DITTOE, FRANK A., born May 9th, 1849, merchant, Somerset,
Ohio. On his birth day, 1882, was married to Miss Mary
E., daughter of Hon. W. E. Finck, of Somerset. His father
was Jacob Dittoe, a native of Lancaster county, Pennsylvania,
who came to Somerset with Frank's grandfather Joseph Dittoe,
in 1813. The great grandmother, whose name was also Joseph,
came from Alsace, France, where the name is spelled De
Toe. Jacob Dittoe had an uncle John, who went to the State
of New York,---Francis, who died in Pickaway county, Ohio;
Anthony, who died in Perry county, Ohio; Peter, who lived
and died in Virginia,---all of whom were brothers of Joseph
Dittoe, the grandfather of Frank. The mother of Jacob,
and grandmother of Frank, was, in her maiden days, a Miss
Helen Grimm. The uncles of Frank A. Dittoe were: John,
a farmer of Perry, who died up in ninety years of age,
in Perry county, Ohio; Michael, a carpenter, who died single,
in New Orleans, about the year 1829; Joseph, who was drowned
in the Mississippi River a few years prior to the death
of Michael, and Anthony
Dittoe, the youngest brother of Jacob, who died in Edgar
county, Illinois. Frank's father, Jacob Dittoe, was married
in 1826 to Miss Sarah Cain, by Rev. N. D. Young. The daughters
born to this wedlock
were: Sarah and Mary, of Washington, D. C., where the latter
deceased; Miss Lizzie and Eugenia, of Somerset, Ohio; Margaret,
wife of William Dittoe, a lawyer of Davenport, Iowa; and
Cecelia, wife of
Hon. T. P. Cox, of Lancaster, Ohio. The sons were: Frank
A., the subject of this sketch, John, and William, who died
at the family homestead, in Somerset, sole and unmarried,
and M. J. Dittoe, who went to the City of New York nearly
thirty years ago, engaged as carpenter and architect, never
married, and amassed a large fortune, which he divides liberally
with his only surviving brother, Frank A., and the kindred
of his household. In 1879 the writer obtained the following
facts from the lips of Jacob Dittoe, then in his seventy-eighth
year: There was not a house on Columbus street, Somerset,
in 1813, and not one brick house in all the town. It had
two taverns, and one dry goods store. Then, too, there was
not a house in Zanesville from the present site of the court
house there to the river bank---all commons, cow pasture,
etc. Then Lancaster had but two dry goods stores, and the "Ohio
Eagle " newspaper, St. Joseph's being the first Catholic
church in Ohio. There came thither, not only the sons and
daughters of the church to worship, but to enter the holy
bonds of wedlock. Then,
as now, no loyal daughter of the church would marry Catholic
or Protestant husband who refused to be united in wedlock
by a priest of Mother Church. Here the elder Thomas Ewing,
afterwards the great
jurist, lawyer, and statesman, of Lancaster, came to marry
his wife, a Catholic daughter of Hugh Boyle, Clerk of Fairfield
Common Pleas Court. Mr. Ewing had no notion of doing without
a beautiful and
charming wife because of such exacting rules of his wife's
church, since these did not bind him to become a Catholic,
but only the husband of a Catholic wife, which latter was
agreeable to his preferences. It is a singular fact that
the same priest. Rev. N. D. Young, who performed the marriage
service, also performed the funeral service of this well
known man.
...so from
this biography, we have the following:
Projenitor Joseph Dittoe aka DeToe from Alsace, France.
Children:
Peter, "lived and died in VA"
Joseph, m. Helen Grimm
John, "went to NY"
Francis, "died in Pickaway Co., Oh"
Anthony, "died in Perry Co., Oh"
Note: in addition to these children, Riley's book shows
Catherine
Mary
Jacob, m. Catherine Finck.
The biography then continues with the children of Joseph
Dittoe & Helen Grimm:
Anthony, "youngest brother of Jacob, died in Edgar
Co., IL"
Joseph, "drowned in the Mississippi River a few years
prior to 1829"
Jacob, "native of Lancaster, PA, m. Sarah Cain in
1826" - and was living, and gave testimony for the
bio, in 1879.
John, "a farmer in Perry Co., Oh, died [prior to 1883]
up in 90 years of age"
Michael, "a carpenter, died single in NY c. 1829"
Next the children of Jacob and Sarah Cain are shown:
John, "died [before 1883] in Somerset unmarried"
William, "died [before 1883] in Somerset unmarried"
M. J., "went to NY c. 1853, amassed a fortune, was
carpenter and architect"...implies is only living
sibling of Frank as of 1883.
Cecelia, "wife of Hon. T. P. Cox, of Lancaster, PA"
Margaret, "married William Dittoe, a Lawyer of Davenport,
IA"
Frank A., subject of the bio: b. 9 May 1849, married Mary
E. Fink in 1882
Sarah, "of Washington, DC"
Mary, "of Washington, DC, where she died [before 1883].
Lizzie, "of Somerset"
Eugenia, "of Somerset" |
