HOMETOWN TUESDAY - St. Anne's Village, Jennings County, Indiana

My great-great-grandmother Barbara Brunett Huber was born in St. Anne's Village, in the Sand Creek Township of Jennings County, Indiana, on April 16, 1852. She was the fourth child of ten born to John Michael Baptiste Brunett (1818-1863) and Barbara Frisse (1822-1893), my 3x-great-grandparents. Both John and Barbara had immigrated from Seingbouse, France, and had married at St. Anne's Catholic Church in August 1846, less than two months after arriving in America. It was here in St. Anne's Village that all of their children were born, and where John and Barbara are buried.

Also settling here from Seingbouse were Joseph Frise (1796-1864) and Marguerite Lang (1802-1868), Barbara's parents and my 4x-great-grandparents, as well as all nine of their children. Joseph and Marguerite are also buried at St. Anne's Church Cemetery. [NOTE: The spelling of Joseph's last name was 'Frise' or 'Frisse', pronounced FREEZE. It was also sometimes spelled 'Frisz'. It was at the funeral of their mother that the sons decided to adopt a common spelling - F-R-I-S-Z.]

Joseph Frise was a farmer, as most citizens of the county were. His son-in-law John Brunett also was a farmer, until his death in 1863. His wife Barbara then took over the responsibilities of farming, as well as being the mother of ten children, ages 0-16. [In fact Barbara gave birth to baby #10 one month after losing her husband.] Her land is highlighted in the Sand Creek Township map below.

Jennings County History
[from Biographical & Historical Souvenir for the counties of Clark, Crawford, Harrison, Floyd, Jefferson, Jennings, Scott and Washington, Indiana; 1889; published by John M. Gresham and Company; Chicago; pages 222-227 ]

"Jennings County lies in the southern part of Indiana. It was organized in 1816, and named for Jonathan Jennings, the first Governor of Indiana, after it was admitted into the Union as a State. ...It contains 375 square miles and by the census of the 1880 it had 16,453.

Heavy timber originally covered the county. As a general rule, the rolling lands bordering the numerous streams are more productive than the flat (lands). The principal productions are corn, wheat, oats, rye, buckwheat and hay. ...A considerable area is in pasture and large number of mules, horses and cattle are raised for the Cincinnati and other markets. Large numbers of hogs are fattened for the various markets....

Fruit culture is becoming more and more extensive every year and the soil proves that it is a good fruit region. The usual varieties of summer and winter apples do well; occasionally cherries and pears. ...Wild blackberries grow in profusion and are quite a source of income at some points, also wild grapes.

Jennings County was settled principally from the Southern  States - most of the early settlers coming from Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee, with a number of families from Kentucky. They were of that hardy class whose trials and hardships were as nothing compared to the longing desire to possess a home of their own. ...They did not come in great rushing crowds as emigrants now go West, on railroad trains, but they come on foot, in ox-wagons, on horseback and, in fact, any way they could get here.

Vernon, the county seat of Jennings County, is beautifully situated at the North and South forks of the Muscatatuck river, and on the Jeffersonville, Madison and Indianapolis railroad. It is a rather dull old town of 616 inhabitants by the last census (1880), but has a sound and solid foundation from a financial and business standpoint. The courthouse is a handsome brick structure, with white limestone trimmings, obtained from the neighboring quarries. ...There is, and has been, considerable manufacturing done in Vernon among which may be mentioned spoke and hub factory; foundry and plow shop; stave and heading factory; woolen and flouring mill; wagons and buggies; pumps and rakes; etc., etc., etc."

1889 Sand Creek Township Map
Barbara Brunett's land in purple
[CLICK TO ENLARGE]

Sand Creek Township
"Sand Creek Township is believed to have been organized in 1841. One of Jennings County's smaller townships, it contains a little over twenty-six square miles. When Indiana became a state and Jennings a county, the northwest corner of this township belonged to the Indians. The Old Indiana Boundary line ccan be found on maps yet today.

Sand Creek derives its name from the stream that winds through it, creating areas that cannot be surpassed for beauty. The Indians had a name for this creek, Laquekaouenek (lak/ka/oo/e/nek), which means "water running through sand." [Jennings County, Indiana, 1816-1999; Jennings County Historical Society; 1999; page 91]

St. Anne's Village
"St. Anne is a German settlement situated in the southeastern part of Sand Creek township. Among the first settlers were families named Frisz, Gasper, Glatt, Eder, Specht, Daeger, Winters, Shulthies, Henry, Erlsland, Frederick, Gehl, Meyer and Tipps. Although no town was laid out, St. Anne had a post office... a grocery story... and several blacksmith shops."[Jennings County Indiana, 1816-1999; page 91]

The village was centered around St. Anne's Catholic Church, organized by February 1841. [Read more in an upcoming post.]

