From Cessna to Spieth

Count Jean de Cessna was my great-grandmother’s great-grandfather’s great-grandfather.

Considering that many of us never meet our great-grandparents (I met only one of eight), Jean de Cessna lived a long, long time ago. Nine generations back, to be exact, Jean was born nearly three hundred years before me. It’s not uncommon to be able to trace one’s lineage back that far, in fact, I can do it in several other places, but when I realized that I knew something about each generation, from Jean to Mike, I decided to tell the story from beginning to end.

My grandmother (her mother’s maiden name was Cessna) talked about the “de Cessnas” back in Kentucky, which threw me off for a while. As soon as I dropped the French article from the name, everything opened up, and I found myself surrounded by a group of earnest researchers, and staring into a maze. First came Howard Cessna’s 1903 book House of Cessna, and then internet forums, family trees, and even an internet troll. I suppose no family is ever in agreement, and the house of Cessna/Cissna/Cisne/Cisney/Sisney is no exception. Every time I set foot into that maze, my head spins anew, so I’ve decided to set down only those facts or conjectures that relate to my direct ancestors, and put the remainder aside, breathing a sigh of relief.

But who am I kidding? This never really ends. Now where was I…

Count Jean de Cessna (generation #10 for my purposes)

Jean was born about 1670 in France, and died September 30, 1751 in Newberry Township, York County Pennsylvania. In 1685, when Jean was about 15 years old, King Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes and declared Protestantism illegal, spurring an exodus of hundreds of thousands of Reformed Protestants from France. Jean was one of an estimated 50,000 Walloons and Huguenots who fled to England, about 10,000 of whom continued on to Ireland.

Jean de Cessna was in Ireland for the Battle of the Boyne, in which he fought as a captain under the Duke de Schomberg for William the Prince of Orange. While in Ireland, he had four children by a woman known today in Cessna circles simply as “unknown maiden.” They were married about 1690. Some say that Jean came to America in 1709, and most agree that he arrived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, in 1718. His occupation was “skin dresser,” or tanner. In Pennsylvania, Jean (now called John) was an officer in the Huguenot Brigade. Later in his life, he moved from Lancaster County to York County, where he resided until his death.

John had a second wife, Priscilla Foulke, and had three more children with her. This woman was indeed the executor of his estate after his death, and his will does indeed list her as a wife. Some people have questioned whether Priscilla was even married to Jean. The three children were born about forty years after John’s first four, and some think that the John Cessna who married Priscilla Foulke actually was one of Jean’s grandsons. So I’m personally very grateful to be descended from one of the original four, and as an amateur researcher, I’m content to know that I’m descended from “unknown maiden,” rather than to have to wonder about the relationship of Priscilla in the Cessna line. Let’s leave that for others!

Children of Jean de Cessna and unknown maiden:

1. Colonel John Cessna, b. 1692 in Ireland; d. September 30, 1796, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
2. Stephen Cessna, b. 1693 in Ireland; d. 1759 in Newbury, York County, Pennsylvania.
3. William Chesney, b. 1694 in Ireland.
4. Colonel Charles Cessna, b. 1696 in Ireland.

Children of Jean de Cessna and Priscilla Foulke:

5 Stephen Sisney, b. abt. 1741 in York County, Pennsylvania.
6 Ruth Sisney, b. abt. 1746 in York County, Pennsylvania; d. November 13, 1768.
7 John Sisney, b. abt. 1748 in York County, Pennsylvania.

Colonel John Cessna (generation #9)

John was born about 1692 in Ireland and died September 30, 1796, in Shippensburg, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. He married Agnes (1704 to 1768-1793) in 1775 in Shippensburg.

In 1723, Colonel John Cessna was commissioned as a coroner on the frontier. He is said to have taken part in the French and Indian War by providing pack horses to British General Gage in western Pennsylvania. By the middle of the eighteenth century, John and others had accumulated large tracts of land near Shippensburg.

The History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, page 251 (subtitled Indian Murders), contains the following:

Another source, The Pennsylvania Archives, reports:

Discrepancies aside, like whether it was father and sons or father and grandsons, somehow there must have been an escape, since John, his sons, and grandsons lived on for years after the reported incident. Unfortunately, that part of the story has not come down to us.

