Ifft/Ift/Eft Family History Project

Ifft/Ift/Eft Family History Project


 

About the Ifft/Ift/Eft Family History Project

We've set up this space to record the Family History and Genealogy of the Ifft/Ift/Eft Family. You can help! Please consider contributing information about your ancestors, documentation, pictures, etc.

Much of the research (so far) on this site has to do with the family in Germany and Beaver/Butler county, however we are trying to make a connection to and document any of the other Ifft/Ift/Eft's anywhere at anytime, and welcome any information you have regarding families with these surnames.

Germany

The Ifft/Ift/Eft families first appear in Sannerz and Vollmerz, Hesse, Germany, which is in present day Stadt Schl�chtern Hessen, Germany and contains the towns of Ahlersbach, Breitenbach, Elm, Gundhelm, Herolz, Hohenzell, Hutten, Klosterh�fe, Kressenbach, Niederzell, Vollmerz, and Wallroth.

The earliest known Ifft ancestor was Hans Ift who died March 26, 1719 in Sannerz, Hesse, Germany.

This name could also be spelled Yfft and probably originated in the small village of Ifta in the Rhinggau area. Ifta is about 120 km from the Bergwinkel or Kinzig Valley and is in the old East Germany. The priest at this time spelled Hans son Caspars surname Yft and later Ift."

Germany > New Jersey > Illinois, Indiana

The first Eft/Ifft family that we are aware of that emigrated to the United States was Johann Frederick Eft and his wife, who emigrated in about 1764 and settled near Woodstown, New Jersey, about 25 miles south of Philadelphia. It is believed the original family home was in Niederzell, Germany. They had a son, Frederick, who was baptised in 1764 in Friesburg, NJ. He died in 1806, leaving a wife, Susannah, and five small children.

Descendants of Frederick Eft migrated to Illinois in 1869. The majority of them lived in El Paso, Bloomington, and Chicago, Illinois. A daughter, Anna, married an Emley and moved to Huntington, Indiana in the 1870s.

We now believe that there is a good chance that Johannes Ift b. August 05, 1730 son of Caspar Ift (1684-1737) and Elisabetha Eyring (1692-1770) was the emigrant Johannes Eft who came in 1764 and settled in Woodbridge, NJ.

Germany > Pennsylvania

The next group of Ifft families to arrive came from Vollmerz, Hesse, Germany between 1831 and 1834 and settled in Beaver and Butler Counties, in Western Pennsylvania.

Johann Adam Ift (1756-) and Margaretha Euler (1749-1814) of Vollmerz, Hesse, Germany had four (known) children:

  1. Johann George Ifft (1778-1828), married 1807 in Ramholz, Anna Barbara Pfeiffer (1777-1834), he and his wife remained in Germany, but after their deaths three of his children (that we know of) emigrated to the United States and settled in Butler County, Pennsylvania: Peter Ifft (1809-1882) (emigrated 1833) , Michael Ifft (1812-1888) (emigrated 1834) and Johann George Ifft (1815-1891) (emigrated 1832). The Ifft publishing family, prominant in Utah descends from Peter Ifft (1809-1882).
  2. Barbara Katharina (1781-)
  3. Anna Kunigunda Ifft (1784-1837), married 1807 in Germany Johann Michael Pfeiffer (1784-1869, Anna died just before her husband and children emigrated to the United States in May 1837, settling in Hardin County, Ohio..
  4. Gertrude Ifft (1787-), married Nicholas J�ckel. This family remained in Germany.
  5. Johann Peter Ifft (1790-1868), married; 1st 1820 in Vollmerz, Anna Barbara G�nther (1801-1828); 2nd 1831 in Elm, Anna G�nther (1806-1886) (his deceased wife's younger sister) they emigrated to the United States in 1831 and settled in Beaver County, Pennsylvania.
  6. Melchior Ifft (1793-1793), died as an infant.

Germany > Ohio

There is a John Eft born about 1857 who emigrated from near Neiderzell to the United States in 1866 and settled first in McDonald, Washington, County, Pennsylvana then settled in Wintersville, Jefferson County, Ohio in 1903. John owned a dairy farm and employed his son Henry (Abt. 1880-1960) who resided circa March 1960 on Efts Lane in Steubenville, Jefferson Co., Ohio. We have not yet "tied" this family into the lines we have been researching, but we believe that the fact that they emigrated from Neiderzell indicates a connection. If you have further information, please let us know.

Illinois

George Ifft - There are a few Ifft's on the Frederich and Elizabeth (Traschel) Hari Family web site, descending from a George Ifft and Margaritha Hari (1864-1947), when I corresponded with Mike Hari, I received this reply: "I do not have additional information on George Ifft in my references at this time. I believe that it is likely that George Ifft was a member of the Apostolic Christian church at the time he married my great-great aunt. Finding a link to this denomination in your family would certainly increase the probability of blood ties. We have not yet "tied" this family into the lines we have been researching. If you have further information, please let us know.

Christian Ift - He arrived in Adams County, Il around 1870, his wife was Caroline (Whipper) Ift We have not yet "tied" this family into the line we have been researching. If you have further information, please let us know.


This page was last updated on: , Copyright© 1998-2013
by Kay Starr Schaney