[A December 21, 1993 draft of the Biedler Families of Virginia. Based on the original history compiled ca. 1930's by Claude Harmon Smith of the Morgan Biedler line. Additions and revisions are by Karen Biedler Alexander, 1988-1993, PO Box 161, Vienna, VA 22183.]
Children were born near Luray, to the number of ten. (The last 8 were born at their home, "Page View"). Again a chart will be helpful in following relationships. Milton and Sarah were related, Sarah being a descendent of Magdalene Hottel. Magdalene was sister to Barbara (Hottel) Varner (Mrs. Philip Varner), who was mother of the Barbara Varner who married Ulrich Biedler.
Keyser Connection: Through the Keyser line, the Biedlers of this division tie in with still more of the earliest settler Families of the Valley. Noah Keyser, b. in Page County, VA, 2 Jan 1786; d. 7 Aug 1842; buried on the home farm five miles from Luray, near Sandy Hook. He was the son of Major Andrew Keyser, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, and a grandson of Charles Keyser, who was born in Germany, and came to the colonies as a hired soldier in the service of England to fight the French and Indians. Charles married a Miss Shelly of Philadelphia and built a house near the mouth of the Hawksbill Creek, Page County, VA (Source: Hottel, p. 149, who credits "the Strickler history" for this information).
Roads Connection: Anna Roads, wife of Noah Keyser, b. at Mountain View, near Luray, VA, 22 Nov 1789; d. 28 Aug 1861. Buried with her husband. She was the dau. of Joseph Roads and Magdalene (Hottel) Roads. He was the son of Joseph and Mary (Strickler) Roads, the latter being the dau. of Abraham Strickler, pioneer. Joseph Roads (the elder) was the son of Rev. John Roads, Mennonite Elder, and his wife Eve (Albright) Roads, who with six of eight of their children were massacred by the Indians in 1764. To their memory a monument was erected in 1926 on the George R. Bauserman farm, three miles north of Luray. The name was originally "Rood", the emigrant from Switzerland, Hans (John) Rood, having many descendants, among whom appears as Roads, Roades, and Rhodes. (Source: Hottel, p 148, to which reference should be made for many interesting details about this family.) The home of Joseph and Magdalene, b. near Tom Brooks, Shenandoah County, VA, 14 Aug 1759; d. 10 Dec 1840.
Milton and Sarah (Keyser) Biedler's ten children
Additional facts in more detail:
(EKBA Note: My father's cousin, Margaret Biedler Kraft, was a great friend of Dr. Hubert Biedler and his wife, and worked as a nurse at the Biedler Sellman Sanitarium for a number of years. Another distant relative from my branch of the family that either worked for or trained with Dr. Hubert Biedler for awhile was Dr. John Morgan Biedler, son of Daniel Ulrich Biedler (brother to my great grandfather, Samuel Milton Biedler, and grandson of Morgan Biedler (who was brother of Ambrose Milton Biedler). Dr. John's practice was eventually located in Harrisonburg, VA. We have an album of Margaret's photos of Dr. Hubert and Dr. John together in Baltimore.
EKBA Note 1993: In 1988 Mr. Bernard Spitler, whose family has owned the old Ambrose Milton Biedler Homeplace since the 1890's, took me on a tour of the house. It is in incredibly fine condition, so much so that much of the original stenciling is still in tact. According to Claude Harmon Smith's 1930 research upon which most of my research is based, the Milton Biedler family called their home Page View. Mr. Spitler took me all the way up through the attic to the Widow's Walk on the roof of the house. I discovered just why the Biedler's called it Page View. It has the best view of Page Valley from that perch of any place in the Valley according to Mr. Spitler.
