News

• Dustin Grier, Brock Morris, and Hunter Shue were on the Norwayne football team who won the state championship last night (December 3, 2011). The local paper, The Daily Record, had a special front section. It has been a very exciting last few weeks locally. The championship game itself was very exciting with the winning points scored in the last 30 seconds of the game. All the newspapers are sold out.
• Amy Harris, Brock Morris, Hailey Shue, Hunter Shue, and Katie Vance were all mentioned in The Post (July 2, 2011) as first year members of the FFA. Zac Vance was a fourth year member. Katie was a silver member and Amy was a bronze member. Hunter, Katie, and Brock got scholarship pins as well.
• Lauren Grier (Lilly¹, Richard², Diane³, Shane⁴) was quoted in The Post on June 11 and got a mention in the June 25 edition (was a member of the high school track team). Katie Vance is also mentioned in the article.
• Zac Vance was graduated from Norwayne this year. A list of graduates was in The Post (June 4, 2011).
• A new Zehner book has been written by William J. Zehner, who lives in Florida. He's a professional genealogist. I ordered one. It definitely seems to be very well researched (about 4700 references).
• The 2011 Reunion will be on July 31 this year. It will be at Michelle Vance's at 5:00 p.m. We have always held it on the last Sunday, not the fourth Sunday, of July.
• A picture of Katie Vance was in The Daily Record for winning the Ethics-Integrity-Sportsmanship Award at the spring sports banquet. Zac Vance got a forth-year track award. Brock Morris and Hunter Shue got second-year track letters. But, ugh, I didn't write down the date of the article. An article (with the same photo) appears in The Post on June 18, 2011.
• Gretchen Baisden was mentioned in the The Post in the Norwayne section (not the Rittman section) in the edition of June 4, 2011. She was also in the June 11 edition with a photo—she earned an Ohio High School Athletic Association scholarship. She was also class president, eighth in her class, and a National Honor Society member.
• Katie Vance was in a photo in The Post (April 16, 2011) as a member of the Norwayne girls track team. Zac Vance and Monica Click were mentioned in the article.
• Dustin Grier was awarded his third-year letter in wrestling at Norwayne, according to the The Post (March 6, 2011).
• Hunter Shue (Hazel Rook¹, Genevieve Allen², Linda Shue³, Sam Shue ⁴) and Brock Morris were members of the Norwayne Freshman Basketball team and got their pictures in the The Post on February 26, 2011.
• Monica Click got a mention in the Dec. 19, 2010, edition of The Post in an article on the Norwayne track team.
• Zac Vance got a mention in the Dec. 5, 2010, Post as a second-team All-WCAL wide receiver.
• Katie Vance was mentioned in The Post (February 12, 2011) for her participation in the Wayne County High School One-Act Play Festival. Norwayne got superior ratings.
• Brock Morris went to the National FFA Convention according to the November 14, 2010, edition of The Post. The convention was in Indianapolis.
• Katie Vance was named a member of The Post's first team of the 2010 Girls Cross Country All-Star Team and got her photo in. (November 14, 2010 edition)
• Zac Vance got his picture in The Daily Record (October 16, 2010) regarding the football game between Norwayne and Dalton. Dustin Grier is mentioned, too.
• Katie Vance mentioned in the 2010 Cross Country Preview in The Post (August 1, 2010).
• Reunion We had a reunion of sorts at Michelle Vance's on July 25. Only about thirty or forty people were there, but it was very last minute. I think we all had a good time anyway. We are determined to have a bigger, better organized one next year. Hopefully, no one will die right before as they have the last two years!
• Harriet Ann Haas Franks (Clara Walters¹, Mabel Haas²) died Friday, July 16, 2010. She suffered another stroke, this time on the other side of her brain, on July 6. She enjoyed going to the reunion very much and could always be seen there. She leaves a very wide circle of friends and family to grieve her loss.
