Grandma Katie was the mother of my mother’s mother.  To me she was always old.  Kathryn Elizabeth Roahrig Bradford was born the seventh of nine children 28 February 1883, on a farm near Plainfield in Coshocton County, Ohio. She married Charles Ross Bradford, a native of nearby Highland Township, Ohio, on 16 October 1904, and they lived in that county throughout their lives.  Katie died on 23 February 1991 in the home of her son Carlos Bradford and his wife, Betty, of Coshocton, Ohio.

Kathryn was the daughter of John and Matilda Klein Roahrig, well known farmers of Coshocton County.  John was born in Adams Township, Muskingum County, Ohio on 20 September 1849, the eldest in a family of nine children.  He married Matilda Klein 19 October 1871 in Muskingum County, Ohio.  Matilda was born 30 November 1848 in Muskingum County, the daughter of Johann Jacob  and Catherine Moser Klein, themselves recent immigrants from Rosswag, Germany. John and Matilda relocated to a farm near Plainfield, Ohio where they raised their family of nine.  John died on 29 September 1919 in Coshocton County, Ohio and Matilda died 19 June 1935 in Coshocton County, Ohio.  Both are buried in the Plainfield Cemetery.

John was the son of Frederick and Elizabeth Lapp Roahrig, prominent citizens in Muskingum County, Ohio.  Frederick was born into a German-speaking family of French Alsace in the village of Buhl on 7 January 1827.  He emigrated with his parents as a young man to Adams Township, Muskingum County where many other Alsatians had previously settled.  Shortly after his arrival he met Elizabeth Lapp, born 26  August 1832. She was the daughter of a very prominent Lutheran family, Heinrich “Henry” and Magdelena Zimmer Lapp, who themselves had emigrated from Wurttenburg, Germany as young adults.  Frederick and Elizabeth married on 6 April 1849 in Muskingum County, where they raised ten children as their business ventures thrived.  Elizabeth died in Adamsville, Muskingum County on 4 January 1900; Frederick died in Adamsville on 4 April 1908. Both are buried in the cemetery of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Adamsville, Ohio.

Frederick Roahrig was the son of Jean George and Eve Gerling Roahrig, emigrants from the village of Buhl, Alsace.  Jean George was the son of Frederick Roahrig and Madeline Scheitel, born 16 October 1796, Buhl, Alsace. Eve Gerling was the daughter Jean Michael Gerling and Marie Eve Gucker, born on 8 March 1800 in Buhl.  The couple married in Buhl on 31 December 1817 and had six children.  Five of the six survived childhood and presumably made the journey to America with them in 1847.  The family most likely arrived at Castle Garden, New York and traveled via the Erie Canal to Buffalo, then westward on to the growing Alsatian community of Adamsville, Ohio.  Eve died in Muskingum County, 18 December 1852.  Jean George died there on 17 March 1872.