From Cessna to Spieth
Count Jean de Cessna was my great-grandmother’s great-grandfather’s great-grandfather.
Considering that many of us never meet our great-grandparents (I met only one of eight), Jean De Cessna lived a long, long time ago. Nine generations back, to be exact, and Jean was born nearly three hundred years before me. It’s not uncommon to be able to trace one’s lineage back that far, in fact I can do it through several other lines, but when I realized that I knew something about each generation, from Jean to Mike, I decided to tell the story from beginning to end.
My grandmother (her mother’s maiden name was Cessna) used to talk about the “De Cessnas” back in Kentucky, which threw me off for a while in my research. As soon as I dropped the French article from the name, everything opened up, and I found myself surrounded by a group of earnest researchers and staring into a hornet‘s nest. First came Howard Cessna’s 1903 book House of Cessna, and then internet forums and family trees, and even an internet troll. I suppose that no family is ever in agreement, and the house of Cessna/Cissna/Cisne/Cisney/Sisney is no exception. Every time prod that hornet’s nest, my head spins, so I’ve decided to set down only those facts and conjectures which relate to my own lineage, then put the remainder aside, while breathing a well-earned sigh of relief.
But who am I kidding? This never really ends…..
Now where was I.…..
Count Jean de Cessna (generation #10 for my purposes) was born about 1670 in France, and died September 30, 1751 in Newberry Township, York County Pennsylvania. In 1685, when Jean was about 15 years old, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared Protestantism illegal, spurring an exodus of hundreds of thousands of reformed protestants from France. Jean was one of an estimated 50,000 Walloons and Huguenots who fled to England, about 10,000 of whom continued onward to Ireland.
Jean De Cessna was in Ireland for the Battle of the Boyne, in which he fought as a captain under the Duke de Schomberg for William the Prince of Orange. While in Ireland, he had four children by a woman known today in Cessna circles simply as “unknown maiden.” They were married about 1690. Some say that Jean came to America in 1709, and most agree that he arrived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1718. His occupation was “skin dresser,” or tanner. In Pennsylvania, Jean (John) was an officer in the Huguenot Brigade. Later in his life he moved from Lancaster County to York County, where he resided until his death.
John had a second wife, Priscilla Foulke, and had three more children with her. This woman was indeed executor of his estate after his death, and his will does indeed list her as a wife. Some people have questioned whether Priscilla was even ever married to Jean. The three children were born about forty years after John’s first four, and some researchers think that the John Cessna who married Priscilla Foulke was really one of Jean’s grandsons. So I’m personally very grateful to be descended from one of the original four, and as an amateur researcher I’m content to know that I’m descended from “unknown maiden,” rather than to have to wonder about the relationship of Priscilla in the Cessna line. I’ll leave that for others.
Children of Jean de Cessna and unknown maiden:
1 Colonel John Cessna, b. 1692 in Ireland; d. 30 Sep 1796 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
2 Stephen Cessna, b. 1693 in Ireland; d. 1759 in Newbury, York County, Pennsylvania.
3 William Chesney, b. 1694 in Ireland.
4 Colonel Charles Cessna, b. 1696 in Ireland.
Children of Jean de Cessna and Priscilla Foulke
5 Stephen Sisney, b. abt. 1741 in York County, Pennsylvania.
6 Ruth Sisney, b. abt. 1746 in York County, Pennsylvania; d. 13 November 1768.
7 John Sisney, b. abt. 1748 in York County, Pennsylvania.
Colonel John Cessna (generation #9) was born about 1692 in Ireland, and died September 30, 1796 in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He married a woman named Agnes (1704 to 1768-1793) in Shippensburg in 1725.
In 1723 Colonel John Cessna was commissioned as a coroner on the frontier. He is said to have taken part in the French and Indian War by providing pack horses to British General Gage in western Pennsylvania. By the middle of the eighteenth century, John and others had accumulated large tracts of land near Shippensburg.
The History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, page 251 (subtitled Indian Murders), contains the following:
On July 18, 1757, a band of savages surprised a party who were harvesting in a field belonging to John Cessna, about a mile east of Shippensburg. The Indians approached the field from the east through the woods which bounded it on that side and when within a short range fired, killing Kirkpatrick and O'Neidon; then, rushing forward they captured Mr. Cessna, his two grandsons and a son of Kirkpatrick and made their escape with their prisoners.
Another source, The Pennsylvania Archives, reports:
A list of those killed and missing at John Cisney's field, about 7 miles from Shippensburg, on July 18th, 1757.
Killed. John Kirkpatrick and Dennis O'Neidon.
