by Dorothy Tenney
Disclaimer: The following is an attempt to make a sensible narrative of the Zeh (See) and Craigen family lines, incorporating both the historical context and the genealogical information from many different sources into one place and one time line.
I think that the overall narrative of what happened is pretty accurate. The early dates on specific people is still problematic and should be treated as a work in progress, especially the information and dates on the first two Georges.
I have taken some historical context from various web sites (listed at the end) and have quoted where appropriate. I just generally referencedthe web sites because they tend to disappear without warning and I wanted to be sure the information was captured somewhere for future researchers. Here goes.
A man named George See, his wife and some children left the Palatine around 1709. It could have been:
JOHANNES (no middle name) ZEH (SEE) 1675-85 (?)---1750-51 (A/K/A GEORGE SEE) (m. Anna Magdalene?)
Records show the father of George See was Johann Geog Zeh. The name George Ludwig See is purely fictional. George Jr.'s deposition in 1798 (Chalkley V2:98 Augusta Court case Craigen vs. Thorn] gives his age as 66 on 15 Ma y 1798- (b. 1732). Family was then living in Lancaster Co, PA as Berks Co did not exist.
DEVASTATING WAR, DEVASTATING WINTER-------WE'RE OUT OF HERE: THE PALATINE:
Sometime shortly after coming to America, the name Zeh became Anglicized to See and Johann became George. Information seems to indicate that the family originally lived in the village of Rudelsheim which was destroyed by a flood in1830, moved to higher ground and renamed Ludwigshafenwhich is somewhat south of Oppenheim. Sources seem to indicate that the family spoke no English and could not read or write. The family was Catholic.
It appears that George's childhood and his first 20 years were torn by war. The Palatine is land around the Rhine river in Germany. During the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) the region was devastated, with one out of every three Germans dying. In the middle of all this devastation, William Penn had visited the area in 1677 and decided the Germans would make good colonists for Pennsylvania so he passed out information everywhere he went that advertised good, cheap farm land. Once the war was over, things still didn't get better. . The winter of 1708-1709 was the most severe in 100 years. (the "little ice age" was still in effect). The See family were wine growers and their vines were killed. It was time to leave.
George left the area in 1709 when he may have been in his early 20's. By then he had probably married Anna Magdalena (name uncertain) and may have had 3 living children, all babies or toddlers (Johann Gerhardt, Johann Peter, Johann George) who probably successfully made the journey with their parents as far as London. A 4th child, Ignatius, probably died as a baby prior to 1709. The usual date of George's birth is given as 1689. I don't buy it. It would take 6 years to produce 4 children and I doubt George married before 17 or 18. That would make his birth date closer to 1685
NO ONE ACTUALLY LIKED IMMIGRANTS: LONDON 1709-1710 :
Everybody feels sorry for refugees----until they don't.
"In 1709 Queen Anne invited some 7,000 Palatine residents to England. They boarded small boats and headed down the Rhine for Rotterdam. The river voyage took an average of 4-6 weeks through extremely cold, bitter weather. Tolls and fees were demanded by authorities of the territories through which they passed. By June 1709, the people were streaming into Rotterdam at a rate of one thousand per week. By October, more than 10,000 Palatines had completed the Rhine River journey to England. When the Palatine emigrants first started arriving in London in 1709, the English were fairly sympathetic to them because they had been persecuted in their homeland for their Protestant faith. " (The Sees, however, weren't Protestant--they were Catholic. They just didn't like war and freezing and starving to death.) So the See family may have been on the move for 2-3 months just getting from the Palatine to London and they probably took their three children (all toddlers) with them.
They're sick, they take our jobs, they cost us money---Yuk
But thousands continued to arrive and London was overwhelmed. People worried that the newcomers brought disease and that they would take all the jobs. The city’s charities became overwhelmed. There may have been as many as 32,000 Palatines in London by November 1709. So England withdrew the welcome mat. The British government issued a Royal proclamation in German that all arriving after October 1709 would be sent back home.
Johannes and Magdalene had arrived by then and were allowed to stay. They were listed on the London roles in 1709 as having 3 children (perhaps Johann Gerhardt, Johann Peter, Johann George?)
The Palatines already in London in 1709 remained while the English government tried to make arrangements to send them to the colonies. The question was: who would have them?
Wait a minute---maybe we can make a profit
The governor of the New York colony thought he could find a way to have his colony profit from the Palatines. England was a sea faring nation that needed tar, resin, hemp and especially the tall straight virgin trees that could supply mast timber for England's ships so there was a possibility of establishing a naval stores industry. What was needed was "a sufficient number of poor families" that could do the work "at a reasonable rate."
LET'S SHIP THEM OUT----LITERALLY
"A commission was established to find the money needed to pay for ships to carry the Palatines to America. Arrangements were made with the owners of ten ships to pay £5 ƒ10 per head for 3,300 Palatines.
So now they struggle with terrible ship conditions from mid-December to mid June---six terrible months with 3 toddlers?
