David ZENTMIRE

Notes:

Cherokee Sentinel, Sept. 4, 1903, page 1:
A Sudden Death
On Monday morning word was passed around that David Zentmire, one of our most respected citizens, who has lived among us for twenty-five years, had passed away on Sunday night at about ten o'clock. Knowing that he had been on the streets on Sunday evening when he went to consult with Dr. Smith about his wife who was down sick, many could hardly believe it true, but later information proved the rumor correct. He had gone home, ate his supper, and laid down on the couch. His daughter, Clara, later suggested that he retire, and she would care for the mother. he acted on her suggestion but after he laid down his wife noticed he breathed very hard and irregularly. She spoke to him and got no answer, and when she turned his head to the light she saw that he was dying. The daughter was called and she in turn called the neighbors. The doctor was called but he got there in time to only se him breathe his last. He had been active and cheerful all day and had not complained in the least.

A universal sigh of sympathy and regret was evidenced by the entire community as the news spread. Mr. Zentmire had, for all these years, been prominent in business circles, and everybody, both young and old, got a pleasant word from him whenever they met him. It seemed that he was a friend to everybody and that everybody was his friend.

He was born in Warren county, Ohio, September 27, 1840, hence he was nearly 63 years old. About the beginning of the war he went to Mason County, Illinois and enlisted soon after in Company K 85 Illinois Infantry, and served until the end of the war.

February 3, 1875, he was married to Miss Emma Carl, and they moved at once to Cherokee and built the house in which he died. His wife and four children survive him.

He had been a Mason ever since he was a young man, and was a prominent member of the G.A.R. under whose auspices he was buried. For several years he has been with the Cherokee Commercial Company.

Funeral services were held at the home Tuesday morning and nearly the whole town and surrounding community were present, the business houses being closed form ten to one o'clock. The services were held by Rev. W.T. Freeland, after which his comrades silently marched to the cemetery and laid him to rest.

Added by Cheryl White

David married Emma CAROLL 03 Feb 1875, Mason City, Mason, Illinois. Emma was born Jun 1848, New Jersey; died 26 Nov 1916, Cherokee, Crawford, Kansas; was buried Cherokee Cemetery, Cherokee, Crawford, Kansas. [Group Sheet]

1. Alice Mae ZENTMIRE was born 9 Sept 1870, Crawford, Kansas; died 13 Dec 1950, Weir, Cherokee, Kansas.
2. Claude Frank ZENTMIRE was born 30 Mar 1877, Cherokee, Kansas; died 1967, Hartford, Arkansas; was buried Hartford Memorial Park, Hartford, Sebastian, Arkansas.
3. Clara E. ZENTMIRE was born 27 Sep 1879, Cherokee, Crawford, Kansas; died 21 Sep 1921, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California; was buried Cherokee Cemetery, Cherokee, Crawford, Kansas.
4. Florence Idell ZENTMIRE was born 6 Feb 1887, Cherokee, Crawford, KansasKansas; died 12 Feb 1888, Cherokee, Crawford, KansasKansas; was buried Cherokee Cemetery, Cherokee, Crawford, Kansas.
5. Benjamin Harrison ZENTMIRE was born 13 Mar 1889, Kansas; died 4 Feb 1960, San Diego, California; was buried Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California.

George married Elizabeth ROBERTSON 29 Jan 1838, Warren Co., Ohio, as "St. Myer". Elizabeth was born 2 Aug 1818, Ohio (1831 in later Census records); died 27 Jul 1861. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Birth year in Census was 1818/1819 in 1840, 1850, 1860 census, but 1831 in 1870 and 1880 census.

Notes:

George's surname was also noted as Zentmyer, Sentmire, Zentmyre, Zentmeyer, St. Myer, Saintmyer

