By

Darrell and Mary Moberly

"The first thing we discovered is that there were many different ways the name was spelled. The reason for this seems to be that the ones that came from Germany were uneducated and could neither read nor write. It appears that when they gave their name for legal documents and such the person taking the information guessed at a spelling and each time it was different. In the records on such things as deeds, mortgages, lawsuits, wills, marriage certificates, and baptismal records the name was spelled a variety of ways. In 1745 there is a document where it is spelled GODSHALL, a GUDSHALL in 1819, a GUDGEL in 1801, and a GUDGELL in 1893.

In a letter written in 1893 L. W. Gudgel said, "My father says that about the year of 1833, there was a letter received from Kentucky that stated we were spelling the name wrong, so it was changed to Gudgel at that time.

The first Gudgel we know of was Frederick living in Palatine, Germany. Not very much is known about him. He was married to an Anna Mary, who is believed to be the father of Andrew, and came to America in the early 1700’s settling in Bucks Co. Pennsylvania.

Andrew was born in Palatine, Germany in 1727. He evidently came to America when he was very young, probably with his parents. He had three wives. He married Catherine in 1745 (he would only have been 18 years old). His second wife or the date of that marriage is unknown. He married Elizabeth Payne (Pain or Pane) on Oct. 4, 1793 in Woodford Co., Kentucky. He had 17 children---three being born after he was 70 years old.

The following account of him was taken from the Tartt’s History of Gibson County (Indiana), published in 1884.

"Andrew Gudgel was a man whose memory is worthy of record in this book. He was of German origin and settled in Pennsylvania. He married three times and was the father of seventeen children, the maiden name of his last wife was Elizabeth Pane.

After the Revolutionary War was over and peace declared, Mr. Andrew Gudgel, like many of that day, concluded to migrate to the then far West beyond the Allegheny Mountains. So in 1785 he set out with his family for Kentucky, a region then being arrested from the control of the savages by Boone and his heroic companions.

After a tedious and toilsome trip, they arrived at their destination and settled on Silver Creek, a strip of country which lies between the present cities of Lexington and Frankfort, where he erected a cabin and subsequently built a grist mill on Silver Creek which was operated by water power. He operated the mill for a number of years to the great advantage of the settlers. Mills at that early period were not numerous in the then wilds of the West. Gudgel’s mill was considered to be at that time the best one in Kentucky.

Owning to the defective title of his land, a farm of six hundred acres on which his mill site was located, and which involved him in three lawsuits, he concluded in order to avoid the trouble and annoyance of vexations litigation, that he would leave that locality. Therefore, he disposed of some of this property and removed to the Territory of Indiana arriving here in the early part of the year 1811.

Prior to his coming to Indiana, in consequence of exposure, he had practically lost the use of his legs; but he was a man of determined energy, and he would chop and clear up brush around his cabin for hours sitting in a chair.

The following incident will show the pluck of the old veteran. During the Indian troubles which occurred about this time, his family all went to Fort Branch for protection, which was a strong block house, erected as a rendezvous for settlers of that locality. This plucky old pioneer would not go to the fort, but insisted on remaining at home in his cabin to take care of things.

The Indians frequently came to his place and would stroll into the cabin, and while the old man was sitting in his chair fearless of danger, the wily savages walked around him frequently patting him on the head for his bravery. It is one of the peculiarities of the Indian character to admire bravery in those they regard as their foes."

It is also interesting what this same article had to say about Andrew’s youngest son, William. "He was born in the state of Kentucky in the year 1802 and came here with his parents in 1811. As will be observed, he was then a lad of ten years of age, and he, like most of the boys of the pioneers was handy in assisting to clear away the brush and timber around the cabin home.

As he grew to manhood he became quite a noted hunter and by his skill he succeeded in killing a great deal of game. It is related of him that is was not uncommon for him to sally out and on a single trip to kill three or four dear and several turkeys, which even then were plentiful in the dense timbered district of that neighborhood.

The peculiarity of his firearms is worthy of description. His rifle was what was then known as a sixty-bullet gun to the pound. It was a hammered barrel made by hand, flint lock, horn trigger and very effective in doing its work."