|
RECORD OF FOUR DESCENDANTS OF
JOHN MOHLER, JR.
5001--Abram Mohler was married to Betsy Null, b Sept.
20, 1811.
Upon the death of John Mohler, Abram inherited half of the estate
of his father. The brother Jacob inherited the other half, containing
the famous Weyer's Cave. Abram, later, acquired the part of the estate
with the cave and maintained the family hospitality at the old mansionhouse.
During his lifetime the cave attained its greatest renown and
the old brick mansion rang with merry laughter. But during the
Civil War, Stonewall Jackson fought a number of famous battles near
the old house and it, with the lawn, was turned into a field hospital
where the wounded of both armies were cared for. It was on the line
of Sheridan's march and was held by first one army and then the other.
As a hospital camp this was supposed to be a neutral spot, but,
be it recorded, that Yankee soldiers entered the cave and did untold
damage to that sacred landmark, and partly burned the old house and
destroyed much of historic value to the old place. However, Abram
Mohler, after the troublous days had passed, rebuilt the mansion with
red brick, and it stands today (1900), preserved by J. L. Mohler as one
of the beauty spots of the Shenandoah Valley, nestling at the foot of
Cave Hill containing Weyer's Cave, soothed in its stately loneliness by
the ceaseless babbling of the south fork of the Shenandoah River that
frets past its windows, and lulled to peaceful slumber by the mournful
call of the melancholy "whip-poor-will" when evening shadows fall.
This family freed their slaves just before the Civil War, sending
those who wanted to go, to Ohio, but part of the number remained
faithful to their "family" until death claimed them.
The issue of this union was:
6001--John Leonard Mohler, b July 19, 1840.
6002--Margaret Belinda Ann Mohler, b May 23, 1836.
6003--Henry Null Mohler, b July 15, 1844.
6004--Jacob Rinehart Mohler, b Sept. 20, 1847.
Edward Kemper Mohler, b Aug. 20, 1854, d 1881.
Betsy Mohler died Dec. 1, 1891, and her husband, Abram,
died July 22, 1892, at Grottoes, Va.
6001--John Leonard Mohler, known as "Len," oldest son of Abram
Mohler, never married. He was a man of brilliant parts, a student of
the University of Virginia. His life was bound up in the life of Weyer's
Cave, through which he acted as guide from his earliest childhood.
During the Civil War he was in the Commissary Department of Stonewall
Jackson's Army and was not far from the General when he fell.
"Len's" colored valet attended "Mars Len" everywhere, even into the
army and was shot by a Union bullet about the time Jackson fell.
6002--Margaret Mohler married William Kemper in 1856 and had
a daughter, Fannie Kemper, born 1858. William Kemper was killed in
battle in the Civil War.
7001--Fannie Kemper married Johnson, a Lieutenant Governor of
West Virginia, in 1893, and had no issue.
6003--Dr. Henry Mohler was a college educated man who practiced
medicine many years in the community about Weyer's Cave. In 1884
he married Elizabeth Percivale of Lynchburg, who was an accomplished
musician. They had no issue.
6004--Jacob Mohler, son of Abram Mohler, was a farmer.
|