"The settlement at Mather's Mill, on the Miami, (Miami river, Ed) on the Lebanon & Wilmington road, was earlier than 1807, David Van Schoyck and Lewis Rees being there before that time. Lewis Rees built the mill in 1807, when it was disposed of to Richard Mather, who settled there the same year. George Zentmire settled the same year some distance below the mill, and built the dam for Mather. His cabin was by a spring below the mill. In addition to the mill Richard Mather set up a store and smith shop; he brought with him Jacob Ashmead and Richard Taylor as millers. Jacob Horn, a blacksmith; Jacob Longstreth, storekeeper; Samuel Couden, an Irishman; John Frazee and others came the same reason. George Zentmire was a Virginian (George lived in Virginia, but was born in Pennsylvania -Ed) of German descent, spoke the German language fluently and was a Revolutionary soldier. (actually, War of 1812 -Ed) George Zentmire purchased a farm on the river below Freeport, (Freeport was renamed Oregonia in 1882 -Ed) where he died May 20, 1836; his wife, Elizabeth Dunn, died February 18, 1854. Their family, four sons and four daughters, are scattered, one son, Rev. Samuel Zentmire, living at Morrow. The river at this time was amply stocked with fish; brush drags were made to be used as seines, and great quantities were obtained. Fifteen or more deer in one herd was a common sight. Many of the oldest inhabitants assert with great earnestness, that a fight with Indians on the Zentmire farm, and also a short distance above Freeport, took place sometime previous to the first settlement, but no direct evidence of such events can be obtained." --History of Warren County, Ohio, W. H. Beers Co., 1882.



Occupation - self described - "Plantation Owner"



George served in the War of 1812 in Joseph Curtis' Company of the Ohio Militia from 23 Feb 1814 to 23 Apr 1814 and was paid $16.00.



More information about George Zentmire can be found on the Ohio Valley page

George married Elizabeth DUNN 14 Mar 1797, Frederick Co., Virginia, married by Alexander Balmain. Elizabeth was born 9 Nov 1776, Virginia; died 18 Feb 1854, Warren Co., Ohio; was buried Feb 1854, Olive Branch Cemetery at Warren Co., Ohio. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

There is much additional material about Bernhard on the York Co. page.



There is a Bernhard Nicholas Santmyer b.1735 listed in FamilySearch IGI and elsewhere as the father of Jacob and George Zentmeyer, which we believe to be an unfortunate fabrication by a misguided LDS compiler, combining our ancestor Bernhard Zentmeyer b.1740 with another actual immigrant, Nicholas Sandmeier, who arrived on 9 Oct 1775 on the good ship King of Prussia. I have convinced FamilySearch to quarantine this record, although no one can remove it entirely except for its contributor, who will not respond to us. This bogus record also lists the surname of Bernhard's first wife as 'Luther,' for which we have found no evidence, see Catharina LNU, but unfortunately this fabricated 'Luther' record has generated entries on 60+ trees on Ancestry.com.

Johann married Catharina LNU Bef 1760. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

We do not have a surname for Bernhard's wife. She was identified as 'Catharina' both in the birth record for her son Johannes in 1763, and as a baptismal sponsor with Bernhard for Anna Margaretha Geister on 7 Aug 1760. This dates their wedding to around 1760 when Bernhard would have been twenty years old.

The surname 'Luther' has been put forth on the internet for her, with some claiming she was Maria Catharina Luther, born 1734 in Herbitzheim, Bas-Rhin, Alsace. This Maria Catharina Luther did in fact emigrate to Philadelphia, arriving with her parents on 15 Sep 1749 aboard a different Phoenix voyage, according to Strassburger-Hinke's Pennsylvania German Pioneers. But according to Annette Burgert's Eighteenth Century Emigrants, this Maria Catharina married Josiah Harper on 10 Sep 1763, only weeks after Johannes Zentmeyer was born, so she was not Bernhard's wife.

Others identify her as Catharina Elisabetha Luther baptized 8 Jan 1744 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. But the Kichenbücher (church records) reveal that this Catharina was married in 1765 in Frankfurt and died there in 1782.

The only place we have found the surname 'Luther' connected to Bernhard other than in Ancestry.com member trees is in the IGI on FamilySearch, where Bernhard is wrongly identified in a completely fictitious member-submitted tree as 'Bernhard Nicholas Santmyer, b. 1735' with a wife whose surname is 'Luther.' We believe this is the source of the 60+ Ancestry.com member trees which identify her as 'Luther.'

It is our suspicion that some Ancestry.com tree-makers took 'Catharina' from our website and combined it with 'Luther' in the IGI record. When you then search 'Catharina Luther,' online, the two individuals above can be found.

Anyone having any original source information for the Catharina's surname - family bibles, hand-written genealogies, anything - please contact me.

Gary Zentmyer

Notes:

The 1760 marriage date is from a birth record for Anna Margaretha Geister, which lists Bernhardt Zentmoyer and Catharina as sponsors.