Ancestor surnames can be a challenge in research – especially when they begin with a vowel! Take, for instance, my Eisenhaur/Isenhour ancestors. My earliest ancestors emigrated from the German region of Europe in the 1700s and retained the spelling Eisenhauer until my ancestor, John, anglicized the spelling to Isenhour. Some branches of the family still use the Eisenhower spelling – such as President Dwight D. Eisenhower, my 4th cousin, 5 times removed. Nicole wrote about the connection in Related to a U.S. President?
Researching the ancestor can reveal a possible time frame for the change and a reason. Previous research on the John D. Isenhour family focused on the Civil War involvement of John’s sons, Valentine, Moses W., and Josiah E. Isenhour. Besides the possible date of migration to Missouri of about 1821-1822, I knew little about the early years of the Isenhour family in Cape Girardeau County. Could the date of arrival be narrowed? What conditions caused John to move from his birth location of Lincoln County, North Carolina? What conditions drew John to Cape Girardeau County, Missouri? This became the focus of my project. I also discovered more about the name change!
As you would imagine, the surname Isenhour was spelled in a variety of ways in the records: Eisenhower, Eisenhauer, Eisenhour, Isanhour, Isenhower, Isenhour, and Isenhauer. To avoid confusion, I’ll use the spelling “Isenhour” unless quoting a record.
Origins in North Carolina
The earliest Isenhour to appear in North Carolina records was Johannes “John” Isenhour, who was born in Swatara, Dauphin, Pennsylvania, and died about 1821 in Conover, Catawba, North Carolina.https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LVPW-PHD : accessed 22 April 2021).">1 By the age of 40, the elder John had moved south from his birthplace of Pennsylvania to North Carolina.
In 1792, North Carolina granted “John Isanhour” 350 acres of land in Lincoln County on the branch of Lyle Creek.2 The deed described the land in metes and bounds, the land survey system of the original colonies. Fifteen years later, John Isenhour Sen. divided this land parcel between John Isenhour Jun., Phillip Isenhour, and Daniel Isenhour. Each deed was dated 13 October 1817 and mentioned the land adjoining Lyles Creek. 3
1817 Deed, Lincoln County, North Carolina, John Isenhour Senr. to John Isenhour Jr.
The 1810 census of Lincoln County, North Carolina, listed five “Eisenhour men: George (45+), Valentine (45+), Daniel (18-25), John Jun. (26-44), and John Sen. (45+). The household of John Isenhour Jun. contained the following individuals, noted only as tick marks in the appropriate columns. John would have been the male aged 26 thru 44, giving him a possible birth year of 1766–1784. 4
Free White Persons Males Under 10 4
Free White Persons Males 26 thru 44 1
Free White Persons Females Under 10 2
Free White Persons Females 26 thru 44 1
By the 1820 census enumeration, John Isenhour, Jun. had almost certainly moved from Lincoln County, North Carolina. That census named George (45+), Phillip (26-44), Daniel (26-44), John (45+), and Joseph Eisenhour (26-44).5
No designation of Jun. or Sen. was given for John, age 45+, indicating that only one John Eisenhour resided in the county in 1820. Was this John Jun. or John Sen.? Some of my favorite records to search in a case like this are tax lists. Since they were often taken yearly, they can provide evidence of an ancestor’s move from the county. I found that in 1818, John Eisenhower Senior paid taxes for John Eisenhower Junior. By law, white males between 21 and 45 were to pay a poll tax. Neither John Jr. nor John Sr. paid a poll tax, so I hypothesized that John Jr. wasn’t living in the county anymore – especially since John Sr. paid the property tax for him. John Sr. was too old to pay the poll tax.6
What about the 1819 tax list? Again John Sr paid the tax for John Jr; this time, though, it looks like the writing says “his on” perhaps meaning his son.7
Where Did John Eisenhour Jr. Go?
If John Isenhour, Jun., was not residing in Lincoln County, North Carolina, in 1818 and 1819, as shown by the tax lists, where had he gone? A deed dated 24 August 1819 between “John Eisenhour Jun.” of Greene County, Tennessee, and Daniel Moser of Lincoln County, North Carolina, provides the answer. John had begun his move westward and, in 1819, lived in Greene County, Tennessee, just over the North Carolina – Tennessee border. The deed identifies the land as “being originally granted to John Eisenhour Sen. by a state patent and conveyed by the said John Sen. to John Jun. . . containing 125 acres.”
