1750-1815)

- Christopher Huffman (1753-1807), Hampshire, VA

- John Huffman (1755-1780), Hampshire, VA

- Henry Huffman (1757-1827), Hampshire, VA

- Nancy Ann Huffman (1760- ), Hampshire, VA

- Conrad Huffman (1763-1784), Hampshire, VA

- Philip Huffman (1769-1843), Hampshire, VA

The third child, our ancestor, Benjamin Huffman was born in 1750 in Hampshire County, (now West) Virginia, near the Maryland boarder. Benjamin later moved to Brooke County, Virginia, now Brooke County, West Virginia, located at the area where Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio come together.

Benjamin Huffman was married twice. His first wife's name has not yet appeared in the records. Sarah Cuppy (or Köppe), born June 10, 1758 in Morris County, New Jersey was Benjamin Huffman’s second wife.

Sarah’s father was John Cuppy (Johannes Köppe, 1730-1802) who had also moved from Germany, first to New Jersey, and then sometime around 1762 to (West) Virginia.

John/Johannes was a stone mason and he was married in 1754 in Morris County, New Jersey to Margaret Parker (born 1736). Margaret and John Cuppy lived for 8 years in New Jersey, where their first three children, Elizabeth Cuppy (named for her Grandmother Paeker), Sarah Cuppy (future wife of Benjamin Huffman, our ancestor), and John Cuppy were born.

Margaret Parker Cuppy lived until March 25, 1816, outliving John who died in 1802.

The Cuppy / Köppe family moved to Brooke County, Virginia in about 1762 when Sarah Cuppy was about 4. Sarah Cuppy later married Benjamin Huffman (Benjamin's second marriage) in 1779 when Sarah was 20, and Benjamin was 29.

Benjamin lived in Brooke County until his death in 1815. In the 1810 Census, he is listed as "Benjamin Hufman".

Benjamin Huffman had two children from his first marriage, and had eight children with Sarah Cuppy.

Benjamin Huffman's two children by his first wife were:

- Conrad Huffman (February 22, 1770 - May 31, 1862) who married Elizabeth Carbaugh (June 12, 1798-July 17, 1884, aged 86). Conrad and Elizabeth had 8 children together.

- John Huffman (1776 - before September 1818), who married Mary Ellefritz (1779 - )

Benjamin and Sarah's children were:

- Benjamin Huffman (1780 - October 19, 1860), who married Susannah Huffman (1782 - 1821) in 1803

- Sarah Huffman (1782- )

- Abraham Huffman, our ancestor (November 16, 1785-November 28, 1860)

- Jacob Huffman (1787-after 1819), who married Agens Casebear (born about 1792)

- Isaac Huffman (1790-November, 1835), who married Maria Huffman

- Elizabeth Huffman (1790-1862, twin of Isaac?). Elizabeth married twice; first: Samuel Strong, who died on March 7, 1815. Second: John Cox. Elizabeth died, aged 72 on September 17, 1862 in Brooke County, Virginia

- Daniel Huffman (March 9, 1793-November 28, 1876), who married twice. First: to Natalie Holmes (March 20, 1796 to May 20 1837). Second: Barbara Stoner (February 18, 1803 to September 24, 1882)

- Margaret "Peggy" Huffman (1794 - 1880)

Benjamin Huffman's third child by Sarah Cuppy Huffman, Abraham Huffman, our ancestor, was born November 16, 1785 in Hampshire County VA, and moved with his family to Brooke County.

Abraham at age 24 married Margaret Cuppy who was then 21. Margaret Cuppy Huffman was born September 26, 1789 in Hampshire County, Virginia and died March 27, 1862 in Clear Creek, Ohio

Abraham and Margaret were married in Brooke County, Virginia on March 15, 1810.

Interestingly, Abraham Huffman's wife Margaret Cuppy was daughter of Abraham Cuppy (December 12, 1763 - November 3, 1840) and Sarah Perrin Cuppy (3 March 1766 - September 8, 1841). Abraham Cuppy was the brother of Sarah Cuppy Huffman (1758-1816), Benjamin Huffman's second wife. So, Margaret Cuppy Huffman's aunt was the wife of Margaret's father-in-law, Benjamin Huffman. (Is that all clear ?)

Records also show that the Cuppy family and the Huffman family lived together in both Virginia and in Ohio, so presumably the families were part of a group relocating together. This was fairly common at the time, particularly with the families leaving the South due to the rapid increase of slavery, because it gave greater security in a long and potentially difficult relocation.

