Johan Peter Zeller

Other Events:

• Name: Peter Sellers

Notes:

Believed to be a son of Heinrich Zeller. We first find Peter documented by land transaction on the east side of the Massanutten in 1755. On June 13th of that year he patented 90 acres next to 28 acres Heinrich had bought from Lewis on February 28, 1750. The Zellers land was on the west bank of the Shenandoah River and had about a mile of frontage on it. Peter bought 123 acres from Heinrich on August 17, 1765. Twenty-three of this was from Heinrich's home site. He patented another 183 acres July 5, 1774, a total of 334 acres on the east side of the Massanutten.

Next, we find a Peter Sellers buying land in what is now the Mountain Valley community on the west side of the Mountain in 1791. This is a 17 year time span. This land was not so far removed from his other land, at that time, as it appears today. There was a "path" or trail road thru that early settlers traveled to Peaked Mountain Church and the McGaheysville-Elkton area from the Mountain Valley area. This Peter had a wife, Margaret.

Peter's land at Mountain Valley was a part of David Andersson's warrant for 2000 acres granted to him December 1, 1783. Peter's survey for 16 acres cites "S. W. -Stephen's corner". The old Stephen's place was on Smith's Creek between Lacey Spring and road 620 today. Road 806 is in this general area today.

This land seems to have descended to Conrad Sellers, to John Sellers, to Daniel Sellers and was sold out of the Sellers family. Leon Cave owned most of this land in 1985. A section of it along the east line descended to Amanda Layman, daughter of Daniel Sellers. Wayne Phillips owned this in 1985 and it is thus now owned by a Sellers descendant.

Many land records were burned on the wagons hauling them to safety during the Civil War. The effort to save the records resulted in their being partly destroyed. This loss of records makes it difficult to trace land transactions.

Peter furnished supplies to the militia during the American Revolution. He was active in community affairs. He was named as one of four, any three to serve, to appraise George Schulenger estate March 22, 1799; March 22, 1784 for Frederick Haynes, and June 28, 1784 James Madley's estate.

He and Adam Zellers were named executors of Christian Teeters' will August 23, 1784. He was a member of the Grand Jury in 1785. Augustine Price and Frederick Armentrout processioned Peter's land 1767-68.

Like his brothers John and Adam, Peter furnished livestock and food to the American forces from 1780 to 1782. He received payment for all three years provisions in November 1783.
Source:
[1] Mary Marie Koontz Arrington, "Cradled by the Masanutten: The Zellers-Sellers Family", Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1986
[2] Frank M. Sellers, "Sellers - A Preliminary Study of the Descendants of Heinrich Sellers", Denver, Colorado: Lion Press, 1984

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Conrad Sellers died about 1808 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States.
2. Peter Sellers was born about 1758 in Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died before 20 Jun 1836 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States.
3. Elizabeth Sellers was born about 1761 in Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America; and died.
4. John Sellers was born about 1765 in Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died on 24 Nov 1839 in Warren County, Ohio, United States.
5. Anna Maria Sellers was born about 1767 in Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died in 1827 in Lincoln County, Georgia, United States.
6. Jacob Zellers was born on 6 Mar 1768 in Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died on 5 Dec 1821 in Lincoln County, Georgia, United States.
7. Michael Sellers died about 1812 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States.

Other Events:

• Name: Heinrich Seller
• Name: Henry Sellers

Notes:

NOTE: Rockingham County was established in 1778 from Augusta County. The county is named for the Marquis of Rockingham, British statesman

A Frankish tribe settled at the end of the Weschnitz Valley and its chieftain Wino gave Weinheim its name. The village Weinheim is first mentioned in the Chronicles in 755. It became a fief of the mighty Abbey of Lorsch and its Peterskirche was protected by the Castle Windeck. Power changed hands and in 1232 the Abbey's holdings were transferred to the Archbishop of Mainz. Count Palatine founded a new town one mile south of the old in the year 1250. The old and the new were joined in 1456 after many conflicts. Only 1/2 of the population survived the Thirty Years' War but it was spared when France devastated almost every town in the Palatinate between 1689-1693. When Napoleon rearranged Europe in the 18th century it became part of the Grand Duchy of Baden.

