BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
George Stuntz and Sarah Ball
George Stuntz was born on the 4th of July in 1789, the sixth of seven children of Conrad and Margaret Anna (Briefling) Stuntz. At the time, the family was living on Back Creek in Berkley County, Virginia which is now a part of West Virginia. During the family's stay in Virginia, an outbreak of smallpox claimed the life of George's older sister, Katherine.
Sarah Ball was born September 06, 1798 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, one of fourteen children of Daniel and Catherine (Byre) Ball. Some records show her first name as "Sally."
In the spring of 1801, George's two older brothers made a trip to Lake Erie via Pittsburgh and returned to Virginia with a favorable report of the area. The family loaded their possessions into a wagon with a three-horse team and traveled to Crawford County, Pennsylvania where they arrived in October 1801. The two older brothers struck out on their own so with George's father in his 60's, much of the support of the family fell to 12-year-old George.
A manuscript about the Stuntz family penned by an unknown hand describes an episode in George's life which occurred while he was occupying the house of his brother (who had been "summoned on the jury in Meadville"):
"One night during the week he awoke to find the whole end of the house in flames. Seizing a bucket he rushed for the spring which was at some distance from the house. It was winter and the ground covered with snow, the path to the spring led around a slough. In his haste and fright he took the shortcut and shortly found himself to the waist in the midst of the slough in ice and water. Dipping up a pail of water he rushed back! Dashed on the roaring flames. He then made repeated trips to the slough till the fire was extinguished. Then to his surprise he found he had put out all the fire but one coal. Here was a dilemma! And before he could rekindle the fire he was nearly frozen."
As an adult, George would become a preacher and a deacon. Military records show that he served for 13 days as a private in the Ohio militia during the War of 1812.
In 1809, George married Mary Randall, with whom he had 10 children:
Meanwhile, in 1816, Sarah Ball married Samuel Davis, with whom she had six children: Luanna, Sylvia (born in 1827), Otho, John, Lydia and Rodney.
In 1835, both Mary (Randall) Stuntz and Samuel Davis died.
George Stuntz and Sarah (Ball) Davis married on November 09, 1837. George was 48; Sarah was 39.
The couple had one child of their own: Ezra Fletcher Stuntz, born in 1838.
George lived to age 76, dying on January 23, 1866. He was buried in Valley Cemetery near Albion, Pennsylvania.
Sarah, age 75, died on March 13, 1874.
Sources & Related Information
George and Sarah (Ball) Stuntz