In Virginia and further south, many families such as the Huffmans and Cuppys moved north into Ohio in the 1810s and 1820s. In this period, slavery, to which the Baptists were strongly opposed, grew in the South following the growth of use of the cotton gin (beginning in about 1800), which made slave holding profitable in cotton country.

After relocating, records show the Cuppy and Huffman families living near each other in Clear Creek, Ohio, and historical records listed below cite John Cuppy as being

"...one of the early settlers known in Clear Creek Township."

In 1814, Abraham Huffman entered deeds for lands in what later became Clear Creek Township, Ohio at the Canton, Ohio Land Office. The next year, 1815, Abraham and Margaret moved to Clear Creek, in what was then Richland County (later Huntington County), in the northern central part of Ohio. Clear Creek Township was organized in 1818, and in 1846, Ashland County was created by separating it out of the eastern half of Richland County, after which, Clear Creek was thereafter located in Ashland County.

John Cuppy and Samuel Huffman (relationships not yet investigated) moved the same year to live near Abraham Huffman in the southern portion of Clear Creek Township. In 1820, the population of Clear Creek Township was approximately 309 persons.

Abraham was apparently something of a local leader, since he was elected to Township offices in 1826 and 1829. He also erected the first local school house on his property.

Rae Baily (see below) quotes H. S. Knapp's History of Ashland County (1861) ⁶:

"...About 1820, the first school house in the southern portion of the Township was erected on the couther line of land of Abraham Huffman. The house was of hewn logs, 18 X 20 feet, cabin roof, puncheon floor, puncheon tables and puncheon seats. The only light admitted by throwing out a log on the two sides of the building and using paper saturated with grease as a substitute for window glass....Among the first scholars were the children of Abraham Huffman..." [note: "puncheon" refers to wooden boards that are made by hewing with an ax, rather than sawing, since a saw mill was not yet available. Imagine the labor required to make just one flat board!]

Abraham and Margaret had 10 children. The first five born in Brooke County, (West) Virginia, prior to the move to Clear Creek, Ohio:

- Daniel G. Huffman ( -1887)

- Mary Ann Huffman ( -1898)

- Zachariah Huffman (1811-1841). Zachariah's tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery and is inscribed "Zachariah child of Abraham & Margaret died 1841 age 29 years".

- Abraham G. Huffman (1813-1827). Abraham's tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery and says "Abraham G. Huffman son of Abraham & Margaret died 1827 age 14 years".

- Susanna C. (1815-1880). Susanna's tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery and says "Susana C. Huffman died 1880 age 65 years"

Abraham and Margaret Huffman's next 5 children were all born in Clear Creek, Richmond County, Ohio:

- Benjamin C. Huffman (1817-1871), who married Mary Ann Ferrell (1815 - 1891). Benjamin's tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery and says "Benjamin C. Huffman died 1871 age 55 years". Mary Ann outlived Benjamin by 20 years and her tombstone says "Mary Ann Ferrell wife of Benjamin C. Huffman died 1891 age 76 years". They had children Roena (1851 - ), William O. (1853 - 1930), Franklin (1857 - ), Laton (1860 - ), and George (1862 - ).

- John Huffman (1 February 1819 - 21 August 1862) who married Ann Huffman (1822- ) with children Lydia A. Huffman (1845- ), Abraham A. Huffman (1848- ), and Lenora Huffman (1850- ), John was a farmer in Clear Creek, Ohio. He seems to have died from wounds at the Civil War Battle of Chickahominy 1862.

- William Huffman our ancestor, born September 24, 1824

- Mary Ann Huffman

- Sarah Jane Huffman (1826-1829) Sarah Jane's tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery and says "Sarah Jane Huffman, daughter of Abraham & Margaret, died 1929 age 2 years"

- Daniel Huffman

- Perrin Cuppy Huffman (1832-1894)

So, in this era of frequent deaths of children before they reach adulthood can be witnessed here: one of the ten Huffman children, Sarah Jane, died at age 3, and Abraham G. died at age 14, not long after William Huffman was born.

The 1860 Census shows Abraham Huffman, aged 74 still living in Clear Creek, Ohio with his wife Margaret, aged 71, and with his oldest sister, Susan Smith, who seems to have been either a widow or perhaps never married. Shortly after the Census which was done there in June, 1860, Abraham died. His tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery which says "Abraham Huffman died 1860 age 74".

Two years later, Margaret Huffman died. Her tombstone is in Ashland Cemetery and says "Margaret Huffman, wife of Abraham died 1862 age 72".

