Tag Archives: Shawnee

[Continued from The Jacob Seybert family: Fort Seybert]
Part 3: Margaret Seybert-Janes in the years after the massacre at Fort Seybert.
Recall that in April 1758, Margaret and several of her siblings were captured by a Shawnee war party and taken captive to Indian lands after the slaughter of her parents and other settlers at Fort Seybert, WV.

In the years following the ‘French and Indian Wars’ and her ordeal with the Shawnee, Margaret married William Janes IV. At the time, the British colonies in America were on track to become a national entity known as the United States…

William  JANES IV was born in 1746; died BEF 20 Oct 1801 in Pendleton, WV; buried in Pendleton,WV.

William JANES IV married Margaret SEYBERT in 1770. They had the following children: Henry JANES (b. 1771),Eleanor JANES (b. 1773), John JANES (b. 1777), Samuel JANES (b. 1779), ♥ William JANES V (b. 9 Apr 1780), Edward JANES (b. 1783), Elizabeth JANES (b. 1785), Margaret JANES (b. 1787).

HOME:
1.  In 1751, while he was a child, William’s parents family settled on Straight Creek, near Monterey. Their plantation and the land mentioned in item #2  below, in William’s IV’s Will, might be or contain some of the same properties.{D1} A study of modern maps shows that William III and William IV probably lived within a maximum of 7 miles from one another along Straight Creek, between the present boarder of  WV and  Monterey, VA.
2.  William and Margaret developed a plantation on Straight Creek, about 25 miles southwest of old Fort Seybert and the Dyer Settlement. The location is probably just north of present day Monterey, VA.

Concerning locations, William’s Will states:
1) “75 acres on Straight Creek adjoining to Weeks land”,
2) “191 acres, lying in the forks of Straight Creek below the plantation where I now live”,
3) ” I bequeathe unto my wife Margaret her third part of the plantation whereon I now live”,
4) “a tract of land lying on Straight Creek, which formerly has and does now in part belong to the heirs of George Evick Sen.”{D1}

MILITARY: William was a Company officer, a Captain  of 67+ men in the First Battalion of the 46th Regiment in 1793. Colonel of the 1st Battalion, was Peter Hull; and Major, Henry Fleisher.{D2}

The Janes family were slave holders, as evidenced by William’s Will:

WILL: (Excerpt) “2nd. I give and bequethe unto my wife Margaret her third part of the plantation whereon I now live, during her life, also one negro woman named Luce. Also all my household furniture, three milk cows, and her choice of one breeding mare out of any that I may have at the time of my decease…4th. I give unto my son William and his heirs forever, the plantation whereupon I now reside containing  ___ acres, also two other small tracts of land adjoining to the plantation where I now live on the North and Northwest side containing ___ acres. I give unto my son William and his heirs forever one Negro boy named David…12th. I give unto my son William for his use and the use of my wife Margaret all my plows, harness and all my other farming utensils…” The WILL was signed
25 Apr 1801.{D1}

DOCUMENTS: {D}
1. A copy of the Will exists inPendleton County Court,Pendleton County,West Virginia, pages 352-356. Also seen in Betebenner–Horney  and Allied Families, page 264.
2. A History of Pendleton County, West Virginia, by  Oren Morton, reprinted, copyright 1980,  publ by Genealogical Publishing co., Baltimore, MD, pg. 396.

Margaret SEYBERT was born in ABT 1745 in Tulpechocken region, Berks, PA; died AFT 1801.
BIRTH:  Margaret was born to Jacob Seybert and Elizabeth Theiss on the families 209 acre tract of land in Bethel Twp., Berks County (Tulpechocken region), PA, which was a settlers grant given to them by the colonial Pennsylvania government.

RELIGION: Her parent’s were members of Trinity Reformed Church in the Tulpechocken region.

TRAVEL: Circa 1748, when she was about 3 years old, her parents along with other members of their extended family, moved to the South Branch of the Potomac, now Pendleton County, WV.{Individual Source}

HOME: On 21 May 1755, her father Jacob, bought a 210 acre farm, his brother-in-law Nicholas Haffner bought an adjoining farm the same day.{D2} This property was in the Dyer Settlement and became the site of colonial Fort Seybert.

EVENT: The 1750s were the time of the French and Indian Wars. All up and down the frontier there were Indian raids, killings and kidnappings. On Wednesday, 28 April 1758, a war party of Shawnee attacked Fort Seybert at the Dyer Settlement.
Margaret Seybert was taken captive by the Indians, along with her brothers and sisters, after the massacre at Fort Seybert, which ended the lives of her parents, grandmother and many friends. The captured Seybert children were: Nicholas, age 15; ancestor, Margaret, 12; Catherine, 10; George, 8; Elizabeth, 2; Henry, 14. They were taken across the Ohio River to Indian lands in or near Chillicothe,
OH.{D1} {D2}

EVENT: “After a year or more with the Indians, Nicholas Seybert arranged for the escape of his brothers and sisters. He had become a trusty with the Indians, and was allowed to carry on fur trading with the French. One evening when a wagon load of furs was taken out of camp he put his brothers and sisters in the bottom of the wagon, piling furs on top of them. As the wagon was driven away he remained at camp, manifesting surprise when the Indians discovered they were gone. He pretended
to be as disturbed as the Indians. That night he made his escape.”{D3}

MARRIAGE: At about age 25 years, and 11 years after escaping from the Indians, Margaret married William Janes IV.

DOCUMENTS: {D}
1. The story of the massacre of the Seybert family by the Indians is in A History of Pendleton County, West Virginia by  Oren Morton,  reprinted, copyright 1980, publ. by Genealogical Publishing co., Baltimore, MD. See pages 43-51.
2. History of Highland County, Virginia by Oren Frederic Morton, 1857-1926, reprinted 1969 by
Regional Publishing Co., Baltimore.
3. The Dyer Settlement: The Fort Seybert Massacre, Fort Seybert, West Virginia by Mary Talbot,
authorized by the Roger Dyer Family Assn.
4. Individual source: The Seiberts of Saarland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia by Raymond Martin
Bell, 1982 edition, Washington, PA, 46 pages.