• Carol Walchalk (Lilly Click¹) I am very sad to report Carol died Wednesday, June 23, 2010. She will be greatly missed. She could always be seen at the reunion. She had a wonderful sense of humor. Her funeral will be at 10 am on Monday. Her obituary was in the June 25 edition of the Akron Beacon Journal and The Daily Record.
• Gretchen Baisden (Lilly Click¹, Kenneth Click², Cindy Baisden³) has been in The Daily Record for her volleyball skills, but I don't have on hand any dates for the editions. Gretchen plays for Rittman. She was just mentioned in the May 30, 2010, edition of The Post for winning the 4x100 relay at the Norwayne Division III District meet.
• Kaitlyn Vance (Clara Walters¹, Mabel Haas², Harriet Franks³, Michelle Vance⁴ ) was fourth in the Holmes-Wayne County Meet and was first team all-county in gymnastics.
• Zac Vance (Clara Walters¹, Mabel Haas², Harriet Franks³, Michelle Vance⁴ ) has been getting a lot of press for his high school football exploits. He plays for Norwayne. He has gotten mentions in The Daily record on Aug. 30, Sept. 12, and Sept. 19, for scoring touchdowns. On Sept. 24 he was in the Football Insider (a special section of the Record) with his picture. He had scored three touchdowns in eight catches. He was in the Sept. 26 edition for having six catches and gaining 91 yards, and in the October 1 and 8 editions he was in the Football Insider again and on the individual stats list for his 14 catches and 267 yards.
• Sadly, the Zehner reunion was cancelled this year. It was on again off again. Then Richard Click died, so we felt no one would have wanted to go to a reunion that was the day after his burial.
• Richard Click (Lilly¹) died on July 22. He was seventy-nine.
• Shawna Morris (Clara Walters¹, Mabel Haas², Harriet Franks³, Rhonda Morris⁴) graduated from Norwayne this year.
• Dustin Grier (Shane Grier⁴, Diane Click³, Richard Click², Lilly Click¹) has his picture in the March 19, 2009, Daily Record for being honored at the Norwayne Winter Sports Banquet. He is a wrestler. He had the team's most pins this year. He was also mentioned in the February 8, March 1, and March 15, 2009, Post for wrestling.
• Gretchen Baisden (Cindy Click³, Kenny Click², Lilly Click¹) was mentioned in January 18, 2009, and March 6, 2009, Daily Record. She's on the high school basketball team. She was also mentioned in the Local Boxes in the January 18, 2009, edition. Certainly there are other mentions, but these are the only ones I came across.
• Ida Mae Rook died on February 6, 2008. She was 99 years old. Burial was February 9 in Canaan Cemetery. Her obituary appeared in The Daily Record and the Trading Post.
• Jessica Hanzie (Hazel Rook¹, Genevieve Allen², Phyllis Hanzie³, Jeff Hanzie⁴) announced her engagement to Joe Leonard in the August 28, 2008, Daily Record.
• Hunter Shue (Hazel Rook¹, Genevieve Allen², Linda Shue³, Sam Shue⁴) was May student of the month at Creston Middle School in 2008. His photo is in The (Trading) Post of May 25, 2008.
• Zac Vance (Clara Walters¹, Mabel Haas², Harriet Franks³, Michelle Vance⁴) was mentioned in the May 6, 2008, Daily Record for receiving a Greenhand Degree at the Norwayne FFA Banquet.
• Charlotte Dudas (Nellie Shaffer¹, Helen Pate²) died in January 2008.
• Kaitlyn Vance (Clara Walters¹, Mabel Haas², Harriet Franks³, Michelle Vance⁴) got her picture on the front page of The Daily Record on January 8, 2008. The story was about the Wooster YMCA and Kaitlyn is in gymnastics at the YMCA. She was mentioned in the Post for all A's Feb. 8, 2009. She was also Creston Middle School Student of the Month in May 2009 and was pictured in The Post June 21, 2009.
• Dave Poiner (Hazel Rook¹, Genevieve Allen², Jean Poiner³) and uncle Richard Allen shot a moose in Maine. A photo and more information is in the December 16, 2007, edition of The Daily Record (Wooster, Ohio).

