Oberholtzers: The Whiskey Connection

I have two ancestors who immigrated to Waterloo Township whose mothers’ maiden names were Oberholtzer, as well as one who was a grandson of one of those women. I didn’t think about these Oberholtzer grandmothers much until Murray Martin (my third cousin once removed and fellow genealogy nut) sent me an online article with the intriguing title “Why the Matron Saint of American Whiskey Should be Mary Hope.”

That essay discusses two Mennonite families, the Boehms and the Oberholtzers, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1710 on the good ship Mary Hope. A descendant of the Boehm family, Jacob Beam, moved to Kentucky in 1788, where he founded “the dynasty that defines the nature of Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey to this very day”: Jim Beam. Two brothers, Abraham and Christian Overholt, descendants of the Oberholtzer family, founded the distillery in Westmoreland County, PA, that “eventually became the home of Old Overholt Rye Whiskey.” Overholt & Co is now a subsidiary of the Beam-Suntory group (and it was actually Abraham and Christian’s father who started distilling whiskey).

The author suggests that it was Mennonite families, such as the Boehms and Oberholtzers, immigrants from the German Palatinate and before that from Switzerland, who brought the skills and recipes that eventually produced the quintessential American whiskey, bourbon. It is probably not a coincidence that Waterloo, Ontario, also became a centre of whiskey distilling, with the little distillery established by the Snider family in conjunction with the mills they bought from Abe Erb eventually evolving into Seagrams, the producer of great Canadian rye whiskies. (Maybe it’s also not a coincidence that I have such a taste for whiskies of all sorts.)

Just recently, I received another email from Murray Martin, in which he sent me more detailed information about the relationship between my Oberholtzer ancestors—Elizabeth Oberholtzer Bauman and Maria Oberholtzer Martin— and Abraham and Christian Overholt of whisky fame. Elizabeth and Maria were first cousins, and they were third cousins once removed of Abraham and Christian.

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The Oberholtzer family can be traced back to Wald in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland, and one Mattheus Oberholtzer (1561–1644) and his wife Anneli Streler (1566-1608). Their son Martin Oberholtzer (1595–1644) married Margaretha Schollenberger (1606–1650).

Martin and Margaretha had seven children. Two of their sons are relevant to this story: Hans Jacob (1620-1683) is my ancestor through Elizabeth and Maria, while his brother Marx Oberholtzer (1634-1680) was the ancestor of the whiskey Overholts.

The Whiskey Line:

Marx Oberholtzer (Marcus maybe?) was born in Wald in 1634 and married Anna Margaretha Dobler (1639-1670). Their son Marcus Oberholtzer (1664 to 1724) and his wife Elizabeth Ely (1654-173) emigrated to Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in 1710. Their son Martin (1709-1744) married Agnes Kolb (1713-1786) in Pennsylvania.

Martin and Agnes’s son Heinrich (1739-1813) was married to Anna Beidler (1745-1835). It appears that it was he who moved from Bucks to Westmoreland County, changed the name to Overholt, and began distilling rye whiskey on his farm “for medicinal purposes.” The story is that it was Henry and Anna’s son Abraham (1784-1870) who convinced his dad that they should sell the whiskey commercially. The Mennonite church wasn’t happy about this, but they went ahead with it, and Overholt’s Old Farm Whiskey became a great success.

When Henry died, Abraham and his brother Christian (1786-1868) inherited the business. Eventually, Abraham bought out Christian’s share and took his sons Jacob and Henry into the business, which was renamed Abraham Overholt & Company.

My Ancestors:

Hans Jacob Oberholtzer married Anna Buchmann (1626–1689) in Wald, but at some time they emigrated to Sinsheim, Kraichgau, in the German Palatinate, where they both died. Hans Jacob and Anna’s son Johannes (1651-1704) married Anna Frey. Four of Johannes’ and Anna’s children emigrated to Pennsylvania; the two sons—Samuel and Jacob—are my ancestors.

Samuel Frey Oberholtzer was born in Immelhausenhof, Sinsheim, in 1684 and married Elizabeth Brumbach. They died in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1748 and 1758, respectively. Their daughter Elizabeth (1724–1791) married Christian Bauman (1724–1790) about 1744; Elizabeth and Christian’s sons Wendel and Joseph are both ancestors of mine.

• Wendel Oberholtzer Bauman (1758-1842) married Maria Huber (1760–1816) in 1784. Their son Joseph H Bauman (1796-1864) immigrated to Waterloo Township in 1819, settled northwest of Waterloo, and married Elizabeth Hoffman (1804-1879). They are ancestors of grandmother Lovina through their daughter Barbara.

• Joseph Oberholtzer Bauman (1766–1849) emigrated to Waterloo Township with his wife Mary Baer in 1816. They settled just west of where the village of Blair now stands, and they’re buried in the Old Blair Cemetery. They are ancestors of grandmother Lovina through their daughters Salome and Mary.

Jacob Frey Oberholtzer was born in 1704 in Germany, married Barbara Killheffer (details unknown), and died in 1755 in Brecknock, Berks County, PA. Their daughter Maria (1750 – 1816) married Abraham Groff Martin (1748-1815) in 1770 in Lancaster County. Abraham and Maria’s son David O Martin (1771–1854) emigrated to Waterloo Township in 1820 with his wife Maria Guth, who died that year. Four of David and Maria’s children—Jacob, Christian, Catherine, and Peter—are ancestors of my three Martin grandparents in five different ways.

Sadly, none of my lines got into distilling, or at least not in a big enough way to show up in the history books. The closest they came was that Mary Bauman Schneider’s brother-in-law, Jacob C Snider, bought the Waterloo grist mills from Abe Erb and established a distillery on the site. So one could argue (quite unconvincingly) that I have a distant connection to what became the Seagram’s distillery.

Here’s the picture (with the immigrant Waterloo pioneers in red font):

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