William Sellers

Other Events:

• Occupation: Possibly a stage coach driver

Notes:

27 May 1808 Mentioned in the probate records of Peter Sellers as William Sellars ten years of age.

William married Parthena Harrison on 18 Nov 1819 in Rockingham, Virginia. Parthena was born on 8 Jul 1801; died on 30 Apr 1828 in Warren County, Ohio, United States; was buried in May 1828 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Theodore B. Sellers was born about 1825; and died.

William married Maria M. Harrison on 15 Apr 1829 in Warren County, Ohio, United States. Maria and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Anna Maria Sellers was born on 20 Jan 1837 in Warren County, Ohio, United States; died on 21 Mar 1860; was buried in Mar 1860 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States.
2. William Harrison Sellers was born on 30 Oct 1839 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States; died on 10 Jul 1928 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States; was buried on 13 Jul 1928 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States.

Other Events:

• Probate: 27 Aug 1807, Warren County, Ohio, United States

Notes:

Moved from Virginia to Columbia, Hamilton County, Ohio (near Cincinnati) in 1797 and finally settled in Warren County, north of Lebanon in 1799.

Peter married Elizabeth Runkle on 20 Feb 1797 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. Elizabeth (daughter of Peter Runkle and Margaret Steiner Koch) was born in 1775 in Augusta County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died on 16 May 1859 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States; was buried in May 1859 in Lebanon, Warren County, Ohio, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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:

• Baptism: 8 Apr 1746, Wackernheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; now Wackernheim, Mainz-Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
• Immigration: 7 Sep 1748, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, British Colonial Ameirca; Aboard the ship "Hampshire"
• Census: 1810, Harrisonburg, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States; 1810 Federal Census
• Census: 1820, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States; 1820 Federal Census
• Will: Aug 1821, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States
• Probate: 7 Aug 1821, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States

Notes:

Peter Runkle served as Constable of Augusta County in 1767 and served in Frazer's Company from Virginia during the Revolution.

Peter received his share of the estate in his father's lifetime so that he would take care of his mother, Anna Maria (Hammer) Runkle, who was nearly helpless for two and a half years before her death in 1813. Therefore, Peter is not named in his father's will. Margaret Runkle b: 04 APR 1776.

Birth:
now Wackernheim, Mainz-Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Immigration:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS84-X3QT-M?cat=1031370

Census:
as Peter Runkle

Census:
as Peter Runkle

Will:

I Peter Runcle of the county of Rockingham and State of Virginia do hereby make my last will and Testament in manner and form following First I desire my that all the perishable and moveable part of my estate be immediately sold, after my decease and out of the monies arrising therefrom, all my Just debts and funeral expences to be paid. 2ndly. After the payment of my debts and funeral expences by my Executers which will be named hereafter I give to my wife Margaret Runkle during her natural life the one third part of my real and personal estate (the negroes only excepted) to be taken by her at the Appraisment with two rooms in the house I now life and one Negroe woman her choice of my Stock and at her death I give and the aforesaid moveable and perishable property that may be left to be sold and equally divided among my children 3rdly. The negroes that are left after my wife has taken her choise-is to be appraised and as equally divided among my children as the case will admit the shear or shears that mey fall to my Daughters Mary Price and Christina Sellars after they have received one each of equal value with the rest of my children I give to my then children by their first husbands and after such division of the negroes is made it is my will and desire that each one retain such negro or negroes as may fall to each ones share and not sell them to Strangers but that they be retained amongst the family except the increase thereof which they are at Liberty to do as they please with 4thly. the land that was willed to my son Jacob Runkle by his Grand Father Jacob Runkle which will more plainly show for it self by having reference thereto is not to be considered as any part of my estate or as any part of his my son Jacobs sh---------------------------------ally divided-------------------------cepted and at the death of my wife M---------------her my will and desire that the plantation where ------------------ two or more three disinterested discreet men to be chosen by ---------------- the payments I wish to be made thereof and after the estimate ---------------- of payment fixed and agreed on by the men so chosen (which -------------- wish to be made easy It is my Will and desire that my son Jac-- -------- said plantation to have and to hold the same in fee simple forever ------------- said plantation to have and to hold the same in fee simple forever ---------- or is not able -- to -- comply with the terms agreed on then and in tha- ------- will and desire that any other of the within named Children or them -------- shall have a right to take the land in like manner he or they payi-- ----- ---- aforesaid arbitrators.
6th. An lastly all the rest of my estate both real and personal of what natu--- soever it may be not herein before particularly dispose of I desire may ------ divided among my several children before name which I give to the---------- heirs executors or assigns forever. And I do hereby constitute and appoint Jacob Runkle and Daniel Sellars executors of this my last will and Testa--- hereby revoking all other of former wills or testaments by me heretofore mad-
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal ----- lmy seal this day of in the year of our lord 1821
Peter (his mark) Runkle
Signed sealed published and declared as and for the last will and Testament of the above named Peter Runkle in the presence of us.
Philip Moyers
Michael Snyder
T. R. McGahey