Jennings County Facts

Jennings County Courthouse
Vernon, Indiana

As of the 2000 Census, there were 27,554 people living in Jennings County. The racial makeup of the county is 97.45% white.  It is a rural county, with the majority of  the county made up of personal farms and woodlands.

There are only two incorporated towns in the county - Vernon, the county seat, and North Vernon. There are 11 townships in the county.[Townships are a product of Indiana's history. There are just over 1000 Townships in the state. Indiana is one of 20 states that currently has some form of township government.]

The county is conveniently located in the center of an imaginary triangle consisting of Indianapolis, IN, Louisville, KY, and Cincinnati, OH, and requires only a hour and 1/4 drive time to any of these urban centers.

In recent years, average temperatures in Vernon have ranged from a low of 22 F in January to a high of 86 F in July. President Richard Nixon's mother, Hannah Milhous Nixon, was born near Butlerville, Jennings County, Indiana, in 1885.

THURSDAY'S TREASURE - Our Family Name, Barbara

In my grandfather's Bible, my mother once found this small article from a long-forgotten newspaper (copyright 1920) that he had torn out and saved. It is her name - Barbara. A name that has been passed down one branch of my family tree - from one continent to another, across states, for over 200 years. The name was chosen each time by new parents for their brand new baby daughter, to honor a mother or grandmother or sister whom they loved. Here is how my mother, and my older sister, came to have their name.

In our family I have been able to trace the name Barbara back to 18th century France. I found the name first given to my 6th great-grandmother Barbe Breyer Bour, born June 20, 1750, in Seingbouse, Moselle, France. [Barbe is the French personal name for Barbara.] Her parents, my 7th great-grandparents, were Pierre Breyer (1714-1764) and Anna Marie Schwartz (1713-1761). In February 1770, Barbe married Jean Melchoir Bour, who was born January 1745, in Tenteling, Moselle, France. They had at least two children, including Christine Bour, my 5th great-grandmother.

Christine Bour was born January 1763, in Seingbouse. In 1801 she married Pierre Lang, my 5th great-grandfather. Pierre was born March 1760, also in Seingbouse, France. Together they had at least five children. Their oldest child was Marguerite Lang, my 4th great-grandmother. She was born in April 1802; fourth child and younger sister, Barbe Lang, was born March 1806.

In May 1821, Marguerite married Joseph Frise (1796-1863) in their hometown. They had seven sons and two daughters. Their oldest child was Barbara Frisse, born in May 1822. Barbara is my 3rd great-grandmother. Joseph, Marguerite and their children immigrated to the United States. They settled in St. Anne's Village (now North Vernon), Jennings County, Indiana.

Barbara Frisse married Jean Michael Baptiste Brunette (1818-1863) one month after arriving in America, in August 1846. They had ten children, 7 girls and 3 boys. The name is passed down again at the birth of their fourth child Barbara Brunett. Born in April 1852, Barbara married Philip Huber (1847-1901), an immigrant from Germany, in April 1871, in Bowling Green, Warren County, Kentucky. Barbara and Philip are my 3rd great-grandparents.

Barbara and Philip had seven children while living in Bowling Green, including (my great-great-grandmother) oldest daughter Mary Bertha "Mayme" Huber, born in August 1873, and her younger sister Philomena Barbara "Minnie" Huber, born September 1876. Minnie never married. Mayme married John Martin O'Donnell (1865-1937) in April 1904, after both had moved to Birmingham, Alabama.

Mayme and Johnny had three boys, including oldest son John Huber O'Donnell (my grandfather), born May 1906, and one daughter, Barbara Lena O'Donnell, born November 1909.
Barbara married Howard Alonzo Howard, (1908-1946), and together they had three children including daughter Barbara Beverly, born 1939.

Huber married my grandmother Susan Elizabeth Flemming, (1909-1999), and named their third child (my mother) Barbara Ann. My mother and father named their oldest daughter Barbara Ann, born 1958, almost exactly 208 years after Barbe Breyer was born. So I can trace our family name Barbara for over 200 years, from 1750 to 1958; from Seingbouse, France, to Birmingham, Alabama, for nine generations. Unfortunately, much like my own name which I traced back to Ireland, no Barbara's from this line have been born since 1958. Such a wonderful name....