The Palatines were scheduled to be boarded upon the ships between the 25th and 29th of December, 1709. That boarding took place as scheduled, but the convoy of ships got no further than Nore, fifty miles from London, when seven of the ten ships refused sailing orders. The actual date on which the ships set sail across the Atlantic is not certain but most accounts indicate April 10, 1710 was the likely date of departure for the New World."
"Whether lying in port on the Thames all winter, or on the Atlantic Ocean in the spring of 1710, the Palatines were on board the ships, in conditions suited to the low rate that had been paid the ships owners, for nearly six months. The conditions were harsh and uncomfortable. Landfall was made at New York for the first ship on 13 June, 1710. The death toll on the journey amounted to 446 by the end of July, and during the first month in the New World, that number rose to 470. The ships docked at Nutten Island in the New York colony." Some 30 or so Palatine families came on these ships.
Infant mortality of the Sees would come as no surprise
New York didn't like the immigrants any better than London did. There were reports of disease and the immigrants were quarantined on Nutten Island for several months during the summer---actually all the way until October--four more months.
On the London roles, the See family was listed as having 3 children but by 1710 when listed on the roles in New York, they were listed as having no children. Most probably Johann Gerhardt and Johann Peter died on the sea voyage or during the summer quarantine. If Johann George was one of the children listed in London, he appears to have survived into later life which would conflict with the NY listing of no children. This is unclear but I am beginning to suspect that a Johann George may have been born about 1707 and did, indeed, survive.
NO ONE ACTUALLY LIKED IMMIGRANTS: SCHOHARIE, NEW YORK 1710- 1728:
"Four tracts of land had been scouted for the Palatine’s to settle in New York colony. There was a tract on the Mohawk River above Little Falls, a tract on the Schoharie River, a tract on the east side of the Hudson River and one on that river's west side.
"The tracts were still claimed by the Mohawk Indians. Governor Hunter began negotiations with them and on August 22, 1710 the Indians made a gift of the tract on the Schoharie River to Governor Hunter to be used for the settlement of the Palatines. The original plan had been for the Palatines to work making naval materials but Schoharie turned out not to be suitable for making tar and pitch because there were not pine trees in the area.
"So a tract of land closer to New York City along the east side of the Hudson River was chosen by Governor Hunter for the Palatine settlement. The tract of 6,000 acres was (conveniently) owned by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Robert Livingston A third tract of 800 acres was purchased from Thomas Fullerton. The name given to the three tracts on which the Palatines were to be settled was Livingston Manor.
"In early-October 1710, the movement of the Palatines to Livingston Manor was begun. They had been encamped on Nutten Island (later renamed Governor's Island) since their arrival in New York in June.
We've been had
The Palatines didn't read and didn't speak English so they were sitting ducks. They had agreed to a work contract in the new world but the contract had only been read to them, and no German version of the contract existed. "The emigrants believed they would be given the free 40 acres of land for them to farm as soon as they got to the colonies, not seven years after they had worked in the naval stores. The New York governor said those weren't the terms of the contract and that he expected them to begin working the naval stores operation immediately. Each family was given a 10 acre plot of land so that they could raise what amounted to a garden, but it was far short of the 40 acres they felt they had been promised." They felt lied to and cheated and "deceived into servitude."
But what choice do we have now?
The emigrants had little alternative than to grudgingly work the naval stores project .. But they resisted to the point that on at least two occasions, the Governor had to bring in troops to make it clear they had no choice but to work in his naval stores. But there still weren't any pine trees to make pitch, the project failed, and ultimately bankrupted the New York governor (justice prevails!).
Well, almost. No longer able to pay the Palatines, the governor told them they would have to fend for themselves temporarily until he could get refinanced. But he insisted that they were still under contract. Close to starvation, 130 families decided to move to Schoharie and sent representatives ahead to make sure that Indian sympathies still existed and that the Indians would still be willing to sell them the land previously promised to them.
Fool me once---well, OK, fool me twice
"The Palatines, ignorant of the British claims to the Schoharie tract, entered into their own negotiations with the local Mohawk Indians for the purchase of the Schoharie Valley lands. The Indians, although they had already given the tract to the British queen, were more than willing to be paid for it again by the Palatines.
In October 1712, fifty families arrived in the Schoharie area and managed to survive the winter with the aid of friendly Indians. The second group of families came in March 1713. They lived off the land and lived in loosely constructed huts. The first few winters were hard but the Indians gave some assistance. The See family had been "on the road" now for about 3 years from 1709 to 1712. And the family had probably given up their Catholic religion and become Lutheran as a precondition for remaining in the colony.
The family in 1712
The NY roles of 1712 show Johannes and Magdalene as having one child, so apparently one child was born between the roles taken in 1710 and those of 1712 . Various genealogies show 5 or 6 more children being born mostly in NY altho some genealogies say the births were in Tulpehocken(Christian, Maria Margaret, Maria Barbara, Johann Adam, Johannes seem to have been born between 1710 and 1728 or so when Johannes (father) and Magdalena would have been about age 40). Since this is about the end of child bearing years, it is more reason to suspect the children were born in NY since no one of the See family apparently left for Tulpehocken until 1725-8
PROTEST BY PIG MANURE http://www.feedsackstore.biz/fam175.html
"But unbeknown to the Palatines, others had laid claim to the land in the area, and the Palatines were soon faced with challenges to their land rights The first of these challenges came from Nicholas Bayard in 1714 . He claimed that the Indians sold him the land prior to their “arrangement” with the Palatines. Having survived many hardships, and still smarting from the deceit suffered under the New York governor, they ran Bayard out of the area.