Peter married Margaret Steiner Koch about 1772 in Elkton, Rockingham County, Virginia, British Colonial America. Margaret (daughter of George Koch and Maria Sara Reiner) was born on 14 Dec 1753 in Delkton, Virginia, British Colonial America; died in 1834 in Virginia, United States; was buried in 1834 in Elkton, Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. [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]

Other Events:

• Immigration: 7 Sep 1748; on the ship Hampshire from Rotterdam

Notes:

Jacob was a slaveholder. Sometime before 1791, he sold his slave named Paul to his son Peter in Rockingham Co, VA. This was mentioned by the Ammon vs Runkle lawsuit. It added that Peter then sold Paul to Henry Cook.

Johann Jacob Runckel and Friedrich Hammer, from Wackernheim, were granted permission to emigrate on May 14, 1748. They had to pay 40 and 10 florins respectively for the permission. They landed at Philadelphia on the Ship Hampshire, September 7, 1748 (Strassburger-hinke, List 118 A-C). List A gives Runckel's age as 27, Hammer's as 35. [Reference: Friedrich Krebs, Palatine Emigrants to American from the Oppenheim Area, 1742-1749, (Journal Article p. 46-48 in no. 1 : ill. part of Pennsylvania Folklife v.22, 1972)]

1748 Hampshire
[List 118 A, B, C]
Captain: Thomas Cheesman
From: Rotterdam
By Way of: Falmouth
Arrival: Philadelphia, 7 Sep 1748

Jacob Runkle had established himself in Augusta Couinty, VA by 1757 and was receivving pay for services with the county militia during the French and Indiana War. In 1763 he patented 225 acres in Augusta County, a portion of which was given to Peter Runkle in 1772 to care for his aged mother. Lewis Runkle was granted land through Jacob Runkle's will. The will is among the lost records of Rockingham County, Va, but a law suit in Augusta titled "Ammon vs. Runkle" yields additional facts. Mary Ammon claimed that Peter Runkle had received more than he was entitled to. [Reference: June Runkle Grove, "The Runkle Family and Associated Families", ([S. I.] J. R. Grove, 1999), pg. 379]

Birth:
now Wackernheim, Mainz-Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Johann married Anna Maria Hammer on 1 Feb 1740 in Wackernheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Anna (daughter of Nicholas Hammer and Anna Maria _____) was born on 20 Sep 1720 in Wackernheim, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; died in Nov 1813 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: Mary Hammer

Notes:

Birth:
now Wackernheim, Mainz-Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Notes:

Married:
now Wackernheim, Mainz-Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

Other Events:

• Name: George Cook

George married Maria Sara Reiner. Maria was born on 21 May 1724 in Schwaigern, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; was christened on 21 May 1724 in Schwaigern, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]