THURSDAY'S TREASURES - Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness

On this, the 237th birthday of the United States of America, it seems the perfect time to celebrate not only our country's birth but also the gifts that were passed down to us from our ancestors who made it possible for us to celebrate as Americans.


Irish Immigrants Leaving Queenstown Harbour
The Illustrated London News, September 1874

For each of us there were great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers who left their homeland, their neighbors, the culture and very often their own families to take a chance in this new country of which they knew very little. They gathered up all they could carry with them, said good-bye to their friends and families, and left the only home they had ever known and most likely one they would never return to. They travelled by cart or by foot to a sea port where they would board a small packet ship. Once aboard they would climb down into the hull of the vessel with one hundred, two hundred, or more strangers to travel for several weeks across the Atlantic Ocean. With all of the multitude of people stuffed into the ship's steerage area [see post "Packet Ship Gladiator", January 1, 2012,  for more information about steerage] they all shared one common dream - a better life in America.

Many left behind poverty, with little chance to ever change their circumstances. Most left countries with governments that held a tight rein on their individual rights and freedoms. Towns where they weren't allowed to speak, or protest, or gather freely. Where they couldn't vote to choose their own leaders. Where their children faced forced conscription into the military. Where the right to practice the religion of their own choosing didn't exist.



"Irish Immigrants Leaving Home"
Harper's Bazaar, December 1870

They each knew that a better life existed - for themselves and for their children. And for their children's children. They wanted more for their life and for their family. They wanted to be free to choose their own path in life, and be treated as human beings with God-given rights. They wanted to work hard and be rewarded with just compensation. They wanted to have a say in their government and in the laws they lived under. They wanted to freely practice their faith. They wanted the freedom to have a dissenting opinion about their leaders, share it openly, without the fear of reprisals. They wanted this for themselves. But most of all they wanted this for their children.

"From the Old to the New World"
German Emigration
Harper's Weekly, November 1874

They left everything behind for a promise of a better life. They sailed on a ship across a wide ocean, not knowing if they or their family members would survive, or if the ship itself would make it safely. They landed in a port where they couldn't speak the language, maybe had no one waiting for them, had little direction on where to go or what to do next. But they paved the way for each one of their children, each one of their grandchildren - each one of us - to enjoy those unalienable rights we each possess, endowed for us by our Creator.

Among these - Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.

America wasn't perfect then and it isn't perfect now. But it's the best there is. And we have our ancestors to thank for giving us the opportunity for a better future. So it's nice today to remember those that made it possible:

Patrick McCloskey (1810-1855) who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1838, at the age of 28, from his home in Ireland. His wife Mary Ann (1805-1871) also immigrated from Ireland, date unknown. They are my 4x great-grandparents.

Thomas McCaffrey (1799-1890), arrived in New York Harbor in June 1825 from his home in County Tyrone, Ireland. His wife Susan (1793-1869) also immigrated from County Tyrone, date unknown. They, too, are my 4x-great-grandparents.

Johann Eckard Horst (1802-1852), my 4x-great-grandfather, arrived in August 1846 in New York City Harbor at the age of 43 with his second wife and five children. This included my 3x-great-grandfather Martin Horst (1830-1878), who was just 16 years old when he arrived. Later my 5x-great-grandfather Johan Conrad Horst (1780-UNK), Martin's grandfather, also arrived here, in May 1860. He was 80 years old when he arrived. They were from Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany.


"Irish Emigrants Leaving Home - The Priest's Blessing"
The Illustrated London News, May 1851

Apollonia Weinschenk (1829-1908), my 3x-great-grandmother and wife of Martin Horst, arrived in the port of New Orleans around 1843, at the age of 14, from her home in Forst, Bavaria, Germany.

 My great-great-grandfather Patrick O'Donnell (1823-1911) arrived in this country in December 1849 from Ireland, along with five of his 7 brothers. He was 26 years old. His wife Bridget Kennedy (1838-1893) immigrated from her home in  County Tipperary, Ireland, sometime in the early 1850's.

Phillip Huber (1847-1901), also my great-great-grandfather, arrived in New York in June 1867, at the age of 19, from Florsheim, Hessen, Germany.

My 3x-great-grandparents, John Michael Baptiste Brunett (1818-1863), and Barbara Frisse (1822-1893) traveled onboard the same ship, from their homes in Seingbouse, Moselle, France, arriving in the port of New Orleans in July 1846. Traveling with Barbara were her parents (my 4x-great-grandparents) Joseph Frise (1796-1864) and Marguerite Lang (1802-1868), as well as several siblings. Marguerite was 44 years old; Joseph was 50.