Missing. John Cisney & three small boys, two sons of Cisney, and one son of John Kirkpatrick.
These People refused to Join with their neighbours who had a Guard appointed them, because they couldn't have their Fields reaped the first.
Discrepancies aside, like whether it was father and sons or father and grandsons, somehow there must have been an escape, since John and his sons and grandsons lived on for years after the reported incident. Unfortunately, that part of the story has not come down to us.
Children of Colonel John Cessna and Agnes:
1 Captain Evan Cessna, b. abt. 1724 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
2 Major John Cessna, b. January 26, 1726 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. March 31, 1802 in Friends Cove, Penn.
3 Mary Cessna, b. abt. 1728 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. abt. 1793.
4 Lieutenant William Cessna, b. abt. 1728 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. abt. 1801 in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
5 Elizabeth Cessna, b. abt. 1730 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. after 1793.
6 Margaret Cessna, b. abt. 1732 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. before 1793.
7 Stephen Cessna, b. Jul 20, 1737 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. August 14, 1823 in Chillicothe, Ohio.
8 Colonel Charles Cessna, b. March 2, 1744 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. July 30, 1837 in Bedford County, Penn.
9 Joseph Cessna, b. abt. 1747 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. abt. 1803 in Detroit, Michigan.
10 James Cessna, b. April, 1751 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. July 5, 1833 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
11 Jonathan Cessna, b. 1752, Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. 1779, near Phillips Fort, Louisville, Kentucky.
12 Theophilus Cisney, b. abt. 1753 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. March 20, 1867 in Hill Valley, Pennsylvania.
Jonathan Cessna (generation #8) was born abt. 1752 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. He died abt. 1779 near Philips Fort, Kentucky, fifty-five miles south of present day Louisville, Kentucky.
By the third generation in America, which lived through the American Revolutionary War, there were many Cessnas in America. Some of the Count’s sons had settled near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and later Bedford County, where the family became prominent. Also prominent were the number who served in the military, like John Cessna (yep, yet another one…) of Bedford County who was a three term county sheriff, a member of the Provincial Assembly and Constitutional Convention of 1775 and a colonel in the Revolutionary War. His Brother Charles Cessna was also a colonel. Another brother, William Cessna, was a lieutenant in the war, and yet another brother, Evan Cessna, was a captain in the Bedford county Militia. These four men were all brothers to Jonathan Cessna, who took his young family to Kentucky in 1775. According to one un-named descendant, he…
...cleared two acres of land, the first land cleared within the limits of the current Louisville city limits. Soon after, he was killed by the Indians leaving one son, William, aged three years, who remembered the last time he saw his father by the following incident: The whites having made preparations to go out on an Indian raid, had collected on the banks of the Ohio River, at what is now Louisville, to execute their intention. Jonathan took his son, William, in his arms, kissed him good-bye and told him to be a good boy and obey his mother. He never returned to his pleasant cabin home or his beloved family, but was numbered with the slain after the bloody war was over.
Children of Jonathan Cessna and Mary Friend:
1 Judge William Cessna, b. 1776 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, d. 1866 in Larue County, Kentucky.
2 Nancy Cessna, b. 1778 in Louisville, Kentucky; d. 1855 in Howard, Missouri.
Judge William Cessna (generation #7) was born in 1776 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1866 in Larue County, Kentucky. On April 13, 1802, he married Sally Wallace, who was born in 1776 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in Kentucky in 1836. Sally Wallace had arrived with her parents in America and, then onward to Kentucky, when she was twelve years old. According to House of Cessna, her father was a descendant of the distinguished Knight of Scotland, Sir William Wallace.
William (nicknamed Willie) became one of the founders of Hodgenville, Kentucky. He and his son Jonathan Friend Cessna were among the 42 petitioners for the creation of Larue County, although they wanted it to be called Lynn County, after another early settler. Larue County was formed on March 4, 1843 from portions of Hardin County, and Hodgenville is its county seat. The second House of Cessna book mentions William as a judge, the only reference to it I have found.
According to an un-named descendant, during his boyhood, after the killing of his father by Indians, William....
….and his mother emigrated south about 65 miles, near the present town of Hodgenville, the county seat of Larue County, (terminus of the Illinois Central Railroad) and took up a large tract of land, some of which is still in the possession of the Cessna family. William was successful in his day as a farmer and financier, having amassed a considerable fortune….William was elected by the Democratic party in the year ____ being the first representative Larue County had in the General Assembly of Kentucky. He was re-elected and served the second term.
