George Amberson Fisher's Ancestors

[Note:  Links to this document have been made from the FamilySearch entries for John Fisher (GSRW-82Y) and Peter Fisher (LZL2-W9M).]

George Amberson Fisher (GSRQ-DGX) was my maternal great-grandfather.  His daughters (Helen and Elizabeth Fisher) gave me the following information about his ancestors:

• George's father:   John Fisher, b. Sept. 23, 1840, d. July 26, 1927;

• George's mother:  Elizabeth Ann Kammerer, b. Feb 4, 1844, d. Jan 30, 1936

• John and his parents and siblings walked over the Allegheny Mountains (in the 1850's), leading a cow; they lost a child.

• John and Elizabeth's children (George's siblings) were:  William, Sarah, [George], Charles, Frances, Carrie, Anna, Alvin, Harry, Linda, and Milton.

The key public record is the Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953, death record for John Fisher .

The above record gives his

•  birth date as Sept. 23, 1840 – exactly connecting it to the date given by my grandmother

•  death date of July 26, 1927 –  exactly connecting it to the date given by my grandmother

• spouse's name as “Eliza” – connecting it to my grandmother's info (“Elizabeth Ann”)

It includes the following info about John, not mentioned by my grandmother:

• Birthplace:  Lycoming, Pa.

• Father:   Peter Fisher

• Mother:  Kughbaum* 

And it shows Lycoming being the birthplace for his mother and father as well (?) 

* The word/name "Kughbaum"  gets only one hit in Google!  It seems likely that this name is in error.... 

Lycoming is in central Pennsylvania, near Williamsport.  One would, indeed, need to walk over the Alleghenies to get to Crawford and Mercer counties where the family settled.

An 1850 Census record shows John Fisher, “age 9” (estimated birth, 1841), with his family in Lycoming:  https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M4CM-BSZ .

An 1860 Census record shows John Fisher, “age 18” (estimated birth, 1842), with his family in Hempfield, Mercer County, PA:  https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MX5Z-ZTS .

An 1870 Census record shows John Fisher, “age 27” (estimated birth, 1843), with his own family in Hempfield:  https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ53-M2S .   The children match exactly George's siblings. 

An 1880 Census record John, “age 45” (estimated birth, 1835), also in Hempfield:   https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MWNN-HVL  .  With seven children, all correct.

Since the spouse and children in the 1870 and 1880 records are so exactly correct, we have to assume that this is my John and Elizabeth Fisher.  Since the 1860 record, like the 1870 and 1880 records, is for Hempfield (a very small place) in Mercer County – where our family lived into the 21^st century – we have to assume that this is also our John.   (The estimated birth dates are so inconsistent, I think it's best to just ignore them....)

Since the Ohio death record matches the birth/death dates exactly (and since the burial place is Conneautville – which has many family associations –), we know that this is our John and that, per the death record,  his birthplace was Lycoming and his father was “Peter Fisher”.

The preceding seems pretty solid.  John's parents are a bit more speculative....  The Ohio death record shows John's mother/Peter's spouse as "Kughbaum" but the 1850-1870 census records for Peter show his spouse as “Levina Reed”.  I left Levina as the preferred spouse in FamilySearch, but also created a secondary record for "Kughbaum".