Finding a new research locality in Greene County, Tennessee, was exciting since this was previously unknown. Since the 1820 U.S. Census returns for the marshal’s district of East Tennesse were lost, tax lists again could answer the question of how long John stayed there before moving to Missouri. Tax books that might have shown John’s arrival in Tennessee also have not survived. Tax lists of 1809-1817 and 1828-1862 have been microfilmed, but a search for 1816, 1817, and 1828 showed no record for John Isenhour. He likely arrived in the county about 1818 and had moved to Missouri by 1821-1824.8
Another possibility to research was land records since John D. Isenhour likely moved west for land. Still, a search of the grantee index revealed no record.9 The grantor index did contain an item of interest, and a deed dated 3 August 1835 connects “John Eisenhower” and “Persis Eisenhower” to Greene County, Tennessee. The deed named the two Isenhour men as the heirs of Philip Henkel along with Lew Gunnice Lynkel, Daniel Buck, Tryphance Breck, John Pebic, Levina Peters, Escribus S. Henkel, Ambrose D. Henkel, and James N. Henkel.10 These people have a German surname in common, and I was very interested in the name “Persis Eisenhower,” who could be a previously unknown son of John. A future project could work on uncovering details about Persis and the other heirs of Philip Henkel.
Arrival in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri
John D. Isenhour and his family could have arrived in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, as early as 1821 when his son Barnett reported his birth in Missouri. The earliest mention of John in a record was 1824, when he purchased land from the estate of Henry Eaker to pay the deceased’s debts.11Although the deed was not issued until 1831, John was taxed for the 80 acres in 1828. 12
John’s land was described in the deed as the W 1/2, SE 1/4, Section 5, Township 30 N, Range 10 E, marked by the red star in the below map.https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/Maps/id/285/rec/1 : accessed 26 April 2021). ">13
Red star marking the location of John D. Isenhour’s land near Marble Hill, in the Lorance Township, of Bollinger County, Missouri
John joined a group of people also from Lincoln County, North Carolina, of German origin. They settled in Lorance Township, with Marble Hill becoming the county seat when Bollinger County was formed from Cape Girardeau County in 1851.
What would have drawn John D. Isenhour to Missouri? A historical article described the land that certainly would have been an incentive.14
Its lofty situation renders it not only picturesque, but what is probably of greater importance, very healthful and entirely free from malarious vapors that hang over low and marshy lands.
Located in the foothills of the Ozarks, the hilly land was heavily wooded with hickory, ash, oak, walnut, pine, and cottonwood. Although the soil was fairly rich, the land itself was not the best for farming. The country was good for growing fruit such as apples, pears, peaches, apricots, strawberries, and grapes.
Where did the settlers of Bollinger County originate? Settlers from North Carolina primarily settled the area with some exceptions. The first settler in the area was George Frederick Bollinger, son of Henry Bollinger of Lincoln County, North Carolina, and namesake for the county. Lorance Township was named for John Lorance, who traveled with Bollinger to the area in 1805 and settled along the Big and Little Whitewater Rivers. News of the settlement likely traveled between Missouri and Lincoln County, North Carolina, influencing John D. Isenhour’s decision to move west eventually. Settlers generally sought similar land conditions, and the hilly Ozarks offered much the same agricultural opportunities as that of Lincoln County, North Carolina.
Did John’s German background affect his settlement choice of Cape Girardeau County, Missouri? As mentioned earlier, the early settler George Frederick Bollinger was among the first to settle the area watered by the Whitewater River in 1799. He was joined by other settlers from the North Carolina Piedmont, a term given to Lincoln, Burke, Rowan, and Cabarrus Counties. These settlers became known as the “Whitewater Dutch” and retained their language and customs for many years. In the early 19th century, visitors to the region reported the settlers had preserved their language and traditions better than the Germans of Pennsylvania – probably because of their isolation.15
By the time John Isenhour and his family arrived, about twenty years later, the settlers could have started to mix with the settlers of Scotch-Irish or English origins. After John’s death in 1844 and his children’s dispersal to Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana, the Isenhour German roots were likely just a memory.