Children of William Cessna and Sally Wallace:
1 Margaret Cessna, b. 1803 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. 1803 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
2 Jonathan Friend Cessna, b. Nov 16, 1804 in Hardin County, Kentucky, d. May 19, 1885 in Larue County, Kentucky.
3 Elizabeth Betsie Cessna, b. 1806 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. before Oct 11, 1877 in Larue County, Kentucky.
4 Mary Polly Cessna, b. 1811 in Hardin County, Kentucky
5 Nancy Cessna, b. 1812 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
6 Matilda Cessna, b. 1815 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
7 Susan Cessna, b. July 11,1816 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. April 2, 1888, Larue County, Kentucky.
8 Margaret Cessna, b. 1820 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
9 William Wallace Cessna, b. 1822 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. Jun 1865 in Larue County, Kentucky.
William Wallace Cessna (generation #6) was born in 1822 in Hardin County, Kentucky, and died in June 1865 in Larue County, Kentucky. He married Marion Wallace Coombs, who was born May 14, 1826 and died January 31, 1878. Marion’s father had been born in Hardin County, Kentucky, but both of her grandfathers were from Loudoun County, Virginia.
I know next to nothing about this couple, but a little more about their generation. William had seven sisters and one brother. One of the sisters, Sarah Cessna, married a man named Joseph Walters, and one of their daughters eventually married one of William’s sons, making generation #6 of this account - Walter and Susan Cessna - first cousins.
William’s only brother, Jonathan Friend Cessna, was a farmer, slave owner and lawyer. He was elected as the first sheriff of Larue County, a position he held for twelve years. Jonathan was also elected as a County Judge, and as a bonded official he preformed marriages. I mention Jonathan Friend Cessna in this account not only because he’s my ancestor’s brother, and of note in the area’s history, but also because I have a photograph of him, one of the oldest in my collection. I may also have a portrait of William and Marion.
Children of William Wallace Cessna and Marian Wallace Coombs:
1 Ella Bayne Cessna, b. August 3, 1851 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. June 20, 1929 in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
2 William Grain Cessna, b. June 13, 1854 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. April 7, 1936 in Christian County, Kentucky.
3 Walter Coombs Cessna, b. 28 Feb 1856, Larue County, Kentucky; d. 26 May 1942, Detroit, Michigan
4 Samuel Coombs Cessna, b. June 21, 1858 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. 1944 in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
5 Mary Mollie Cessna, b. February 26, 1860 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. May 25, 1950 in Louisville, Kentucky.
6 Sarah Cessna, b. 1862 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. before May 26, 1942.
Walter Coombs Cessna (generation #5) was born February 28, 1856 in Larue County, Kentucky, and died May 26, 1942, probably in Detroit, Michigan. On June 16, 1881, he married Susan Walters, nicknamed “Sudie,” who was born April 28, 1856 in Kentucky, and died February 16, 1925 in Jefferson County, Kentucky.
Walter Coombs Cessna’s family lived on a portion of the original Cessna farm pioneered by his grandfather. Walter was a livestock trader known throughout the state. He had a the nickname of "Watt."
In 1910 the family was living in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, and Walter had bought an oil well. Larue Cessna’s daughter, Lillian, tells me that her father and one of his brothers came home sprayed with oil one day, expecting to be punished, but were rewarded with a trip into town for new clothes! But the well turned out to be a dud. It’s unclear how long the Cessnas stayed in Oklahoma, but by 1920 they were back east, the parents in Larue County, and the sons in Detroit. Daughter Mary Alice and her young family were in Louisville.
After the death of his wife Susan in 1925, Walter bought a farm at New Hope, Kentucky, and devoted the remainder of his life to farming and raising fine saddle and harness horses, with the specialty of five-gaited horses. He was the last of his line to own a farm. A true Kentuckian, he rode nearly every day up until two years before his death. At the end, he lived with his son Howard in Detroit, but he’s buried with his wife in Larue County, Kentucky.
Children of Walter Coombs Cessna and Susan Walters:
1 Joseph Walters Cessna, b. March 6, 1884 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. June 15, 1977 in Warren, Michigan.
2 Mary Alice Cessna, b. May 3, 1888 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. abt. 1953 in Detroit, Michigan.
3 Samuel Head Cessna, b. October 9, 1892 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. August 5, 1990 in California.
4 Squire LaRue Cessna, b. April 11, 1896 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. January 1, 1988 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
5 Leslie Howard Cessna, b. May 1898 in Larue County, Kentucky; d. September 29, 1991 in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
Mary Alice Cessna (generation #4) was born on May 3, 1888 in Larue County, Kentucky and died about 1953 in Michigan. In 1911 she married Cecil Edward Rudick, who was born on February 24, 1888 in Seligman, Missouri.
