Descendants of Wilhelm Gebel
Wilhelm Gebel (abt 1740 - 1810) was originally from Germany and as a nine year old boy stowed away on a ship and made his way to Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. He settled in Manheim township where he spent the rest of his life. Wilhelm Gebel had two wives: Elizabeth Scheler (married 1759) and Barbara Weller (married 1770).
The Nine Year Old Stowaway Story told in 1904 by Wilhelm Gebel's oldest son Henry's Iowa descendants
Wilhelm Gebel's 1810 will lists the following children: Henry, Johannes, Valentine, Daniel, John, Martin, Abraham, Catharine wife of John Johnson, Elizabeth wife of John Michael, Mary, Esther wife of Francis Furman, Susanna wife of Samuel Linton and Barbara wife of John Frankfurter.
Some of his children moved westward but some stayed in Lancaster County.
Henry Gable and Valentine Gable immigrated to Perry County, Pennsylvania.
Johannes (John) Gable and his children Catherine Gable Prowant, Polly Gable, Benjamin Gable and Henry Gable all immigrated to Wayne County, Ohio about 1830. His son Jacob Gable remained in Lancaster county. Benjamin, Henry and Polly later immigrated to Medina county, Ohio and Catherine to Putnam county, Ohio.
Daniel Gable immigrated to Franklin County, Pennsylvania and later to Wayne County, Ohio.
Martin Gable and John Gable lived in Warwick Township, Lancaster County.
Catharine Gable Johnson also stayed in Lancaster County.
Elizabeth Gebel Michael lived in Lancaster.
Esther and her husband Franz Fuhrman (Foreman) immigrated to Bertie Township, Welland County, Ontario, Canada.
Barbara Gabel died in Manheim township and her children remained in Lancaster county.
About Me: Both my mother and my father are descended from Wilhelm Gebel's son Johannes and even though my father lived in Cleveland and my mother lived in Mountville, in Lancaster county, they visited each other as children. The Ohio branch had moved away about 1830 but they had kept in touch with letters and visits. By 1950 when my parents were married, while they knew that their Gable ancestors Benjamin for my father and Jacob for my mother were related, they weren't sure how. Finding the connection is been a family project ever since. Further research shows that Benjamin and Jacob were both sons of Wilhelm Gebel's son Johannes.
Gable Family Project - How You Can Help (Book, Family Tree, DNA)
The Gable Family Project consists of three parts: a book, a family tree and DNA. If you like what you find on this site, a lot of people have already helped and we could use your help too. You can help by contributing images, documents or web links relating to your branch of our family. If you have old photos of your Gable ancestors or pictures of family treasures, others would love to see them. You can help build our family tree by using your genealogy software to generate a GEDCOM file of your branch of the Gable family tree. We are also helping each other break our Gable brick walls by sharing information about our DNA matches. If you'd like to help, please contact Alice Kalush at kalush@msu.edu. I'll give you whatever help you need to share whatever you want to share.
Connecting the Gable Family Book
I am working on a Connecting the Gable Family book which documents the descendants of Wilhelm Gebel. I am planning on having this book added to libraries like FamilySearch. I have information from other Gable researchers who have aided my quest and contributed some pretty impressive goodies. The document below is the introductory document in the collection and is intended as a starting point for your Gable family research. It contains sections about Wilhelm Gebel and each of his children. There are more documents in this series in the links below. They have an asterisk (*) at the end of their name. The remainder of the documents and website links below are contributed by other Gable descendants and the links usually contain the original source.
Family of Wilhelm Gebel and Wives* (PDF file)
Gable Family Frakturs and Photos (web page)
Other Early Lancaster County Gable Families* (PDF file)
Wilhelm Gebel deeds - 1792 and 1811, Martin Gebel deed 1813, Andrew Kolb 1847 deed
This document is about other Gable families from Lancaster county especially the areas near where our Gables lived.
These families have not yet been proven to be related to us.
Gable Family Records at Trinity Lutheran Church, Lancaster, PA (PDF File)
Excerpt from Weller Notebook by Richard S. Weller 1997
The headings below are the names of the son or daughter of Wilhelm Gebel that the links below it are about.
Information about their descendants is often included.
