Clarissa Garnet (4)
August 10, 1809 - December 25, 1883

Daughter of Anna Maria Kramer and Jacob Garnet (3).

“Her mother having died when she was an infant, she was committed to the care of a family in the neighborhood by the name of Blosser. When she was four years old her father died. She missed the tender mercies of considerate parents, and was made so much of a menial, doing a man’s work on the farm, that she was not even allowed to attend school a single day. But a happier life was in store for her. January 19, 1826, when seventeen, she married a steady and appreciative young man by the name of Gotlob D. Wichterman, the son of a Lutheran clergyman, and was soon taught by him to read, and she found that her life mission was more than to make hay, lay fence rails, husk corn and cut fodder, however useful and honorable the faithful performance of such hard work may be. Two years later she and Gotlob moved to the vicinity of Lockport, N. Y., where they bought a piece of land. In four years more they sold out at a bountiful profit and bought several hundred acres of the ‘Holland Purchase,’ in the town (township) of Royalton, eight miles east of Lockport. Gotlob had learned the trade of weaving, and Clarissa also soon became an expert weaver, and wove all the fabrics of wool and flax needed to clothe her family. She had a large family, and there was always plenty of work, summer and winter, but it was very far from being like the pitiless and unrequieted drudgery of her early life. It was the kind of toil that conduces to contentment, independence and happiness” (from Heinrich Gernhardt and His Descendants, pp. 129-130).

Fourteen children were born of Clarissa’s marriage. Of these, five of her children died young: one in infancy, one at aged one year, and three within a three-week time period in 1838. The children of Clarissa and Gotlob were:

1. John D., born December 25, 1826;
2. Catharine, born March 27, 1828, died March 22, 1896;
3. Susanna, born October 30, 1829;
4. David, born March 1, 1831, died in infancy;
5. Samuel, born May 29, 1832, died August 2, 1838;
6. George, born September 1, 1834, died July 21, 1838;
7. Daniel, born May 27, 1836, died July 16, 1838;
8. Mary J., born April 17, 1838, died May 17, 1894;
9. Henry, born May 21, 1840, died May 15, 1870;
10. Chauncey, born March 12, 1842;
11. Clarissa A., born September 12, 1843, died July 5, 1895;
12. Sarah E., born April 27, 1846, died June 22, 1847;
13. Edward L., born June 12, 1848; and
14. Charles Luther, born November 14, 1852.