Grubbses, Campbells, Sutters, and Hodils: The case of the missing will (Henry Strohm of Indiana Tp., Allegheny Co.)

"Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-28766-18280-94?cc=1999196 : accessed 9 June 2016), Allegheny > Wills 1832-1845 vol 4-5 > image 89 of 579; county courthouses, Pennsylvania.

"Pennsylvania Probate Records, 1683-1994," images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1942-28766-18554-0?cc=1999196 : accessed 9 June 2016), Allegheny > Wills 1832-1845 vol 4-5 > image 90 of 579; county courthouses, Pennsylvania.

The will of Henry Strohm of Indian Tp., Allegheny Co., Pennsylvania appears to be missing from the microfilmed roll of original probate files available at FamilySearch.  It does, however, appear in the relevant volume of copies filed with the county.  Since I had a difficult time finding it, and it doesn't seem to have been consulted by Strohm or Hodil genealogists (because a death date is not given for Henry), I include the pages here, with a full transcription, in the hope that it may be useful to others.

The will was mentioned in a Hodil genealogy, possibly by Pamela Myers-Grewell, so presumably either the original will or the copy volume was available in 1981, when Joseph Klaus cleared and recorded the Strohm cemetery in Fox Chapel as his Eagle Scout project.  The FamilySearch roll was filmed 29 January 1990.  It is certainly possible, though, that the original document is on the roll somewhere but not in sequential order, since the copy appears wedged in between numbers 84 and 85 -- no.84 is p.128 in the roll of originals, and no.85 is p.130, so clearly no.129 is out of sequence or missing.

The name "Strohm" appears in various spellings even among the family.  I assume that Henry himself spelled it "Strohm" in 1816 but that the transcribing clerk read "Strohrn," since it usually if not always appears with that misspelling in the copy.

A cropped portion of image 89 of 579, with the copy of the first part of Henry's will.

Last Will and Testament of Henry Strohrn [sic] Dec’d.

In the name of God Amen I Henry Strohrn [sic] of Indiana township Allegheny County and State of Pennsylvania being weak in body and low in sickness, but sound in mind and considering well the frailty of human nature and being desirous to settling my worldly affairs, and preparing for the change which God in his wisdom may make on this my mortal state do make and ordain this my last will & testament.

Item. I do empower my wife Mary Strohrn [sic] to act in full power as executrix of this my last will and testament having all power the same as I should have were I living in all cases whatever thereunto belonging provided she shall well and truly perform all the requisites therein contained. Also I do appoint and constitute Henry Snively of Pitt township Allegheny County Executor of this said will and testament with the provisions as before mentioned, and in case of the death of the death of the [sic] said Henry Snively, she the said Mary Strohrn [sic] is fully empowered to choose another executor in the room of him the said Snively but not otherwise. And should the said Mary Strohrn [sic] feel approaching dissolution, she is fully empowered to make her last will and testament as she in her sound judgement may see expedient and proper -- and in all cases whatever shall act with the power as I should do with the consent of the said Executor. And should she the said Mary marry and make away with any of said estate then her dower shall cease in all cases respecting this said will, excepting such power as the law shall give and no other.

Item. I do also leave all my property, under the care and management of her the said Mary to conduct for the benefit of my children under the restrictions, power and privations as above decribed [sic] and stated.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this fifth day of February one thousand eight hundred and sixteen. Signed in presence of us, --drew [torn] Means. Jacob Hodil. James Martin.

Henry Strohrn [sic].

Allegheny County Ss. On the 28th day of May A.D. 1834 personally appeared

A cropped portion of image 90 of 579, with the copy of the second part of Henry's will.

before me John M. Snowden Register for the probate of wills &c. Jacob Hodil one of the subscribing witnesses to the foregoing will, who being duly sworn according to law did depose and say, that he was present and heard Henry Strohm [sic?] declare the foregoing testament of writing to be his last will and testament, that he signed his name as a witness at the request of said Strohrn [sic] -- and that the said Strohrn [sic] was at the time of making the said declaration of perfect and sound mind memory and understanding to the best of his knowledge observation and beleif [sic]. (The other two subscribing witnesses being deceased.) on the same day John Parsons appeared before said Register and being sworn declared, That a few days before his decease Henry Strohrn [sic] the testator, Showed deponent the foregoing Instrument of writing and declared to him that it was his last will and testament -- and that at the time said Strohm [sic?] was of perfect and sound mind memory and understanding according to the best of deponents knowledge observation and beleif [sic]. -- same day William Crawford appeared before said Register and being sworn declared that he is well acquainted with the handwriting of the deceased -- that he has frequently seen him write -- and that he verily beleives [sic] that the signature Henry Strohrn [sic] to the foregoing Instrument of writing is in the proper hand writing of the said testator. Given under my hand the date aforesaid. John M. Snowden, Register. Recorded May 28th, A.D. 1834.

