This posting isn't to make anyone feel bad. Everyone can makes mistakes, especially me.

I've recently discovered that I have two living Kessler cousins, but it is a mixed blessing. They have attached themselves to my family tree, but unfortunately they have added in some wrong information, in the family tree they submitted to Ancestry. I do not know who they are, and so far I have not been able to contact them thru Ancestry.

The Kesslers merged with my Gibsons when Ethel E. Gibson, b. 1877 married John E. Kessler, b. 1875, in Indiana Co., PA in 1897.

John was a s/o Lawrence Kessler and Elmira McGinniss. Ethel was a d/o Hiram Gibson and Catherine A. Wike.

I guess the living Kesslers changed Catherine Wike's surname to Wick, and gave her a completely different ancestry.

First of all, here is the true ancestry of Catherine A. Wike:

(1) Christopher Wike married Margaret Unknown.
(2) Jacob Wike, b. 1780, PA, d. 1834, married Elizabeth Unknown.
(3) Catherine A. Wike, b. 1822, d. 1900, married Hiram Gibson.

Catherine Wike's father, Jacob, died in 1834. In his will, he had his daughters, Sophia, Catherine, and Sarah be put into a guardianship to Paul Rhoads. In December 2, 1844, both Hiram Gibson and Catherine Wike signed a "Release of Guardianship" to Paul Rhoads.

Here is the ancestry given by the Kesslers:

(1) Michael Wick, b. 1789, France, d. 1869, MO, married Catherine Unknown.
(2) Jacob Wick, b. 1823, France, married Elizabeth Kobriger.
(3) Catherine Wick, b. 1822, d. 1900, married Hiram Gibson.

Something's wrong isn't there.

I did a little looking around thru the censuses, and another source and found some interesting information. This is Jacob Wick's family:

1860 Census, Gasconade Co., Missouri:


Wick,

 


1870 Census, Gasconade Co., Missouri:

Wick,


Jacob Wick was born 1823 in Lorraine, France. He was a son of Michael and Catherine Wick. He married (1) Henrietta Leuenberger, 1852; (2) Barbara Buhler, 1867; and (3) Elizabeth Kobriger.



1