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- Bernard-C-Rodenhizer:
Another story handed down in the family is that Casper was unhappy with his stepmother and left home. Many of the German settlers had moved to the Valley of Virginia and he probably joined friends in seeking a new home. This brought him to Rockbridge, Co., Virginia. The first authentic record of Casper that we have is that of his marriage to Anne Hershberger Craft in Lexington, VA.
INSERT TRANSCRIPT OF MARRAIGE
Anne, seventeen at the time of her marriage, lived near, Natural Bridge, but as she once put it, she lived near this giant spectacle but had never seen it.
Casper seems to have been endowed with a pioneer spirit as he engaged in business in different places, apparently bettering his financial status each time. It’s likely that he engaged in the manufacture of iron in Rockbridge Co., for in his next move to Meadsville, Halifax Co. Virginia, he owned a foundary which was a thriving business, making household and farming implements. How long he and his family remained there is not definitely known, but eleven of the thirteen children were born either in Rockbridge or Halifax County. The family was living in Danville, Va., when in 1862, Casper’s father, the second John Rodenizer, died on June 20, at the age of 87.
The foundary, established in Danville, as the firm of Crews and Rodenhizer, was a thriving business during the War Between The States, for they supplied army equipment. While living in Danville, Casper owned a home on Grove Street, and later bought property on the east side of North Main Street, here he had a substantial home which housed not only his unmarried children, but the married ones as well, along with the numerous grandchildren. This home was owned by his grandchildren as late as 1956. Three sons of his daughter, Mary Rodenhizer Ragland, (Pryor, William, and Edwin R.) were reared in Casper’s home after their mother’s death. William said that he sometimes slept with his great-grandfather, John, who with broken English, often told him that father (the first John) and his uncle, Phillip Peter, fought in the Revolution.
Casper did not believe in slavery and he hired seven servants a year to work at the foundary and at his home. It is somewhat interesting to state here, that Rebecca Rodenhizer saw to small negro girls on the roadside near her home, crying. On questioning them she found they were mistreated at home. They were named Lucy and Margaret Carter. She took them home with her, taught them to read, write, and sew, and above all to become faithful and honorable servants.
When Rebecca married John Baugh, Lucy became her personal maid and nursed her children. Lucy and Margaret lived with various members of the family until they married and lived in Roanoke. Rebecca’s daughters cared form them when they were unable to work.
The old Grove Street Cemetery in Danville, established in 1830, did not belong to the city, but was owned by private citizens. Casper Rodenhizer was one of these and his father, John, was buried there in 1862. The location of his grave is not known as no records were kept of the sections owned by various citizens, but a daughter of Casper’s Mr. Pattie Rodenhizer Corbin, remembered his burial and grave her recollections of him a short time before her death in 1935. When the history of the cemetery was written by Miss Mack in 1930, descendants of people buried there were asked to give information about them when no maker could be found. Mr. E. W. Myers, furnished forty-markers for unnamed graves, but the Rodenhizer descendants overlooked this; however, in 1957, Miss. Mack gave this compiler permission to add the following statement to the list of persons buried in Grove Street Cemetery and also to add it to the copy which is in Danville’s Public Library:
Rodenhizer ---- John, son of John and Margaret Muller, born in York County, Penn. Died June 20, 1872.
The firm of Crews and Rodenhizer was dissolved in 1870 because Casper found that Mr. Crews was not dealing honestly with him. Some time before Casper had hired, in the foundary, a young man named Joe Westbrooks. Although he was unskilled and uneducated, Casper realized him a person of ability and of character. His judgment was correct, for when the business was sold Mr. Westbrooks bought it. It is nationally known as the Westbrook Elevator Company.
Casper moved with his family to Leaksville, NC., where he operated a foundary, a lumber mill, and a flour mill. Several of his married sons worked in these various enterprises. His home was still open to any and all relatives, who came and his grandchildren in Danville looked forward to the closing of the private school they attended so that they could take off, under the care of Lucy an Margaret Carter, to spend the summer in Leaksville.
Casper suffered a stroke in his Leaksville home and died March 13, 1880. This was 111 years since his grandfather had landed in Philadelphia. His life, which began in Fredrick, Maryland, and ended in Leaksville, North Carolina, had been motivated by an inherent integrity. Although he left home as a very young man and apparently with no help or guidance, he became successful. It was his custom to pay his bills, household and business, twice a year on July 1 and January 1. Apparently his credit was unquestioned and he was called "Honest Casper" by the people with whom he transacted business. He may have heard his father and grandfather repeat an old German maxim: "Integrity is mastery over self-swindle."
Each of his children inherited from him legacies in property or money. In her book "History of Danville," Mrs. L. L. Hagan said of him:
"In 1850 there were only four houses in North Danville. Of these the Claiborne home was undoubtedly one and another was that of Casper Rodenhizer, a pioneer manufacturer of iron in the South, located on the east side of North Main Street, where a short street commemorates his ownership."
Here follows the names of Casper, his wife, children and grandchildren with as many date as could be obtained:
Casper Rodenhizer (Son of John) Born June 11, 1812 in Frederick, Maryland. Married Anne Hershberger Sept. 10, 1831 in Lexington, Virginia. Anne Hershberger Born Aug. 22, 1814, died May 25, 1892
Note: they were both buried in Leemount Cemetery.
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1812 - 1880 (67 Jahre)
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