"There is a story which appears out of the mists of time regarding Magdalena Zeh. This story has been reported in several books, some of which are: The Appalachian Frontier by John Anthony Caruso published by the University of Tennessee Press in Knoxville, Tennessee, 2003, page 28; The Old New York Frontier by Francis Whitney Halsey published by C. Scribner's Sons, 1901, page 36; and History of Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York by Jeptha R. Simms published by Munsell & Tanner, Printers,Albany, 1845, pages 69-71.
"Some time later, around 1715, Mr. Bayard was deputized by the English Crown to give titles or deeds for the land to the Germans. However, when he went to visit them, he was virtually run out of town. He hid in a house while a mob of Germans waited outside asking for him to be turned over to them. His side of the story was that he was only trying to give them deeds to the land; but, in view of the intensity of further events, I believe he was probably trying to either get money out of them or find a way to get his land back again. He managed to escape the house and make his way to Albany where he told his side of the story.
Albany supposedly sent a Sheriff Adams to Schoharie to arrest the miscreants. At this time, the people were being told that they would either have to buy the land, pay rent, or leave. During the time elapsing between the hasty retreat of Mr. Bayard and the deputizing of Mr. Adams (who probably was deputized specifically for this occasion as there is no mention of him being a Sheriff anywhere in Albany), the Governor of New York had decided to sell the land to Mr. Bayard and six other partners. This created a group thereafter referred to as the "Seven Partners".
"When Sheriff Adams arrived in Schoharie, the Germans were having none of it. Magdalena was considered to be the ringleader and self appointed captain of the mob, consisting solely of women, which beat Sheriff Adams and literally ran him out of town on a rail. They dunked him in pig manure and pranced him through the small German settlements for the 6-7 miles to the bridge on the road to Albany. Here, Magdalena grabbed a fence stake and beat the Sheriff about his body hard enough to break a couple of ribs, and put out one of his eyes. Some accounts say that she then urinated in his face and left him laying in the road."
(This story has undoubtedly been exaggerated over the years but the underlying anger it reflects was real)
1717: This still isn't going well
Five years later in 1717, the Germans and the New York governor were still at odds. The governor demanded to be paid for damages. The Germans still felt their contract had been broken so they sent three representatives to London to plead their case. Didn't go well. The representative were taken by pirates and arrived in London penniless where they were thrown into debtors prison where two of them soon died. The third representative lived, but failed in his assignment.
1720: Let's get rid of them (it worked before)
In 1720 there was a new governor in New York who said that any Palatines staying in Schoharie would have to lease the lands they had been farmingfor eight years and thought were theirs. Otherwise, they would have to move along. The majority of the Palatines relocated.
From this point on in the narrative, there is more agreement on dates and facts and I believe the narrative becomes increasingly accurate.
JOHANN GEORGE ZEH (SEE) 1697-1707 (?)---1750-51 (?) (m. Mary Margaret/ Judy Tschudi?)
MOVING DAY BY DUGOUT CANOE: TULPEHOCKEN CREEK, PENNSYLVANIA 1725-1748
The See family in Schoharie was struggling. George and Magdalene's second batch of children were probably been born between 1711 and 1723 (their first baby dying in Germany, two babies probably dying during the journey to America and possibly Johann George living). The oldest of the second batch of children would be approaching young teenagers in 1723. Records show that Christian, Maria Magdalene, Johannes, Maria Barbara and Johan Adam all either married in Schoharie and/or died in Schoharie so these children and their subsequent families apparently stayed in Schoharie and toughed it out.
There are a lot of conflicts in the dates of the various Johann Georges given in the genealogies. I suspect a confusion between father Johann and son Johann. Some sources say that a George and a Mary both died in Schoharie around 1750 altho I again suspect confusion between the lives of the father Johann and son. I am going to suspect that the elder Johann and Magdalene had reason to remain in Schoharie. They had already faced so many hardships and some of their children were still young.
My current guess is that it was the younger Johann who went to Tulpehocken and later Hardy County. If he was born around 1707 in Germany right before the family left on their journey, and if he was the one child to survive the journey, he would be about 17 in 1724 and might have married around that time. His wife's name is variously given as Margaret/Judy Tschudi but the genealogies seem uncertain about the facts surrounding her. Their children are listed as a Margaret born about 1725 in NY. The next birth date of a child is 1732 for both Michael Adam and George Jr--yet another George--born in Tulpehocken. This suggests the move was made around 1728 when George and his wife would have been 21 and the child Margaret 3. Also moving to Tulpehocken was the Harness family.
