My Isenberg Family | The Isenberg Family

The Isenbergs/Eisenbergs (earliest Isburg) (Many variable spellings were to keep the family known to each other at court and know which family branch your cousins belong to, Heraldry and mixing is complicated). The Isenbergs in (Ginette Kathleen Isenberg + Peter Smith Cluck) in The United States of America have Genetic links to Sweden/Norway/Finland/Switzerland/Germany/France/Russia/UK (See “In Germany” from the 1991 book.) The spelling of Isenberg, the castles and name changes seem to extend down the Rhine all the way to Switzerland, then to the Americas). an origin for the Isenberg/Eisenberg spelling has been located in Markershausen, Werra-Meissner-Kreis, Hessen, Germany.

The first documented records of the Isenberg family in America begins with Gabriel.

Gabriel Isenberg was born in Germany in 1720, he married Eve (in process of figuring out maiden name) in 1742 in Philadelphia, PA. They had eleven children: John George Isenberg (b. 1747), Maria (Mary) Isenberg (b. 1748), Susannah Isenberg (b. 1749), Anna Philippina Isenberg (b. 1750), Phillipus Jacobus (Jacob) Isenberg (b. 1751), John (Henry) Henry Isenberg (b. 1753), Gabriel Isenberg Jr (b. 1755), Nicholas Isenberg (b. 1757), Enoch Isenberg (b. 1761), Maria Eva Isenberg (b. 1765) and Catherine Isenberg (b. 176* working on it). See the Isenberg page for more details regarding the Family in Maryland.

Enoch Isenberg, born April 17, 1761 (Son of Gabriel Isenberg b. 1720 and Eve Isenberg) married Dorothea (Darethy) Smouse (b. 1764) (The Daughter of Henry (Heinrich) Smouse and Catherine Smouse). They went to live in Maryland with his parents. In 1804 Enoch Isenberg (b. 1761) moved from Fredrick, Maryland to a 189 acre farm in Huntingdon County, PA with his wife, then moved to the town of Alexandria, PA (place they died) They had eleven children: George Isenberg (b. 1785), Henry Isenberg (b. 1787), Daniel Isenberg (b. 1789), Catharine Isenberg (b. 1791), Susanna Isenberg (b. 1793), Joseph Isenberg (b. 1795), Abraham Isenberg (b. 1795), Anna Isenberg (b. 1799), Samuel Isenberg (b. 1802), Enoch Isenberg (b. 1804) and Anna Mary Isenberg (b. 1807).

Abraham Isenberg (b. 1795), was born February 14, 1795 in Huntington, Pennsylvania, United States of America. He married Nancy Grove in Waterstreet, Huntington County, PA on December 13, 1821. They had ten children: Susannah “Susan” Isenberg (b. 1823), Thomas Gabriel Isenberg (b. 1824), Catherine Isenberg (b. 1827), Dorothy Isenberg (b.1829), Jacob Miller Isenberg (b. 1831), Solomon Hamer Isenberg (b. 1834), Joseph Grove Isenberg (b. 1836), John Harnish Isenberg (b. 1838), Samuel Baker Isenberg (b. 1841), and Benjamin Franklin “B.Frank” Isenberg (b. 1844).

Jacob Miller Isenberg (b.1831), son of Abraham Isenberg (b.1795) and Nancy Grove (Isenberg), he was born October 15, 1831 in McConnelstown, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. He married Susannah Wolford (born December 16, 1837), on May 7, 1856 in their home in Barree, Pennsylvania. Susannah Wolford (b. 1873) was the daughter of Daniel Wolford and Anna Nancy Wolford. They were married for more than 50 years. Jacob Miller Isenberg (b. 1831) and Susanna Wolford Isenberg (b. 1837) had seven children together, children : Augustus Rupley Isenberg (b. 1857), Annie Edna Isenberg (b. 1858), John Wolford Isenberg (b. 1859), Lucy Ella Isenberg (b. 1861), Herbert Grove Isenberg (b. 1866), Ralph Bertrand Isenberg (b. 1873), and Henry Wise Isenberg (b. 1876).

Jacob Miller Isenberg (b. 1831) was a blacksmith and master mechanic. He held several patents. He lived in Barre, PA. Johnstown, PA, McClenny Florida, and Alexandria, PA. He and his wife attended the Keller Church in Canoe Creek, Pennsylvania. In 1894 they moved to McClenny, Florida to live. He brought his blacksmith shop and business there. Shortly after they moved back to Blair, Pennsylvania because neither of them could tolerate the hurricanes. It was especially hot for a blacksmith in the area. They lived in Ormenia, Blair County, Pennsylvania or “the mines” as it was known. This house stands today. Susannah was known to welcome and serve anyone who came by. Their final years were in a house in Alexandria, Pennsylvania and purchased for them by their adult children. I believe this house is still in use.

