Rev. William Hanby Ambrose

• General Notes
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    Historical Records of Old Frederick County, Virginia, Pg. 34, lists a William Ambrose as the owner of a saw mill in a survey of Berkeley County mills taken in 1813.
    
    William became an early convert of the German itinerant evangelist preachers frequenting the predominately German Settlement. In 1789, at age 19, he joined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ. He was licensed as a minister of the United Brethern Church in 1792. In 1808, he was "authorized to solemnize marriage, to attend to the burial of the dead, to administer the ordinances of baptism and the holy sacrament." This instrument is signed by George A. GEEDING, Christian NEWCOMER and Christian CRUM.
    
    Note should be taken of the relationships between these men. Christian CRUM was William's father-in-law. George GEETING was no relation at the time, but in 1822, William's daughter Christina will marry Geeting's grandson, Jacob SONNER in Highland County, Ohio.
    
    William Hanby was a frequent traveling companion of Bishop NEWCOMER and in 1812, accompanied the Bishop on an extended missionary tour through Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Kentucky. William must have liked what he saw because it was apparently during this trip, on 13 Aug 1812, he purchased 133 acres of land on Paint Creek in Highland County, Ohio, for $360. On 27 Aug 1815, he was ordained in his own house (in Berkeley Co. Va.) by C. NEWCOMER, Bishop; and C. CRUM, Elder; and that same year, he moved his family to Highland County.
    
    William, Susannah, and their nine children (the 10th, Lewis Duckwall, was born in Ohio) loaded their belongings on a covered wagon and, without benefit of paved roads or bridges, set out on their 400 mile journey. The trip lasted three tiresome weeks and took them through Columbus, Ohio, according to daughter-in-law, Margaret. From this description, we can guess at their route. The Cumberland (or Baltimore) Road was the eastern end of what became the Old National Road. It continued on to Washington Co., PA, and to the Ohio River at Fort Henry, now Wheeling, West Virginia. Zane's Trace, an early trail through Eastern Ohio, was improved to handle stagecoach traffic in the early 1800's; and it is likely they took this route from Wheeling to Zanesville. From there they could have followed a loop of the old Great Warriors Path; which followed the Licking River west to the Scioto River at Columbus. Present day U.S. 62 follows another old Indian Trail from the Iroqouis in New York to the Ohio River. It goes from Columbus, right through Hillsboro.
    
    The sentiment of the Church was very strongly anti-slavery; and William's grandson, Mathias Hathaway, has suggested that one reason for the move to Ohio was to escape the pro-slavery feelings in Virginia. He also says "they camped for the night by a spring on a hillside, about four miles from Hillsboro. The next day, going on to Hillsboro where there was a Government Land Office, William found that the land around the spring was still government land, subject to entry. He purchased 620 acres, including the coveted spring, for $1.80 per acre." While William did, indeed, purchase this land, it was not recorded until the following year on 9 Dec 1816, so William and his family may have settled first on the land he purchased in 1812.
    
    William was a brickmason by trade and he and his sons soon established a brick kiln on their farm. A number of early county buildings were constructed by the Ambroses from their own brick, including the Ambrose Chapel completed in 1835, and the present (1972) Methodist Church in Hillsboro. Eventually, he replaced his own log cabin with a large two-story brick house.
    
    Soon after their arrival, meetings were held in the Ambrose home which resulted in the organization of a United Brethern Church. Their home served as a church for the congregation until 1834 when the trustees decided to erect a building. In 1834-1835, William built a church called Ambrose Meeting House. It was built on a plot of his land, with the Eastern part being the Chapel, and the Western Part being the Cemetery. On 6 Jun 1839, William and Susannah deeded this plot of land to the Trustees of the United Brethren Church, one of whom was his son, George.
    
    On 12 May 1859, son William Ambrose and Rachel, his wife, deeded a plot of land across the road from this cemetery and meeting house to the Trustees of the United Brethren Church. In 1861 the old meeting house was abandoned and the congregation moved into their new meeting house built on the land deeded to them in 1859. Gladys (Brunner) HAUCK told me many years ago that William AMBROSE had built the first United Brethern Church in Ohio, "the old brick chapel on Danville Rd". Whether she referred to the original or the second building, this must have been one of the earliest United Brethern Congregations in Ohio. Eventually the second church was abandoned and the congregation erected a new building in Hillsboro. The old church was used for a time as a dwelling house, but was no longer standing by 1980. The cemetery was still being used for burials in 1972.
    
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    While but a youth, William Hanby Ambrose Sr. his parents removed to Virginia where he embraced religion and joined the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, in the 19th year of his life. In his 23rd year he was licensed to preach and was accounted a faithful minister of Jesus Christ.
    
