Johan Michael Zeller

Notes:

.....The executor's bond for his estate was filed in Rockingham County, Virginia August 18, 1812. Andrew Sellers was named executor of his estate with bond of $3500 signed by Zebulon Harrison, Peter Zetty, and Peter Henton, his neighbors. Michael (Sillers) Sellers was listed tithables for 1775. Adam, Peter, Henry, and John Siller were also listed.
.....John Michael Zellers was the pioneer of the Melrose, Virginia Sellers. He patented 106 acres in 1781 on the west side of Smith's Creek (Patent book 1, pg. 63) and 60 acres in 1785 on east side of Dry Fork on Smith Creek (Patent book 1, pg. 319). He paid fifteen shillings sterling to the Commonwealth of Virginia April 13, 1780 for the 106 acres. It is likely that he laid claim to this land prior to 1780 and had probably lived on it for sometime before it was surveyed and the deed recorded. It is believed that his log house was located on the west side of the hill below where Fellowship Church stands in 1984. An old house stood on this site and was used by Jacob Benjamin Franklin Sellers, in the early years of his marriage, before he built a new house nearby.
The Sellers cemetery is on the side of the hill just south of the location of this log house. According to tradition Michael started the cemetery. He and his wife are probably buried in it in unmarked graves.
.....Family tradition says he had the Methodist circuit riders hold services at this home before he helped build a church on his land. There was also a school on his land. There is a possibility that school was held in the church building since this was customary in the days of settlement.
He sold Andrew Sellers 93 acres in 1812 "of the upper plantation". He probably died early summer of 1812. His estate was not settled for some years since Andrew Sellers paid $1.00 for taxes on 162 acres for the Michael Seller's estate in 1818. The delay in the estate settlement could have been because Michael's wife was still living but it was not unusual for years to pass before settlements were made. There is a question as to why there is no mention of other heirs. His will if any, could have been burned and he left all to Andrew; the rest of the family having left the area or being deceased. Christina was deceased but she left a large family of children.
.....There were one or more structures on the old church site before a deed for the land was made to Fellowship Church in 1854 some 42 years after his death.
He is listed as a landowner in Rockingham County, Virginia in 1789. The militia vouchers for Rockingham 1788 lists Michael Sellers in Captain Richard Regans Co. 13 with 1 Tithable and a male, Jacob, over 16. Usually these males were sons unless otherwise designated. Since horses were essential in case of defense they were also inventoried. Michael owned four.
.....Michael's wifes name is not known, and a record of his marriage has not been found. There is also considerable uncertainty about the names of his children and how many. The girls listed, however, are verified by marriage bonds and Jacob and James by tithables vouchers. Land transactions and the fact Andrew was the executor of his estate indicate he was a son.
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

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