Children of Colonel John Cessna and Agnes:

1. Captain Evan Cessna, b. abt. 1724 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
2. Major John Cessna, b. January 26, 1726, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. March 31, 1802, in Friends Cove, Penn.
3. Mary Cessna, b. abt. 1728 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. abt. 1793.
4. Lieutenant William Cessna, b. abt. 1728 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. abt. 1801 in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky.
5. Elizabeth Cessna, b. abt. 1730 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. after 1793.
6. Margaret Cessna, b. abt. 1732 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. before 1793.
7. Stephen Cessna, b. Jul 20, 1737, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. August 14, 1823, in Chillicothe, Ohio.
8. Colonel Charles Cessna, b. March 2, 1744, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. July 30, 1837, in Bedford County, Pennsylvania.
9. Joseph Cessna, b. abt. 1747 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. abt. 1803 in Detroit, Michigan.
10. James Cessna, b. April 1751 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. July 5, 1833, in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania.
11. Jonathan Cessna, b. abt. 1752 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. in 1779 near Phillips Fort, Louisville, Kentucky.
12. Theophilus Cisney, b. abt. 1753 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania; d. March 20, 1867, in Hill Valley, Pennsylvania.

Jonathan Cessna (generation #8)

Jonathan was born about 1752 in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and died in 1779 during a raid against the Indians near Phillips Fort, fifty-five miles south of Louisville, Kentucky. He married Mary Friend about 1775; she was born about 1752 in Friends Cove, Pennsylvania.

By the third generation in America, who lived through the American Revolutionary War, there were many Cessnas in America. Some of the Count’s sons had settled near Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and later Bedford County, where the family became prominent. Also prominent were the number who served in the military, like John Cessna (yep, yet another one…) of Bedford County, who was a three-term county sheriff, a member of the Provincial Assembly and Constitutional Convention of 1775, and a colonel in the Revolutionary War. His brother Charles Cessna was also a colonel. Another brother, William Cessna, was a lieutenant in the war; yet another brother, Evan Cessna, was a captain in the Bedford County Militia. These four men were all brothers to Jonathan Cessna, who took his young family to Kentucky in 1775. According to one unnamed descendant, he…

Children of Jonathan Cessna and Mary Friend:

1. Judge William Cessna, b. 1776 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, d. 1866 in LaRue County, Kentucky.
2. Nancy Cessna, b. 1778 in Louisville, Kentucky; d. 1855 in Howard, Missouri.

Judge William Cessna (generation #7)

William was born in 1776 in Bedford County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1866 in Larue County, Kentucky. On April 13, 1802, he married Sally Wallace, born in 1776 in Edinburgh, Scotland, and died in Kentucky in 1836. When she was twelve years old, Sally Wallace arrived in America with her parents, and then they traveled onward to Kentucky. According to House of Cessna, her father was a descendant of the distinguished Knight of Scotland, Sir William Wallace.

William (nicknamed Willie) became one of the founders of Hodgenville, Kentucky. He and his son Jonathan Friend Cessna were among the 42 petitioners for the creation of LaRue County, although they wanted it to be called Lynn County, after another early settler. LaRue County was formed on March 4, 1843, from portions of Hardin County, and Hodgenville is its county seat. The second House of Cessna book mentions William as a judge, the only reference to it I’ve found.

According to an unnamed descendant, during his boyhood, after the killing of his father by Indians, William…

Children of William Cessna and Sally Wallace:

1. Margaret Cessna, b. 1803 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. 1803 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
2. Jonathan Friend Cessna, b. November 16, 1804, in Hardin County, Kentucky, d. May 19, 1885, in LaRue County, Kentucky.
3. Elizabeth “Betsie” Cessna, b. 1806 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. before October 11, 1877, in LaRue County, Kentucky.
4. Mary Polly Cessna, b. 1811 in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. 1850.
5. Nancy Cessna, b. 1812 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
6. Matilda Cessna, b. 1815 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
7. Susan Cessna, b. July 11, 1816, in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. April 2, 1888, in LaRue County, Kentucky.
8. Margaret Cessna, b. 1820 in Hardin County, Kentucky.
9. William Wallace Cessna, b. May 3, 1822, in Hardin County, Kentucky; d. June 4, 1864, in LaRue County, Kentucky.

