Women In My Family History Part One

Wedding picture of Elizabeth Garber and David Jacobs

In observance of Women's History Month I have decided to do a few blogs that pull out stories of the women in my family history that have interesting things and  stories surrounding them.  The first woman I would like feature is a distant cousin named Lydia Garber.  I have no idea the exact way that  she fits into my family except that we share a common ancestor named John Garber and his wife Barbara.  In the early 2000's I was fortunate enough to correspond with a woman named Gladys Royer from Elkhart Indiana whom,  it is my understanding, has since passed away.  She shared with me information on our common line of the Garber family.   It was Gladys that told me Lydia Garber's delightful story.  

To lay the ground work let me first say that my father's mother's maiden name was Doris Ellen Shively.  Doris's mother's maiden name was Carrie Bell Jacobs.  Carrie's mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Ellen Garber.  Once in the Garber line it goes on back  four generations John, John, Samuel,  and then earliest ancestor in this line on this side of the atlantic Johannes.  Johannes Garber was a Old Order German Baptist  preacher and settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia to start a a church at a place called Flat Rock.  It was Johannes son Samuel's son John that moved on to Montgomery Couty Ohio.   Then John's son John that moved from Ohio to Indiana and then to Illinois.  While in Indiana his daughter Elizabeth married David George Jacobs and later, their daughter Carrie gave birth to my grandmother.   One must back up to the Garber lines that remained in the Flat Rock area of Virginia to somewhere find Lydia.  But here is the story that Gladys wrote to me about her: 

A brick house built before the Civil War stands there today.  When it was insulated by the owners, the limbs were still on the foundation logs.^30a  The barn was burned by the Northern Army during the Civil War and was rebuilt after that.³¹  A descendant, Lydia Garber, lived there during the Civil War and hid three horses in the living room to avoid having them killed or taken.  She threatened the soldiers she would throw hot water on them if they came into the house.

Here is a picture I found online of the house and the link which is the source of that photo.

Photo credit to The Valley Brethren Mennonite Heritage Center  If you follow the link and then click to the next photo at this link there is a picture of the church that Johannes started.  If you click HERE you can follow a link to more information on the nearby mill that is featured in the video that follows. 

I am especially fond of this story because of the strength Lydia showed in the face of danger.  Strong women in my background are always a joy for me to find.   Please enjoy the following video about the area of Virginia referred to in the blog and notice that the mill in the video is near the Garber Homestead at the link provided above. 

History Comes Alive at the Breneman-Turner Mill from Lani Furbank on Vimeo.