Abraham Hockman

  Noted events in his life were:

• Dates & Events. ⁴⁵⁹
The second son of Jacob Hockman and Mary Denlinger Hockman was born in 1756 in Frederick (now Shenandoah) County, Virginia, near the present town of Strasburg, Virginia. He was orphaned about age 3 by the death of his father sometime in 1759, and was a ward of Leonard Balthis of Strasburg until April 1773. In 1773, 14 years later, he became the ward of Henry Funk [Shenandoah Order Book 1772-74, p. 107]

Abraham was paid 1 pd., 17 shillings, and 6 pence from the estate of Abraham Kendrick, Sr. in 1789, 30 years after Jacob Hockman's death, presumably his share of his father's estate. Abraham helped survey a tract of land for Abraham Kendrick in February 1777, about the time he came of age[Joyner, Vol. V, p. 86]. Abraham Hockman enlisted in Frederick County as a private in Richard Campbell's Company of the 8th Virginia Regiment in the Revolutionary War and served from at least May, 1777 through January, 1778. He appears on the roster and pay vouchers as Abraham Hogman [Military Service Records, National Archives and Record Service, Washington D.C.]. The Eighth Virginia, under General Peter Muhlenberg and later Colonel Abraham Bowman, was called the German Regiment. Muhlenberg marched the regiment north in May 1777 and participated in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, near Philadelphia, and spent the winter of 1777-78 at Valley Forge.

Abraham appears in the first tithe lists of Shenandoah County, which begin in 1782. He is listed as having three horses and two cows. Abraham does not appear again in the Shenandoah County tax records until 1793 when he was listed at Funk's Mill (this probably refers to Henry Funk's Mill). He is named as "Abraham of Funk's Mill" to distinguish him from another Abraham Hockman who lived on the Shenandoah River, near Toms Brook, Virginia. Funk's Mill is believed to have been on the property of Henry Funk, Abraham's guardian. It could have been located on Town Run or on Passage Creek, the river which drains the Powell's Fort area to the east of the Massanutten Range, as Henry Funk had extensive property in this area. Both of these areas are found in what is now Warren County, which was formed later.

In the interim he lived in Frederick County, somewhere on the north side of the Shenandoah River, east of Strasburg in present day Warren County. He appears in the Frederick County tithe records as Abraham Hogman. Tracking Abraham is difficult because he never owned land but apparently earned a living working for his former guardian and perhaps kinsman, Henry Funk, first at his mill in Strasburg and later on Passage Creek, a few miles further east.

Between 1793 and 1809 Abraham is found in Shenandoah County personal property tax records and on several lists specifically identified as Abraham (son of Jacob) to distinguish him from Abraham, son of Christian, who was sometimes called Little Abraham or River Abraham.

Abraham married his first wife about 1775 to 1779, but her identity has not yet been proven (He married shortly after returning to Virginia after the war). She is believed to have been Catherine Funk, the daughter of Adam Funk and Dorothy Stickley, daughter of John Stickley. Abraham is thought to have had 6 or 7 children with his first wife, beginning with Benjamin Hockman, born in 1780 and ending with John Hockman in 1794 or 1795. He lived in Frederick County, probably somewhere on the north side of the Shenandoah River in what is now Warren County. About 1792 he moved across the river to Shenandoah County and probably lived near Waterlick in present day Warren County.

On November 12, 1796, Abraham married Barbara Sharrer, daughter of Elizabeth Crizer. Barbara was described as a spinster in the marriage bond dated November 9, 1796. Barbara was the daughter of Elizabeth (Longnecker) Criser, widow of Christopher Criser, and formerly widow of a man named Scharrer. Barbara is known to have already been the mother of a child, Jacob Funk, probably born out of wedlock around 1790.

With Barbara, Abraham fathered six more children beginning with Catherine in 1797 and ending with Anna in 1810. In late 1809 or early 1810, Abraham and his wife Barbara, and their children migrated to Washington County, in north central Kentucky. They migrated with Abraham's daughter Mary and her husband, John Bullock, whom Mary had married in 1807. These families appear there in the 1810 census along with the family of John Perkhizer.

Abraham left behind in Shenandoah County most of the children by his first wife, notably, Henry Hockman, Abraham Hockman, Jr., and Jacob Hockman. They did not remain in Kentucky long and by the fall of 1811 they were living in Harrison County Indiana, where he entered a claim for 160 acres of land, 26 October 1811[Janet Cowan, Jeffersonville Land Entries 1808 -1818, p. 24]. This land is described as the northeast corner of section 10 in Township 4, placing it somewhere near New Amsterdam in Harrison County.

The Abraham Hockman, John Bullock, and John Perkhizer families moved to Harrison County, Indiana together. It is not certain if Abraham ever received a deed to the land. By 1814 Abraham had died. Barbara was listed as the head of the family in the 1820 census of Harrison County, Indiana. She is listed as over age 45 and head of a family of two females age 16-26, two females 10-16 and two under age 10 . Considerable information regarding the family of Abraham Hockman can be found in depositions made in March, 1848 on behalf of Mary Hockman Bullock when she attempted to establish a claim to any unpaid salary or pension due her brother, Isaac, who died in the War of 1812.
~The Rhine to the Shenandoah; Vol III, Daniel W. Bly, Gateway Press; Baltimore, Maryland, 2002, p. 113-114.

• Military Service. ⁴⁵⁹
Military Service Bet. May 1777 - Jan 1778 Richard Campbell's Company of the 8th Virginia Regiment in the Revolutionary War; Participated in Battles of Brandywine and Germantown and spent the winter of 1777-8 at Valley Forge

• Religion: Mennonite.

• Children. ⁴⁶⁰
Marriage 1 Catherine Funk b: Abt. 1756
Married: 1778 in Frederick County, Virginia
Children
• Benjamin Hockman b: Abt. 1780 in Shenandoah County, Virginia
• Abraham Hockman b: 1782 in Frederick County, Virginia
• Henry Hockman b: 2 Oct 1784 in Frederick County, Virginia
• Mary Hockman b: 1789 in Shenandoah County, Virginia
• Isaac Hockman b: 1792
• John Hockman b: 1794 in Ohio
• Jacob Francis Hockman b: 28 Sep 1786 in Shenandoah County, Virginia

Married: 12 NOV 1796 in Shenandoah County, Virginia
Note: Bondsman Jonas Crabill
Children
• Catherine Hockman b: 18 Feb 1797
• Elizabeth Hockman b: 20 Nov 1798
• Rebecca Hockman b: 1802
• Sarah Sally Hockman b: 1804
• Lydia Hockman b: 1808
• Anna Nancy Hockman b: 1810

Abraham married Barbara Sharrer, daughter of Sharrer and Elizabeth Langenegger, on 12 Nov 1796 in Shenandoah, Virginia.³⁶⁶ (Barbara Sharrer was born in 1768 in Virinia and died in 1830 in Harrison, Indiana.)