William Wallace Cessna (generation #6)

William was born in 1822 in Hardin County, Kentucky, and died in June 1865 in LaRue County, Kentucky. He married Marion Wallace Coombs, born May 14, 1826, and died January 31, 1878. Marion’s father was born in Hardin County, Kentucky, but both of her grandfathers were from Loudoun County, Virginia.

I know next to nothing about this couple, but a little more about their generation. William had seven sisters and one brother. One of the sisters, Sarah Cessna, married a man named Joseph Walters, and one of their daughters eventually married one of William’s sons, making generation #6 of this account – Walter and Susan Cessna – first cousins.

William’s only brother, Jonathan Friend Cessna, was a farmer, slave owner, and lawyer. He was elected as the first sheriff of LaRue County, a position he held for twelve years. Jonathan was also elected as a County Judge, and as a bonded official, he performed marriages. I mention Jonathan Friend Cessna in this account not only because he’s my ancestor’s brother and of note in the area’s history but also because I have a photograph of him, one of the oldest in my collection. I may also have a portrait of William and Marion.

Children of William Wallace Cessna and Marian Wallace Coombs:

1. Ella Bayne Cessna, b. August 3, 1851, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. June 20, 1929, in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
2. William Grain Cessna, b. June 13, 1854, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. April 7, 1936, in Christian County, Kentucky.
3. Walter Coombs Cessna, b. February 28, 1856, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. May 26, 1942, in Detroit, Michigan.
4. Samuel Coombs Cessna, b. June 21, 1858, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. 1944 in Hodgenville, Kentucky.
5. Mary Mollie Cessna, b. February 26, 1860, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. May 25, 1950, in Louisville, Kentucky.
6. Sallie Wallace Cessna, born July 1863 in LaRue County, Kentucky; died January 14, 1938, in Hardin County, Kentucky.

Walter Coombs Cessna (generation #5)

Walter was born February 28, 1856, in LaRue County, Kentucky, and died May 26, 1942, probably in Detroit, Michigan. On June 16, 1881, he married Susan Walters, nicknamed “Sudie,” who was born April 28, 1856, in Kentucky, and died February 16, 1925, in Jefferson County, Kentucky.

Walter Coombs Cessna’s family lived on a portion of the original Cessna farm pioneered by his grandfather. Walter was a livestock trader known throughout the state. He had the nickname “Watt.”

In 1910, the family was living in Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, where Walter had bought an oil well. Larue Cessna’s daughter, Lillian, told that her father and one of his brothers came home sprayed with oil one day, expecting to be punished, but were rewarded with a trip into town for new clothes! But the well turned out to be a dud. It’s unclear how long the Cessnas stayed in Oklahoma, but by 1920 they were back east—the parents in LaRue County, and the sons in Detroit. Daughter Mary Alice and her young family were in Louisville.

After the death of his wife, Susan, in 1925, Walter bought a farm at New Hope, Kentucky, and devoted the remainder of his life to farming and raising fine saddle and harness horses, with the specialty of five-gaited horses. He was the last of his line to own a farm. A true Kentuckian, he rode nearly every day, up until two years before his death. In his final years, he lived with his son Howard in Detroit, but he’s buried with his wife in the Red Hill Cemetery, LaRue County, Kentucky.

Children of Walter Coombs Cessna and Susan Walters:

1. Joseph Walters Cessna, b. March 6, 1884, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. June 15, 1977, in Warren, Michigan.
2. Mary Alice Cessna, born May 3, 1888, in LaRue County, Kentucky; died August 27, 1953.
3. Samuel Head Cessna, b. October 9, 1892, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. August 5, 1990, in California.
4. Squire LaRue Cessna, b. April 11, 1896, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. January 1, 1988, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
5. Leslie Howard Cessna, b. May 1898, in LaRue County, Kentucky; d. September 29, 1991, in Hodgenville, Kentucky.

Mary Alice Cessna (generation #4)

Mary Alice was born on May 3, 1888, in LaRue County, Kentucky, and died about 1953, in Michigan. In 1911, she married Cecil Edward Rudick, born on February 24, 1888, in Big Flat, Missouri.