History

The Zehner Reunion

It's not clear when the Zehner Reunion actually began. It seems there was already a reunion when family members born in the 1910s were children. That is, there was always a reunion as long as any of them could remember. The reunion may very well be a continuation of the reunion organized by Henrietta (Retta) Zehner (Henry Zehner's niece) on October 23, 1897. The reunion has been held in various places over the last few decades - Lodi Park, Burbank Park, Creston Park, and at the home of Linda Shue (Hazel Rook¹, Genevieve Allen²).

It seems that the reunion included (at least) descendants of Jacob Zehner and Anna Maria Stein of Homer Twp., Medina Co., Ohio. For the last decade or two, only descendants of Jacob's son Henry and his wife Elizabeth Rex have been attending, though descendants of Henry's brothers and sisters are more than welcome - the more the merrier! The Zehner Reunion always happens on the last Sunday in July. Sometimes that's the fifth not the fourth Sunday. People forget that sometimes.

Henry Zehner

[I've been able to clean this up a little thanks to William Zehner's book.]

Little is known of Henry Zehner and there aren't many photographs. He died when his youngest children were quite young. He was born in Ohio in 1848 and died in 1904. He's buried in the Lutheran cemetery in Homer Township. His father was Jacob Zehner (1805-1881). Jacob Zehner was the son of John Zehner and Barbara Zimmerman. John's father was Johann Adam Zehner and Maria Mertz. Jacob's mother was Anna Maria Stein (1807-1887, daughter of John Stein and Maria Barbara Schmidt).

Henry had ten(!) siblings: John (1835-1910, married Mary E. Koons), Elizabeth (1835-1839), Catherine (1837-1839), David (1840-after 1900, married Rebecca Dreibelbis), Mary Ann (1841-1853), Jacob H. (1842-1916, married Elizabeth J. Norton), Rebecca (1843-1847), Barbara (1843-1844), Angeline (1847-1927, married William Francis Baughman), (Henry,) and Maria (1850-after 1910, married W. Frank Westaver). I'm not sure what relationship W.F. Baughman had with Elizabeth Rex's second husband. Also, to confuse everything, for a time there were two Elizabeth J. Zehners: Jacob H. Zehner's wife and Henry Zehner's wife - and they're both buried in the same cemetery! Jacob H.'s daughter Henrietta (Retta) seems to have been an important early organizer of the Zehner Reunion.

Elizabeth Jane "Betty" "Jennie" "Libbie" Rex

Elizabeth was born in 1863 in Liberty Twp., White Co., Indiana. Her father was Levi Rex (1832-1901), who was born in Pennsylvania, and was the son of Abraham Rex and Elizabeth (maiden name unknown). The Rexes came from Pennsylvania to Pulaski County, Indiana, in about 1840. Levi's brother Noah (what Old Testament names!) was born in Pennsylvania in 1839. I cannot find them in the 1840 census anywhere and I have been unable to trace this family any farther back in Pennsylvania. The name may have been originally Rüger, Ruch, or Rouch.

There is almost certainly a relationship between the Indiana Rexes and the Rexes in Medina County, Ohio, because, after his wife Sarah Ann died in the early 1870s, Levi came to Medina County to marry Esther Laughman in 1873. The Laughmans and several Rexes lived in Homer Township. Levi was back in Liberty Township for the 1880 census. Levi, Sarah Ann, and Esther share a tombstone in Indiana. Levi and Esther had no children.

Elizabeth Rex's mother was Sarah Ann Mattix (1832-1871 [maybe 1872 - the tombstone is hard to read]), who was born in Ohio, probably in Marion County. She was almost certainly the daughter of Benjamin Mattix/Mattox and Lydia Ann Boston. The Mattixes came to Indiana from Marion County, Ohio, in the mid 1840s. Benjamin's father Christopher Mattox came to Ohio from Kentucky before Ohio statehood - about 1800 or 1801 - and settled first in Ross County and then in the part of Delaware County that became part of Marion County when it was formed. The Mattix surname is Welsh. Benjamin's mother was Christina (or Christiana) Hines/Hinds/Heintz. There's a good bit of information on the Heintzes going way back.

I know nothing more about Lydia Ann Boston. There were Bostons in Delaware County, Ohio, in the 1850 census. They were probably relatives. Lydia was born in Maryland and the Bostons of Delaware County were from Maryland. The name, which was apparently German (see the link to Jeremiah Mattix's brief biography below), was probably originally Bastian or, farther back, Sebastian.