[NOTE: My Fortier and DeGruey ancestors arrived from France to Canada and then settled in Louisiana before the United States was formed. I have no information yet as to when my Flemming or Jackson family ancestors arrived in America.]



"Immigrants Behold the Statue of Liberty"
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, July 1887

None of these ancestors arrived as we might imagine - coming into New York Harbor and seeing the Statue of Liberty, stepping off their steamship onto Ellis Island to be officially inspected in long lines. [The Statue of Liberty wasn't dedicated until 1886.] None of these ancestors settled on the east coast - most made their new homes in southern cities. And somehow, through happenstance or through fate, their offspring met other offspring of these immigrants and eventually, over time and over years, my mother and her siblings were created from a combination of all of these immigrants. And that made it possible for me to sit down, in my home in Birmingham, Alabama, and celebrate Independence Day and my great-grandparents' dreams for a better life.

MONDAY'S MOTHER - Barbara Frisse Brunett (1822-1893)

Barbara Frisse Brunett
(1822-1893)

St. Jacques Catholic Church
Seingbouse, Moselle, Lorraine, France

Barbara Frisse was born on May 13, 1822, in Seingbouse, France. She was the oldest of nine children born to parents Joseph Frisse (1796-1864) and Marguerite Lang (1802-1868). She was baptized on the day of her birth at St. Jacques Catholic Church in Seingbouse; her godparents/sponsors were her paternal uncle Jean Frisse (1792-1876) and maternal aunt Barbara Lang (1806-UNK). The Church was built in 1730. It is the same church her parents, my 4x great grandparents, were married in on May 15, 1821. Both sets of her grandparents (my 5x great-grandparents) were also married here - Jean Frisse (1756-1838) and Anna Marie Weisse (1763-1826) on May 22, 1782, and Pierre Lang (1760-1831) and Christine Bour (1763-1833) on May 10, 1801.

Seingbouse is a village in the department of Moselle, in the region of Lorraine, in northeast France. The name means "the wood cleared by slash and burn". Lorraine is the only region in France to be bordered by three foreign countries - Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. Seingbouse covers 3.11 square miles and has a current population of a little over 1900 people. During the time that the Fries family lived in Seingbouse, between 1655 and 1846, the people spoke a German dialect called Platt. This was because of the area's close proximity to Germany.

There are at least six different spellings of the family name - Fries, Friesse, Frisse, Frise, Fris, and Frisz. In 1655 the spelling was FRIES; in 1750 the name was spelled FRISSE. The changing of the spelling from German to French was a gallacizing of the name (to make French). The German pronunciation of FRIES and the French pronunciation of FRISSE is the name - it is pronounced FREASE as in GREASE. In 1868, at the time of their mother''s death, the seven Fries boys were using several different spellings of their last name. While at her funeral the boys got together and voted on one common spelling, and FRISZ was chosen. At first everyone pronounced it FREEZE; now it is commonly pronounced FRISS - except by the descendants of Christopher in Vincennes, Indiana, who still pronounce it FREEZE.

In May of 1846 Barbara joined her parents and seven of her eight younger siblings - Jacques (Jacob), 18; George, 16; Jean (John), 12; Michel, 9; Anne, 8; Pierre (Peter), 6; Joseph, 2 - as they packed up their belongings and boarded the James N. Cooper at LeHavre, France and set sail for America. Brother Christopher, Henry, two years younger than Barbara, remained temporarily in France where he served in the French Navy (he arrived in America in 1851). After a 62-day journey they arrived safely in New Orleans, Louisiana on July 20, 1846. They then took a riverboat up the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, then up the Ohio River to Madison, Indiana. From here they travelled approximately 30 miles north to St. Ann Village, Jennings County, Indiana, where friends from the old country had previously settled. They soon bought land and settled down on their farm.

St. Anne's Catholic Church
Jennings County, Indiana

Traveling also on the J.N. Cooper was Jean Michel Baptiste Brunett, age 28, who married Barbara on August 11, 1846 at St. Anne Catholic Church. They were married just 23 days after arriving in the United States. Jean Michel was also born in Seingbouse, France. His parents, Ludovici (Louis) Brunett (1800-UNK) and Catherina Schmidt (1800-1881), were residents of Moselle, France.

Barbara and Jean Michel had ten children - Mary, born June 7, 1847; Anna, born April 23, 1849; John, born November 3, 1850; Barbara F., born April 15, 1852; Margaret, born 1854; Peter, born August 7, 1857; Magdalen, born 1858; Catherine, born 1859; John George, born March 30, 1861; and Virginia "Jennie", born April 14, 1863. Their daughter Barbara is my great-great-grandmother.