Donald Herbert “Don” “Isenberg” Berkebile (b. 1926), An employee of the Smithsonian American History Museum. For the United States Of America Bicentennial in 1976, curated an exhibit in the Smithsonian Amercan History Museum that portrayed the products of a blacksmith/carriage maker shop during 1776 and used the name of his great grandfather J.M. Isenberg on the exhibit, whose great grandfather and granfather were ironworkers in Pennsylvania and Maryland during the “insurrection of 1775-1776”. It is my hope (writing this Alexander “Ash” Morgan Isenberg Cluck) that the exhibit still exists in the Transportation building at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. , I hope to visit sometime in 2024-2025 and will document my findings, among other National Treasure Business.

Augusta “Augustus” Rupley Isenberg (b. 1857) (d. 1939), son of Jacob Miller Isenberg (b. 1831) and Susannah (Wolford) Isenberg (b. 1837) he was born on March 17,1857. He married Maggie Jeanette Shultzabarger (Isenberg) (b. 1861), in 1878 in Altoona, PA. They had four children; George Frederick Isenberg (b. 1884), Mary Edna Isenberg (b. 1879), Ethel Blanche Isenberg (b. 1881), and Bruce Miller Isenberg (b. 1866). Augusta was an Inspector for the Pennsylvania Railroad, his mainstay was the Altoona shops at the Railyards in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He and his family were well traveled rail passengers. He loved model trains and built an entire model railroad in the attic of his home on 18th Street in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He crafted buildings for his model train display himself. (We still have a model farm house, barn and chicken coop that would go under the Saturnalia tree every winter solstice -Ginette Kathleen Isenberg’s family). He was known for having the latest gadgets and technology of the day. He corresponded with a lot of people of the day, including a Lakota Chief that went by Sitting Bull, whom gifted him a Peace Pipe shown being used in on of the images below. I believe his brother worked for the Park Service and A.R. Isenberg was helping native families move to the cities via the railroad, The Pennsylvanian Isenbergs being in the Americas so long have had ties to natives because of their farming and metalworking (and evidently later on found to be part russian/Finn/inuit, which connects them through Siberian ancestry). He an his family (and later descendants) may have the abiity to communicate with the Lakota and others tribes on a deeper level. He was always referred to as ‘Grandfather’ and was adored by his grandchildren.

George Frederick Isenberg (b. 1884), son of Augusta Rupley Isenberg (b. 1857) and Maggie Jeanette Isenberg (b. 1861) was born March 8, 1884. He married Anna Mary Dunn (Isenberg) (b. 1891), who was daughter of Francis Xavier Dunn (b. 1868) and S Ellice Law (Dunn) (b. 1872), in Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1918. They had two children; Lola Ellis Isenberg (b.1918) and Francis Rupley Isenberg (b. 1920). He was known as ‘Fred’ was a Locomotive Engineer for the Pennsylvania Railroad. He always enjoyed life to the fullest and is remembered for his sense of humor. He was a member of the Frohsinn Singing Society where he met Anna his wife. For many years he had a Newfoundland dog and later a mutt named ‘Sporty’. (Ginette Kathleen Isenberg, his granddaughter – “I was apple of his eye, I have many fond memories of my Pappy.”

Francis Rupley Isenberg (b. 1920) (d. Aug 29, 1993), son of George Frederick Isenberg (b. 1884) and Anna Mary Dunn Isenberg (b. 1891) was born July 1, 1920. He married Olive Kathleen Grace (b. 1924) the youngest daughter of Daniel Robert Grace (b.1887) and Daisy Mae Eichelberger (Grace) (b. 1889), in Akron Ohio on June 24, 1948. They had one daughter: Ginette Kathleen Isenberg (b. 1950) and one son that died in infancy, George Francis Isenberg (1960) RIP.

Ginette Kathleen Isenberg was born in 1950 and later married Peter Smith Cluck (b.1946) on September 5, 1976 on Mount Nittany in Bellefonte, Center County PA. Adopted at some point in the 2000s Alexander (Ali) Morgan “Ash” Isenberg (Cluck) (Current birthday 1987).

Lola Ellis Isenberg, Born 1918, Sister of Francis Rupley Isenberg and the daughter of George Frederick Isenberg and Anna Mary Dunn Isenberg. Lola married Charles Andrew Justice (b. 1910), in 1952. They had one child: Frederick William Justice (b. 1954). They had an earlier son that died in infancy named John Frederic Justice (1952) RIP.