WILLIAM WAGEMANN, THE PIONEER
Various spellings areWagaman, Wagoman, Wogoman, Wogomon or Wagamon)

        William Wagemann and his two brothers, Christian and John, are the earliest known members of our WAGEMANN family.  William was born in Pennsylvania in about 1752.  John and Christian (reportedly twins) were born  about 1766.

    Though the name is quite consistently spelled Wagemann or Wageman when translated from German, most of the descendants of these men adopted the Wagaman, Wagamon, Wogoman or Wogomon  spelling.

    William first married in about 1778, however it is presently not known who his first wife was or where they first made their home.  Though tax lists for Bedford Co, Pennsylvania are available as early as 1772,  none of the Wagemanns show up there until 1786 when William and John paid taxes in Brothers Valley Twp.  The list identified William as a "shumaker" and John as a "jointer" with John also listed as a "single freeman".  They each paid taxes in years to follow on at least 100 acres of land, a home, a number of horses and "horned cattle".   William was also listed as an "inmate" from 1786 through 1789.  According to the tax records, John was single until 1788, which was also the year he and his wife "Margaretha" had a son, Michael, baptized in a Lutheran Church in Berlin.

    Early Brothers Valley settlers of German origin were largely Dunkards (or German Baptists).  Some of the Wagemanns did not strictly adhere to their earlier Dunkard affiliations because John and Christian had several children baptized in the Evangelical Lutheran Congregation at Berlin during a ten year period beginning in 1788.  The families of William and John can be identified in the 1790  U.S. Census, Brothers Valley Twp, Bedford County.  Christian was not yet married.  William and Christian served the Bedford County Militia in 1789.  Christian first appears in tax lists in 1792 when he was listed as a "single freeman".  In 1793, he was added to the regular list.   All three men were included in Bedford County tax lists through 1795 when Somerset County was formed.

    From 1796 through 1805 all three men,  still living in Brothers Valley Twp.  were  included in Somerset  County tax lists.   All three also appear in the 1800 U.S. Census for Somerset County,  PÀ.

    Ir  appears William had lost his wife by the time the first census was taken (1790).  It has been determined from other records, that he  had eight living children by 1800 and two more in years to follow.  He must have soon remarried,  probably to the Sarah (or "Sally") who was named  with William in a later land sale record in Ohio. (1819).

    William and his brothers do not appear in Somerset County tax records after 1805, which is when they left Brothers Valley to resettle in Montgomery County, Ohio.

    It may be hard to understand why these men would pull up stakes in an area they had lived for years, and venture to new frontiers, exposing themselves and their families to the hardships and dangers on the frontier in those early days.    Without modern fertilization technologies, land became worn out after twenty to thirty years of constant use.  Although William, John and Christian always held 100 or more acres of land in Somerset County,  they never held more than 10 acres of "cleared land".  This may have been why the Wagemanns and others of German origin were willing to head farther west.

    These rugged pioneers floated down the Ohio River on flat boats or rafts,  landing at the mouth of the Miami or Little Miami River near the present location of Cincinnati, then treked north into Montgomery County near the present location of Dayton.  The three oldsters each claimed a quarter section later to be within the bounds of Butler Twp.
By 1810 the William Wagemann (or Wogoman) family included ten children, though some had already married and started families of their own.  William's wife Sally, must have died in Ohio sometime prior to the 1820 census because, as in the earlier census, there was no female listed old enough to be his wife.  Only a son and daughter were living with William at that time. According  to Montgomery County Records, William was married for a third time to Barbara  Rineberger 21 November 1826.  She is listed as  "Barbary" in the 1836 estate settlement.

    Some of  William's family migrated from Montgomery County into Darke County, Ohio while others traveled on to Elkhart and Monroe Counties, Indiana.  William  settled in Elkhart County in 1833/4, and died there in November 1836 at an approximate age of 84.  Considerable information is available in the probate record of his estate:

William WAGOMAN Estate: No. B-12
 Jacob Wagoman appointed administrator on 12/3/1836     Inventory of goods, 12/9/1836
In July of 1841, the family sold a parcel of land earlier belonging toWilliam Sr., and the following heirs legally relinquished any further claim on the property:

John WAGGOMON and Barbary his wife,
Peter MILLER and Margaret his wife,
Christian WAGGOMON and Katherine his wife
John KINSEY and Betsy his wife,
Jacob WAGGOMON and Mary his wife,
Jonas MILLER and Mary his wife,
David SNYDER and Susanna his wife,
Henry WAGGOMON and Mary his wife,
William WAGGOMON and Mary his wife,
John Baker.  (It is presumed William's daughter Sally was deceased)

Final Estate was settled in the August term of court. 1841
showing the following amounts,  Wdo. Barbary WAGOMAN - $270 and each of the following heirs received a total of $78.00.
John WAGGOMON,  Peter  Miller,  Christian WAGGOMON,  John Kinsey, Jacob WAGGOMON,  Jonas Miller,  David Snyder,  Henry WAGOMAN,  William WAGOMAN  and John Baker.

The above is an excerpt from "The Wagemann Family History and Genealogy" published by Paul Duane Wagaman in 1981.

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