Thus we can say that Henry Strohm died some time between the writing of his will on 5 February 1816 and its filing on 28 May 1834.  Since Henry Strohm (presumably the same one) appears on the Federal censuses for Indiana Tp. in 1810 and 1820, we can narrow that down to between 1820-1834, or certainly before 28 May 1834.

(Discussing Klaus's research, the Hodil article says that "when Strohm died, he left his wife everything unless she took up with another man, in which case [she] would receive nothing."  The way this is quoted makes Strohm sound vindictive, but it was in fact a not-uncommon stipulation, in the days when a husband controlled his wife's property, since a second husband could theoretically dispose of the property a wife had inherited from her first husband, thereby not only letting the property go out of the family but also depriving the first husband's children of their potential inheritance.  The fact that Henry named his wife Mary as executrix -- although another executor is also designated -- indicates that he at the very least thought well enough of her to be confident in her ability to oversee the estate, e.g. was "fully empowered to make her last will and testament as she in her sound judgement may see expedient and proper -- and in all cases whatever shall act with the power as I should do".  For more information on wills and dower, see "Wills and Testaments : I Do Hereby Bequeath..." by Donna Przecha, and the "Probate" article at the Ancestry wiki.)

Grubbses, Campbells, Sutters, and Hodils: Margaret Grubbs and her husband Samuel Hodil

Lottie Campbell's sister Emma appears on the 1880 census in Indiana Tp., Allegheny Co., living with Samuel Hodil, 74, and his wife Margaret, 65. Emma is listed as "domestic servant" and "grandniece". Margaret, it turns out, was born a Grubbs, so here is a likely connection with the mother "Sarah Grubbs" mentioned on the death certificate of Emma's and Lottie's younger sister Sarah's death certificate.

Hodil families on the 1870 Federal census.

Samuel and Margaret Hodil's family is fairly easy to track.  Their nine children were as follows:

• Frederick Hodil, b.5 July 1832. He married Ann Campbell some time in the early 1860s.
• John Hodil, b.20 June 1834. He married Sarah Jane Wible around 1860.
• George Gilliam Hodil, b.15 September 1836. He married Mary Jane Hassinger, some time before 1880.
• Susanna Hodil, b.17 April 1839. She married George Weber in 1859.
• Sarah Ann Hodil, b.2 July 1842. She married John Shaw around 1885.
• Samuel J. Hodil, b.30 September 1844. He married Sarah Jane Henry in the mid-1860s.
• James C. Hodil, b.29 April 1847. He married Anna M. Sutter around 1871.
• Rachel M. Hodil, b.20 September 1850. She married George Hassinger around 1872.
• Margaret M. Hodil, b.9 November 1854. She married John R. Rickenbaugh about 1875.

(Mary Jane Hassinger (1844-1933) and George Hassinger (1850-1933) were brother and sister, found on the 1850 census in Indiana Tp. with their parents Henry and Eliza Hassinger. It was probably not the first time, and certainly not the last, that siblings in the Grubbs and Hodil families married siblings in another.)

This family appears in various permutations in Indiana Tp., on the Federal censuses for 1850, 1860, 1870 and 1880 -- their name is found spelled "Huddle" and "Hoddil" before it settles down to "Hodil". Margaret died 20 July that year, and Samuel seven years later, on 18 August; they were both buried in Pine Creek cemetery.  (Frederick, John, George, Rachel, and Margaret, and their respective spouses, were also buried in Pine Creek.)

There do not, unfortunately, appear to be any Grubbs brides or grooms in the mid- or late-1800s in the "Pennsylvania Marriages, 1709-1940" database at FamilySearch.

Anna Sutter, James's wife, was as it happens the daughter of Ursula Sutter, the mysterious Lotta Sutter's "aunt" on the 1880 census.  This therefore gives us two connections now to Lottie Campbell McCully, the Sutter one (the family who took her in) and the Hodil one (Emma's great-aunt being Margaret Grubbs Hodil), three if you count that Margaret was born a Grubbs.

Assuming that Emma's, Lottie's, and Sarah's family had been broken up -- since they certainly do not appear together in Allegheny Co. on the 1880 census -- we can say that it is probable that one or the other, and more likely both, of their parents had died by 1880.