The John Bitner family was closely related to several other families in Snyder County, sometimes in several ways. The chart on page 144 is designed to show these relationships. Note that in some cases I did not include all the children of the families on the chart.
Through the work of other people and with my own research I have compiled varying amounts of information about these related families. I present that information here to give the reader a better understanding of the relationships. In some cases these families have been documented more completely by other researchers. I have included references where appropriate. While there might be more known about some families, I have chosen to restrict my presentation to the two or three generations around which the families intermarried or migrated with the Bitners.
Sechrist
The Bitner family is related in several ways to the Sechrist family, specifically through John Herrold Sechrist. John was married twice, and had several children with each wife. By his first wife, Sarah Sholly, he had a son William Sechrist, who married Elmira Bitner, daughter of George Bitner, son of John. John Sechrist and his second wife, Juliann Dengler, had a daughter Minnie Mary Sechrist, who married Franklin Oliver Bitner. In addition, Matilda Sechrist, daughter of John and Sarah, married Wellington Faust. Though not directly related to the Bitners, this family moved to Akron, Ohio in the early 1880s, about the same time as Casper Bittner and his family did. It is through the Sechrist family that the Bitners are related to the Shollys, Denglers, and Herrolds.
John Sechrist lived close to the Bitners in the northern part of Union Township, Snyder County. John's father Jacob lived along Verdilla Road, between the Susquehanna River and Verdilla. John originally farmed nearby, but eventually purchased a farm on Dam Hill Road. His farm was adjacent to that of George Bitner on the north. The land records do not provide sufficient detail to determine the exact boundaries of John's land. However, his land and that which was briefly owned by George Bitner constitute the majority of the property that is owned today by the Pennsylvania State Game Commission. See the tract labeled 18-07-02 on the map of Union Township on page 198.
More information about the Sechrist ancestry can be found in several places. Joanne Aumen Jensen has published a public member tree at Ancestry.com that details the history of the Sechrist, Sholly, Herrold, and Stahl families. Some of these families are taken back several generations into Germany. Another source for the Sechrist, Herrold, and other early Snyder County families is Snyder County Pioneers by Charles A. Fisher, 1938. Although this book is somewhat outdated and does not detail each of these families, it contains quite a bit of historical information about some of them. The International Genealogical Index of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also has information about the Sechrist family.
Sholly
There is not a wealth of information available about the Sholly family previous to Simon Sholly. The marriage of Sarah Sholly to John Herrold Sechrist was already mentioned. Sarah's brother John Sholly and his wife Catharine had a daughter Rebecca who married Adam Bitner, son of John Bitner.
Simon Sholly lived on Silver Creek Road, just south of Verdilla. John Sholly lived on a farm in Verdilla, just east of St. Paul's United Church of Christ, formerly known as Keiser's Church.
Dengler
The Dengler family is related to the Bitner family through the marriage of Juliann Dengler to John Herrold Sechrist as his second wife. She is the mother of Minnie Mary Sechrist, who married Franklin Oliver Bitner. I have not been able to discover much information about the ancestors of Samuel Dengler or his wife. What I do have is mainly from church and census records. Samuel Dengler lived on a farm in Chapman Township on Flanders Road off State Route 2001, just west of the village of Independence. This is about two miles southeast of Grubb's Church, which the family attended, and where they are buried.
Gemberling
The Gemberling family is related to the Bitner family through the marriage of two Gemberling sisters to two Bitner brothers. Mary Amanda Gemberling married Casper Bittner and her younger sister Martha Jane married Casper's younger brother Christian. The girls were daughters of John Peter Gemberling and his wife Catharine Schlegel. The boys were the sons of John Bitner and Anna Martha Kilmer.
A third Gemberling daughter, Josephine, married David Neitz in Snyder County. They migrated to the Akron, Ohio area in the early 1880s, about the same time as the Casper Bittner and Wellington Faust families.
According to the 1868 Beers map of Snyder County and census records, Samuel Gemberling and his son Peter appear to have lived in the area of Witmer's Church, around the area of Witmer Road and Dundore Road. By 1870 Peter had purchased a farm on Roosters Road, just below that of John Bitner. John Bitner and Peter Gemberling both died in 1872. Casper Bittner and his wife Amanda took over the Bitner farm. Peter's property passed to his wife Catharine. Christian Bitner and his wife Martha took over the Gemberling farm. After Catharine's death 1884, the property eventually passed to her daughter Martha Jane Bitner. See the tract labeled 18-08-40 on the map of Union Township on page 198.
More information about the Gemberling family can be found on-line and in a published book. Visit Ila Jean Miller's web site entitled Gemberlings in America at the address http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilajean/. The book Gemberling Genealogy: Descendants of John Jacob Gemberling (1736 - 1824) was published in 2000 by John W. North, based on work by Stephen Staruch.
Faust
Although not directly related to the Bitner family, the Faust family followed the same migration pattern as the Bitner family and married into some of the other related families. Isaac Faust and his wife Sarah were living in South (Lower) Heidelberg Township of Berks County in 1860 and 1870. Wellington Faust was born there. By 1880 the extended family was living in Union Township, Snyder County. Their residence was not very far from that of George Bitner and John Sechrist. According to census information, they lived next to Emanuel Bordner along Aqueduct Road. Wellington Faust and his wife, Matilda Sechrist, were married and living with the family in 1880.
Sometime in the early 1880s Wellington and Matilda Faust moved their family to Summit County, Ohio. Based on the birth dates of their children as recorded in the 1900 census, they must have moved between January 1881, when their son John was born in Pennsylvania, and August 1883, when their daughter Cora was born in Ohio. Isaac and Sarah Faust also moved to Ohio with the family. Wellington Faust bought a lot in Akron, Ohio in March of 1882. See Table 13 on page 222.