In 1845, our ancestor William Huffman married Elizabeth Ann Smith (born in Ohio in 1819) he being 20 and she 26 years old. They together moved from Ohio to Huntington County, Indiana. This arduous trip was made first from the Ohio River to Fort Wayne, Indiana via the Wabash and Erie Canal which had been completed from the Ohio River to Fort Wayne during the years 1834 to 1837. The final 20 miles from Fort Wayne to Jackson Township, Huntington County was done by a wagon pulled by oxen. ⁵. During the next few years, the Wabash and Erie Canal was extended down to Roanoke, where a lock (Dickey's lock) was constructed, making Roanoke something of a transportation hub.

Map of Huntington County Indiana showing Jackson Township and the village of Roanoke nearby.

Roanoke was a bustling rural Indiana farm town, aided by its access to the transportation of the Wabash and Erie Canal. It was in Jackson Township, near this village of Roanoke, William bought 160 acres for $1000, and began to clear the land. ⁵

Roanoke, Huntington County, Indiana in 1870

William’s brothers and sisters mostly stayed in Ohio. In the 1850 Census, William’s brother John and his children were still living in Clear Creek Township, Ohio, presumably taking over the family farm.

William and Elizabeth may also have taken Elizabeth's mother with them to Indiana. In the 1850 Census, Margaret Smith, aged 65, presumably Elizabeth’s mother was living with William and Elizabeth Huffman, and their children Abram C. Huffman (our ancestor, then aged 3) and Margaret A. "Maggie" Huffman (1 year old) at the Huffman farm in Huntington County, Indiana. John K. Smith, born in 1828 in Ohio, and presumably Elizabeth Smith’s younger brother was also living with them, and helping farm.

William Huffman was active in the Methodist movement. Pietism, the movement that had influenced Conrad Huffman and his co-religionist who moved to Virginia was also a major influence on John Wesley and others who began the Methodist movement. As a Methodist pastor, William Huffman was said to be active as a circuit rider (itinerant pastor) on weekends, riding from small community to small community which had as yet no church to preach the Gospel. This was during the period of what is now referred to as the "Second Great Awakening" or "Great Revival", a protestant evangelical movement of the first half of the 1800s. The source cited states: "...The Methodists had an efficient organization that depended on ministers known as circuit riders, who sought out people in remote frontier locations..." ²

William’s itinerant travels preaching the word might have introduced him to northern Indiana, and lead him settle near the town of Roanoke in Jackson Township located in Huntington County, northern Indiana.

William and Elizabeth Huffman had 5 children:

- Abram Cuppy Huffman, their first child and our ancestor, was born March 4, 1846 in Huntington County, Indiana.

- Margaret "Maggie" A. Huffman, a younger sister was born in April, 1849. Maggie married Leander D. Smith of Huntington County on October 16, 1868, when Maggie was 19 and Leander was 18 (Leander was born in in Jackson, Huntington County, Indiana in September, 1850). They lived first in Jackson, Huntington County, at later moved to Jefferson in Whitney County, Indiana. They had 5 children: Ermina B. Smith (1870 - ), Lizzie C. Smith (1873 - ), L. Aden Smith (1874 - ), Earl I. Smith (August 1879 - ) and Velena Smith (1886 - ). By 1900, Leander and Maggie Smith had moved to Lancing, Michigan. By 1910, their children had moved out and Leander and Maggie lived in the Lancing, Michigan home with Leanders's 85 year old mother, Sara A. Smith. Leander's profession in each source document was listed as "carpenter". Maggie died in 1920.

- A younger twin sister of Maggie, who died soon after birth.

- John M. Huffman (1855-1861) who died as a young boy at age 6.

- William N. Huffman born in 1858, who moved to Missouri (with no further information yet found about him).

The death of two children of the five, early in life was an all too common event in that era, and in the harsh environment and lack of medical care of the pioneer life.

This early mortality applied to our ancestor, the farmer and itinerant minister William Huffman, also. William died on September 24, 1871, at what was even then the relatively young age of 47. In the illuminating Memoirs about A. C. Huffman ⁵, there is no particular reason given to William's age at death, perhaps an indication that a death at this age was not considered so uncommon in that era.

By the time of William's death, his son Abram C. Huffman, our ancestor, was 25, and had already purchased his own farm in Huntington County. So, his brother William N. Huffman, still only aged 14, with his mother Elizabeth, took over William Huffman's 160 acre farm in section 4 of Jackson Township.

  Three properties of Abram C. Huffman in 1879 totaling about 300 acres

By 1880, Elizabeth had moved to Whitney County, Indiana to live with her daughter, Maggie and son-in-law, Leander D. Smith, and their four children (daughter Lizzie having married). Elizabeth outlived her husband William by nearly 23 years, dying July 28, 1894 at age 75. Both were buried in the cemetery of the Wesley Chapel Methodist church, which they had helped to build.

