The first
Germans to settle in North America were Palatines who arrived in New York
State during 1709/10. Governor Hunter arranged to settle the Germans on
the Livingston Estate. Names were put onto lists which came to be called
the Hunter Rolls. On 1 July 1710 Johann Michael Ittich first appeared
on a roll. On 24 June 1711 he was listed with 3 over persons over
10 years and 1 person under 10. These other persons were Hans Michael
Edich and Hans Michael Edich, Jr. They were finally awarded land
in the Burnetsfield Patent by 1725. On the south side of the river Michael
Editch [sic] received lot #20. Johan Michael Edigh [sic] was awarded
lot #33.
Almost every Palatine
family found their names changed as various persons recorded the German
names as best they could. Most of these families were peasants who
were illiterate. They could not spell out their own names.
The recorders varied. Some were native Dutch speakers, some were
of New England Yankees; others came directly from England and yet another
group were literate Mohawk Indians, sons of white men. How the German
names came to be spelled depended on who made the list. Most Palatine
research needs to be done on each and every variant. Into the 19th
century some Ittig insisted on the German spelling while other branches
changed their names early.
Stories within the
family abound with recollections of discrimination because of their German
background. At first the discrimination centered on the fact they
spoke only German. The Yankees hated it. They were also Lutherans,
a religion not familiar to the local populace. But most of all it
centered on the fact they raised lot of pigs, in a time when a bar of soap
was only available to the richest households. The Germans could be
smelled coming from a considerable distance. Many Germans found their
Yankee neighbors too hostile. In the Revolutionary War many Palatines
joined the British Army. Most Edicks did not, but they had to work
hard for acceptance.
Some descendants
believe Hans Michael Edick was born 28 September 1668 in Landhauser, Germany.
Hans Jr.’s birth was about 1700 with the place unknown. Hans Jr.’s
son Marcus Edick, born 1731 in German Flatts, Herkimer Co., NY, married
twice. His second wife Anna Barbara Weber/Weaver became the mother
of 7 children including Marcus, Jr. in 1772 at Stone Arabia, Montgomery
Co., NY.
In January 1793
at Stone Arabia young Marcus married Elizabeth Waffle, daughter of George
and Maria Esther (Seeber) Waffle. They had 5 children. Sometimes
Elizabeth was called Betsey as in the 1850 Richland, NY census.
1. Catherine Edick b. 11 January
1794 Oneida, NY; m. 19 May 1812 John Folts/Volz; d. 8 June 1859.
2. Elisabeth Edick b. 7 February 1801 Stone
Arabia, NY; d. 1881 Hounsfield, NY.
3. William Edick b. 1808 Stone Arabia,
NY; m. Harriet Scott; d. 1876 Richland, NY.
4. John Edick b. May 1810 Stone Arabia,
NY; m. Margaret Scott; d. January 1886 Richland, NY.
5. Anna Edick.
Marcus was included
in the 1830 Richland, NY census. He died in 1855 at Richland.
Elizabth died 1856 at Richland and was buried in the Willis Cemetery.
Her grave was either unmarked or her stone had become unreadable.
The Daughters of the American Revolution, Ontario Chapter, Pulaski, NY
surveyed this cemetery ca. 1930 and found no Edick stones in the Willis
Cemetery.
Catherine Edick
who married John Folts/Volz of Herkimer co., NY had 9 children born between
1814 and 1837. Neither she nor her sister Elizabeth who never married
appeared to have lived in Oswego County. But both William and John
raised their families in Richland. More research is required on sister
Anna.
William married
in 1836 Harriet Scott, born ca. 1816 in Mexico, NY. They lived with
Marcus and Elizabeth (Betsey) in 1850. In the 1850 census their children
were given as Esther, age 12; George, age 9; John, age 4; Jenett, age 2.
After William died in 1876 at Richland, Harriet maintained the household.
In the 1880 census she kept house for her two sons: John W., age 34 and
Robert M., age 21 who both were farmers.
By 1910 John W.
had been married for 27 years to Ella, a woman who declared in the census
that she had never given birth to a child. John W. farmed 98 acres
in 1917. He grew hay, oats and potatoes. He died after 1920.
His mother Harriet had died in 1905. William was supposed to be buried
also at Willis Cemetery, but there is no stone.
John Edick, born
in 1810, wed Margaret Scott. In the 1850 census they lived next door
to Job Kelsey Belding’s family. John was a farmer. Margaret, born
ca. 1810, had 3 children. They were Harriet, age 18; Lucy, age 13;
and Henry, age 3. Henry, born 27 October 1847 in Mexico died 7 November
1892 unmarried. In the 1880 census Harriet, then age 46, was the
wife of Lewis A. Munger, age 46. They were living with her parents,
John and Margaret Edick. John died 12 January 1886 in Richland.
The Marcus Edick
line has gone on, however. William’s son George, born 1841, wed Adlaide,
born ca. 1842. By 1880 they had 2 children: Ida M., age 10 and Grant
Edick who married Julia M. Mowry of North Mexico on 19 December 1902.
She was the daughter of Oliver B. Mowry. In the 1920 census for Richland
they had a son, Donald, age 8. Adlaide, age 76, his mother lived
with them. Grant died in 1939 before he had a chance to know his
grandchildren: Donald G. Edict II, born 2 September 1946 in Pulaski and
George G., born 1947 at Pulaski. Their mother was Dorothy Butler.
Descendants now live at Watertown, NY.