The Groff Family of Franks, Thompson Township, Seneca County, Ohio

The Groff family has been difficult to research, not because they are 
difficult to find, but because they are very easy to find. Dozens of them 
have been found. Scores. Even hundreds! Some spelled their name Groff, 
others Grof, and others yet, Graff or Graf. To ensure that research into 
the family genealogy and history was not too easy, some lines of these 
families changed the spelling every two or three generations. There are 
numerous instances in which the children of the same parents spelled their 
name not only different than the parents but also different from each 
other. 

			Groffs in Ohio and Pennsylvania


There were several large Groff families in early Ohio. Some of them were 
related and settled in the same geographical areas. For example, one of the 
first three persons recorded as being "German" who purchased land in what 
became Tiffin, Seneca County, Ohio was Joseph Grof. He, along with the 
other two land purchasers, Michael Blessing and Georg Heck, came to America 
under very difficult conditions. While they wanted to emigrate from Europe, 
they did not have enough money to purchase the ship passenger ticket. T
here were people who would pay for the ship passage of others if they 
would agree to be "indentured" to the person who paid for the ticket. 
That is what Joseph and his friends did. They indentured themselves to 
a landowner in Frederick County, Maryland. They worked for him for 
several years, without pay, to repay their ship passage. When they 
completed their work contract, they remained in Frederick County and 
worked for pay until they saved some money. They then joined a group 
migration to Ohio that was organized by an Auswanderungs Gesellschaft 
(emigration society) in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They traveled to Ohio 
and settled in the Tiffin area.

There was another Joseph Groff who was born in 1821 and lived and worked 
in Sandusky as a stonemason. He died there in 1853.

Additionally, the children of Augustus Groff of Lebanon Pennsylvania 
(who were not related, as far as can be determined) moved to Wayne and 
Henry Counties in Ohio. Some of those children lived in both Seneca and 
Huron Counties at the time members of Nell (Scharf) Falter's ancestral 
Groff family lived in those two counties.

Our First Generation Ancestor, George F. GROFF was born 26 Aug 1833 in 
Alsace, France. He died 26 Oct 1906 in Frank, Seneca, Ohio and was buried 
in St Michael Cemetery, Frank, Seneca, Ohio.

George Groff immigrated with his family from "Germany" as a one-year old 
child in 1834. The family settled in Thompson Township in Seneca County, 
Ohio where they built a log cabin, cleared land and began the difficult 
life of pioneer farmers. His parents are not known with certainty, but at 
the time of the 1860 census, George and his wife and family lived next to 
a Sebastien Groff, age 72, born in "Germany," (according to the census) 
and his wife Catherine Groff, age 65. They are believed to be George's 
parents. 

The origin of the Groff family has been questioned as a result 
of entries in various censuses. In the Ohio Federal censuses that listed 
George, he was listed as being born in Germany (1860), Bavaria (1870) and 
Bavaria (1880). His children and grandchildren stated that the family 
originated in Elsass (Alsace, France). Nell (Scharf) Falter stated that 
her grandmother Helena Clare (Groff) Hummer was very positive about the 
fact that her family came from Alsace. In fact, they could come from both 
Alsace and Germany at the same time since Alsace was a part of Germany at 
the time of George Groff's birth and emigration. On the other hand he 
could have originated from the Bavarian Pfalz, just across north of Alsace 
and be totally consistent with the census entries. More research is 
obviously needed.   

There is no record of the Groff immigration. Most ship records of that 
period did not survive. Similarly, there is no record of the family's 
emigration from Alsace since those records were originally incomplete 
and many no longer exist. One of the better sources of compiled emigration 
records is the "Alsace Emigration Book." Volume I of that volume of books 
lists several Groff families which emigrated to America. The table below 
is an extract.
		
                                        BORN 	BIRTHPLACE	 
- Groff, Francois Joseph		1813	Seppois Le Bas	1852	NY
- Groff, George					Fort Louis 	1828	A
- Groff, Ignace					Fort Louis	1828	A
- Michel				1822	Munwiller	1851	TX
- Groff, 2CH [of] Michel		1822	Munwiller	1851		
- Groff F[amily] of 3 [of] Antone		Fort Louis	1828	A
- Groff W[ith/W[ife] 5CH [of] Antoine	1800	Delle		1850	NY

None of the above emigrants appear to be Nell Falter's ancestor, to include 
the George who emigrated in 1828 from Fort Louis.

George met and married Caroline Haines, the daughter of ____ Haines, a 
neighbor in Frank, Thompson Township.  They were married in about 1854, 
and lived at Frank. Caroline was born in Frank on 11 February 1836. She 
died 6 August 1911 in Landeck, Allen, Ohio. 

If you can add to our sparse knowledge of the Groffs or the Haines (Haynes, 
Hain, Hayne) family, please contact us.