A Guide to the Repass-Umberger Family Papers, 1819-1968 Repass-Umberger Family, Papers, 1819-1968 2004.5

A Guide to the Repass-Umberger Family Papers, 1819-1968

A Collection in
Special Collections, Kegley Library
Collection Number 2004.5


[logo]

Special Collections, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College

Special Collections
Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Wytheville, Virginia 24382-3308
USA
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745
Email: gmattis@wcc.vccs.edu
URL: http://kegleylibrary.wcc.vccs.edu/

© 2011 By Wytheville Community College. All rights reserved.

Processed by: Cathy Carlson Reynolds

Repository
Special Collections, Kegley Library
Collection Number
2004.5
Title
Repass-Umberger Family Papers 1819-1968
Physical Characteristics
25 folders; 124 photographs.
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Repass-Umberger Family Papers, Mss. Collection 2004.5, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by Margaret Cobb Wampler in 2004.

Biographical Information

The son of William Repass and Barbara Harkrader, Gordon Repass was born on 12 January 1819 in Black Lick in the western portion of Wythe County, Virginia. He married Anna Magdalena Sharitz, daughter of Daniel Sharitz and Mary Sluss Sharitz on 21 March 1839. Anna Sharitz was born on 12 February 1819. The couple had ten children as follows: Elmira J. Repass (1839-1841), Reuben F. Repass (1841-1922), Richard T. Repass (1844-1858), Mary E. Repass (1846-1869), Emily V. Repass (1848-1924), Selden W. L. Repass (1850-1929), unnamed infant (1852), Clementina E. Repass (1854-1862), Margaret B. Repass (1857-1937), and Ella G. Repass (1864-1944).

Like generations before him, Gordon Repass farmed the fertile soil of Black Lick. When Civil War erupted, he was forty-two and did not expect to serve in the Confederate Army as did his son, Reuben, who enlisted in the 8th Virginia Cavalry Regiment in 1861. Gordon joined the home guards (4th Regiment, Virginia Reserves) early in the conflict. However, Confederate military authorities sent Repass to join the 1st Virginia Infantry Regiment in the trenches around Richmond late in 1864. In his letters home to Anna, he writes about his futile attempts to be discharged from this regiment or to be reassigned to the home defense guard or reserve units. Captured by Federal soldiers on 6 April 1865 near Farmville, Repass died of dysentery at Point Lookout Prison, Maryland, on 3 May 1865. He is buried at the prison. Anna Sharitz Repass never remarried, raising her children and managing the farm by herself. She died on 7 March 1899.

His son, Reuben F. Repass, survived the war and married Ellen Missouri Brown on 25 April 1865. In 1869, Reuben and Ellen, with their children Lee Gordon and Laura Edna, moved to Missouri where they lived until 1876 when they relocated to Texas. His wife Ellen died on 14 August 1904 and he later married Lizzie Wright. Reuben died in Graham, Texas on 1 August 1922.

Margaret B. Repass married Stephen A. Umberger on 5 November 1877. They had the following children: Chloe A. Umberger (1878-1939; married Walter Spence), Gordon Repass Umberger (1880-1945), Lois E. Umberger (1882-1974), Anna K. Umberger (1883-1933), Virginia A. Umberger (1885-1953; married Frank Repass Brown), infant son (1893), and Margaret Belle Umberger (b. 1894; married Edgar Cobb). Margaret B. Repass Umberger died on 10 January 1937 and Stephen A. Umberger died on 15 December 1924.

Selden W. L. Repass married 1) Elizabeth Florence Earhart (1848-1893) by whom he had a daughter, Olive Anna Repass (married Walter B. Brown); 2) Lula Mae Umberger Repass (1868-1898); 3) Ella B. Patterson (1867-1938). Selden Repass died on 3 June 1929.

Scope and Content

Series I, Correspondence (1862-1920, undated), contains letters sent by Gordon Repass to Anna Sharitz Repass and their family during the Civil War. Repass, conscripted into the 1st Virginia Infantry Regiment, C. S. A. in 1864, spent his service in the defenses around Richmond, Virginia. Captured in April 1865, he died at Point Lookout prison in Maryland on 3 May 1865 from dysentery. Photocopies of letters written by his son Reuben F. Repass, who moved to Texas after the Civil War, are also included in this series as is correspondence of other family members.

Series II, Financial Records (1847-1925, undated), is comprised of two account books, promissory notes, receipts, and tax tickets. One account book, dating 1847 to 1899, contains financial transactions by Gordon Repass, Anna Sharitz Repass, and Selden W. L. Repass and an inventory of Gordon Repass' estate. A letter from Selden W. L. Repass to Reuben F. Repass is also in the book. The other account book, kept by Anna Sharitz Repass from 1858 to 1880, is comprised of financial transactions and a memoir by Reuben F. Repass "The Campaign of 1861. " This account book also has various notes on family history and vital records. Photocopies of many of these records have been placed in the Kegley Library files.

Series III, Legal Records (1849-1904), contains deeds between Gordon Repass, Selden W. L. Repass, Reuben F. Repass, Stephen A. Umberger and others. Also included in this series are records pertaining to the estate of Anna Magdalena Sharitz Repass who died on 7 March 1899.