The Thirty Years' War, lasting from 1618 to 1648, involved most of the countries of western Europe, and was fought mainly in Germany. At first the struggle was primarily based on the religious antagonism engendered among Germans by the events of the Protestant Reformation. Religious tensions were seriously aggravated in Germany during the reign (1576-1612) of Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II. Protestant churches in many parts of Germany were destroyed, restrictions were placed on the rights of Protestants to worship freely, and the emperor's officials made the Treaty of Augsburg the basis for a general resurgence of Roman Catholic power. The religious hatreds that flared into the Thirty Years' War had smoldered for more than half a century before 1618. The war, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. Uncertainty, fear, disruption, and brutality marked everyday life and remained a memory in German consciousness for centuries.

Heinrich Zeller (aka Henry Sellers) was born in or very near Weinheim, Germany in the Duchy of Baden in the Holy Roman Empire and here he married Anna Maria (last name unknown). Around the year 1700 the number of barges moving down the Rhine river began to increase in number. They were loaded with families bound for Rotterdam where they hoped to find passage to a new world called America.

Heinrich Zeller, at the age of thirty four, boarded a barge with his young wife and small children in the early summer of 1738. Friends and relatives had been leaving the area of Weinheim for some years. The preparation for leaving had gone on all winter. Most of it had consisted of what they could take with them, which was very little. They probably packed what clothing and food they could in an old trunk or wooden chest. They perhaps had a few utensils and some seeds and bulbs. Seeds and bulbs were two items the women tried to bring. A bulb was a tie back home.

He was probably very excited when the day finally came to catch the barge. The barge was damp and well worn from previous trips up and down the Rhine. Word had been coming to the area about "Penn's Land" and if he was going to go he must go soon since he was now 34 and in the eighteenth century life was short.

He was better prepared in some ways for his trip than some of his fellow immigrants in that he had some education. He firmly inscribed his name HEINRICH ZELLER on the ship's register when he landed in Philadelphia. He probably carried some coin. He was evidently Lutheran or Reform since we find his family with these faiths in America.

All winter the river had been ice bound but now the warm winds of spring had washed the winter snow away and the Rhine River was running high. As the barge drifted down the river the passengers took one last look at their homeland as the old Windeck Castle on the hill faded from sight. Thought to be on the barge with him were his daughter Anna Barbara, age 5; Johannes, age 3; and his wife, Anna Maria who was probably some years younger than he. Anna Maria may have been expecting since it is thought a son, Peter, was born circa 1738 or 1739. At Rotterdam he secured passage on the ship Queen Elizabeth, Alexander Hope, Commander. They stopped at Deal, England to refuel and take on their last provisions for the trip. The air was filled with excitement. Little did they know what lay ahead for them on the high seas before they saw land again. The crowded conditions, sickness, and the stench on the small sailing vessels were yet to be realized along with the fearful waters of the Atlantic Ocean. Food and water was often scarce at sea and disease was often rampant. There were many burials of crew and passengers made in the stormy waters leaving broken families and orphaned children when the ship finally landed in America. They were fleeing into the unknown but it was less frightening than the conditions under which they were living. They were seeking freedom from interference with their religious and family life. They landed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania September 16, 1738. They were probably very glad to be on firm ground again, even though they knew nothing about their new country or what lay ahead.

Sometime after arriving in Pennsylvania Heinrich learned of land in the Valley of Virginia through friends and promoters. Several friends and neighbors moved to Virginia, some also from Germany. It is not known the exact route he followed to Virginia and there has been much speculation. He had to cross Maryland and there were only three crossings of the Potomac that were widely used by those coming from the north in the early days. Coming as early as Heinrich did, it is likely they traveled by pack horses since the trails were not cleared well enough to get over them with wagons. In any case we find him in 1750 at the foot of the Peaked Mountain, west of Elkton. Augusta County, Virginia land books show he acquired his first land in 1750.