They met, were married and had their first child while Mary’s family lived in Oklahoma, trying for success in the oil well business. Mary and her family went back eastsome time between 1912 and 1915. By 1920, they had a second child and lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Cecil was listed in the census working as a delivery clerk for the railroad. By 1930 they had their third child and lived in Detroit, Michigan, where all four of Mary’s brothers also lived. Two of those brothers worked for a time as streetcar conductors, and a third was a motorman for his entire career. Cecil was also a career streetcar motorman, and Mary and Cecil lived in Detroit for the rest of their lives.
Children of Mary Alice Cessna and Cecil Edward Rudick:
1 Walter S. Rudick, b. 26 Apil 1912 in Gore, Oklahoma; d. April 25,1943.
2 Dorothy Bonita Rudick, b. May 10,1915 in Nelson County, Kentucky; d. March 25, 1981 in Pinellas County, Florida.
3 Cecil Rudick, born January 19, 1918; died January 22, 1918.
4 Vera Mae Rudick, b. July 18, 1923 in Detroit, Michigan; d. June 3, 1998 in Loxahatchee, Florida.
Dorothy Bonita Rudick (generation #3) was born on July 18, 1915 in Nelson County, Kentucky, and died on March 25, 1981 in Pinellas County, Florida. She married William Henry Spieth, born June 18, 1912 in Bowling Green, Ohio; died on September 4, 1976, in Ford River, Michigan.
Dorothy was hospitalized with Rheumatic Fever when she was nine years old, and stiffness affected her hands throughout her life. In the 1940’s she was quarantined with tuberculosis for eighteen months. The family lived for some of this time with Mary’s parents
In Detroit, Michigan, William Henry Spieth (Hank) worked as a millwright for Chrysler before taking on truck driving jobs. Dorothy (Dot) and a friend worked together as seamstresses, and at one point Dorothy’s pinafores filled the sidewalk level display windows at Detroit’s famous J. L. Hudson department store.
The family vacationed a few times along the Lake Michigan shore at Cedar River, south of Escanaba. Hank asked the owner of the small resort to keep an eye open for business opportunities in the area, and in 1953 when a small general store in Ford River, Michigan, was put up for sale, The Spieths bought the business, along with the house behind it.They knocked down the original store a few years later, and built a new one just to the south. That store, the house behind it, the old gasoline pumps, a large Texaco sign and a quarter mile lane leading to Lake Michigan make up many of my first memories of childhood. My grandmother Spieth (Dorothy) even let me run the cash register a few times. That would have been around 1962.
They sold the store about 1973 and built a new house, a mile or so inland. Hank became a very popular daily school bus driver for the next year or two, and then drove the bus less often, transporting the sports teams to and from their games. He died in his sleep one night, and I remember hearing that the local school had to let many of the children out early to attend his memorial services.
Dorothy then moved to the Clearwater, Florida, area very near to where her sister lived. Vera had moved to Florida decades earlier. Dorothy died in 1981. My Spieth grandparents are buried in Ford River, Michigan.
Children of Dorothy Bonita Rudick and William Henry Spieth:
1 Phillip Henry Spieth, b. September 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan; d. June 23, 2005 in Phoenix, Arizona.
2 Walter Ronald Spieth, b. 3 May, 1936, Detroit, Michigan; di. October 9, 2013 in West Bend, Wisconsin.
3 Cecil Willis (Bill) Spieth, b. May 2, 1941 in Detroit, Michigan.
Walter Ronald Spieth and Children (generations #2 and #1)
My father, Ron Spieth, died in October of 2013, and probably never got to read this account; certainly he never saw this final edit. He was an enthusiastic supporter of my research, though, and contributed more than he would ever know. If there’s an afterlife, dad, then please accept my thanks and love.
Mike Spieth; November 2013
Credits:
I thank Diana Cessna-Sutor, a woman I have never met or had any communication with, but who was in the background whenever I researched things Cessna. Much of what I have written here (and often outright stolen) is Diana’s research, along with another woman named Krista Cessna. Thanks for posting it all on the FamilyTreeMakerOnline site. Your sources have become my sources:
House of Cessna, Books I and II, by Howard Cessna of Bedford, Pennsylvania.
The Pennsylvania Magazine of History, volume III.
The Pennsylvania Archives, Series I, volume III.
The History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
Much of the info about Generation #6 and onward comes from newfound relatives, like Squire Larue Cessna’s daughter Lillian, Joseph Walters Cessna’s granddaughter Peggy and Mary Alice Cessna’s grandson Kevin Bourdon.
And to Diana Sutor, or anyone else who wishes to comment, correct or contribute: Drop me a line!