Prosperity in a New Land
How did John Isenhour fare in his new home in Missouri? Settlement patterns generally reflected people moving to land similar to what they had left behind. In John’s case, his land in the foothills of the Ozarks resembled the North Carolina Piedmont with its hills, plenty of water, and trees. Although the soil may not have been as rich as that of the Mississippi floodplain, the settlers looked for the creeks and rivers that supported the type of agriculture they knew. The North Carolina Piedmont area where John had been born and actively worked to support his family was primarily made up of small holdings. Farmers raised their crops to feed their animals and their families. They bartered for other goods. This type of subsistence agriculture transferred well to the Ozark foothills of Missouri, where John and his family landed in the early 1820s.
The map below depicts topographical views of present-day Lincoln County, North Carolina, Greene County, Tennessee, and Marble Hill, Missouri. All three areas reflect the hilly, wooded terrain, next to a larger uplift.
The will of John Isenhour reveals not only his heirs but also his lifestyle. From the time of his arrival in the early 1820s, until he died in 1844, he had amassed a large number of livestock – especially hogs which were well-suited to the hilly terrain of the Ozarks. Corn was an easy crop to grow and fed the hogs as well as the people. Sheep provided wool, and cattle provided dairy products. His property included the basics for running a self-contained plantation, such as axes, handsaw, plow, wagon, and windmill. Settlers used the mattock for cutting through roots and keeping the land cleared. He also valued his rifle, which would have served him in hunting wild game and defending his family and home against any intruders. His orchard likely grew a variety of fruit, and he would have raised grain to feed his stock.
- Will of John Isenhour16 Cape Girardeau County, Missouri, 1844
- Mahaly Johnson one dollar
- Valentine Isenhower two head of sheep
- Patsy Blalock one dollar
- Barnet Isenhour bay horse, cow named Smut, two head of sheep, and one field of my plantation lying towards James Rows cornering near the creek and my [im—] in the bottom near the same toward Thomas Ramsays
- Moses Isenhour half a lot of hogs, twenty-seven in number, besides the pigs bought from Enos M. Johnson and eleven hogs in the Sump, one man saddle, one riffle gun, and one cow, one gray mare, and oft sheep, four ewes and one
- Josiah E. Isenhour young Rone [sic] horse, one clock, five sows, nine shoats, mattock, all my axes, drawing nife [sic], chissels [sic], hand saw, plow, horse gear, wind mill, wood works of a waggon, and after the death of my wife to have the balance of my plantation including my dwelling house and orchard and one of two ewes, one cow
- Sarah Emmatine two beds and furniture, one chest, one wash pot, fourteen head of hogs and sufficiently of grain of the farm to support her part of the stock until she is of age or married
- Beloved wife, Sally the balance of my stock of hogs and two kettles, one black mare, the balance of my stock and sheep, the balance of my stock of cattle and the poultry on the farm
- Witnessed 9 March 1844 by Moses Bailey and Thomas Ramsey
Anglicizing the Name
Like other settlers of German origins, John Isenhour “Anglicized” his surname, dropping the “E” from Eisenhour. The records for the Eisenhaur/Isenhour family in North Carolina reflect a mix of spellings both with the “E” and without. However, once John D. Isenhour arrived in Missouri, it appears he dropped the E from his name and changed the more German version of Eisenhauer permanently to Isenhour. Census, tax, land, and probate records all reflect the anglicized version, as do all the records for his children. The children scattered to various localities – Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Kentucky – their German roots seemingly forgotten.
John’s granddaughter, Eliza Ann Isenhour, my second great-grandmother, was even supposed to have been full-blooded Cherokee! I disproved that with the discovery that her second husband, Jacob Meek, was one-quarter Choctaw, and their children were one-eighth Choctaw. Eliza had no Native American bloodlines, as I well knew. Read more about her here: Honoring our Great-Grandmothers by Researching Their Stories: Eliza Ann Isenhour, Settler of Indian Territory.
Discovering the story of a name change can be a fascinating project and can lead to even more discoveries in the family, as shown by the case of John D. Isenhour.
Best of luck in all your genealogical endeavors!