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Note: Post Office in 1860 census is "German Settlement" 1860 - living with Eve is Sevilla Hauser, 26, and Sarah J., age 22 1870 - with Eve, 66, is Sabilla, 35, and Sarah Jane maybe 29. 1880 - with daughter Sarah Valjean. Savilla is there, too. Citizens of West Union, Preston County, VA, on 5 March 1852, asked for a change in the place for holding the German Settlement precinct election from the house of Thornton B. Fitzhugh to the house of Eva C. Hauser. Reel 159, Box 205, Folder 49 http://www.lva.lib.va.us/whatwehave/gov/petitions/nameresults.asp On tax rolls in 1863, taxed for her hotel = taxed $5. See Ancestry.com
EVA HOUSER-BORN AUGUST 20, 1805-DIED MAY 1, 1895 The following is an extract from a private letter in reply to a telegram from the writer to his son, Eugene announcing the death of a sainted woman, Eva Houser. It will be appreciated only by those who knew the sweet character of whom these lines breath. Philadelphia, Wednesday, May 1st Dear Father: Is it possible, can it be, that Grandmother is no more? So well I remember her-how she looked as she watched us off that rainy September day, the last time I saw her. She told me then that I might never see her again. How little I thought that what she said might be true;even now it seems incredible, and yet what hope now remains? Might it not be that there has been some mistake? Is all hope vanished? Letter after letter has come telling me sad changes and forboding the end to be. Hope has lived through this, eagerly devouring each suggested meagre possibility, and in despair has fed upon herself. And now, must it be-can it be, that the is come? Must all hope be abandoned? God knows 'tis hard to part with those we love; and who is more worthy of our tears and love that we have known for twenty years, so pure, so gentle, so patient, so noble, so ennobling? O God, of morals she doth well deserve the richest gifts thou canst bestow.
EVA HOUSER-BORN AUGUST 20, 1805 DIED MAY 1, 1895 The subject of this sketch was born at Mt. Carmel, Preston County, Virginia since cruelly dismembered and called West Virginia. Her maiden name was Eva Ridenour. She came of a sturdy German ancestory who settled in Bucks county , Pennsylvania, as far back as 1690. Her grandfather on the paternal side, was with the patriots at Valley Forge. After the close of the Revolutionary War her grandfather moved with his family to Hagerstown, Maryland. Jacob Ridenour was the father of eleven children, of whom Eva was the youngest. He left Hagerstown with a wife and seven children about 1785 , along with a few other pioneers and located in the wilderness. Indians were quite numerous in this section at the time and not a little trouble was had with them by the settlers. The nearest market and store was Winchester, Virginia, which was reached on horseback along an Indian trail. The little settlement at times was in desperater straits for the necessaries of life. Here, August 22, 1805 , little Eva wa born and grew to glorious womanhood. Here in the summer of 1824 she was married to Henry Houser, of Frederick Virginia, who settled with his bride at Mt. Carmel. A family of eight children was born to the worthy couple. In 1844 her husband died and she has since remained a widow. She has a daughter, Mrs. Sophia Annan residing in Rowlesburg, West Virginia, who is in very feeble health and two daughters Miss Savillia Houser and Sarah J. Valjean, in this city, with whom she has always made her home since her husband's death. She had two brothers David and Jacob Ridenour and a sister Mrs. Susan Hoffman, who came to Ohio in an early day and settled down in Meigs county, where they acquired property and left a large number of descendants. One brother, Jacob served through the War of 1812. At the age of sixteen Eva joined the Lutheran Church which was founded at Mt. Carmel in the early part of the century. Rev. Hygar coming from Cumberland to preach and officiate in the confirmation of members. Before that time the members of the settlement met at her father's house on Sundays to hear a sermon read and to participate in devotional exercises. Eva was sent to Cumberland to school. The deceased has been a great student of the Bible all her days. During the last quarter of a century and more that the writer has known her she had been almost a constant student of the scriptures. She never withdrew her allegiance from the old church at Mt. Carmel that knew her young childhood, motherhood and widowhood. She loved it with no limit. In the early days of this church services were all conducted in German. There was a German paper published at Hagerstown that was taken by her father, which furnished the settlement with all the news they got from the outside world, the reading of which after religious services, was a part of the Sunday excerises. Later, as the settlement grew. the language was changed from German to English to meet the needs of a larger congregation. The old Church structure where Eva and her ancestors and her children worshipped, has been replaced within the last few years, with a new edifice, but the deceased loved to think of the old church and the happiness she had found through its portals. On the old membership book, written in German, now in the possession of Hon. Samuel Wootring, of Mt. Carmel, her name will be found and honored while the records of the church live. To the writer this pure unselfish, holy woman has been all that a loving, devoted affectionate mother could be. The door to her heart has never closed to any living being. She has ministered in all meekness of heart and purity of soul to the wants of the needy and distressed since she was old enough to reach out a helping hand. She was known from Parkersburg to Winchester and from Winchester to Richmond and Baltimore by the old time travelers over the North-western tern pike before the Baltimore & Ohio railway was built, as one of those lovely characters it is an honor and a privilege to know. With advancing years her hearing became impaired so as to be unable to gather much of what was said from the pulpit, and for this reson she had not been an attendant at church for years past, but no day, no hour of the day passed that she did not acknowledge her dependency upon, and pay devotion to the most High. That this pure soul, in the very nature of things, has found rest, sweet rest and life everlasting, as God has promised the faithful, goes with the saying. It may be a comfort to her old friends in the old home and at Kingwood, Deer Park, Oakland and Cumberland and in the valley of the Shenandoah, to know that her passing was as sweet and beautiful as had been her life. The funeral services took place from the residence at 4:p.m. sun time Thursday.
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