"In 1722 Sir William Keith, the governor of Pennsylvania, visited Albany in regard to a treaty with the Indians. He there learned of the distressed condition of the Palatines, and offered them an asylum in Pennsylvania. The first company started in the spring of 1723. They were led by Hartman Vinedecker, and consisted of 33 families. They ascended the Schoharie River a few miles, then led by an Indian guide they went over the mountains to the headwaters of the north branch of the Susquehanna. There they constructed rafts or canoes for the women, the children and the furniture, while some of the men drove the cattle down the stream along the shore. (The Susquehanna flows by Cooperstown down to Harrisburg, PA which is near Stouchsburg and Chester County where Tulpehocken Creek is located.) They travelled down the Susquehanna until they came to the mouth of the Swatara Creek, up which they travelled until they came to the district of Tulpehocken."
In 1728 another party started, led by young Conrad Weiser. I believe that it was in this party that George the younger travelled. The families making the move included the German names Zeh (See), Ernst (Harness) and Joachim (Yoakum). These families had now traveled together since they left Germany in 1709.
Land where the turtles sang and wooed. Easy for the turtles to say
"The portion to follow, is taken from "The German Emigration from New York Province into Pennsylvania: Part V of a narrative prepared at the request of the Pennsylvania German Society," by Reverend Henry Richards, D.D. and presented in 1899. "Guided by the Indians, and not under the leadership of either the elder Weiser, or his gifted son, as some suppose, both of whom came later, the pioneers of 1723, with much toil and labor, cut their way through the forest, after which, with their wives, little ones, and animals, they followed, by day, the scanty track they had made in the woods and slept at the foot of it's trees during the night, until the forty or fifty miles, which separated them from the (Susquehanna) river had been traversed. Then came the building and launching of heavy rafts, to contain their domestic utensils, and of the light and speedy canoes for themselves, accompanied slowly by their cattle, driven along the river's banks. They little reckoned that they had swept by the spots where the flourishing towns of Binghamton and Oswega were, later, to stand. As they exchanged greetings with the Indians, in their village of Shamokin, can it be that there rose up before any one of them a picture of the hideous scenes of their near future. Down the Grand Stream, which was bearing them, they slowly floated until their watchful eyes caught sight of a long log cabin on its shores, where now stands the capitol city of Pennsylvania, (Harrisburg) and as they looked upon the home of John Harris, it is altogether probable they saw, for the first time in all their journey, the dwelling of a white man. On they went, until they came to where the Swatara Creek joined it's waters and at the spot where Middletown now stands, our wanderers at last changed course and entered the stream to Tulpehocken (which means "land where the turtle sang and wooed."
Tulpehocken Creek
NOPE. WE'RE NOT THERE YET
Among the families now at Tulpehocken, were the See, Harness, Stump and Joachim (Yoakum) families, all close friends. George See the younger and Mary/Judy may have been in their early 20's with several children. Up until the late 1730's or so, they may have had as many as 12 total children. The children included Michael Adam, George Jr., Michael Frederick, Elizabeth (Letty ,Betty), and maybe Barbara , Madeleine, John and Jacob.
Some accounts indicate that George started to apply for land but never finished the process. George does appear to have joined a Lutheran church here, though. Tulpehocken seems to be a lovely area, but none of the core families that traveled together seemed to really take hold here altho they lived here for 10 years or more between 1728 and 1738.
Go West? How? Just look at all these children
By 1738, some of the original families were heading further west, but not the See family at that time. The parents were still in their vigorous 30's but with a pack of perhaps 8-10 children. One of their older children Margaret would be 13 and the youngest child still a baby Talk about being tied down. The See family probably stayed in Tulpehocken until about 1748.
But not everyone was tied down and there seemed to be land and money to be had further west.
Lord Fairfax, a free-for-all land grab, and the boys at Tulpehocken
In 1735 Lord Fairfax came to Virginia to claim an old land grant from King Charles II and to figure out how to make money from it and begin issuing land leases. It was a mess--a land grab with conflicting claims. In 1737, Fairfax sent out 4 men from Winchester to scout the South Fork area.
So how did the Tulpehocken settlers hear about it all in 1738? Tulpehocken was on major travel and communication routes. Until mid-l9th century, travel was easier by water. (The Tulpehocken settlers had floated down the Susquehanna from Schoharie.) Land routes were usually original Indian trails, which became fur trader trails, which became cart trails, then roads. Settlements, goods and services, and wagon mechanics grew up along the roads, as they do today. (Mechanicsburg was named for the many mechanics who were there to do business with the numerous wagon trains)..
Tulpehocken was near one of the first and biggest settlements-- Winchester---which was a major gateway west. The first settlers of Winchester came about 1729 along the old Indian/Great Warriors trail (which later became the "Great Wagon Road") and began to homestead on old Shawnee campgrounds. By 1738, the settlement was known as Frederick Town and later was renamed Winchester.
The 4 men Lord Fairfax sent out apparently came back and made such a favorable report that Michael Ernst (Harness), along with Matthias Yoakum and George (Jorg) Stump reportedly set out in the spring of 1738 from Winchester with the idea of determining whether they wanted to settle their families in the South Branch Valley.
According to Yoakum’s grandson, George Yoakum, in the Draper papers, “they came by way of Winchester, then up Big Capon, Lost River and to the mountain. Crossing over the mountain, they came to the south fork of the South Branch”. Some accounts say the men's route went by the Shamokin Indian village that they had passed by years before on their float trip down the river. This makes sense because one of the most passable trails was the Great Shamokin Trail.
