The Hollabaugh Brothers - A Brick Wall Broken!

Thanks to my researching cohort, Mary Diehl, for solving this family mystery.  It has always been wondered why three of the four Hollabaugh brothers headed west, specifically to Spencerville, Indiana.  (The youngest and fourth brother, Jacob, stayed home with his mother on the family farm near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.)

William, George and David Hollabaugh left home after the Civil War and headed to Indiana, where it an uncle, George Bittinger (1810-1881) had gone much early, prior to 1850.  George Bittinger was the brother to the boys' mother, Elizabeth Bittinger Hollabaugh.  In the 1850 census, Uncle George Bittinger and his family lived in Spencerville, Concord Township, Indiana.

Uncle George and his wife, Margaret Rudisall Bittinger, had five children, all of whom worked and lived in the surrounding areas around Spencerville, some of them quite prominent.  Uncle George, himself, ran the lumber mill in Spencerville.
So it seemed logical that the three Gettysburg nephews headed for Indiana, either because they were promised jobs or thought they could get jobs with their uncle or one of the cousins.

 George Washington Hollabaugh and William Levi Hollabaugh both found wives there and settled in for the rest of their lives.  David William married there, but then headed out to Nebraska City where he became very successful, as well.

So, it was the lure of a job with uncle and cousins, and perhaps an escape from the remnants of war, that brought the Hollabaughs to Spencerville, Indiana.

William Levi Hollabaugh was the great-grandfather of James Kline.