The Heinrich Zeller family was active in the Peaked Mountain Church. The old church record refers to it as the "Pinquit Moundyn" in "Agosti" County, toward the South "Chanithor" River. The area was in Augusta County, Virginia on the Shenandoah River that became Rockingham County, Virginia in 1778. The name was from the southern peak of the Massanutten Mountain and around which the Zellers family settled. The first church was near a Mr. Hermann's mill. The second church was dedicated October 23, 1768. The building was used by both the Lutheran and Reform congregations. On October 31, 1769, forty five persons signed an agreement that it was to be a Union Church. It was near Stony Creek. A third church was dedicated on May 27, 1804 and the building was still shared jointly between the Lutheran and the Reform.

The Zeller/Sellers name is German, or perhaps German-Swiss. The Zellers spelling continued well into the early part of the 19th century. The records of early America were kept in English. The English did not know German and the Germans did not know English and therein arose the dilemma concerning the spelling of names of the German immigrants. The English had to make the entries so they spelled phonetically as it sounded for official records. Names became Anglicized as time went on so that it is difficult today to sometimes identify the origin. Some of the old deeds and other business transactions that are written in English were signed in German. There has been found many spellings of the name Zeller/Sellers. Some of the spellings found were Sehler, Selers, Celers, Celer, Sellar, Cellars, Zöller, Zöllner, Seller, and Söller.

The origin of the name seems to be open to question by authorities. One version is that it was derived from "of the cellar". There was a position of some note within the feudal hierarchy known as the office of the Cellarer. The person holding this position served as a steward. The steward managed and supervised accounts, servants, and other domestic concerns. One holding the position of Cellarer certainly had considerable responsibility in relation to the well being of the lord and his vassals. There were certainly stewards of the vast cellars under the castles of medieval Europe where the food supplies were stored and the great wine cellars existed. It is possible, that the name came from "of the cellar".
Source:
[1] Mary Marie Koontz Arrington, "Cradled by the Masanutten: The Zellers-Sellers Family", Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1986
[2] Frank M. Sellers, "Sellers - A Preliminary Study of the Descendants of Heinrich Sellers", Denver, Colorado: Lion Press, 1984
[3] "Thirty Years’ War." Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia 2001. © 1993-2000 Microsoft Corporation.

The Sellers (Cellers, Zellers) family in Warren County was among the earliest pioneers, having taken up landed holdings in January 1799, by purchase. The first hundred years of the Zellers family, (as it was then spelled) has been lost in the maze of time. It is a matter of family traditions that three brothers came from Germany about two hundred and fifty years ago. One of them settled in Pennsylvania, one in Maryland and one in Virginia. [Source: Lee L. Dodds, "Pioneers of Warren County and Their Descendants, (reprinted with permission of the Middletown Journal, Middletown, OH (Originally printed in 1941) Warren County Genealogical Society, Lebanon, OH 1998) The Sellers Family, published 16 March 1941]

Hans married Anna Maria Fechter on 23 Feb 1730 in Germany. Anna (daughter of Nicolaus Fechter and Judith Kehm) was born in 1701 in Möttgers, Hessen, Germany; died about 1776 in Augusta County, Virginia, British Colonial America. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Eramus married Barbara Biensach on 9 Feb 1702 in Steinau An der Straße, Hessen, Germany. Barbara (daughter of Albrecht Biensach and Margretha Aylget) was born in 1682 in Möttgers, Hessen, Germany; died on 22 Jan 1720 in Möttgers, Hessen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nicolaus married Judith Kehm. Judith (daughter of Nicolaus Kehm and Ursula _____) was born in 1680 in Hesse, Germany; died in 1750 in Hesse, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Heinrich married Ruffina Reisenbeck. Ruffina (daughter of Jacob Reisenbeck and Maria) was born on 5 Jul 1656 in Möttgers, Hessen, Germany; died on 1 Feb 1716 in Möttgers, Hessen, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Albrecht married Margretha Aylget. Margretha (daughter of Jost Aylget and Elizabeth _____) was born in 1652 in Hesse, Germany; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Nicolaus married Ursula _____. Ursula was born in 1649 in Hesse, Germany; died in 1721 in Hesse, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Ursula Kehm