Can't get a wagon through here. We'll run the wheels over land by hand
"The men, so family tradition tells, liked what they saw and two of them, Matthias Yoakum and Michael Ernst (Harness), returned later with their families Michael (Ernst) Harness may have built a cabin on his scouting trip, cleared several acres of bottom land, started raising a small crop of corn and vegetables, then went back to Pennsylvania and brought his family in a wagon up Lost River, cutting a road most of the way. Packing their goods on horses, family lore has it that Michael left the wagon and with his family crossed the South Branch mountain on foot to the cabin that he had previously built. This was probably 1739. Some time later he is said to have returned and packed the wagon with the running gears taken apart onto his horses, and ran the wheels over land by hand."
Remember, the German families had been together for 30 years since 1709 and by now they were all inter-related. Matthias Yoakum was married to Elinore See who was probably George See's aunt. Going to the South Fork (probably) with Matthias and Elinore See Yoakum was their son, Valentine/Felty Yoakum who was about 8 years old. Stay tuned. We'll get back later to this little 8 year old when he grows up.
1748: OK. THAT'S IT. NOW WE'RE OUT OF HERE--AGAIN
George and Mary/Margaret/Judy See, with their passel of young children, looked on enviously but probably didn't go west in 1738-9. George still appears on a list of members of the Tulpehocken Lutheran Church 1743-1746, made by Rev. Tobias Wagner. By 1748, George and Mary Margaret may have been in their early 40's. Their oldest child Margaret was 23 and apparently still unmarried. Sons Michael Adam, George Jr, and daughter Elizabeth were young teenagers. The other children were no longer vulnerable children too young for the journey. An older son Michael Frederick was early 20's and had married Catherine Vanderpool a year or so earlier and had one child, Peggy/Margaret born about 1745. The family already had friends and relatives established at South Fork. It was time to go. We know the approximate year they left because the next batch of children to be born into the next generation were born in Virginia, not Pennsylvania, and born in Virginia 1750 and after.
My guess is the party that went west was composed of George See and his children and his son Michael Frederick, his wife Catherine Vanderpooland their child.
THE TRIP WAS GOD AWFUL AND THEN LOOK WHAT YOU GOT
The Sees may not have had to actually cut their own road as their neighbors had done 10 years earlier. In his journal of 1748 (the same year the Sees moved) 16 year old surveyor George Washington described his first journey into the South Branch over 40 miles "of the worst road that was ever trod by man or beast."
Once you got there, it wasn't a bed of roses. Conditions were primitive and settlements had to be fortified. Michael Harness and his sons built a fortified family dwelling sometime before 1750, just southeast of what is now Moorefield against Indian raids which had become prevalent in the area. The Sees joined them in this area.
The Harness web site draws this map of land plots in the area into which the See family moved. The Sees moved very close to the Stumpf land (bottom right on map).
THEY PRAYED A LOT. PROBABLY HAD TO ON THE FRONTIER
The See family probably moved in 1748 and by 1749, they were "established" so to speak and there is this report of them.
"Nov 1749 house of George See (1707?-1751) above the Gap (near present day Welton) on South Branch visited by Moravian ministers Schnell and Brandmueller. Virginia Historical Magazine Vol 12 1904
MORAVIAN DIARIES OF TRAVELS THROUGH VIRGINA. EXTRACTS FROM THE DIARY OF LEONHARD SCHNELL AND JOHN BRANDMUELLER OF THEIR JOURNEY TO VIRGINIA, OCTOBER 12 - DECEMBER 12, 1749
November 3rd, 1749 we met accidentally John Becker, of Menising [Minnisinks] who had run away from there, and by way of "Schomokin" [Shamokin--the Indian village] had come to the South Branch. We reminded him of what he had heard of the Lamb. He told us his inward and outward need. Finally we came to the house of Matthias Joachim (YOKUM). The man himself was not at home, but the mother (Elinore See ?) with her children received us very kindly. After a while the mother said: "My dear people, we hear much evil of you. Again a book has reached us in which many bad things are told about you." But the son said: "Let that be; we have never heard anything wrong from these people in their sermons. They are all right, etc." We stayed there over night. November 4th, we observed the Sabbath in quietness. We bled each other. On Sunday, November 5th, I preached in Joachim's house, on the text: "The Son of Man is not come to destroy but to save the souls of men. " [Luke, 9:56.] A considerable number of people were present, and as there were some English people who asked me to preach to them in English, I repeated briefly parts of the German sermon. Some few of the Germans expressed their gratitude, at the same time they lamented their poor religious condition on the South Branch, not having heard for three years any other sermons than those preached by the Brethren."
(Aha. Did the Sees still speak mostly German if the sermon had to be re-preached in English? Sources say they spoke only German on coming to America around 1710 and couldn't read or write. So 30 years later, was German still their main language? When George See Jr (b.1732) died in 1811, he still probably couldn't read or write since he only made "his mark" for his will. That's a century, 1710 to 1811, without formal education.)
