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John and Sally Wells Schroebel

I will be adding all of the information that I have on John and Sally Wells Schroebel of Rutherford County, North Carolina.

John Schroebel was a Methodist Minister in Rutherford County, North Carolina. According to Maude Miller Shrable, "he came from Germany. It took him 7 years to get here. He came over on a cattle boat and they would stop and work in different places. He settled in one of the German colonies in North Carolina."

She also stated that "he had at least three children: John, William and Thomas Jefferson Jr. All three sons went to Arkansas together. John probably settled in Northern Arkansas. William is said to have gone to Texas and disappeared." I find no evidence to prove this last part about the three sons. In fact, evidence points to the contrary. I have to wonder if she meant that Thomas Jefferson Shrable (John's son) had these three sons - which is a true statement. T J's son, John, did wind up in Northwest Arkansas. I do not know if William went to Texas, but, it is very probable - though he did not disappear there.

I do not find any Schroebel/Shrable/etc. on the 1820 census of Rutherford County, North Carolina, though I viewed each page.

John married in Rutherford County, North Carolina, August 14, 1822, Sarah 'Sally' Wells. They were wed by her father, Humphrey Wells who was also a minister. The witness was Theo. F Birchett D.C.

John and Sally had two children before his death between June and October 1826 in Rutherford County.

The children of John and Sally were:

According to John's will which he wrote on April 28, 1824, (the "48th year of American Independence") he leaves all to his "beloved wife Sally" and "at present one son whose name is Thomas", and alludes to any other children who might be born before his decease. He was not in good health, but, probably lived longer than he expected as his will was not recorded until the October term of 1826. He also states that his will excludes any children that Sally may have should she remarry and any "those that I had in my former marriages". I have to wonder if these were just common terms used at that time to exclude everyone else so that no one could come up and try to claim a paternal connection - or - if he actually did have other marriages, perhaps before he left Germany. He names executors Absolem Warlike, ? Cranter and Terry Planter and the will was witnessed by Amos Wall, Joseph Green and Samuel Melton.

After John's death, Sally, still widowed, appears with their two children as follows on the 1830 census of Rutherford County, North Carolina:

I was unable to find any matches to Shrable/Scravel/etc. on the 1840 census index (of any state) using a soundex search at Ancestry.com. Did Sally move in with a family member? I do not find any other Shroebel marriage which might indicate that she was re-married and living under a different name. However, that seems like a logical conclusion. Or, possibly the name is not indexed correctly. The other alternative would be that she moved away and then T J moved back before his marriage to Saletha (less logical).

Sources:

Updated Sep 2003

Email: mcpgene@excite.com