Mr. Spitler learned a great deal about the Milton Biedler House from his father whose family bought the farm in the late 1880's or early 1890's from the Biedlers. Mr. Spitler can tell you all the details of when the house was built, when certain additions were added on, who some of the workmen were, and what influence Sarah A. Keyser Biedler had in the building of that house. The Biedler's built the house in the late 1840's. Just before the War Between the States, Mrs. Biedler convinced her husband to double the size of house by adding on to the back of the house. What she wanted most was a parlor on the right front of the house of double depth. The story goes that when Mr. Biedler was out of town on business, Mrs. Biedler called in the workman, had a huge tree chopped down and a huge beam added to the ceiling at he back edge of the existing parlor, and quickly had the rooms she desired added while her husband was out of town. The story goes that no one in the area had attempted to add such a large beam to an existing house in order to support the upper story in such a way to allow a double parlor below without the usual supporting walls. Mr. Spitler said that this Biedler family was always known for its grand and glorious parties (see the reprint of an earlier article in the Page County Courier reprinted in April 1939 entitled: "Martin, Morgan and Milton Biedler.")
Another story about Mrs. Biedler had to do with the railroad tracks. Inasmuch as it was inevitable that the train was coming through their property, Mrs. Biedler was given the choice of where the tracks should be laid. She chose to have them run right through her backyard so that she could wave at the engineers! She also requested that the railway company build her a small sheltered waiting area, and that the train stop for her whenever she wanted to go to Wash DC or Baltimore.
When my father and I first heard that story in 1988, we speculated that perhaps this far thinking woman's decision about where to locate the train tracks was the key to her children's wider views of the world, for they frequently hopped the train with their mother and headed to the big cities east. Eventually most of them would get their education on the East Coast and settle in the East. In addition to the house, Mr. Spitler showed us the family cemetery on the farm where Ulrich and Barbara (Varner) Biedler are buried, along with Mark Ruffner.
Still standing in the living room of the Old Milton Biedler Homeplace is the piano owned by Sarah Keyser Biedler and the tall, heavy mirrored coat & hat rack that stood by the front door which the Spitler's bought when they bought the house.
I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Spitler's mother in 1988. She was 91 at the time and only recently passed away in 1992 at the age of 97. She was one of 13 children herself and told me some wonderful stories of her childhood. I believe she was a Strickler. She told me the Biedler's and the Stricklers were all related "way back there." She had her son show me a beautiful appliquéd quilt she had made as a young woman. She had several quilts, she said, though she had given many of them away over the years to nieces, etc., since her son had never married and had a family. Being a quilt lover, I wanted to document her whole life that instant, but she was a rather frail person, and I was seldom in the Valley in those days because I lived in New Orleans. I greatly regret I never recorded her life story on tape. However, I did get Mr. Spitler's story about the Biedler house on tape.
Mr. Spitler's took my father and our entire entourage on an outside tour of this same Biedler house in 1989 when we had our first reunion-ever in Virginia. There were 19 of us. I have many photos of this historic event! As a family, we also took time staying at the old Ulrich Biedler Homeplace. Is now a Bed & Breakfast, although not authentically restored. Regretfully, much of that wonderful house was changed in the 1970's to turn it into a nursing home. The owner thought she was improving the place but she changed the integrity of the interior of the original house greatly, whereas the Milton Biedler Homeplace is very much like it was in the late 1880's, with the exception of a modern kitchen wing added to the back of the house. Nevertheless, it was a thrill to stay under the roof of our great-great-great grandfather (four-greats for my children!).
The Ulrich Biedler place was inherited by Martin Biedler. The Morgan Biedler farm is located on the road near the Primitive Baptist Church just across the fields from the Ulrich Biedler place. You can see both the Ulrich/Martin Biedler farm and the Morgan Biedler farm clearly from the front porch of the Milton Biedler farm since it sits rather high up on a small knoll. From the roof, as I mentioned earlier, one has an incredible view of the whole of Page Valley. I wish so very much that some member of the Milton Biedler line would one day reclaim the old house, restore it, and make it their retirement hideaway or headquarters for a Biedler Foundation! [End of EKBA 1993 Note]
home top of page wbitting@yahoo.com. posted 5/26/98