Series IV, Genealogical Records (1819-1968, undated), contains a wealth of family history information collected by Anna Sharitz Repass and her granddaughters, Lois Ella Umberger and Margaret Belle Umberger Cobb. Specifically, this series contains four memorandum books kept by Anna Sharitz Repass in which she recorded daily events and weather. Other material includes obituaries and research notes on the Repass, Umberger, Sharitz, Doak, Howe and Huddle families as well as photocopies of records from the Bible of Gordon Repass. Correspondence and research notes of Lois E. Umberger and Margaret Bell Umberger Cobb (descendants of Gordon Repass and Stephen A. Umberger) regarding Umberger family history are also in this series. A photograph of the 1819 fraktur (baptismal certificate) of Anna Sharitz Repass is also in this series. Photocopies of many of these records have been placed in the Kegley Library vertical files.

Series V, Miscellaneous Records (1845-1908, undated), includes records of Marvin Methodist Church and the Black Lick Farmers Club as well as literary manuscripts by Maggie B. Repass Umberger and others.

Series VI, Photographs, contains 124 photographs (sepia, black and white, and ferrotypes) of members of the Brown, Cobb, Cox, King, Minter, Repass, Sharitz, Spence, Topham and Umberger families.

Adjunct Descriptive Data

Bibliography

Gose, George B. Pioneers of the Virginia Bluegrass. Radford, VA: Commonwealth Press, 1971.
Hoch, Beverly Repass. "The Civil War Journal and Letters of Reuben F. Repass. "Wythe County Historical Review. 58. July 2000: 1-12.
Hoch, Beverly Repass. From Ziefen to Sally Run: Swiss Pioneer Jacob Repass (1734-1814) on the American Frontier. Albuquerque, NM: Jacob Repass Memorial Fund, 1993.
Umberger, Arthur D. Umberger (Umbarger) Family Chart. Aldan, PA.: Umberger, 1981.

Bibliography

Gose, George B. Pioneers of the Virginia Bluegrass. Radford, VA: Commonwealth Press, 1971.
Hoch, Beverly Repass. "The Civil War Journal and Letters of Reuben F. Repass. "Wythe County Historical Review. 58. July 2000: 1-12.
Hoch, Beverly Repass. From Ziefen to Sally Run: Swiss Pioneer Jacob Repass (1734-1814) on the American Frontier. Albuquerque, NM: Jacob Repass Memorial Fund, 1993.
Umberger, Arthur D. Umberger (Umbarger) Family Chart. Aldan, PA.: Umberger, 1981.

Significant Persons Associated With the Collection

Back to Top

Contents List

Series I. Correspondence. 1862-1920, undated.
8 folders.
Back to Top
Series II. Financial Records. 1847-1925, Undated.
4 folders.
Back to Top
Series III. Legal Records. 1849-1904
3 folders.
Back to Top
Series IV. Genealogical Records. 1819-1968, Undated.
7 folders.
Back to Top
Series V. Miscellaneous Records. 1845-1908, Undated.
3 folders.
Back to Top
Series VI. Photographs.
124 photographs.

Photographs of Carrie Emmenetta Brown; Charlie Cassell Brown; Effie Gay Love Brown King; Frank Repass Brown; Olive Anna Repass Brown; Virginia Umberger Brown; Gordon Brown; Michael Dallas Brown; Emily Repass Brown; Joe Cassell; Missionary meeting at Corinth Lutheran Church and Marvin Methodist Church at Stephen Sidney Cassell house; Margaret Belle Umberger Cobb; Louise Cox and William Lee Cox Jr.; Kay Cox; Ellen Kennedy Cox; Laura Repass Kennedy; M. O. Kennedy and family; Frank Cox; Claude Cox; Lon Cox; William Lee Cox Jr.; Campbell Crowain; E. M. Davis, Sullens Doak; Rev. T. K. Handy; S. K. Harkrader; Victor King; Daisy Newman; Michael Newman; Ray Newman; Josephine Umberger Minter; J. T. Minter; John Topham; Josephine Katherine Minter; Harry Minter; Lewis MInter; Alma E. Sharitz; Anna Magdalena Sharitz Repass; Elizabeth Florence Earhart Repass; Ivan E. Repass; Lee Gordon Repass home in Graham, Texas; Lula Mae Umberger Repass; Mary Repass, Reuben F. Repass home in Texas; Selden W. L. Repass; Roanoke College faculty; Elizabeth Johnston Ryan; Clyde Ryan; Alma E. Sharitz; Charlie Sharitz; Gleaves Sharitz; Guy Sharitz; Sally Sharitz; John A. Sharitz; Reuben Sharitz; Stephen Sharitz; Susan Sharitz; Sluss family home site; Chloe A. Umberger Spence; Rev. W. L. Thompson; Steven Topham; Anna K. Umberger; Lois E. Umberger; Virginia A. Umberger Brown; Daisy Marion Howe Umberger; Ella G. Repass Umberger; James B. Umberger; Ross E. Umberger; Gordon Repass Umberger; Lee Umberger; Margaret B. Repass Umberger; Paul Umberger. R. L. Umberger; Stephen Umberger; Stephen Neel Umberger; Tom Umberger; Laurel Glen farm.

Back to Top