Christopher Wimer Biography
The Wimer name is of German origin. Variant spellings as Weimer and Weimert are found in the records. Christopher Wimer's name is found as Christophel Weimert, and he went by "Stophel" rather than the Anglicized "Christopher". He was from eastern Pennsylvania, possibly Lancaster County. His birthplace and parentage are not yet known, nor which generation of the family immigrated from Germany. Christopher apprenticed to learn the blacksmith trade, and once established, he married Maria Sophia Scneider, a daughter of Johann Phillip Scneder and Dorothy Miller, also from Lancaster County. In 1793 Christopher and Sophia resided in Earl Twp., Lancaster County. On Oct. 22, 1793 they purchased a small 12 acre plot in Codorus Twp., York, Co. where they lived until selling it in December of 1795. The writers of the 1883 History of Butler County, on interviewing the grandchildren of this couple, were told that they arrived in Butler County in 1798 from Adams Co. PA. However, the 1800 census indicates that Christopher was still in residence in Hamiltonban Twp., Adams, Co. that year. It is likely he came out to Butler county and located land in 1798, before bringing hs family out later. The biography of Samuel Wimer (1883 History of Butler County,by Waterman, Watkins & CO.) reports that Samuel, who would have been a very young boy of about 6 years, and his father came to the area on horseback in 1798. They probably located a farm owned by William Elliott, and came to some agreement with him. Apparently they then returned home to prepare for the move westward. Christopher does appear in the 1805 tax assessment of Slippery Rock Twp, Butler Co., as a blacksmith. They resided north of present day Jacksville.
Land agent William Elliot owned much of the land in the area, surveying 400 acre tracts in the Slippery Rock Creek area since 1793. From him Christopher & Sophia purchased 141 acres, 137 perches in 1806, adjoining lands of the seller as well as Jacob Pisor, William McNees, and David Armstrong. The Wimers built a log house and barn, and began the work of turning wilderness into farm fields. Among their livestock were sheep, and they grew flax. The flax and wool were spun and woven by Sophia into "linsey-woolsey" fabric, for family clothes. Their sons hunted game, and applied for the bounty on wolves and foxes paid by the county. The frontier families relied on each other, and over the years the Wimers, Pisors, McNeeses and Elliots developed close relationships. In 1810 a log schoolhouse was erected on either the Wimer or mcNees property, and by 1812 a second school was built on the NcNees farm. Here, all the Wimer sons except Samuel, the oldest, received their education. In August 1832 Christopher served as apparaiser of the estate of Jacob Pisor. Christopher's youngest son, Isaac, married Mary Pisor in about 1833.
Christopher was a Whig politically, and the family were members of the Seceder Congregation, organized in 1808 as the "Mouth of Wolf Creek Church", and meeting outdoors or in homes until a log church was build in 1811. The present day frame church sits but a few feet from the original site. Christopher, Sophia, and six of their children are buried in the Wolf Creek cemetery. Both Christopher and Sophia died in the spring of 1842, within 6 days of each other, so possibly from some flue or other contageous disease. They were attended by Dr. John Cowden's frequent visits. Christopher died intestate, and the heirs asked Benjamin F. Elliot, son of William Elliot to administer the estate. He devised an arrangement whereby the Wimer heirs would pay to the Elliot heirs a balance of $250 remaining due according to the terms of an article of agreement with William Elliot. The homestead was deeded to the Wimer heirs by the Elliots on June 7, 1842, the total consideration of $1000 having been fulfilled. As Isaac, the youngest Wimer son had not yet received a portion of his father's estate, the other heirs quit-claimed the homestead to him. This property became over time a part of the Russell Brandon Farm, on Brandon Road in present-day Worth Township.
(This biography is a composite of information from the Wimer sources, and especially from the research of Paul W. Myers found in his manuscript The Wimer Family, self-published prior to 1985.)
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