A document with Wilhelm/Henry/John in its link is about Wilhelm Gebel's son Henry Gable's son John and his descendants.
Henry Gable and Maria Bauman
A History of the Gable Family (Wilhelm/Henry)
This is a book written in 1904 by a descendant of Henry Gable's son John Gable.
It talks about Henry Gable's father arriving in America, Henry and his brother Valentine
moving to Perry County, PA and about Henry Gable's descendants.
The Long Family were important land owners and neighbors of Wilhelm Gebel in
Manheim township. Christian Long married Henry Gable's daughter Nancy.
John Gable (b.1761) and Elizabeth
Descendants of Jacob Gable and Elizabeth Hambright* (PDF - Wilhelm/Johannes/Jacob)
Descendants of Catherine Gable and Christian Prowant* (PDF file - Wilhelm/Johannes/Catherine)
Descendants of Benjamin Gable and Anna Koppes* (PDF file - Wilhelm/Johannes/Benjamin)
Descendants of Henry Gable and Lydia Baer* (PDF file - Wilhelm/Johannes/Henry)
The documents above are about each of Wilhelm Gebel's son Johannes' children (Jacob, Catherine, Benjamin and Henry) and their descendants.
Eric Blocher's Christian Prowant and Catherine Gable website (Wilhelm/John/Catherine Gable Prowant)
Genealogy Books written by Reverend A. J. Fretz circa 1900 (Wilhelm/Johannes/Benjamin & Henry)
Benjamin and Henry Gable's descendants are connected to the families documented in Reverend Fretz's books. (Wilhelm/Johannes)
A Chronological Outline and Geographical Directory of the Koppes Family (Wilhelm/Johannes/Benjamin)
About Benjamin Gable's (Wilhelm/Johannes) wife Anna Koppes' family
My Religious and Paternal Heritage 1708-1968 by Pauline Shafer Tracy
This book is about the Church of the Brethren history in Europe, America and with lots of specifics about the Dupont church in Putnam County, Ohio.
It also is a family history of the Prowant family (descendants of Catherine Gable and Christian Prowant), the Burkhart, Shafer and Dickey families.
Below are some portions of the book of interest to descendants of Wilhelm/John/Catherine Gable and Christian Prowant.
The full book is 400 pages long, was privately published in 1971 and contains a wealth of information.
Contact me at kalush@msu.edu for more of it.
Part One - Prowant Family clergy
Part Two - Prowant Genealogy, References and Index
Part Three - History of the Church of the Brethren in Europe and America
Valentine Gable and Mary Elizabeth Buch
Descendants of John George Nicholas Buch (1711-1785) and Maria Elizabeth Linn (1713-1785),
by Darvin L. Martin, Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage", Vol XVII, No 3, July 1994 (link is broken)
Read pages 23 -25 and then skip to page 27 where it says Outline B John George Nicholas Buch,
Gable/Buch connection is B22 on page 30
Kris Richey's Descendants of George Gable and Elizabeth Keener (PDF File - Wilhelm/Valentine/George)
Daniel Gable and Susanna
Descendants of Daniel Gable* (PDF File - Wilhelm/Daniel)
This document is about Wilhelm Gebel's son Daniel and his descendants.
Justus Liebig Gable Family Bible (PDF File - Wilhelm/Daniel/WIlliam/Daniel/Mollie)
Family Information Written Between 1880 and 1950 by Mollie Allison Gable
Martin Gable and Catharine
Marie Mease Gauron's Martin Gable and Catherine Descendants (PDF file - Wilhelm/Martin)
Gladys Crowl's William Gable and Susannah Frankford Descendants (PDF File - Wilhelm/Martin/William)
Joyce Jacobs Gordon's Descendants of William G. Gable webpage (Wilhelm/Martin/William)
Joyce Jacobs Gordon William G. Gable and Susannah Frankfort photos
Wilhelm Gebel deeds - 1792 and 1811, Martin Gebel deed 1813, Andrew Kolb 1847 deed
Esther Gable and Frantz Fuhrman/Foreman
Beth Foreman Wells' Esther Gabel and Frantz Fuhrman Descendants (PDF File - Wilhelm/Esther)
Barbara Gable and John Frankford