For Peter Webner, the decision to emigrate to America from his native Austria or Germany could have been the worst gamble of his life. Leaving behind family and at least some degree of economic well-being in the very early 1800's, Peter faced a wild and rough land, a fractured economy and an unstable goverment.
Peter was a shoemaker. He lived among the Kirchenleute -- highly independent, freedom-seeking, religious Germans -- and married Margreta Walz, daughter of Boaz, about 1811. They set up housekeeping in Lebanon County, Pa., in Hanover where Margreta was raised. The family raised 11 children -- eight daughters and three sons -- and schooled them in the German-speaking Jonestown Evangelical Lutheran Church near their new home in the Jonestown mill village. Two daughters and a son did not survive 1830.
Following Margreta's death in 1839, 60 plus year-old Peter had quite a challenge raising a number of children while working a labor-intensive trade and probably tenant-farming a small plot: at least four of the children would have been under 11! Moving the family to Carlisle, Pa., likely helped Peter find a larger market for his trade, find help in raising his young children and provide them with greater educational opportunities.
Peter died in 1846 in the middle of cholera, influenza and yellow fever epidemics, and he is buried in Carlisle. His children who had not yet reached adulthood were either bound out to domestic service or apprenticeship.
David, Peter's youngest son, was christened May 28, 1831, at the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jonestown, Lebanon County, Pa. After their parents died, David was bound out to an apprenticeship in the home of William Reed in Churchtown (now Allen), Monroe Twp., Cumberland County, Pa. His sisters Catherine and Mary also lived together nearby at the time.
David apprenticed to Mr. Reed as a tailor, and united with the Church of God on November 19, 1849. When he reached the age of 21, David moved to Mechanicsburg, then travelled to Smithville , Wayne County , Ohio, in 1852 where he worked at tailoring for William Peters and E. H. Gilbert.
David married Charity Walton, of the Byberry Waltons , in 1854, and moved to Knox County where he opened a ready-made clothing store, probably one of the first in the area as ready-made clothes were in their infancy. He later returned to Smithville and opened a clothing store there. When the Pittsburgh Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad came through about a mile south of Smithville (now known as Weilersville Station), David established a taxi and hack line (short-distance, horse-drawn cargo hauling) from the station to the Smithville. Thus began the family's long history with railroading.
David died in 1873 of "neuralgia of the heart" after a long illness. This event forced Charity to take over the hack line and to sustain a family of five children aged 11 months to 17 years as a single parent. When the eldest son, Gilbert, was married in 1881, the hack line was given to him. The other sons also learned telegraphy and were engaged in railroading for at least parts of their careers.
Charity passed away in 1913, revered throughout the community for the manner in which she raised and educated her children with strong Christian principles for which Webner's are still known.
*The spelling has been seen as Margretha, but Margreta is seen more often, so I have opted for that spelling. She eventually accepted the English version: Margaret.
© 2009 Neil E. Webner.
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