Individual Details

Martin was said to have immigrated from Germay to Bethel, Lancaster, Pennsylvania sometime between 1752-1757. He may have had four brothers who also immigrated Jacob (b 1740), John (b 1763), Adam, and Christopher (b 1725).

It is well documented that the original name was Oberlin from Wuerttemberg, Germany. Because of a lack of literacy in the general populace, the name of Oberlin had many derivations including Overly, Overley, Oberle. Most of the early Oberlins took Overly which is the most common name that appears in the U.S. census.

In 1755, a John Martin Oberlin married Eva Nagel in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Around 1779, with their sons Christopher, Casper (Gasper), Henry, Boston, and Frederich, they moved to Westmoreland County, where many of Christopher descendants still live.

In 1795 Martin and his sons Boston, Frederick, and Martin, Jr. and their families left Pennsylvania, while Casper and Christopher remained in Lancaster.They took the Philadelphia Wagon Road to the Warpath Trail coming out below Kentucky.They stayed in Bourbon County, Kentucky for a couple of years and then struck out again.


A Standard History of Ross County, Ohio, Vol. I
Published 1998, Page 458

Martin Overley and his sons, Boston, Frederick and Martin, came from Bourbon County, Kentucky, in 1797. [To assess Virginia Bounty Lands] They built a bark shanty in section 5 [Springfield Township], in which they kept bachelors' hall until fall, during which they cleared off a piece of land and planted it to corn. They subsisted principally on cornbread and sugar water, with an addition sometimes, by way of variety, of scalded nettles. For their meal and salt they were compelled to go to Kentucky.

In the fall, after securing their crop, they returned for their families, moving out on packhorses. There was no road, only an Indian trail through the dense forest. The wife of Frederick Overley [Mary Ann Hines] carried on her horse, all the way from Kentucky, a spinning wheel and her babe, eight weeks old. They all moved into the bark shanty until their several log cabins could be built. The father occupied the farm afterward owned by George Haynes.

Birth	1732	Wuerttemburg, Germany
Marriage	14 Oct 1755	Atolhoe Church, Berks County, Pennsylvania - Eva Marie NAGLE
Arrival	1757	Pennsylvania
Naturalization	24 Sep 1764	Bethel, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Residence	1790	Donegal, Westmoreland, Pennsylvania
Death	1804	Springfield, Ross, Ohio
Residence	1808	Ross County, Ohio
Alt name		OBERLIN
Burial		Chillicothe, Ross, Ohio

Spouse	Eva Marie NAGLE (1729 - 1809)
Child	Boston Sebastian Overly (1762 - 1827)
Child	Casper Overly (1764 - 1831)
Child	Frederick OVERLY (1765 - 1848)
Child	Martin Overly (1767 - 1848)
Child	John Christopher Overly (1771 - 1861)