" In the afternoon we continued our journey, and stayed over night with Michael Ernst. [Harness?] On November 6th, we continued up along the South Branch through the Gap. On the way we visited the sister of my father-in-law. They related how they had saved themselves during the flood. The man and his wife with their six children had climbed into a tree, which had fallen down half way. There they spent the whole night.
Above the Gap we came to the Germans, where we called on George Zeh (See). Here we appointed a sermon for the next day. When the neighbors heard of our arrival, several came at once and implored us to baptize their children. I turned them off as well as I could. This continued for a longtime. In the evening our host asked us : "Why do you teach that the Savior accepts all men, and yet you refuse to baptize these children ?" I told him because these people give their children such a poor training. On November 7th, a woman came very early to us asking for the baptism of her child. In the same way six others came whom we could not refuse. Brandmueller preached on the words: "Behold the Lamb of God." After the sermon a general request was made for baptism. Hence, I baptized two girls and a little boy. In the afternoon we went back part of the way to Mr. Joachim, where we had appointed a sermon.
George Zeh took us twice through the river on horses. On November the 8th, I preached at Joachim's. After the sermon there was again an urgent request presented to us for baptism. We traveled yet several miles up along the South Branch and stayed over night with Michael Stump. On November 9th, Mr. Stump gave us a horse to cross the many creeks."
By 1751, George See Sr. would have been in his mid-40's if a birth date around 1707 is anywhere near correct An estate of George See may be found including administration by Frederick Sea of 27 Aug 1751, with inventory listed on 27 Aug 1752 in Augusta County Will Book 1, 1745-1753, Reel 41, Pages 375-377, at Virginia State Library at Richmond, Virginia. This may be our George See and, with frontier living conditions, an early death is not improbable.
Then in 1757, the mother, Mary/Margaret See when she would have been around 50, died. One of the earliest wills on record is that of Margaret See, the widow of George See, dated 28 Mar 1757 in Hampshire County, Virginia. Margaret names three sons in her will: (Michael)Frederick, GeorgeJr., and Michael(Adam). She also names two grandsons Felty (this could have been a nickname for almost any of her grandchildren) and Jacob Yokeham (Letty's son) In addition to these she names Mading (her daughter Margaret Madeline? or John's child, Mary Malding and thus also a grandchild?),Barbara N., Mary, and Jacob See. Michael Frederick was probably not in South Branch in 1757 when his mother wrote her will, because she made her younger son, George, executor, not Frederick, probably because Frederick had moved to the Greenbrier and was not around.
THE INDIANS REALLY, REALLY, REALLY DIDN'T LIKE IMMIGRANTS
We have followed the migration of the See family as they repeatedly tried to re-establish themselves. London didn't like immigrants. New York didn't like immigrants. But the Indians really, really, really didn't like immigrants.
The frontier interface between Indians and settlers was never very peaceful but then France and England fought the Seven Years War (called French and Indian War in the colonies) from 1754-1763. In 1763, there was Pontiac's War and in 1776, the American Revolution. The Indians were drawn into various alliances and this made the frontier situation much worse so there were Indian raids and massacres for twenty years along the frontier.
MUDDY CREEK MASSACRE: 1763 :
The story of the massacre is told in detail on many web sites so we will just summarize briefly here. I've left out the real gore. And the carnage at the Clendenin massacre was worse. The purpose of this narrative is to trace the family line of one of the other brothers, George (b. 1732) who was not at Muddy Creek but who had to have been impacted by the events that decimated so much of his extended family.
Sometime around 1751, three or four of the See brothers acquired land (perhaps around 300-360 acres each) further south in the Greenbrier area. Two of the brothers (George b. 1732 and Michael Adam b.1727) changed their minds and didn't move. Two of the brothers did move. John (b. 1716) and Michael Frederick (b. 1726). . In 1755 they may have been near Baughman's fort (west of the town of Alderson on the south side of the Greenbrier across from the mouth of Muddy Creek.) This fort was attacked by Indians in 1755 and a number of people killed. This may have included brother John, killed by Indians in 1756.
Then the group moved near the Jackson Cowpasture River settlements in about 1756 and then on to a small settlement of perhaps only 100-200 people at Muddy Creek in about 1760-1. About 20 miles away, on the Big Levels near Lewisburg was the Clendenin settlement.
In 1763, the cast of characters at Muddy Creek from the See family looked like this;
See Brother MICHAEL FREDERICK SEE (1727?-7/14/1763) m. CATHERINE VANDERPOOL (1725-1806?) The father Michael was 36, Catherine 38. Their 8 children were Margaret --age 18, Lois 16, Michael 13,Catherine 9, Elizabeth 9, George 8, John 6 and Mary 3.
Their daughter, MARGARET SEE ROACH/ROBERTSON (b. 1745) at age 18 was apparently married (perhaps to a man named Roach/or William Robertson) and a had small baby.
See Sister MARGARET SEE YOAKUM (1725-1815) m. VALENTINE/FELTY YOAKUM (1730-7/14/1763) Margaret See 38 and husband Felty Yoakum age 33. This Felty was the same little 8 year old we met earlier when he came west with his family about 1738. Their children were Elizabeth age 10, George 8 and a younger Sarah./Sally.