Abram C. Huffman is variously listed as "Abraham C. Huffman" and "A. C. Huffman" in census records, but occasionally as "Abraham (Abram) C. Huffman", such as in his Civil War records, and "Abram C. Huffman" in certain records such as the Huntington County Memoirs, and a birth registry listing. He listed himself as "Abram", and his tombstone in Huntington County gives his name as "Abram C. Huffman", so this would seem the spelling he preferred. However, the content of all these records clearly show this is one and the same person, married to Aurora Comstock Huffman and son of William Huffman and Elizabeth Smith Huffman of Huntington County, Indiana, originally of Clear Creek, Ohio according to the records.

      US Census records from 1880 and 1900 Census

Abram C. Huffman fought for the Union side during the Civil war, serving 100 days in Company D of the 137th Indiana Infantry in 1864 at age 18 and serving in the 153rd Indiana Infantry Regiment in 1865, being discharged in 1865 at war’s end at age 19.

      Abram C. Huffman in about 1900 with other Civil War veterans from Huntington County: (l to r) Hiram Wells (1839-1920), Frank Cedars (1848-1923), Peter Smith (1842-1914), Abram Huffman with red arrow, Benson Smith (1846-1926), Henry Dinius (1833-1914), Noah Burdoine (1841-1932), Dr. Sylvanus Koontz (1844-1925), Simon Peigh (1845-1932), Jake Johns (1843-1919), George Gundy (1835-1925), James Plummer (1841-1909), William Arnold (1845-1909), Hiram Dustman (1845-1925)

Abram C. Huffman was likely the first of our family to be university educated. Following the Civil War, in 1865, he entered the Roanoke Classical Seminary in Roanoke, Indiana.

  Roanoke Classical Seminary in about 1889

Roanoke Classical Seminary was founded in 1860 by the United Brethren Church to train ministers. In 1889, it relocated to North Manchester, Huntington County, Indiana, and was renamed Manchester College. In fact, Abram C. Huffman's son, Walter Charles Huffman Senior also graduated from Manchester College.

It is interesting that the United Brethren Church is a spiritual descendent of the Pietism movement which motivated our German ancestors to migrate to the USA in 1739.

At the Roanoke Classical Seminary, Abram trained as a teacher, graduating in 1867. Thereafter, he would teach in the winters, and farm during the rest of the year. The children would need to work on the family farms March to October, then could attend the one room school house November through March. So in the Huffman family tree, Abram Huffman started the trend to university education, since his son Walter Charles Huffman Senior graduated from Huntington College (today Huntington University), a Methodist liberal arts college in Huntington County, Indiana. His son Walter Charles Huffman Junior in turn graduated from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana.

Abram C. Huffman, following his graduation, married Aurora B. Comstock in the Wesley Chapel Methodist church in Huntington County, Indiana on October 21, 1868. Abram C. Huffman was 22 and Aurora Comstock was 18. Wesley Chapel was the small church that Abram's father William Huffman helped construct.

Aurora B. Comstock was born in Roanoke, Jackson Township, Huntington County, Indiana on February 19, 1850. Aurora's parents were from Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. They moved to Huntington County before Aurora was born, and her father, Charles Comstock (October 12, 1807 - July 21, 1850), was involved in the construction and extension of the Wabash and Erie canal down to Roanoke, Indiana. Recall that this was the canal which William and Elizabeth Huffman had used in their move from Ohio to Indiana. Unfortunately, Charles Comstock died only 5 months after Aurora's birth.

Aurora's mother, Polly Hall Comstock (February 6, 1813 - June 25, 1872) outlived Charles Comstock by nearly 22 years. Polly then remarried to John Houseman (born in Virginia in 1810), and Aurora and her older brother Charles Comstock Junior (born in 1845) were thereafter John Houseman's stepchildren. Charles Comstock Junior served in the Union Army from 1861 to 1864. Charles Comstock married Mary E. Rose January 7, 1866 in Huntington County, and they later moved to Ellis, Kansas where they raised 3 children.

Both Abram and Aurora were lifelong active members of the Methodist church, and Abram helped later erect the larger frame church on the Wesley Chapel location, where his father had erected the first small Wesley Chapel Methodist church.

