Kelly Sagert

Oscar Schultz Kriebel, Part Four

Quick Recap of the Life of Oscar Schultz Kriebel For five years now, I’ve been exploring the life of a forgotten Civil War hero, Wells Waite Miller—which includes a look at people who were close to him in his lifetime. Wells and his wife Mary had two children: a son named Amos Calvin and a daughter named Corinne who married a prominent educator and theologian of the day. His name was Oscar Schultz Kriebel. In part one of my series about Oscar, I shared insights into his Schwenkfelder faith, his ancestors, and when he met Corinne. In part two, I

Read More »

Nathaniel Couch Rests

My direct ancestor, Nathaniel Couch, lived in a tumultuous time and place—and it looks like he didn’t miss much of the action. Born in 1725 in Winchester, Virginia when this was a frontier town, he fought in the French and Indian War with George Washington and under the same man during the Revolutionary War; and he hid men who challenged Washington and defied his orders during the Whiskey Rebellion. More specially about the third event, on July 15, 1794, a federal marshal named David Lenox and the federal tax inspector, General John Neville, tried to summon a local Pennsylvania farmer

Read More »

Nathaniel Couch and the Whiskey Rebellion

Nathaniel Couch is my ancestor who fought in the French and Indian War (covered in post one) and the Revolutionary War (covered in post two). At the risk of vastly oversimplifying the roots of the Revolutionary War, here’s a key element. From 1763 through 1775, the British Parliament passed multiple laws that impacted trade and imposed taxes on the Colonists. This taxation didn’t come with representation—and the Colonists weren’t very happy about the financial burden. Tensions kept rising as the two groups couldn’t come to a compromise. This includes the Boston Tea Party incident when Colonists dumped 342 chests of

Read More »

Nathaniel Couch: The George Washington Connection

I can make no claims that my ancestor, Nathaniel Couch, maintained a close friendship with George Washington. Their lives, however, clearly intertwined. As noted in my first blog post about Nathaniel, he was born in Winchester, Virginia in 1725. He remained there for decades. Then, according to The George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, from 1748 to 1758, Washington “spent more nights in Winchester than another place besides his home [in Mount Vernon].” Case for a Relationship Between Nathaniel Couch and George Washington Washington arrived at Winchester on March 16, 1748 as part of a surveying party, a job

Read More »

Honoring an Ancestor: Nathaniel Couch

As Independence Day 2023 approaches, I’m attempting to honor my ancestor, Nathaniel Couch, who played a key role in the founding of the United States. This includes fighting in the Seven Years War (French and Indian War) for the British and building Fort Couch in today’s western Pennsylvania to provide protection for the community. He then fought in the Revolutionary War for the Colonies and provided shelter for the rebel forces during the Whiskey Rebellion. That’s a lot to pack into one lifetime! For the past couple of days, my two sons and I visited forts, museums, and a cemetery

Read More »

Oscar Schultz Kriebel, Part Three

Oscar Schultz Kriebel Gets Married On June 30, 1891, Oscar Schultz Kriebel and Corinne Miller (daughter of Wells Waite Miller) got married. The couple apparently met while attending Oberlin College. As you notice, Wells needed to fill out the marriage license for his daughter and, thereafter, she’s referred to as Mrs. Oscar S. Kriebel, typical for the times. When considering the two main men in Corinne’s life (her father and her husband), I have to wonder what she thought about her father’s Civil War service. Schwenkfelders were often conscientious objectors of the war although some of them proudly served. In

Read More »

Oscar Schultz Kriebel, Part Two

In this post, I’ll go more in depth about the life of Oscar Schulz Kriebel, son-in-law of the Civil War soldier whose life I’m exploring: Wells Waite Miller. Young Oscar Schultz Kriebel Born and raised in Hereford, Pennsylvania, on September 10, 1863, Oscar got a glimpse of the bigger world when the Perkiomen Centennial express trains traveled through the area on their way to Philadelphia. He actually traveled to Philadelphia, a four-day trip where he spent his time “buying books, calling on friends, viewing manufacturing plants, crossing the Delaware, witnessing the spectacular parade honoring the war hero, General U.S. Grant.”

Read More »

Oscar Schultz Kriebel, Part One

Oscar Schultz Kriebel and His Connection to Wells Waite Miller The photo of Oscar Schultz Kriebel shown above was used in his passport in 1921. Oscar became part of Wells Waite Miller’s life much earlier, though, perhaps as early as 1890. That year, Wells’s daughter, Corrine, was attending Oberlin College. Here’s a bit about her. Corrine Miller was born on April 24, 1865 in Marshalltown, Iowa. So, she was about twenty-five years old while living in a place where she met a fellow student named Oscar: the town of Oberlin, Ohio. When they met, he had two great passions in

Read More »

Miller Family Mystery Solved? Part Two

Miller Family Overview So, let’s set the stage. It’s July 4, 1864 and Wells Waite Miller just married Mary Helen Caswell in her parents’ home in Castalia, Ohio. Wells Waite Miller He’d been badly wounded at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on July 3, 1863 and, on his wedding date, he was fairly new as a member of the Invalid Corps. In this corps, wounded soldiers could contribute to the war effort in “valuable capacities, such as in garrison, as military police, or on clerk duty. This freed as many able-bodied soldiers as possible for frontline service.” I’m still researching what he might

Read More »

Miller Family Mystery Solved? Perhaps

Miller Family Mystery After Wells Waite Miller was seriously wounded on July 3, 1863 at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, there were initially big gaps in my research between that date and 1894 when he became the Secretary of Ohio’s Department of Agriculture. What was he doing, exactly? I’ve slowly filled in those gaps over the past couple of years, but something continued to puzzle me. Why did documentation for his two children (Corinne and Amos Calvin) say they were born in Marshalltown, Iowa? (Yes, I get that they say this because they were born there. I mean, why?) For a while, I

Read More »