But we need to back up a bit. Sarah Ann Mattix Rex's maiden name is problematic. I'm pretty sure her parents were Benjamin Mattix and Lydia Boston. But the marriage record for Levi and Sarah Ann has Sarah Ann's name as "Sarah Ann Wherloin." She just maybe was married to, or had a relationship with, someone with the surname Werline or Worline before marrying Levi Rex. If she was married to a Worline, she would have to have been very young - about 14. The name Worline (various spellings) does occur in Marion County, Ohio, but I've never seen anything like it in White County, Indiana. The Mattixes came to Indiana in about 1846. I have not been able to find a marriage record for Sarah Ann and this unknown Worline in Ohio or in Indiana. The relationship to "Unknown Worline" may explain the tombstone of the daughter born in 1850 to "L & SA" near Levi and Sarah Ann's tombstone. Levi and Sarah Ann were married in 1852 in White County, Indiana. This daughter died in 1852. Perhaps Worline was the real father of the child. There is a Sarah Ann, at the right age, with the Benjamin Mattix family in the 1850 census, but there is no infant in the Benjamin Mattix household. Even more aggravating is that Sarah Ann's maiden name is listed as Worline on William Rex's marriage record about twenty-five years later. However, her name is Mattix in his obituary. Daughter Rebecca has her mother's maiden name as Mattix on her death record in 1923. What's more, Sarah Ann is buried with Mattixes in Indiana on both sides of her. The Mattixes seem to have their own private corner of Indian Creek Cemetery. Levi and Sarah Ann's daughter Rebecca Keen has daughter Helen buried very close to Levi and Sarah Ann in this cemetery.

Levi and Sarah Ann had at least five children: William "Willie" Rex (1858-1934, married Princess Catherine [also found as Catherine Princess] Lucas), Jacob (1860-1872), Elizabeth, George (1865-1872), and Rebecca Ann (1867-1923, married Edward W. Keen).

Rebecca "Becky" moved around a lot. She was born in White County, was married in Medina County, Ohio, ended up back in White County for a little while (her daughter was buried there), moved to Chicago for a few years, then ended up in Stutsman County, North Dakota (!), in the 1910 census. In the 1920 census she was in Akron, but at the time of her death, she was living in Ashland, Ohio. Rebecca and Edward are buried in Albion Cem., Jackson Twp., Ashland Co., Ohio. E.W. Keen's family was from Albion. She had four sons (some born in Indiana and some in Chicago), but we have lost contact with all of their descendants.

William still has descendants living in White County, Indiana, but we also don't know them. My grandmother Mabel Haas (Clara Walters¹) remembered visiting "Willie" in the 1920s when she was a child. At Willie's house she curled up in bed with her mother not so much from the cold, but because she heard coyotes howling!

Elizabeth married Henry Zehner about 1880. No marriage record has been found in Ohio. It may be in Indiana. They had nine children: Hattie (1880-1906, never married), Clara (1881-1956, married Herman Walters), William Noble (1883-1961, married Mary Rilla "Rillie" Simmers), Nellie (1885-1946, married John Clyde Shaffer), Fannie (abt. 1888-bef. 1900), Hazel (1891-1938, married Frank Rook), Mabel (1894-1969, married Glen Brinkerhoff), Stanley (1897-1930, married Lee McGinness), and Lilly (1903-1990, married first Merle Veney and then Elmer Leroy "Roy" Click).

Having come to Ohio, Elizabeth lived in the Lodi and Homerville areas of Medina County. She later moved to Akron. She's there in the 1920 census. She married John Baughman (1859-1940) after Henry Zehner died. Elizabeth "Jennie" Rex Zehner Baughman died in 1929 in Akron.

Recipes

• New Zehner Book—A new Zehner book has been published by William James Zehner, a certified genealogist. It's nice to see the Zehner story professionally done. The book has photographs (including one with Maria Stein and children), a descendancy chart, and documentation with no fewer than 4,684 references!
• Selby Publishing - This is where you can buy a reprint of the Zehner book by Ellen Priscilla (Zehner) Carpenter. It was written in 1939. Sadly, it contains errors and typos. More information has been found on the Zehners since the book was published and much of that can now be found online or in William J. Zehner's book.
• Zehner - This page has David Zehner and Sabina Mertz's marriage record and Johann Adam Zehner's signature. It's not at all certain that David and Sabina Zehner were Adam Zehner's parents. William J. Zehner does not list them as such.
• Jeremiah Mattix Biography - This is a short biography of Jeremiah Mattix, an uncle of Elizabeth Rex.
• Abraham Rex at Worldconnect - Some very brief information is here about Abraham Rex at Worldconnect, a genealogy site. Abraham Rex was Elizabeth Rex's grandfather.
• Information on the Heintz Family in Dillenburg - This is information on the Heintzes in Dillenburg. The Heintzes were ancestors of Christi(a)na Hinds/Hines, mother of Benjamin Mattix, who was the grandfather of Elizabeth Rex. BUT, the site is auf Deutsch (in German). There is some interesting stuff on the German dialect of the area here, too.
• Frankly Franks - This is the main part of these pages. If you're not into languages and linguistics, it's pretty dull.