Dear Mrs. Yarling,
I have your letter of August 4
asking for information concerning Percy Kitchel or Kitchell. As
Percy is not my ancestor I find him rather neglected in my notes – just
mentioned once, in fact. However, I do
not blame myself for that for I copied all information available; he evidently
was not spoken of in the papers that fell to my notice. I have more information concerning his
ancestors than concerning him or his descendants. I am copying here what was written, I believe, by Harvey Bates Fatout in a little paper bound family history, which was printed some years ago. The quotation follows:
"Once upon a time there were four
Kitchel sisters, daughters of Moses Kitchel who was born about 1740. This Kitchel name runs back to 1604 so far as we know. The first Kitchel that we know anything about was born in Kent, England. He married Margaret Sheaffe, and they with one son, Samuel, came to this
country in 1639. As nearly as I can learn, they settled in Connecticut, and there, Samuel who was born in 1633 was married first to Eliza Wakeman and second to Grace Pierson, who was the
daughter of the Rev. Abraham Pierson the first President of Yale. They had eight children; the only one that we know anything about was Abraham Kitchel who was born in 1679 in Newark,
N.J. He married Sarah Bruen who also was born in 1679. *He evidently omits one generation. Moses was the son of Joseph 1712-179 & grandson of Abraham 1679-1741. They had seven children, the fourth of whom was Moses, who is supposed to have been born about 1740. This man Moses is the one who interests us. The Kitchel Book seems to give the idea that the wife of Moses Kitchel was probably Phoebe Hedges. The does not say anything about the Moses Kitchel children.
(From other sources – It seems a
difficult matter to keep track of this man Moses Kitchel. He was living in New Jersey in 1785. He was
in Cincinnati in 1787 at the marriage of his daughter Mary to Daniel
Bates. He was in Lebanon, Ohio, in 1806
at the marriage of his daughter Jemima to Joseph Allen. It is not known where he was when his daughter Rachel married Moses Flack. As
Daniel Hosbrook (son of Lydia Kitchel) was born in 1785 and as Archibald and Hannah, brother and sister of Daniel were both older than Daniel and also as Moses Kitchell was living in N. J. the probability is that Lydia Kitchel was married to John Hosbrook about 1780 in N. J. Rachel Kitchel must have married Moses Flack about 1803, I believe, in Hamilton Co., Oh. We have information that on Nov. 5,
1785, in Morris Co., N.J., Moses Kitchel was appointed guardian to Samuel
Hedges so that at that time Moses Kitchel was still in N. J. From different sources we come to
the conclusion that Moses Kitchel had at least six children: Lydia, Mary, Rachel, Jemima, Percy and Luther. (That is the only mention I find of Percy) I am sending you a family record
which George, the third of my sons, compiled. Of course, that part of it which antedates the Middle Ages would not be
accepted by genealogical experts, but it is 'fun' to have it, anyway. You are welcome to keep this record long
enough to make a copy if you care to do so, then please return it to me. The Encyclopedia Britannica says in one
place that no one has ever been able to trace an unbroken line back though the
Middle Ages – that people have spent fortunes trying to do so. Well, we have it whether it is reliable or
not. I keep forgetting all about it and
don't call the attention of the children and grandchildren to it when they are
studying history. It would make those
old times much spicier for them if they knew that their relatives were the ones
that figured in all these doings creditable and otherwise. We all wish when it is too late that
we had listened to the talk that went on around us about the family. I believe that if a young person could see
his ancestry written out, he might take an interest in it because the names
would fall into place where they belong and would really mean something to
him. All the relatives, whom I had
never seen were a jumble to me when I was little, a jumble to which I paid no
attention. As a rule we never get interested
in our ancestors until those who could tell us about them are gone. I am sorry that I cannot give you any dates
of Percy Kitchel's birth. I should
guess that these "four Kitchel sisters" were all older than he. My ancestor (or ancestress) Mary Kitchel was born 1787. I'd guess that Percy was born in the early 1790's but I have no record. I grieve to hear of the loss of your
son and to know that your other son is still in the battle area. Two of our boys were in the other war, but
did not get across. I used to try to comfort myself then by thinking that it does not really make any difference whether a man lives to be twenty or forty or eighty; what does make a difference is that he should play his part well while he does live. I tried to look at life in terms of a hundred years and it helped a little. Although George was in Camp Polk for a while, he is now counted too old for the ranks and the other two boys are older. One grandson who is old enough for the draft was rejected because of a slight heart murmur. But I have one nephew who was wounded in New Guinea and who is in a hospital somewhere there now. We must have faith that the struggle is about over and look forward to the end as cheerfully as possible – and sometimes that is hard to do. I regret that I cannot give you the
exact information that you want but perhaps something in what I have been able
to send may help you a little. Sincerely
yours, Genevieve F. (Mrs. W. S.) Perrine
Received from Norman Barnett at the Grover Museum, a letter to Mrs. Yarling from Mrs. Perrine.
Transcribed by Melinda Moore Weaver
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