In later years, after her second husband John Houseman died, Polly came to live with Abram and Aurora on the Huffman farm in Huntington County. Many Huffman and Comstock families still are named in the Huntington County registries today, continuing this heritage.

  the house where the children of Abram and Aurora Huffman were born and grew up

Abram C. Huffman and Aurora B. Comstock Huffman had 5 children, each born in Jackson, Huntington County, Indiana:

- Lillian E. Huffman, born July 9, 1869 in Huntington County, Indiana, who married James Monroe Dinius (usually called by his middle name Monroe) on March 1, 1891, in Jackson Township, Huntington County. Monroe Dinius was 26 and Lillian was 21. By 1897, Lillian is listed in the Huntington County directory as being a teacher. The 1920 Census also lists her as a college teacher in Huntington County, so likely she taught at Huntington College. Monroe Dinius died on May 17, 1917 at the young age of 52. By 1920, Lillian had come to live with her in-law Boyd Dinius and his wife Eza and their 5 children in Jackson, Huntington County, Indiana. Also living there was Barbara Dinius, born about 1845 in Ohio. Lillian Huffman Dinius died in Huntington County on January 17, 1940, outliving Monroe by 22 years. Lillian and Monroe Dinius had three children according to the 1900 Census, but with only two living. These were Fay Aurora Dinius, born October 3, 1892, and Claude W. A. Dinius, born June,1896, both in Huntington County.

- Archer William Huffman was born on October 3, 1872. He later moved to Santa Barbara County, California, and married Antis E. Huffman (born in Texas on November 29, 1879), daughter of Antis E. McCarty of Dallas, Texas. Archer and Antis lived at 1308 North Texas Street in Redlands City, San Bernardino, California with their two boys, Glen G. Huffman (January 17, 1900 - March 3, 1971) and Lee A. Huffman (May 8,1902 - April 25, 1965). Archer's occupation in 1900 in California was listed as "U.S. mail carrier". Archer and Antis later moved to Highland, CA, about 7 miles away from Redlands City, and in the foothills of what is today the San Bernardino National Forest. Archer died there on October 23, 1942, age 70, shortly after Antis's death on September 10, 1942.

- Mabel E. Huffman, a daughter born in 1875, who married John C. Ellsworth of Allen County Indiana in February 21, 1895. John and Mabel Ellsworth had at least 3 children, Ethel E. Ellsworth (1898 - ), Charles (1904 - ) who married Erma F Ellsworth (January 20, 1909 - June 18, 1979) in 1926 and Ruth (1907 - ). All three children had been born in Indiana. By 1920 John and Mabel Ellsworth had also moved to Highland, San Bernardino, California, living next door to Archer and Antis Huffman. Archer was of course brother to Mabel Ellsworth. Interestingly, John Ellsworth's occupation listed in the 1930 Census was "horticulturist, bee keeper"

- Walter Charles Huffman, our ancestor, was born February 19, 1877.

  Walter Charles Huffman Senior in 1880 age 3 1/2

- Verne Abram Huffman, a younger brother to Walter Charles Huffman Senior, was born 1 January 1882. Verne Huffman died of arteriosclerosis on 24 October 1959 in Ft. Wayne, Indiana age 72. Like his brother Walter C. Huffman Senior, Verne Huffman was by profession a photographer and also a milkman.

  Verne and Elfa Huffman in 1935

Verne married Elfa Carter in about 1905, and they had nine children:

- Lavuna Abigail Huffman born 11 Jul 1906

- Ruth Elizabeth Huffman born 13 Dec 1907

- Mabel Melissa Huffman born 24 Mar 1909

- Doyle Carter Huffman born 14 Nov 1911

- Byron Abram Huffman born 29 Jan 1914

- Woodward Owen Huffman born 15 Nov 1916

- Thomas Albert Huffman born 25 Jun 1918

- Bayless Vern Huffman born 16 Apr 1920

- Elizabeth Betty Huffman born 18 July 1926 who died five days old

These children of Verne and Elfa Huffman were all born in Huntington County, Indiana, except their last child. This baby girl, Elizabeth Betty Huffman born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, lived only one week, born July 18, 1926 and died on July 25, 1926. Family accounts were that Verne and Elfa Huffman moved from Roanoke, Indiana to Fort Wayne, Indiana to be close to hospital medical care while Elfa was having a difficult pregnancy with Elizabeth Betty. Elfa Carter Huffman was the daughter of Hiram A. Carter born October 1865, and Minnie A. Johnson Carter, also born October 1865. Hiram Carter was listed as a "livestock dealer" in Hillsboro, Fountain County, in western Indiana according to the 1900 Census.

    Abram C. and wife Aurora B. Huffman circa late 1909 - with Verne and wife Elfa Huffman with daughters Lavuna about age 3 1/2, Ruth age 2 and Mabel several months old. Probably taken at the Huffman farmhouse which Verne and Elfa later took over after Abram and Aurora moved to California in about 1918. Interestingly, this house originally was the Comstock house where Aurora grew up, later occupied by her and Abram, and later by Verne and Elfa Huffman (see house picture above).

