John Conrad Sellers

Other Events:

• Baptism: 24 Jun 1797, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States; Address:
  Peaked Mountain Church

Notes:

.

John married Catherine Brown on 10 Oct 1822 in Mount Crawford, Rockingham County, Virginia. Catherine was born on 7 Mar 1802 in Mount Crawford, Rockingham County, Virginia; died on 17 May 1842 in Churchville, Augusta County, Virginia, United States; was buried in May 1842 in Churchville, Augusta County, Virginia, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John married Frances Sterrett Bell on 1 Apr 1844. Frances was born in Jan 1809 in Churchville, Augusta County, Virginia, United States; died on 6 Apr 1891 in Churchville, Augusta County, Virginia, United States; was buried in Apr 1891 in Hebron, Augusta County, Virginia, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Heinrich Zellers

Notes:

Henry Zellers deeded a part of his land, in Augusta County, in 1761 to his son John Conrad Sellers for 5 pounds. Henry and his brother-in-law, William Hedrick, combined their land holding into a single farm of 1500-1/2 acres in 1799. This farm was on east side of the Shenandoah River between Elkton and Port Republic. Henry recovered his part of the farm, 837 acres, after Hedrick's death in 1817 and purchased the remainder after Hedrick's widow's death in 1829. Under the terms of Henry's will (Rockingham County, Virginia Will book A, pg. 126) Henry, Jr. and John received the farm but had to pay each of the girls $900 in annual installments of $100. This land was deeded to Jerome in 1858.

The land was located on Whiskey Creek and remained in Augusta when Rockingham County, was formed. Whiskey Creek flows into Jennings Branch and then into Middle River, a branch of the Shenandoah. The area was subjected to Indian raids and there was an old rock fort on Middle River near the Greenhill Cemetery; near the bend in the river and in sight of Cave Springs by the bluff.
Source:
[1] Frank M. Sellers, "Sellers a Preliminary Study of the Descendants of Heinrich Sellers", Denver, Colorado: Lion Press, 1984
[2] Mary Marie Koontz Arrington, "Cradled by the Masanutten: The Zellers-Sellers Family", Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1986

Henry married Mary Magdalene Hedrick on 10 Feb 1789 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. Mary was born about 1769 in Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died about 1841 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Magdalene Hütrich
• Name: Molly Hedrick

Other Events:

• Name: Adam Sellers
• Residence: 1789, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States
• Residence: 1817; migrated to Warren County, Ohio

Notes:

Johan Adam Zellers was probably the 4th child of Heinrich and Anna Maria Zellers. John was probably born about 1742 in Pennsylvania and died in Ohio in 1821. Tradition is that when he was 75 he moved to Ohio. Based upon dates of his land sales he moved to Ohio in 1817. His two sons Henry and Adam Jr. were dead and the rest had moved to Ohio and this probably influenced his moving.

A list of large landowners compiled from the original manuscripts in the Rockingham County, Virginia Clerk's Office for the year 1789, lists Adam Sellers in District 12 with 1142 acres of land. District 12 was a part of the East District which included the land around the foot of the east and southeast side of the Massanutten and west of the Shenandoah River.

In Strickler's Tenth Legion Tithables, 1791 John Adam Sellers is listed as having 6 horses, his son Peter, 21, and on negro over 16.

Boones Run flows east out of Runkles Gap and enters the Shenandoah River just above the old St. Peter's Church where probably the oldest settlement in Rockingham County, was made. Jacob Stover who pioneered settlement in this area married an aunt of Daniel Boone and thus we have Boones Run.

Runkles Gap is named for the pioneering Runkles family from Germany. There is an old Runkle Castle at Runkle, Germany, just on the outskirts of Limberg. Johan Adam Zellers' son Peter married Elizabeth Runkle, daughter of Peter Runkle, Sr., who was of this Runkle family.

The Zellers family became caught up with hundreds more from the valley with wanderlust. They moved west across the Alleghenies to take advantage of cheap lands and the military bounty land after the American Revolution. Two other historical events contributed to another wave of people moving on, not only from east of the mountains but from Ohio westward. One was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Missouri Compromise in 1820, which settled the matter of slave and free territory.
Reference:
(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

From The Western Star, April 30, 1821
PUBLIC VENUE
Will be sold at public vendue on Friday the 1st day of June next at the late residence of Adam Sellers, on Clearcreek, one Clock and Case, one ten plate stove, a number of Hogs, and Cattle, Beds and Bedding, Corn, wheat, household and kitchen furniture, and a number of other articles too tedious to mention. A credit of nine months will be given, by the purchaser giving his note with good approved security.
Admrs.
William Sellers
Christian Sellers
Charles Null
April 25th 1821 230c4W

ADMINISTRATORS NOTICE
All persons indebted to the estate of Adam Sellers, late of Warren county, Ohio, dec'd. are requested to make immediate payment, and those having claims against said estate are requested to present them legally authenticated, for adjustment within one year from this date.
Admrs.
William Sellers
Christian Sellers
Charles Null
April 25th 1821 230c5W

Name:

The original German spelling of the name was "Johan Adam Zeller". Anglicanized by both the English courts as well as English society in general, the English version of the name became "Adam Sellers". The last name is also found in various court records either as "Seller" or as "Sellars". As evidenced by the estate records at his death in Warren County, Ohio, he was known as "Adam Sellers".

Johan married Barbara Teeter on 30 Jul 1801 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. Barbara and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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]