Barbara and her family were some of the original members of St. Anne's Catholic Church. As her husband farmed their land, she cared for her home and children - ten in 16 years! Unfortunately their last child Jennie was born three weeks after the death of her father Jean Michel - he died at the age of 45 on March 24, 1863. Their son John had died at the age of three in 1853, so Barbara was left to raise their nine surviving children, including a newborn and four others under the age of 6.

There was no life insurance or health insurance for farmers in that day. Barbara had no daycare or preschools for her to use so that she could make money. One must assume that she went to her parents and her brothers' and sisters' families for help and support. Her father Joseph died a year after her husband, in October 1864 at the age of 68; her mother died at the age of 66, in 1868. They are all buried at St. Anne's Cemetery near North Vernon, Indiana.

Barbara lived to be 71-years-old. She died on August 22, 1893. She had given birth to ten children; she was eventually to have forty-three grandchildren and literally hundreds of great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. There are at least eleven "Barbara"s who have received their names, passed down from this first-in-the-family Barbara in America.


[HOW'S IT RELATIVE? Barbara F. Brunett married Phillip Huber (1847-1901) and they had seven children including daughter Mary "Mayme" (1873-1913), who later married John Martin O'Donnell (1865-1937). MaymeJohn Huber O'Donnell (1905-1964) - my maternal grandfather.]

WONDERFUL WEDNESDAY'S PHOTO - Frisz Family Reunion 1908, Terre Haute, Indiana



1908 Frisz Family Celebration

On October 12, 1908, over 90 family members of John Frisz (1830-1913) and Magdalena Gasper (1839-1911) gathered together at their home in Terre Haute, Indiana, to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. John is my 4x great-uncle. His parents, my 4th-great-grandparents, were Joseph Frise (1796-1864) and Marguerite Lang (1802-1868), immigrants from Seingbouse, Moselle, France. Their oldest child, Barbara, (1822-1893) was John's older sister, and my 3rd-great-grandmother.

In 1846 John and Magdalena set sail from Le Havre, France, with eight of their nine children, ages 2-24, including Barbara, 24, and John, 16, on the ship J.H.Cooper. They arrived in port at New Orleans, Louisiana on July 20, 1846 along with 209 other "huddled masses" hoping to start a new life in America. Their last name, spelled "Fries" on the ship's manifest, had several variations after they arrived. On John's tombstone his name was spelled "Frise". After their mother's funeral it is said that the boys got together and decided on one spelling - "Frisz". Its pronunciation rhymes with "grease".

Also on board the ship was 28-year-old Jean Brunet/John Michael Baptiste Brunett, my future 3rd-great-grandfather. He, too, was from Seingbouse. Barbara and John were married one month later, on August 11th, in the village of Saint Anne, Jennings County, Indiana. They settled here in Jennings County, and started their family of ten children, including their fourth child,  Barbara Brunette (1852-1896), my great-great-grandmother. [Barbara would later marry Phillip Huber (1847-1901) and their daughter Mary Huber (1873-1913) would marry John Martin O'Donnell (1865-1937) and be my great-grandparents.]

Barbara's younger brother John married Magdalena Gasper (1839-1911) and they settled in Jennings County near both of their families. In 1850 John was a farmer. By 1860 he was working as a blacksmith. John and Magdalena had eight children - Katherine Margaret (1859-1939), Mary Magdalene (1860-1951), John K. (1861-1897), Joseph William (1863-1939), George Bernard (1864-1947), Magdalena Virginia (1866-1942), Christopher C. (1868-1881), and Peter Paul (1881-1882). By 1870 the family had moved to Bowling Green, Kentucky, where John was working as an "Ale Dealer". He continued this trade for several years.

(l-r) John Frisz, Anne Kipper, Peter Frisz, Joseph Frisz

By 1890 he and "Maggie" had moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, where John was working as a house carpenter. Many of their children and their own families followed their parents to Terre Haute. It was here that everyone gathered together on that sunny day in October to celebrate the 50th anniversary of John and Magdalena. Along with the group picture taken on the front lawn of the house, several photographs were taken including one of the four surviving children of Joseph and Marguerite - John, now 77, Anne, 75, Peter, 70, and Joseph, 65. My great-great-great-grandmother Barbara Brunett had died in 1893; her husband John had died years earlier, in 1863. None of her children were in attendance.