Cecil and Mary Alice met, married, and had their first child while Mary’s family lived in Oklahoma, trying for success in the oil business. Mary Alice and her family went back east between 1912 and 1915. By 1920, they had a second child and lived in Louisville, Kentucky. Cecil was listed in the census working as a delivery clerk for the railroad. By 1930, they had their third child and lived in Detroit, Michigan, where all four of Mary Alice’s brothers also lived. Two of those brothers worked for a while as streetcar conductors, and a third was a motorman for his entire career. Cecil was a career streetcar motorman, and Mary Alice and Cecil lived in Detroit for the rest of their lives.

Children of Mary Alice Cessna and Cecil Edward Rudick:

1. Walter Cessna Rudick, b. April 26, 1912, in Gore, Oklahoma; d. April 25, 1943.
2. Dorothy Bonita Rudick, b. May 10, 1915, in Nelson County, Kentucky; d. March 25, 1981, Pinellas County, Florida.
3. Cecil Rudick, born January 19, 1918; died January 22, 1918.
4. Vera Mae Rudick, b. July 18, 1923, in Detroit, Michigan; d. June 3, 1998, in Loxahatchee, Florida.

Dorothy Bonita Rudick (generation #3)

Dorothy was born on July 18, 1915, in Nelson County, Kentucky, and died March 25, 1981, in Pinellas County, Florida. She married William Henry Spieth, born June 18, 1912, in Bowling Green, Ohio; died September 4, 1976, in Ford River, Michigan.

Dorothy was hospitalized with rheumatic fever when she was nine years old, and stiffness affected her hands throughout her life. In the 1940s, she was quarantined with tuberculosis for eighteen months. The family lived for some of this time with her parents.

In Detroit, William Henry Spieth (Hank) worked as a millwright for Chrysler before taking on truck driving jobs. Dorothy (Dot) and a friend worked together as seamstresses, and at one point, Dorothy’s pinafores adorned the sidewalk level display windows at Detroit’s famous J. L. Hudson department store. The family vacationed a few times along the Lake Michigan shore at Cedar River, south of Escanaba. Hank asked the owner of the small resort to keep an eye open for business opportunities in the area. In 1953, when a small general store in Ford River, Michigan, was put up for sale, the Spieths bought the business, along with the house behind it. They knocked down the original store a few years later and built a new one just to the south. That store, the house, the old gasoline pumps, a large Texaco sign, and a quarter-mile lane leading to Lake Michigan make up many of my first memories of childhood. My Grandmother Spieth (Dorothy) even let me run the cash register a few times. That would have been around 1962.

They sold the store around 1973 and bought a new house, a mile or so inland. Hank became a popular daily school bus driver for the next year or two, then drove the bus less often, transporting the sports teams to and from their games. He died in his sleep one night, only days after announcing his retirement, and it was said that the local school had to let the children out early to attend his funeral services. Dorothy then moved to Clearwater, Florida, near where her sister Vera lived. Vera had settled in Florida decades earlier.

My Spieth grandparents are buried in Ford River, Michigan.

Children of Dorothy Bonita Rudick and William Henry Spieth:

1. Phillip Henry Spieth, b. September 18, 1934, in Detroit, Michigan; d. June 23, 2005, in Phoenix, Arizona.
2. Walter Ronald Spieth, b. May 3, 1936, in Detroit, Michigan; d. October 9, 2013, in West Bend, Wisconsin.
3. Cecil Willis Spieth (Bill), born May 2, 1941, in Detroit, Michigan; died August 9, 2023, in Evanston, Illinois

Walter Ronald Spieth and his Children (generations #2 and #1)

My father, Ron Spieth, died in October 2013, and probably never got to read this account; certainly he never saw this final edit. He was an enthusiastic supporter of my research and contributed more than he would ever know.

Mike Spieth
November 2013

Credits:

Thanks to Diana Cessna-Sutor, who was in the background whenever I researched the Cessnas. Much of what I have written here (and often outright stolen) is Diana’s research, along with another woman named Krista Cessna. Thanks for posting it all on the FamilyTreeMakerOnline website. Your sources become my sources:

House of Cessna, Books I and II, by Howard Cessna of Bedford, Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Magazine of History, Volume III.

The Pennsylvania Archives, Series I, Volume III.

The History of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.

Much of the info about Generation #6 onward comes from newfound relatives, like Squire LaRue Cessna’s daughter, Lillian, Joseph Walters Cessna’s granddaughter, Peggy, and Mary Alice Cessna’s grandson, Kevin Bourdon.