We are descended from one Jacob Augustine Suiter and Margaret McMasters. Jacob's ancestors are said to be from Saxony, Germany, coming to the United States via Switzerland and Holland about 1702 and settling in Western Pennsylvania. By 1765 they were living near Pittsburgh at a place near Brownsville.
Jacob was born in 1770. The family lost their property in Pennsylvania at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion and migrated to the Ohio Valley in 1796 or 1800. They settled near the juncture of the Ohio River and Symmes Creek, where the village of Chesapeake, Ohio is now located. This is in Lawrence County. Jacob A. Suiter died about 1840 and his wife Margaret in 1854.
The children of Jacob Augustine Suiter and his wife Margaret were:
Sons: Mordecai, Philip, William, Israel Luke (my ancestor)
Daughters: Bethena and Mary.
Jacob A. Suiter Sr. may also have had a son Hiram whose descendants were Alex, John, Francis, and Harriet.
My ancestor Israel Luke Suiter was born in 1810 and died in 1857. He descendants by his marriage to Catherine Smith (b.1817, d.1885) were:
- Jacob Augustine Suiter (3rd?) b. 1838 who married Diana Forgey
- James P. Suiter b. 1840 (my ancestor) who married Susan Davenport
- Sanders Suiter b. 1847 who married Susan Hoskins
- Mary Suiter (dates unknown) married George Bay [this Mary is not to be confused with her aunt Mary who married a man named Crawford]
- Tennessee Suiter married Willam Hannack
- Alex T. Suiter married Savina Beale
- Nancy Suiter married Clinton Gillett
Picture: List of Births From Dr. James Suiter's Bible
[See my June blog for notes on James P. Suiter. I have additional information on Dr. Suiter but it would take some time to type it up. Briefly, he attended Marshall College in WV, taught school, served in the Civil War with the 84th Illinois Vol. Infantry, went to Detroit College of medicine, married schoolteacher Susan Davenport in 1877, and had one son, Charles Leslie Suiter - my grandfather.]
Links regarding James Suiter's Civil War regiment:
84th Illinois History
Roster of 84th Illinois, Co. B
Another Suiter descendant name Linda wrote: " Jacob Suiter died June 23, 1832. He is buried in the Suiter Cemetery, Bradrick, Lawrence County, Ohio. Margaret was born in 1773 and died October 19, 1855 in Kentucky and she too is buried in the Suiter Cemetery in Bradrick.
There is a house located in Chesapeake (Chesapeake and Bradrick are located side by side) which was built by Jacob Suiter. This is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places (I think). It was built back in 1824. It was told to me that the house's chimney's - one on each end of the house - were built first and then the rest of the house was built. It was rumored that there were places in the fireplace where people could be hidden from view and would not be bothered by the flames and that this house was used as part of the Underground Railway.
Don't know if you are familiar with Joann Loete who has the Suiter family newsletter. Has information from Suiters from all over."