Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Essex, J. H. Beers, Toronto, 1905, p. 85-87:
Rev. Alexander Scratch (Kratz), a retired minister of the Methodist Church, a direct descendant of one of the pioneer families of Essex County, and one of the most highly revered citizens of Leamington, was born in Gosfield township, Essex, July 18, 1826, son of Henry and Isabella (Wilkinson) Scratch.
The name of Scratch is a corruption of Kratz, the change being of comparatively recent date...
On Feb. 14, 1756, at Teutonhoofer, was born Leonhard Kratz... in 1776, at the age of twenty, he was a soldier in an army that came to America from Germany to help England quell the rebellion of her Colonies... Under Gen. Burgoyne they participated in that General's historic invasion, which ended in his surrender of his whole army... The German (or Hessian) contingent of the surrendered army was marched into the colony of Virginia, and there held prisoners of war two years... They were offered free passage home, or the privilege of sharing with loyal subjects of King George in grants of land. This was in 1779...he determined to avail himself of the guaranteed land grants.
In 1779-80, many colonists left Virginia for Kentucky, and among the numerous bands was one in which traveled the Munger and Toffelmeyer families and Leonard Kratz... In the Munger family was a daughter Mary, between whom and the young guide sprang up a lasting affection...their marriage ceremony was performed, in the open air, by the side of the wagons holding all their earthly possessions. The party then proceeded to the fertile valley of the Licking in Kentucky. Ruddell's, a station for protection against the Indians, was built...In the spring of 1780, after their corn was in, came the terrible raid of six hundred Indians and Canadians, the former under the notorious Simon Girty... The settlers became the prey of the Indians, the young wife of Leonhard Kratz giving birth to her first child during the excitement...the women and children were placed in boats and carried down the river. A few evenings later...the poor baby's head struck the tree, causing instant death...The men prisoners were taken to Detroit, and purchased from the Indians by Gen. McCoombs...Mr. Kratz had no knowledge of his wife, but he kept constant watch of the boats arriving with prisoners from all over the country. At last she came...
In 1781 Leonhard Kratz and his wife located on Hog Island, and once again began life together, and in time a son, Peter, was born to them. ..Mr. Kratz had never been discharged from the army... It necessitated a trip to Germany, which he made in 1782, securing his honorable discharge... At the end of eighteen months he returned home to find his son Peter had died in his absence. About 1785 they moved to Trenton, Michigan, and in 1787 became tenants of Gen. McCoombs, on Grosse Ile. In 1792, the Governor of Canada having offered grants of land to the U. E. Loyalists and other who had assisted Great Britain in the war, Leonhard Kratz and his family again became subject to the British King. The lot given him was No. 9, in Gosfield township, County of Essex, Ont., containing 200 acres, and this he exchanged with an old German for Lot No. 2, later purchasing No. 9, thus becoming the owner of 400 acres...
...Through the influence of the first schoolmaster in Gosfield, McMurray by name, who insisted that the name Kratz was, in reality, Scratch, and ought to be so spelled, the change was made, Leonhard, himself, finally submitting to it. He died at Gosfield Aug. 12, 1829. His wife died in 1840.
To Leonhard and Mary (Munger) Kratz were born the following children, eleven in all: The first died as above stated; Peter died while his father was in Germany; Susanna, born on Hog Island, July 23, 1785, married, Feb. 9, 1802, John Wigle, and died Jan. 29, 1860; Peter (2), born at Trenton, Michigan, Nov. 29, 1785, married in Colchester, May 3, 1808, Mary Wigle, and died March 14, 1871; Isabella, born on Grosse Ile, May 18, 1788, married, at Mt. Pleasant, Feb. 12, 1805, Wendel Wigle, and died May 21, 1881; Katie, born on Grosse Ile, in 1789, married George Friend, and died in 1812; Mary, born on Grosse Ile, July 26, 1791, married at Gosfield, Dec. 16, 1813, and died at Jeffersonville, Indiana, April 6, 1870; Elizabeth, born at Gosfield, July 25, 1793, married in Gosfield, May 31, 1809, Charles Howard Friend, and died in Lockland, Ohio, July 7, 1853; Leonard, born in Gosfield in 1795, married --Sellars, had one daughter, and died in Ohio; Henry, born in Gosfield, April 5, 1797, is mentioned below; John, born in Gosfield, July 24, 1801, married in November, 1818, Sarah Malotte.
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Commemorative Biographical Record of the County of Essex, J. H. Beers, Toronto, 1905, p. 33-36:
Scratch. The ancestor of all of this name in the County of Essex was Leonard Scratch, or Kratz, as it was originally spelled...
Leonard Scratch was born Feb. 14, 1756, at Teutenhoofer, near the city of Frankfort, Germany, and was a son of Peter Kratz. At the age of twenty years he was drafted into the army, and he formed one of that company which was sent to the colonies to aid Great Britain during the Revolutionary war, serving under Gen. Burgoyne. He took part in a number of battles, until the surrender of the entire army, in October, 1777, after which the soldiers were given their choice between returning home and receiving a share of free lands. This offer was made in 1779, when Leonard Scratch was away on a furlough, and upon his return he found his regiment disbanded and gone. This caused him to decide to remain in America, and being familiar with the woods he was hired by a number of pioneers to go as their guide into Kentucky. With the party was a family named Munger, the eldest daughter in which family, Mary by name, soon attracted the attention of the guide. He proposed marriage, and after some objection from the young woman's parents, was accepted, and they were married soon afterward... In 1781, ..., Leonard and Mary Scratch took up their residence on Hog Island, now Belle Isle, and there a son, Peter, was born to them. In the winter of 1782 Leonard Scratch started on a trip to his native land in order to obtain an honorable discharge from the army... He returned to his home in Canada after an absence of eighteen months, to find that his son Peter had died during his absence. The family remained on Hog Island until 1785, and then for about a year and a half lived in Trenton, Michigan. On March 25, 1787, Leonard Scratch and his family, with several others, moved to Grosse Ilse...
In recognition of his military service Mr. Scratch was enrolled with the United Empire Loyalists, and as such was entitled to a free grant of land, besides other privileges. He received Lot 9, in the western division of the township of Gosfield, as his U. E. right, and moved to that place in 1792...In time he prospered, and was able to buy more land, his holdings eventually amounting to considerably over a thousand acres... He was a large man physically as well as mentally, and many interests rounded out a life full of the best that the world offers...
Leonard Scratch passed away Aug. 12, 1829, and his widow survived until 1840. The were the parents of eleven children, the two eldest dying in infancy. Susanna, born July 23, 1785, on Hog Island, married John Wigle, and they had a family of fifteen children. Peter, born Nov. 29, 1786, at Trenton, Michigan, was married in Colchester, this county, May 3, 1808, to Mary Wigle; he became the first postmaster of Gosfield, in 1831. Isabella, born in Gosfield May 18, 1788, married Wendle Wigle, and was the mother of fifteen children. Katie, born in 1789, became the first wife of George Friend, of Virginia, and later settled in Indiana. Mary, born July 26, 1791, became the second wife of George Friend. Elizabeth, born July 25, 1793, married Charles Friend. Leonard Scratch married a Miss Sellars, and went to Ohio, where he died, leaving one daughter. Henry, born April 5, 1797, was the father of Edgerton R... John, born July 24, 1795, is mentioned below.
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Mary
Scratch
Child1 Scratch ca 1780-ca 1780
Peter Scratch ca 1781-ca 1782
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