A total of three See families relocated and lived together in the tiny village of Muddy Creek on the frontier.
On Saturday, July 16, 1763, a party of 60-90 Shawnees, led by Chief Cornstalk and war chief Puksinwah (who lived on the Scioto, in Ohio, some sixty miles from the Virginia border) crossed over the Ohio River in canoes, which they sank at the mouth of the Kanawha, then proceeded overland about 160 miles, to Muddy Creek.
"According to all accounts, the Indians suddenly appeared at the Michael Frederick See cabin, with all of the appearance of friendship. The Sees offered to share their food with the Indians. The meal finished, the Indians lounged around for a bit then suddenly with a whoop they fell upon their hosts, killing the father (Fredrick Michael) , his son-in-law (Roach) and Felty Yoacum , scalping them before the eyes of their families."
Three dead and scalped, baby still to go
"The Indians began marching their prisoners back to their camp. at Old Town near the present city of Chillicothe, Ohio on the banks of the Scioto River. The prisoner line was made up of about 150 women, young boys and children, many made to carry the loot that the Indians had collected. Women and children who were unable to keep up were killed. The first born child of Margaret (See) Roach, a boy, was killed in a most brutal fashion after being snatched from her breast.
"The Fighting Squaw"
"Accounts related by James Olson, also told by a descendant, was that Frederick See's children held up for two to three days. The smallest, John, 6, was quite weak and mother Catherine Vanderpool See feared for his life. Seeing a warrior riding their stolen horse, Catherine indicated to him that she wanted it. When he refused, she picked up a club and attempted to knock him off the horse About to kill her, the amused Indians prevented the warrior from doing so, calling her a "fighting squaw."
"Once they reached the Indian campgrounds, it is said the Shawnee had a celebration. The women were forced to sing for them, and Catherine was called upon to run the gauntlet. Grabbing a stick she began making whirling moves swinging the stick which pleased all the warriors greatly.
SLEEPING OUTSIDE WITH THE DOGS IN WINTER
The massacre had been in July but the captives were held until winter set in. "Since about 150 captives had been added to the Indian camp, there was not enough room inside for all the prisoners, and they were crowded into a tent they shared with old Indian squaws. One of Catherine's sons had to sleep outside with the dogs to keep warm. One day the warriors went off hunting leaving Catherine in charge of all the old Indian squaws sitting around the campfire. One had a fainting spell, falling into the fire. Catherine let her fall, thus making room for her children in the tent."
Catherine, the Fighting Squaw, and three of her children come home
"The Shawnees kept the prisoners for one year until Col. Bouquet was able to make peace and the Indians agreed to give up their white prisoners. On November 9, 1764, over one year after they had been captured, the Indians delivered 206 prisoners at the stockade and on the 18th they were taken to Fort Pitt. It is said that the Indians were filled with grief on the day they turned over the captives because many Indians did not wish to give up their adopted children
Among the list of prisoners sent by Capt. Lewis to Fort Pitt on November 15th (18th?) were the following: Catherine Vanderpool See, and her children George 9, Michael 14, and Mary. The list reveals the physical condition of the children and the fact that some did not know their own names (this was probably the child Mary who would have been about age 4, having spent one year with the Indians).
The Shawnees had about 100 remaining prisoners which they promised to deliver in the Spring (1765) Catherine and at least some of her children must have been separated during their captivity, because her youngest child, John, 6 was adopted by an Indian family who had lost their own son..
After two years, everyone else comes home too---except the Indian princess
"When the time arrived for the Indians to release their prisoners (May 10, 1765) , all of the See family except the twin, Elizabeth (twin of Catherine) now about age 12 were freed. Cornstalk would not agree to let her go, but kept her for nine more years during which time his young son took her as his squaw and, according to family tradition, she had an Indian child by him. Later she escaped or was ransomed, because she eventually left the Indians, and married a white man named Peter Shoemaker"
Oh yes, and the 8 year old son who had gone native
The son John who was an impressionable 6 when he was captured became very fond of his new Indian parents and feared being returned to the whites because his adoptive family repeatedly told him that he would be burned alive if retaken by the whites.
When he was released at age 8 two years later in 1765, his rescue party of whites "traveled about nine miles before darkness overtook them, and made camp for the night. Young John made his bed between two of his sisters, but he did not sleep. He lay awaken until he was certain everyone else was asleep, then crept out of camp and hurried back to his adopted Indian family. Here he stayed for some time. One version indicates one year, while another says four years."
Eventually his uncle, Michael Adam See (b. 1727, brother of Frederick Michael) ransomed his nephew John perhaps giving a trader $100 to get him according to one tradition. Uncle Michael Adam took John, then between 9-12 years old, back to Hampshire County Virginia where the rest of the family was located.
We will now return to the story of brother/uncle George See (b. 1732) and the marriage of the See line into the Craigen line.
Below, from Wiki Tree is a cast of characters---to be used cautiously, as always. A lot of these dates are very fungible. The notes are my best guess at the impact of the Indian wars on the family.