It is interesting that Abram C. Huffman and Aurora Huffman moved to San Bernardino County, California by about 1918 to live in retirement with Archer and Antis Huffman, first in Redlands City, and later on Archer's farm in Highland, located about 30 miles east of Los Angeles. This must have been a welcome retirement climate - warm and dry, compared with the frigid Indiana winters and hot and humid summers. Also, not only were Archer and Antis there, with the grandchildren Glen and Lee, but also living on the adjoining farm were daughter Mabel Ellsworth with her husband John, and the two teenage grandchildren Charles and Ruth Ellsworth.

To read more of a contemporary memoir of Abram C. Huffman in the Huntington County archives, go to the Memoirs about A. C. Huffman (click here) .

After Abram and Aurora moved to California for retirement, they left the family farm to Verne and Elfa Huffman. The 1920 Census shows Abram and Aurora living with Archer, Antis, and Lee, (aged 17) in California. Aurora's death at age 72 is recorded as "28 Jan 1923 in Highland, San Bernardino County, California" and Abram C. Huffman died more than 4 years later, on December 15, 1927 (at age 81) also in in Highland, San Bernardino County.

Both Abram and Aurora were taken back to Indiana, and buried in the cemetery of the Wesley Chapel in Huntington County, Indiana, the graveyard at this church for Wesleyan Methodists. This is the Wesley Chapel church that both Abram Huffman and his father, William Huffman helped erect and then expand. William and his wife Elizabeth are also buried there. Also, Aurora's parents, Charles and Polly Comstock are buried in the Wesley Chapel Cemetery.

      Wesley Chapel Cemetery, Huntington County, Indiana

Walter Charles Huffman Senior grew up and went to school in Jackson in Huntington County. In 1900, Walter Charles Huffman Senior graduated from Huntington College, which is now Huntington University. This Methodist liberal arts college was the successor to the Roanoke Classical Seminary, where his father studied. Walter Charles Huffman's sister, Lillian E. Huffman also seems to have taught at Huntington College.

      Huntington College, Indiana at about the time Walter Charles Huffman studied there

In 1900, at age 23 Walter Charles Huffman Senior returned home to Huntington County, with his parents Abram and Aurora and with brother Verne aged 18. The following year 1901 for nine years between 1901 and 1909, Walter Charles Huffman Senior worked in Detroit, Michigan, first in a factor, and as a clerk. He then moved briefly to Chicago, and finally relocated to Indianapolis.

In 1910 Walter Charles Huffman at age 33 is listed as a professional photographer, still unmarried, and lodging at 303 N. East Street, Indianapolis. He worked for the Holland Photo Studio at 17 West Market Street, Indianapolis. In 1913 in Indianapolis, Marion County, Indiana, Walter Charles Huffman Senior, now aged 36 married Mae Anna Kramer, aged 24. Mae Kramer was the child of John E. Kramer and Flora J. (Boyer) Kramer. Mae Anna Kramer was born in El Dorado, Kansas May 21, 1889.

To read more about Mae's family:

Click here to go to the The Boyer - Kramer Family Records

Mae and Walter had one child, also named Walter Charles Huffman, born April 10, 1914, in Indianapolis, when Walter was 37 and Mae nearly 25.

Walter C. Huffman Senior, Mae Anna Huffman, and Walter C. Huffman Junior lived at 518 North Denny Avenue in Indianapolis. Following their marriage, Walter C. Huffman Senior from 1914 to 1918 worked as a photographer at the larger Holland Photographic Studio at 17 West Market Street in Indianapolis.

      Walter Charles Huffman Junior, age 1 in 1915 with his photographer father in the foreground

Walter Charles Huffman Jr. grandfather Abram C. Huffman visited the newborn grandchild before Abram and his wife Aurora moved to California. Walter Charles Huffman Sr. took this photograph of his father holding son Walter in 1914

There is only little indication that they used "Walter Charles Huffman Senior" and "Walter Charles Huffman Junior", perhaps because Walter Charles Huffman (senior) died less than 5 years after his son's birth. The only surviving example of the use of "Senior" is in Walter Charles Huffman's death notice in the Indianapolis Star, shown below. Walter Charles Huffman Senior died on 13 November 1918 at Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis of bronchial pneumonia, age only 41.

