Historic Effingham Society will unveil the newly restored Zittrouer-Seckinger House during Olde Effingham Days on April 16-17.
The home was relocated from the original location on Highway 119 North above Springfield near Ebenezer Creek (always known as The Runs). This childhood home of Donald Seckinger was donated after his death to Historic Effingham Society by his wife Retired Probate Court Judge Frances Y. Seckinger and their children. Eddie Browning is completing initial restoration of the home on its new site with plans to later add panes to the present wooden shuttered windows and a dog trot and kitchen addition when funds are available.
If you would like to donate to the project, Historic Effingham Society is a nonprofit organization and will gladly write a receipt for your gift.
The farm house was built by Solomon Zittrouer (1777-1860) about the time of his second marriage in January 1830. He was nearing 50 years old by then. The original house had two rooms and was of mortised and peg construction. It had an upstairs and was added on to through the years. It sat on land deeded to a Zittrouer for Revolutionary War service and was located near The Runs (Creek).
The original location is said to have had an underground spring nearby and was in a good location for fishing and trapping as well as farming. One of the sons of Solomon by his second wife was George Lazarus Zittrouer. He served in the Confederacy and also received a land grant for his service which was adjacent to the senior Zittrouer’s land.
According to Harry Zittrouer, a descendant of George Lazarus Zittrouer, there was a story handed down for generations of a slave who was hidden in the attic by the Zittrouer family during Sherman’s March through Georgia. They kept him in the attic by day and let him go out at night while the troops were in the area.
The house was moved to another location on higher ground away from the creek (prior to being moved to the Living History Site) sometime after the Civil War. It was moved about one half mile from the creek site by log rolling it on poles. Similar sized straight pines were stripped of bark and a sufficient supply secured to move the house. The mules or horses would pull the house along with harness and the last log as it slowly inched along was moved to the front on each pull until the new location was reached. It is said that this move surprisingly was done in a day with family and neighbors and then when in place was jacked up and placed on new supporting pillars. The kitchen and dog trot was likely added after the house was moved.
Oral information, from Rev. Ernest W. Seckinger Sr., about a crack in the large chimney, on the top at the northwest corner, dates this to the earthquake in Charleston in August 1886.
In 1918, the house and land changed hands. Frank and Gertrude Seckinger purchased it and raised their family in the house and continued to live there until about the early 1950s while their new home was being built. Son Bernard, having served in World War II, came back and helped them build a home closer to the main road, which his mother had always desired.
Raymond Seckinger’s playmates remember spending nights with him in the late ’40s or early ’50s upstairs in their old house prior to the move into the new home. Donald Seckinger came to own the Seckinger home place purchasing his siblings’ interests, including the old Zittrouer house.
This house sat vacant until it was donated to Historic Effingham in 2009 and relocated to their Living History Site in Springfield.
Zittrouer genealogy:
Solomon Zittrouer (1777-1860) built the home. 1st m. 1799 – Elizabeth Oglesby of Maryland (1779-1829). They had seven children:
Jane Maria Zittrouer (1800-1870) m. 1821 Samuel Dasher
John Robert Zittrouer (1802-1868) m. 1828 Eliza Remshart
Ann Rebecca Zittrouer (1804-1823) m. 1823 Gideon Dasher
Sarah Zittrouer (1806- ) m. 1826 Noah Pace, 2nd Elijah Blitch
Edward Zittrouer (1808-1837) m. 1833 Johanna Zeigler
Elizabeth Zittrouer (1810-1859) m. George Lewis Jackson
Archibald Zittrouer (1812-1835)
Solomon married 2nd in 1830 Esta Gnann dau. of Hannah Metzger and Jacob Gnann.
Mary Ann Zittrouer (1830-1901) unmarried
Martha Zittrouer (1832-1909) unmarried
George Lazarus Zittrouer (1836-1914) m. 1861 Sarah Frances Dasher (1832-1911) - Harry Bird Zittrouer is one of his living descendants
Seckinger genealogy:
Frank Bernard Seckinger (1887-1969) m. 1914 Gertrude Alberta Exley (1896-1967)
Charles Bernard Seckinger (1915- 2007) m. Margaretta Dohscheva
Rev. Ernest Wardlaw Seckinger (1917- ) (Methodist minister) m. Jessie C. Vannerson
Pauline Alberta Seckinger (1919- ) m. Rev. James C. Varnell, Jr. (Methodist minister)
Stillbirth Jan. 14, 1924
Winifred Ann Seckinger (1925-2001) m. 1948 Rev. Frank Parks Dorris
Frank Donald Seckinger (1930-2004) m. 1951 Frances Youmans
Donald owned the Zittrouer-Seckinger Home until his death.
Raymond Exley Seckinger (1937- ) m. 1966 Rachel C. Smith
Come out and view the Zittrouer-Seckinger House during Olde Effingham Days on April 16 and 17 down the hill from Courthouse Square in the Historic Effingham Society Living History Site. The houses will be open, the syrup cooking, the blacksmiths working with iron and all the re-enactors and tour guides will tell you about the old days. Enjoy the music on the porch and sample food and baked goods for sale. There is something for everyone at Olde Effingham Days.
This was written by Susan Exley of Historic Effingham Society with thanks to those providing information including: Rev. Ernest Seckinger Sr., Pauline S. Varnell, Harry Bird Zittrouer and Eddie Browning.
If you have photos, comments or information to share, contact Susan Exley at 754-6681 or email her at: susanexley@historiceffinghamsociety.org
