Charles Odenbaugh

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Charles ODENBAUGH (1760 -1813)
son of Jonas Odenbaugh
click here for Charles Odenbaugh's military service
Honored with Memory Medallion - Veteran's Day 2003

Born about 1760
Charles ODENBAUGH first married Martha DEAN, about June 28th, 1785 in Baltimore
- Charles & Martha Dean Odenbaugh had one child who studied medicine, graduated and practiced his profession in Ohio. It would seem probable to be able to identify the name of this Dr. Odenbaugh in Ohio.
On 27 Feb 1786, Charles ODENBAUGH, of Baltimore County, MD signed a lease. So it would seem likely that he was still living in Baltimore at this time.
Baltimore City record's reference to Charles Otenbaugh: "As also the Division line between a lot
or parcel of ground sold by Charles Otenbaugh to John Britton on about the
19 day of December 1787." ("t" and "d" were interchangeable amongs Germans at this time)
His wife dying he married again in 1795, (K)Catherine FRY, born May 30th, 1776, daughter of Christian FRY of Winchester, Virginia.
- By his second marriage he had eight children--six sons and two daughters--his daughter, Mary, married Thomas Hughes, March 12, 1815.
Died April 22, 1813 in War of 1812, Waynesburg, Greene County, Pennsylvania

My Family Memoirs by Thomas Hughes published either 1880 or 1888

Charles was in the War of 1812, and .....

.....My grandmother told me....She said that her father (Charles) had told her that his father (Jonas) was a German gentleman and his mother was an English lady: that they were both from Germany, that that his grandfather was a German Nobleman.

.......(GM note: It was quite common that genealogies published in the late 1800s were "romanticized" and also "nobleman" could mean many things...but most probably landowner.)

It was suggested we check what church records in Odenbach (or Adenbach, that is a village not far from Odenbach) say about a Jonas Stohler. Odenbach and Adenbach are 25 miles northwest of Kaiserslautern, Germany.

Charles ODENBAUGH, son of Jonas ODENBAUGH

From: The Tenmile County and Its Pioneer Families. A Genealogical History of the Upper Monongahela Valley by Howard L. Leckey. Charles Odenbaugh came to Franklin Township from Baltimore, Maryland. He was a son of a nobleman, Jonas Stohler von Adenbach.(Note: I think this was spelled different ways on different sources.) Charles Odenbaugh married (1) June 28, 1785, Martha DEAN, who died and he married (2) 1795, Catherine, daughter or Christian FRY. She was born May 30, 1776, and died September 7, 1841. After the death of Charles Odenbaugh, she married (2) James BRADFORD, born January 31, 1754, died April 18, 1822. Other possible date for Catherine (Fry) Odenbaugh-Bradford, as taken from tombstone in East Waynesburg Cemetery, is "died on September 7, 1844, aged 65 years, 3 months, 8 days." Orphans Court Docket 1, pp. 126, lists the children of Charles and Catherine (Fry) Odenbaugh as of January 1818, after she had married James BRADFORD. All named were minors for whom William T. Hays served as guardian.

Charles Odenbaugh born about 1760 in Baltimore County, MD married Martha DEAN in 1785 and they had one son (first name unknown) who practiced medicine in Ohio. On 27 Feb 1786, Charles ODENBAUGH, of Baltimore County, MD signed a lease. So it would seem likely that he was still living in Baltimore at this time.

Probabilities on the name of Charles and Martha (DEAN) ODENBAUGH's son: 1) Charles-since he didn't name any of his six sons by his second wife after himself....but so many of his sons named their sons after themselves? 2) ?

From book titled "Maryland Marriages 1778-1800": Charles Odenbaugh married Martha Dean on July 2, 1785, pursuant to Marriage License Record of Rev. Richard Whatcoat of Methodist Episcopal Church, filed Nov. 1785.

LDS marriage index lists Charles Odenbaugh married to Martha Dean on two different dates (listed as though they were two different Charles): 28 June 1785 and 2 July 1785, Baltimore County, Maryland.

Jonas' son Charles and Martha DEAN had one son
Jonas' son Charles and Catherine (FRY) Odenbaugh had 8 children

Charles ODENBAUGH (est 1760-1813) m.

Catherine FRY b: May 30, 1776 m: Abt. 1795 d: 7 Sep 1841 in Waynesburg, Franklin Twp., Greene County, Pennsylvania Father: Christian FRY Mother: Eve Margaret EBERHART per 2 sources. After the death of Charles ODENBAUGH , she married (2) James BRADFORD, (1754-1822) and they had a son, David BRADFORD.

Charles was a widower with one son when he married Catherine. They had eight children. Charles died while the children were relatively young. Catherine remarried having another child. I would think Catherine and James BRADFORD probably had a large farm with the ten children (although Mary and perhaps a few others were married before she married James BRADFORD. It would be nice to identify where Charles and Catherine and later Catherine and James BRADFORD lived. Perhaps it is identified in the letters regarding her estate in 1847.

George ODENBAUGH Sr., took out letters in his mother's Catherine (FRY) Odenbaugh's estate in March 1847 (seems like an error to be done six years later?)...George probably outlived all of his siblings...but I don't know Jacob or Samuel's dates of death.

[CC Vol III No. 1 Feb 1978] (Mary b. 1796, didn't need a guardian appointed)
Orphan Court Records of Greene Co., PA located in Clerk of Courts Office: Page 122 fourth Monday January 1818: Petition of Jacob Odenbaugh, Samuel Odenbaugh, and Thomas Odenbaugh, sons of Charles Odenbaugh, deceased, over 14 years of age. William T. Hays appointed guardian. Petition of Catherine Bradford, late the widow of Charles Odenbaugh, deceased, who left issue 8 children, 4 of whom: George, Christian, Daniel, and Elizabeth are under 14 years of age. William T. HAYS appointed guardian. (GM note: two of Thomas KENT's siblings a brother and a sister married into the HAYS family. This Thomas KENT was the father-in-law of Elizabeth (ODENBAUGH) Kent and father of Mary Ann KENT....so it is likely the HAYS and ODENBAUGHs knew each other well. (also of interest if the year of 1818 is correct....that it took five years after Charles' death for this "orphan court record"