      Walter Charles Huffman obituary November 1918

Following Walter C. Huffman Senior's death, according to the 1920 Census, Mae Anna Huffman, along with Walter C. Huffman Junior briefly lived with her father, John E. Kramer and mother Flora Kramer at 1382 Nordyke Avenue in Indianapolis. Walter C. Huffman Senior's parents had already moved to California. Mae's listed occupation was of "stenographer" in an auto parts company. She was later a secretary at a railroad company (perhaps the Chicago, Indiana and Southern Railroad) to support the herself and infant Walter Charles Huffman. This was clearly a difficult period for mother and son. However, Walter Charles Huffman Junior said he had happy memories of this time, and had a lifelong love of bean soup, a regular meal (inexpensive and high in protein).

On November 14, 1923, Mae Anna Huffman married Ralph Spray Norwood, of Indianapolis, the second marriage for Ralph and third marriage for Mae Anna Kramer Huffman. To read more about Ralph Norwood and his family go to the Norwood Family Records by clicking this link.

Ralph Norwood was a trained accountant. He was financial manager at the leading Indianapolis department store: L. Strauss & Company. He had also been an accountant at an Indianapolis bank then at a machinist company. Initially in 1915, at L. Strauss & Company, Ralph Norwood was treasurer, then buyer, and later Executive Vice President by the early 1930s. Ultimately, Ralph Norwood became partner with Abram L. Block on the Board of L. Strauss by 1933. He set the fashion at the store by being the purchaser of mens and ladies fashions for the store. Block and Norwood built up the business stressing elegance and style. The fashion theme was developed by Ralph Norwood in his purchasing trips in New York and in Europe, while Mr. Block ran the store day-to-day. Ralph also pursued entrepreneurial activities, investing in a movie theater and a glove factory. Then, on the death of Abram Block in 1936, Ralph and his business partner Henry Zitzlaff purchased control of L. Strauss & Company, expanding the business in each year. Wikipedia states: "L. Strauss & Co. was a distinctly upscale department store chain headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana..."

  L. Strauss & Company downtown Indianapolis Store at the time Ralph Norwood purchased the business

Ralph was 43 at the time of his marriage to Mae, and she was 34. Ralph, born in 1881, lived to age 90 and died 1971 in Pennsylvania. So, with this marriage in 1923, Ralph Norwood became the stepfather of Walter C. Huffman, then aged 9, and the two grew to have a cordial and respectful relationship. They lived at 3617 Carleton Avenue in Indianapolis which from the pictures, was an elegant location. Ralph signed Walter up with a Belgian fencing master, since he believed fencing built manliness (Walter later joined the Purdue fencing team).

  Walter Charles Huffman Junior at 3617 Carleton Avenue in Indianapolis circa 1924

Walter C. Huffman in 1932 gained admission to Purdue University, and was fortunate to have in Ralph a father who could afford to pay Walter's tuition, at the height of the depression --- although Walter also worked in a varnish factory while at university. Walter was captain of the Purdue fencing team, and graduated in 1936 with a BS in Chemical Engineering.

  Ralph Norwood visiting Walter Huffman at Purdue in 1935

While at Purdue, he met Ruth Mary Hadley who was a chemistry major. She graduated from Purdue in June 1937 with a BS in Science majoring in chemistry.

  Ruth Mary Hadley at the time of her entry into Purdue University (many other photographs lost on a torpedoed ship bringing their belongings back from Aruba during World War 2)

Just after Ruth Mary's graduation, Walter C. Huffman and Ruth Mary Hadley were married on Ruth Mary's birthday on 28 July in 1937. Following their wedding, Ruth Mary moved to join Walter in Aruba in the Netherlands West Indies where Walter was already working at the Royal Dutch Shell oil refinery, at that time said to be the largest oil refinery in the world.

While in Aruba, Ruth Hadley Huffman was born on May 2, 1938 and James Ralph Huffman was born on November 14, 1940

In 1943, the Huffman family decided to move back to the USA. Their savings from Aruba (where there was little to do or buy) allowed Walter to return in order to find a job closer to their roots. They relocated from Aruba to Hadley, Indiana, where Walter worked on the Hadley farm while finding a new job. However, one setback was that when they relocated, they traveled separately from their possession, which was fortunate. The tanker ship carrying all the Huffman household possessions was torpedoed by a Nazi submarine, patrolling the Caribbean during the height of World War 2. Fortunately, the Huffmans had gone back to the USA via airplane to Cuba thence to the USA, and were not on the ship. However, some bad luck followed them for a time, since the furniture reserved for them by Seth Hadley in the family barn in Indiana burned before they could take possession.

Walter was hired by the Sun Oil Company to work in their refinery in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, southwest of Philadelphia. So the family moved to Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1943 when where Walter began work at the Sun Oil Company refinery.

