| Notes |
- Pvt George Hempleman
Birth: 1732, Germany
Death: 1842
Burial: Greenlawn Cemetery, South Charleston, Clark County, Ohio, USA, Plot: Section 3
George Hempleman was born in Swabia, Germany.
He married Margaretta Duffy in Richmond, VA.
Children: Catherine (1775-aft 1815), m: Andrew Puckett
Elizabeth (1777-1870) m: George Weaver
George Jr. (1778-1853) m: Ruth Howell & Sarah Bilderback
Nancy (1782-?)
[6]
- A Brief History of the Hempleman Family in America By George Whiteley
George Hempleman, one of the founders of the Hempleman family of America, was born in Hesssie Castle, Germany in the year 1732. He was the son of Lord Hempleman of Germany and had he stayed in Germany would have taken the title of his father, but love is blind and more precious than gold or title. He had fallen in love with Margarette Duffy, she had stolen his hearty and he vowed to marry her. This he could not do and live in Germany, for she was poor and a daughter of one of the peasants living on one of the farms of Lord Hempleman. He a peer, and she a peasant’s daughter, they could not marry out of their station, so they planned to go to America, the land of the free. Little did they know of the hardships that were ahead of them, or perhaps their stout hearts would have failed; but this they knew not, and together ran away, or as we say today, eloped. They could get along well so long as they were on land, for they could earn their way, but when they reached the ocean another obstacle faced them. They had no money to pay for their transportation, but they arranged with a company there to carry they to America, by them agreeing to allow this company to sell them after they landed in America to the party or parties that would pay this company the price of their transportation, they to work for this party until their passage money was earned. A bargain was made with this company and they sailed for America. There were no steamer in those days and the vessels were crude and their voyage was stormy and hard, but not half so hard as when they landed, for they landed in Richmond, Va., in 1752, strangers in a strange land, and among strangers, to find that they were to be sold like black slaves into slavery or servitude to pay for their transportation. They had not yet married, perhaps thinking not best to do so, until all things were settled here in America.
George Hempleman was sold at auction to a cotton planter in one of the Carolinas, Margarette Duffy was sold to a tobacco planter near Richmond, Va. After the sale it must have been a bitter parting to those two young people, neither knew whether they would ever see each other again, for in this strange land they knew not where they were going.
It is the understanding of the writer that their time of servitude was four years each, but before the separation, which must have been heart-rending, they agreed that after their servitude was finished they should each return to Richmond, Va. their starting place: and their meeting point was to be the Little Old St. John’s church, which is an Episcopal church, the one in which Patrick Henry afterward made his famous speech before the Revolutionary war, when the leading men of Virginia met in this church and Patrick Henry made his famous speech in which he said “give me liberty or give me death,” and this so fired their hearts and upon this Virginia seceded from the crown, and cast her lot with the colonies. This church is still preserved on account of this event, and they yet hold services in this church. It was the good fortune of the writer, a few years ago, to visit this old church and photograph same, also the grave of the minister that afterwards married George Hempleman and Margarette Duffy after their return from servitude, and the writer is proud of the privilege of presenting to the Hempleman family a cut of this sacred little old church and grave. Also a cut of the tree at the spring where George Hempleman with his son George and family camped in 1808, the first night when they reached Clarke County, Ohio. The old elm tree is still standing and leans over the hole where once there was a famous spring.
George Hempleman fell in cruel hands and when he returned he was broken in health. Margarette Duffy was more fortunate, she fell in good hands and being used to hard work fared better. Neither heard of each other until their time of servitude had expired: but true to their promise, each started for Richmond and the little old church. Margarette Duffy being only a short distance from Richmond, reached there first, and went direct to the old St. John’s church, attending every service regularly, hoping soon to see her lover return. Time wore on and she almost lost hope of every seeing him again. Finally, one cold crisp morning as she sat watching every passer through the door, she saw a stout young German man coming through the door, pause for a moment, look around, seemingly looking for someone that he did not see, then he sat down, and drew from his hands a pair of white mittens, and laid them across his knees: immediately Margarette Duffy recognized those mittens as the ones she had knit in Germany and gave to her lover, George Hempleman. Time had wrought such changed in those two young folks that it was no wonder that neither knew the other, but at the close of the service, those two wanderers were reunited. What a happy reunion for them this must have been. They were married in the little old church in 1756. The grave of the minister that united these two young Germans lies at the east door of this little old church as you will see in the cut.
Soon after this they moved into Pennsylvania, and settled within three miles of Philadelphia, and the following children were born to them: Elizabeth, George, Katherine and Nancy.
When the war broke out between the Colonies and England George Hempleman cast his lot with the Colonies and enlisted in Capt. Wm. Johnson’s company, fourth battalion of the Lancaster militia in 1781. Battalion commander not stated. (Reference Effie Hempleman, Springfield, Ohio) And at the close of the war was honorably discharged.
After the war George Hempleman and family moved to North Carolina, and from there to Hardy County, Virginia. George Hempleman, in 1805, lost his wife, and she was buried in Hardy County, Virginia. In 1808, George Hempleman in company with his son George and family and his daughter Elizabeth, who had married George Weaver, started for Ohio with two wagons. The mountain roads were rough and they had not gotten far until one of their wagons fell over the mountain side and the team was killed and wagon lost. They gathered up what they could and loaded into the other wagon and all went afoot, and somewhere on the route this wagon was also lost and had to be abandoned. The bedding and what they could gather up was strapped onto the horses and the men and children carried what they could, and in the fall of 1808 reached Clarke County, Ohio, and camped for the first night on Masses Creek, two miles south of South Charleston, Clarke County, Ohio. They camped near the old spring near the Samuel Briggs farm, made famous by the number of people that camped at that spring on their way from the East to Ohio. A cut of the old Elm tree that stood by this famous spring is shown in this pamphlet, and the tree is still standing.
Near by this spring lived Samuel Briggs. That evening, Mrs. Briggs sent her son Samuel with a bucket full of milk and some provisions to those campers. Among the children was one called Elizabeth, daughter of George Hempleman, Jr. who afterwards became the wife of this boy, Samuel Briggs, who carried the milk and provisions to them.
The Hempleman and Weaver families moved on a few miles west of South Charleston and there located on the Little Miami river. The country was then in a wilderness. Their first shelter was poles fastened like a roof and covered with grass, and they gathered leaves for a bed, and so lived until houses could be built.
George Hempleman, Sr. lived with his son George until he died in the year 1842, at the age of 110 years, and was buried at South Charleston, Ohio.
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1732 - 1842 (110 years)
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: Address
: Location
: City/Town
: County/Shire
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: Not Set