Johann George (Zeh) See ( m. Mary Margaret /Judy Tschundi) is the father of 12 children THIS IS OUR LINE
5. Johann Michael Frederick (Zeh) See 
( -1725-7?- July 14, 1763) m. Catherine Vanderpool MICHAEL KILLED BY INDIANS, (FIGHTING SQUAW)
7. John See 
(October 10, 1757 - December 15, 1836) m. Margaret Jarrett CAPTURED BY INDIANS, RANSOMED
7. Michael Adam See 
(March 27, 1727 in Tulpehocken - July 3, 1795) m. Barbara Harness DIDNT GO TO GREENBRIER. RANSOMED NEPHEW
8. George See 
(1732 in Tulpehocken - September 1811) m. Christina Bogard DIDNT GO TO GREENBRIER THIS IS OUR LINE
1. Phebe See 
(1763 - September 25, 1832) m. John Couchman husband and 2 kids died young (Lawsuit Craigen v. Thorn.)
The following is a list of some web sites used in this account. Throughout the above narrative, I have used quotes as appropriate.
web sites- roads, Indian paths, migration routes
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Shamokin_Path
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Wagon_Road
http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-colonial/2038
http://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Great_Valley_Road
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gentutor/trails.html
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~tqpeiffer/Documents/Ancestral%20Migration%20Archives/Migration%20Webpage%20Folder/Northeast%20U.S.%20Migration%20Routes.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winchester,_Virginia
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~gentutor/Braddock.pdf
frontier and south branch area
http://chasreader.home.comcast.net/~chasreader/Life_and_times_on_the_South_Branch.html
this is the Harness family web site which is especially good
http://www.electricscotland.com/history/america/south/south15.htm
http://www.historichampshire.org/histwvgs.htm
http://genealogytrails.com/wva/hardy/countyhistory.htm
http://archive.org/stream/historyofhampshi00maxw/historyofhampshi00maxw_djvu.txt
http://www.wvgenweb.org/hardy/
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.fortedwards.org/cwffa/f-i-series/part5-27.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.fortedwards.org/cwffa/f-i-series/part5.htm&h=332&w=652&sz=29&tbnid=AGTpSAyODbHpEM:&tbnh=70&tbnw=138&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfort%2Bnecessity%2Bpictures&hl=en&usg=__M9ltXt7Qb-a52Tz0Uz8Sjf2n3tA=&ei=HO2eSs6UDo2cMbrE0ZAC&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=3&ct=image
Zeh/See family
http://dalersee.com/index.php?pid=6 This is a See family web site
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Zeh-1
http://www.arfhs.org/armstrong/SEE%20&%20YOKUM%20MASTER.pdf Yoakum web sites help too
http://www.okeylwva.com/see.html
http://incolor.inetnebr.com/gwbrownx/smithresearch.htm
http://www.genealogy.com/users/d/e/r/Dee-Derrico/FILE/0070text.txt
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyschoha/zeh3.html
http://www.uelac.org/Loyalist-Research/Palatines.pdf
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/lebanon/church/trintulp01.txt
http://files.usgwarchives.net/pa/lebanon/church/trintulp01.txt
https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Hardy_County,_West_Virginia
https://www.ancientfaces.com/story/see-zeh-van-bibber-family-story/387000
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=29112374
http://www.tuell.net/genealogy/individual.php?pid=I07551&ged=tuelldimascio.ged
Muddy Creek massacre
http://www.wvculture.org/history/settlement/clendeninmassacre02.html
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/INDIAN-CAPTIVES/2002-07/1025554954
http://www.angelfire.com/fl2/sandrag/clend.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=sbDoAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA528&lpg=PA528&dq=muddy+creek+captives&source=bl&ots=3kxNIUJ6xR&sig=G1bho_RzNNG3IbvBGkGKQVZBexg&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8D0aU8SQHoTW2gX76oCIBg&ved=0CEoQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=muddy%20creek%20captives&f=false
http://www.wvculture.org/history/cornstalkraid.html
http://www.fold3.com/page/711_massacre_at_muddy_creek/stories/#2235/
http://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Zeh-57
http://chasreader.home.comcast.net/~chasreader/Indian_raids_on_settlers.html
http://genealogytrails.com/wva/greenbrier/history_early.html
http://books.google.com/books?id=GPsJ1b3sJ6MC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=date+first+settlement+muddy+creek&source=bl&ots=xyyz_opdKO&sig=kzHFOijhc-6vtBG2h61lhtu3U0o&hl=en&sa=X&ei=twAqU46XFuLY2gWxvICoCA&ved=0CEYQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=date%20first%20settlement%20muddy%20creek&f=false
https://sites.google.com/site/jcwvhistory/home/before-1700-s
http://www.werelate.org/wiki/Settlers_of_the_Cowpasture_in_Augusta_County,_Virginia
Zeh web site
http://dalersee.com/index.php?pid=6
Hi Dorothy,
ReplyDeleteI am a descendant of The Sea / See / Zeh family and I loved reading this in narrative form. I have some more details for you with citations to add to your narrative. I love the thought of this being a living document!
I'll be in touch,
Laura