In Pennsylvania, in Philadelphia County, Lawrence Huffman (favorite child of all the family) was born on August 9, 1944.

Ruth Mary Hadley Huffman gave birth to three children:

Eldest child Ruth Hadley Huffman was born on Aruba in the Carribean on 2 May 1938. She married Lawrence Read Junkin (26 July 1938 - 1 March 2004) on 4 January 1956, with whom she had four children:

- Katherine Lee Junkin born on 5 May 1957. On 4 October 1987, Katherine married Eugene Thomas Borish Jr. born 28 April 1949. They had one child, Parker Borish.

- Robert Huffman Junkin born 19 November 1959 married Leslie A. Johnson born 16 May 1963

- Susan Junkin born 1 April 1962 who married Darrell A. Pennington who later died. They had one child, Darrell Pennington (Jr.) Susan later married Charles (Chuck) L. Williams, an attorney in Media, Pennsylvania.

- Lawrence Read "Chip" Junkin (Jr.) born 7 May 1963. He married Brooke Stehle Junkin born in 1963, with two children: Tyler and Nicky.

Ruth Huffman later married Robert Williams Leach (20 October 1924- ) in 1971 in Media, Pennsylvania.

Second child James Ralph Huffman was born in Aruba on 14 November 1940. He married Lena Rose Patterson, daughter of Edward Richard Patterson and Rose Grantham Patterson on 27 February 1965 in Smithfield, North Carolina, Lena's home. Jim was 24 and Lena was 22 years old, born 2 June 1942. Lena graduated from Meredith College, Raleigh, and Jim from University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC. Jim and Lena had two children:

- Alison H. Huffman born on 30 May 1970. Alison Huffman studied at Washington State University, where she was a member of the same sorority as great grandmother Nelle Waller Hadley, Alpha Phi, had been at Indiana State University, some 90 years earlier. On 30 March 2005 Alison married Richard D. Kinney born 28 May 1965. They had two children: Ryan E. Kinney born in May 2007 and Hadley Rose Kinney born in December 2009. The Kinney’s live in Poulsbo, Washington across the bay from Seattle.

- Michael Edward Huffman born on 26 May 1967. Mike Huffman studied at Western Washington University. He now lives at Kihei, Maui, Hawaii and owns his own business.

Lena Patterson later remarried to become Lena Patterson Parks living in Kingston, Washington. Jim later married Sharon Kay Huffman in lives in Henderson, Nevada

Third child Lawrence Walter Huffman, favorite of all the family, was born in Philadelphia on 9 August 1944.

Walter C. Huffman died in Chester County, Pennsylvania on March 4, 1999. Ruth Mary Huffman died in Chester County, Pennsylvania on September 7, 2006. Both are buried in the Hadley Friends cemetery in Hadley, Hendricks County, Indiana.

  Walter and Ruth Huffman in the mid 1990s in Florida after their retirement

There are still today more than 200 Huffman Family members living in Huntington County, Indiana, and the 3 surrounding counties in the northeastern portion of Indiana. Huffmans are on the school board, Chamber of Commerce and town council of Huntington County even today.

        Huntington County Indiana in 1879

Click here to go the Huffman Family home page

Click here to go the Huntington County Memoirs about A. C. Huffman

Click here to go to the Huffman Family Photographs - Page 1

Click here to go to the Huffman Family Photographs - Page 2

Click here to go to the Huffman Family Photographs - Page 3

Click here to go to the Huffman Family Photographs - Page 4

Click here to go to the Huffman Family Photographs - Page 5

Click here to go to the Huffman Family Photographs - Page 6

Click here to go to the The Boyer - Kramer Family Records

Click here to go to the Norwood Family Records

¹ page 547. Schaff, Philip editor The Creeds of Christendom: With a History and Critical Notes, Volume 1. Harper & Brothers, New York 1919.

² from Wikipedia, consulted 2010. article: Second Great Awakening

³ Ronald J. Gordon: Rise of Pietism in 17th Century Germany. Located at: http://www.cob-net.org/pietism.htm

⁴ Beidelman, William. Story of the Pennsylvania Germans Express Book Print. Easton, Pennsulvania 1898.

⁵ page 718-721. Biographical Memoirs of Huntington County, Indiana 1901. B. F. Bowen Publishers. Chicago, Illinois. 1901.

⁶ Knapp, H. S. History of Ashland County, Ohio. J. B. Lippencott. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 1863.

If you have any comments or questions about this site, please e-mail me (Larry Huffman) at e-mail address: leopold.stokowski@gmail.com