    In 1796 he married Susanna Crum, daughter of Christian Crum, Sr. with whom he lived until his death. In the year 1808, he was authorized to perform sacraments of marriage, burial of the dead, baptism, and the holy sacrament. The instrument was signed by George A. Geeting, Christian Newcomer, and Christian Crum, Sr. In 1812 in company with Bishop Newcomer, he went on a missionary tour through the states of Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kentucky preaching the gospel. On the 27th day of August 1815, he was ordained in his own house in Berkeley County Virginia by Bishop Christian Newcomer and by Christian Crum, his father-in-law.
    
    In the same year he removed his family to Highland Co. Ohio where he established the new denomination of United Brethren in Christ and established an Ambrose Chapel southwest of Hillsboro, Ohio. He had been instrumental in establishing an Ambrose Chapel in Berkeley County, Virginia (now in Morgan County, West Virginia) on land donated by his father Henry Ambrose. The Ambrose Chapel in West Virginia continued to serve the area for over one hundred years. The last building is still standing, though unused as a Church.
    
    The last Ambrose Chapel in Highland County was converted to a residence and used by the Hottle Family (distant family connections) until it was demolished for highway relocation about 1965. The Ambrose Cemetery is across the highway from the site of the last Ambrose Chapel. Rev. William Hanby Ambrose and wife Susanna, and other Ambrose family members are buried in the Ambrose Cemetery. At his death, a special tribute was published by the Sciota Conference in Ohio.
    
    Two of Rev. Wm. Hanby Ambrose's sons also became ministers. Other Ambrose descendants also became ministers in the Methodist Church. The Ambrose Family played an important part in the history and development of Highland County, Ohio and especially Hillsboro.
    
    There are several old brick homes in the Hillsboro area that were built by the Ambrose Families from bricks made in Kilns on Ambrose Property. Most of these homes were built from 1830 to 1850 and are still in good repair. We visited an Ambrose descendant in one of these old fine homes in 1993 and saw others. I was informed that each generation that has moved into one of these homes have made modifications to the interior to suit their own desires within limits.
    
    When we were in Highland Co. in 1993, the Methodist Church of Hillsboro was undergoing remodeling and expansion. Found on interior walls in the oldest part of the Church Building which was built in the early 1800s, were bricks with the Ambrose imprint on them. I have photos of the Ambrose Chapel in West Virginia and the 2nd Chapel Building in Highland County, Ohio.
    
    The Ambrose Family is of German origin with the immigrant Mathias Ambrose coming to America from Germany in the early 1700s and settling in the Pennsylvania area and some family members moving into Virginia and Maryland areas. Most had large families, consequently there were many Ambroses in those early areas and they migrated to the Midwestern States or Territories. The Ambrose Families have made an important contribution to the development of our Nation.
    
    Lowell W. Shire, March 26, 1998.
    
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    Some additional information shared by Saundra Akers of Columbus, Ohio. Saundra is a Crum descendant who lived in Highland Co. Ohio in her earlier years. Saundra has recently talked with Dwight Crum, another Crum descendant who has also researched the Crum Family History.
    
    Dwight Crum had found that Christian Crum's Bible was donated to the Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio (also the site of Ohio Wesleyan University).
    
    Saundra made a trip to Westerville. Ohio (not too far from Columbus). She found the Bible in the Historical Archives Office. Otterbein College was a United Brethren Denomination school. The United Brethren in Christ Denomination was founded by Bishop William Otterbein of Baltimore with the help of several Ministers of the day and general area. Our ancestor, Christian Crum was a Co-founder of the denomination which later was merged with the Methodist Denominations to become the United Methodist Church. Bishop Christian Newcomer was also a "driving force" in the formation of the new denomination in America. Both Christian Newcomer and Christian Crum were "Circuit Rider Ministers" of that era and area.
    
    Saundra was able to hold the Bible and look at it. There were several pages where he had written his name in English. Other pages he had made notes in German. The Bible is brown and of normal length but seems to be narrower in width. It is thick. Other notes in it appeared to be Masonic Symbols. Christian and his brother Henry were believed to have sat in Masonic Sessions with George Washington in Winchester, Virginia in the 1700s.
    
    Saundra was also able to view an old Church History Book. The Book shows that Christian Crum was present at almost all of the yearly conferences and that one of his "Charges" was to spread the Gospel into Ohio and Indiana. Saundra believed this may have been a reason some of his sons came to Ohio and became Ministers. Some of his Ambrose descendants also became ministers in these newly settled lands. Saundra's discovery is important to the Crum Family History and that of related family lines.
    
    Lowell W. Shire