Daniel Sellers

Notes:

Daniel was appointed guardian of Isaac's children March 25, 1839. Daniel Sellers land joined a Conrad land survey April 1, 1819 and he was one of the appraisers of Captain Stephen Conrad's estate in 1822.

Birth:
(now Augusta County, Virginia)

Daniel married Margaret Elizabeth Runkle on 3 Dec 1796 in Rockingham County, Virginia, United States. Margaret (daughter of Peter Runkle and Margaret Steiner Koch) was born on 4 Apr 1776 in Augusta County, Virginia, British Colonial America; died on 30 Aug 1859 in Augusta County, Virginia, United States; was buried in Sep 1859 in Weyers Cave, Augusta County, Virginia, United States. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Name: John Sellers

Notes:

Johannes Zellers (aka. John Sellers) born in Weinheim, Germany, in the Duchy of Baden, in the Holy Roman Empire came to America with his father Heinrich and mother, Anna Maria, on the Ship Queen Elizabeth and landed in Philadelphia 16 September 1738. He died between January 1804 and March 1804 in Rockingham County, Virginia.

In 1758, John was a private in the Augusta County, militia and helped defend the frontier during the French and Indian War (1754-63) In 1761 he purchased 130 acres from his father, married the daughter of the neighboring farmer and started his own farm. Less than a year later, he inherited 135 acres from the estate of his father-in-law and on July 7, 1763 patented another 195 acres, bringing his total to 460 acres. On 16 Oct. 1765 Johannes (John) Sellers was naturalized in Augusta County, Va. and qualified as a Justice. He was an active participant in all phases of community affairs. On March 16, 1772 he sold the land he got from his father to his son Henry. In 1773 he purchased 64 acres from Calem Price to replace it. During the Revolutionary War (1775-83) he furnished tools and provisions to the American forces. Like most others who furnished supplies to the fledgling government, he found that the pay was slow in coming, with the final payment more than five years after the delivery of goods.

In anticipation of his death, John, Sr. engaged in several land transactions with his son, John, Jr. On October 7, 1803, he sold his son the 330 acres from his original patent for £765. On November 15, 1803, he purchased the land back for £860 and on December 12, 1803 he sold his 130 acres for £260. The net effect of this was to reduce the size of the farm and accumulate some cash.

He continued to sign his name in German in business transactions after many of his German neighbors had started using English. He was named by the Court to appraise estates and report to the court. He is listed as a Rockingham County, landowner in 1789 with 394 acres in Militia District 12.

John Sellers' will, written shortly before his death in 1804, contained several interesting provisions. He had a family of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters who are named in his will. He left the remainder of the farm to John, Jr. and Daniel with the provision that they pay each of the girls a yearly fee, cut Jacob off with the note that he had received his part of the estate when he left for Ohio, then called New Pennsylvania, in 1797. He evidently became involved in a disagreement with his son Henry that he never resolved and felt it was necessary for him to ask Henry to leave Rockingham before receiving his inheritance. He left Henry £40 to be delivered "as soon as he leaves the country." At the same time he says Henry's share was equal to his brothers and sisters. The dispute with Henry arose over Henry's immediate sale of the land he got from John in 1772.

It was noted that members of Johannes family spoke and wrote German. Many of them spelled their name Sellars before converting to Sellers.

WILL.....
Book A pg. 12 (Note: typed as written in will book, blank lines are unreadable)

In the name of god Amen. I John Sellers of Rockingham County, being week in body, but in perfect mind and memory and calling unto mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die do make and ordain this my last will and testament that is to say principally and first of all ____ recommend my soul unto the _____ to be buried in a decent Christian manner a _____ my executors nothing doubting but at the general resurrecti__ receive the same again by the mighty power of God. And as to- such worldly estate where with it has pleased God to bless me in life, I give devise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form. First I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Elizabeth my horse her saddle and bridle, two cows, two beds with furniture a big iron kettle a duch oven an iron pot, her spinning wheel and big wheel the reel all the peuter in the house all the flax thread and cloth which shall be found a--- decease; also the choice of two sheep all thares and t__ Further is it my will that my said wife shall keep her possession of my dwelling house and both gardens during ___ natural life. Further it is my will that my wife shall receive her maintainance by my two sons JOHN and DANIEL ___ as is pointed out in an obligation signed by said JOHN ___ DANIEL letters and bearing date the 16th of January 18__ unto my son HENRY I give and bequeath the sum of Forty dollars ds to be paid unto him by my son JOHN as soon as my sd ___ HENRY shall leave this part of the country he having already received by my hand such a sum as well with the above ___ other Forty pounds make him equal with his other brothers and sisters in his share of my land I shall die in possessing of My son JACOB he having received at the time of his moving to New Pensylvania a like sum to be equal to his share of land and for which he has given his receipt, he shall be entitled to his share of my movable estate __ ___ JOHN and DANIEL and their heirs I _____ is to have the lower containing one hundred and thirty and my son Daniel the upper part containing one hundred and thirty four acres: the division in the said land is run by Mr. Thomas Mauzy. Further I give and bequeath unto my daughters Catherine, Elizabeth, Molly, Margaret and Christena and their heirs, to each of them the sum of One Hundred pounds lawful money of Virginia to be paid unto them or heirs by my sons John and Daniel. As the sum my sons John and Daniel have to pay equally divided will amount to Two hundred and fifty pounds each it is my will that each of them shall pay yearly the sum of twenty five pounds, which two payments one of their sisters or heirs shall receive, but the time of paying such a sum shall not commence, not till a full year after my decease, and continue till all their sisters have received their legacies. It is also my will that my daughters shall receive the first payment of fifty pounds in such an order as will be decided by lots; and after; and after each of them shall have received their first payments then the last payment shall begin in the same order as before. Item my sons John and Daniel though they shall enjoy the possession of my lands, it is my will that none of them shall have power to sell off their sharenot till after my wifes decease and in case of sale the other brother of these two shall have the first offer, at such a price as another person might buy it. All the remaining-movables after my wifes decease shall be sold by my executors and to be divided equally ___ all my children the wearing of my wif__ Lastly I do hereby constitute and apoin_ my _____ executor of this my last will and testament hereby revoke all other or former wills by me heretofore made.

In witness whereof I have set hereunto my hand and seal the 17th day of January A.D. One thousand eight hundred and four.
John Sellers (S__)

Signed, sealed, published and delivered as and for the last will and testament of the above named John Sellers in the presents of us
Philip Long
Michael Rhinehard
Jacob Yancey

Rockingham March Court 1804
The last will and testament of John Sellers Senr. was settled in Court and Proved by the oaths of Philip Long Michael Rhinehard and John Yancey three witnesses thereto and ordered to be recorded and on the of John Sellers the executor therein ___med who made oath therein and with security entered into ___ acknowledged bond Conditioned as the law directs a Certificate is granted him for obtaining a Probate in due form.

Teste: S.W. Williams

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

Johannes married Elizabeth Perkey in 1761 in Augusta County, Virginia, British Colonial America. Elizabeth (daughter of Henry Perkey and Margaret Runkle) 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]

Henry married Margaret Runkle about 1738. Margaret was born in 1720; died in 1782. [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]