From A Standard History of Springfield and Clark County, OH:
"Mr. (Francis) Bookwalter was bom in a pioneer log cabin near Rob Roy,Fountain County, Indiana, on the 29th of April, 1837, and is a son ofDavid Buchwalter, who was bom in Berks County, Pennsylvania, in 1804,and who eventually changed the orthography of the family
name to the English form, Bookwalter. When David Bookwalter was nineyears old the family removed to Ross County, Ohio, where his father,Joseph Buchwalter, took up land and engaged in pioneer farmenterprise. In that county David was reared to adult age, and in
1828 he went to Indiana to establish a home on land which his fatherhad previously purchased at a public sale held at Crawfordsville, thatstate. After spending a year on this land, David Bookwalter returnedto Ross County, Ohio, where was solemnized his marriage with Susan VanGundy, of Holland Dutch ancestry. In 1830 the young couple establishedtheir home on the pioneer farm on Little Shawnee Creek in FountainCounty, Indiana, the Shawnee Indians having at that time been still inevidence in that section, which was still on the frontier of advancingcivilization. On this old homestead were born the five children,Francis M., John W ., William H. H., Melinda Jane and Malissa. Thefather built a sawmill and an oil mill on Little Shawnee Creek, and in1837 he erected on his farm a substantial stone house, the firstpretentious building in that section of Indiana. In his oil mill DavidBookwalter ground flaxseed and the oil product was shipped to pointsas far south as New Orleans, by boats on the Wabash, Ohio andMississippi rivers. David Bookwalter died in 1859, and his widowpassed away many years later, at a venerable age, she having been amember of the home circle of her son Francis M. at Springfield at thetime of her death."
Residences & events:
1830 Shawnee Twp, Fountain Co, IN. They must have moved right afterthey married to be there before winter set in.
8/7/1850 Shawnee Twp, Fountain Co, IN. That year the cenus said Davidwas 44, a farmer with property valued at $4500. Wife Susan was 42 andthey had several children: Francis M, 13, John W, 11, William H, 9,Malinda I, 7, and Malisa I, 5. They lived in a row with most ofSusannna' s sisters, her parents were in the other direction.
According to his gravestone, he was 58 ys, 2 ms, 16 ds, making hisbirth date as posted.
