Christian Lauffer Jr.

  General Notes:

Christian Jr. has been traced to the surname spelling of Loffer and Laffer. The 1906 Lauffer History shows this as Laffer.

From the 1906 Lauffer History

Christian, Jr., and Bartel were older than Henry and John, and both were married when they came into Westmoreland Co. (Henry was 20 years old and John 5 years old when Christian, the Pioneer, moved into Westmoreland Co., from Moore Twp., Northampton Co.

In the little cemetery on the Old Esquire Conklin farm, now owned by Thad. W. Baum, near Pleasant Grove School House, Pickaway Co., Ohio, is the grave of Christian Laffer, died Oct. 2, 1823, in the 53rd year of his age, and buried on the farm on which he had lived. This date places his birth at 1770, which would make Christian, Jr., younger than his brother John. If that be true, John, the centenarian, is confused in his dates in this particular.

From the letter of Anna E. (Lauffer) Strayer, 1329 Forsythe Ave., Columbus, Ohio, we learn substantially as follows :-

Christian Laffer, son of Christian, the Pioneer, married a Miss Hugus (in error as Hooker) while living in Pennsylvania. To them two sons and five daughters were born, of whom three lived to advanced age.

After the death of Sara, Christian married Elizabeth Teagarden of Franklin Twp. They moved to Pickaway, Ohio with other Lauffers, and the family of Elizabeth. Christian, Jr. & Elizabeth are reported by Lauffer researchers to have had 8 children. The Lauffer children born in Ohio adopted the surname LOFFER.

The early days of the Pickaway settlements are described in the Pickaway, Ohio History archives:
"The chief stream of the township is Walnut Creek, which flows through the western half of the township in a southerly direction. The eastern portion of the township is watered by Slate Run and its branches, which stream empties into Walnut Creek about two miles above St. Paul. Madison township has many fine and productive farms. The soil is uniformly good, consisting of a black loam and gravel on the lower lands, and clay on the hills, with many excellent beds of gravel. The eastern part of the township rises into quite large hills, with generally a long slope to the lowlands, which were originally swamps in the early clays of the settlement and abounded iii wild ducks and geese. On account of the washing of the clay soil. Walnut Creek is seldom clear. The early settlers never lacked for game, as the forests here were the home of (deer and turkeys, and bears were occasionally seen; wild ducks were plenty and small game such as pheasants, rabbits and squirrels inhabited every part of the underbrush and forest. Until recent years small mounds, whose presence is attributed to the ancient race of Mound Builders, might be seen in various parts of the township. The township seems also to have been a favorite resort with the Indians, for many relics, such as stone hammers, spear and arrowheads and pestles for pounding corn, have been found. At the time Christian moved to Pickaway, there was a camp of Indians in the area who went away soon after the settlements."

The Teegardins have been active in the Pickaway school development. The relationship of these Teegardins listed to Elizabeth is not known:
"The township now has six school districts, including the district where is located the high school. The Board of Education, elected in November, 1904, was as follows : E. O. Teegardin, S. 0. Smith and John W. Teegardin--four years; C. V. Burk and F. J. Peters--two years. With one exception, the board has the same members at the present time, Jacob Smith having succeeded C. V. Burk. The clerk of the board is C. B. Teegardin."

Christian married Sara Hugus, daughter of John Hugus and Margaret Shoup, in 1804 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. (Sara Hugus was born in 1770, died in 1802 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania and was buried in Greensburg, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.)

Christian next married Elizabeth Teagarden, daughter of Aaron Teagarden and Margaret Diebel, in 1804 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. (Elizabeth Teagarden was born on 25 Feb 1787 in Franklin Twp, Westmoreland Co., Pennsylvania, died on 18 Feb 1826 in Madison, Pickaway Co., Ohio and was buried in Conklin Cemetery, Madison, Ohio.)

Christian next married Magdalena Degart.

Christian next married Sarah Hooker in 1804 in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. (Sarah Hooker was born about 1770 in PA.)