Based on his 1744 marriage records, Johann Friederich Zeh, better known as Frederick See, (or incorrectly called by some as Frederick Michael See or Michael Frederick See,) was probably born in the early 1720s when his parents were living in Schoharie, NY. The Zeh or See family, along with other German Palatine families, had migrated to the Tulpehocken-Swatara region of central Pennsylvania by the fall of 1725. The family farm where Frederick grew up was located near today’s Myersburg, PA in Lebanon county. Frederick married there on 22 May 1744 to Maria Ottilia Stemple as listed in the records of Rev. John Casper Stoever.
At some point, Maria died and Frederick remarried to his second wife, Catherine, either in PA or after he moved to Virginia. Many See descendants have accepted her as "Catherine Vanderpool", a daughter of either Abraham or Wynant Vanderpool although there are no records to support this claim.
Sometime between 1745 and 1748, the Sees, along with others from the Tulpehocken area, migrated to the South Branch of the Potomac in today’s Hardy County, WV. Frederick remained there until 1750-1751 when he and brother-in-law Felty Yoakum relocated to the Greenbrier area of Augusta County to establish farms on the west side of Muddy Creek, near Mill Creek. Brother John See also claimed land in the region. Unfortunately, relations with the French and their Indian allies became increasingly hostile and by 1754 erupted in numerous attacks on frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania. By 1755, the French and Indian War was in full swing, and the Greenbrier settlements a key target for Indian attack. After a siege of Baughman's fort and the killing or capture of many neighboring families, the Sees and Yoakums were driven back across the crest of the Alleghenies and the entire Greenbrier was abandoned. Many of those families headed for the Cowpasture Valley just north of today’s Lexington, VA (still part of Augusta County). There, in Aug, 1756, the Augusta Co court appointed Frederick See administrator of his brother John’s estate. (John had been killed by Indians the previous March.) And in Sept, Frederick and Felty were listed in Court Martial proceedings for failing to show up for militia training. This is the last record we find for Frederick See until 1763 when he was attacked and killed by the Shawnee at his home on Muddy Creek in the Greenbrier.
Some argue that the Sees returned to the South Branch to be near the rest of the See family, but given the danger of Indian attack there, it seems unlikely. That Frederick See (and his family) were NOT living in the South Branch Valley in the Hampshire/Hardy Co area is also indicated by the fact that in 1757 his younger brother (George) was appointed the administrator of their mother 's (Margaret SEE) estate. Ordinarily such an assignment would go to her eldest son (Frederick) had he been living in the area.
To date, I have not been able to locate Frederick See and his family between the period 1757-1763 through documentary evidence. There is a good possibility that the Sees were with Felty Yoakum's family (brother-in-law to Frederick See.) They were neighbors on Muddy Creek in the early 1750s and again in 1763 when both men were killed during the Shawnee attack on their settlement. Fortunately, we are able to follow Felty Yoakum through documentary evidence: in 1750, land on Muddy Creek; in 1755 as a witness to Henry Baughman's death; in 1756 with Frederick See in Andrew Lockridge's militia unit; in 1758 as part of the Augusta militia, and in Nov. 1761 as a "witness from Bedford Co",VA where his father and several brothers were living. By 1763 Felty Yoakum and Frederick See were back on Muddy Creek.
Another possibility is that Frederick See took his family to North Carolina as did many other families from the Greenbrier, Cowpasture, and even the South Branch areas, including Abraham Vanderpoole and Jacob Yoakum who married his wife (Elizabeth SEE, Frederick’s sister) on the Dan River of North Carolina ca 1756 before returning to the South Branch Valley (Draper Mss. 12CC #9). If Frederick’s wife Catherine was the sister of Abraham Vanderpool, it would make sense for the See’s and Vanderpools to go together, though the Vanderpools did not return north.
Toward the end of the French and Indian war, probably around 1761, the See and Yoakum families returned to Greenbrier to take up their land once again. In 1763, the little settlement on Muddy Creek–including the Sees and Yoakums–was unexpectedly attacked by the Shawnee, the men killed and the remainder of the family captured by Indians. In a story told by Frederick’s daughter, Catherine See Johnson/Johnston to Felix Renick, her cousins husband, “one of those large war parties, seventy or eighty in number, …came and encamped several days on Mr. See's place, and appeared to be in a kind of frolic. Mr. See, notwithstanding their pretended friendship, expressed over and again to his family his fears of their evil design; and to win their favor as much as possible, he killed a fine hog for them, gave them bread and other things they wanted. His kindness however availed nothing. ….Several Indians one day entered the house in a friendly manner as usual, and at a certain signal drove their tomahawks into the heads of the old gentleman and his son-in-law, and made prisoners of all the balance of the family. The blood of the father fell on the head and face of a little son (John), who was at the time fondling on him. The Indian not wishing to kill the boy, on seeing him so bloody, was fearful he might be hurt, took him up, carried him to the creek, and washed him, and found that he was safe.” After killing Frederick, his son-in-law and Felty Yoakum, they set fire to the cabins and loaded up with whatever booty they could find. Some of the war party continued on to attack other families in the area, even crossing the mountains to attack other settlements. Once done, the Shawnee gathered up their captives—mostly women and children--and marched them across the mountains to the Ohio River and on to the Shawnee villages in Ohio where they were adopted into various Indian families. The bodies of Frederick See, his son-in-law, and Felty Yoakum were undoubtedly left where they lay.
Most of the family was released a year and a half later, except for daughter Elizabeth and son John. Upon their release, they were taken in with their families in the South Branch, later returning to the Greenbrier in the early 1770s.
Some 8 months after the Shawnee attack, the estates of Frederick See and brother in law, Valentine Yoakum were appraised and administered by the same men--all from Bedford County, VA, where the Yoakums fled between 1757-62. Since the See and Yoakum wives were in captivity and no other immediate family remained in Augusta Co, Charles Lynch as the chief creditor, was allowed to settle both estates. His appointment as administrator and those assigned to appraise their estates provides an important clue as to the whereabouts of Frederick See between 1756-1761, when the French and Indian War forced the abandonment of the Greenbrier region.
Based on the appraisals of both Frederick See and Valentine Yoakum, the appraisers of the estate, John Candler, Robert Brooks, and Zachariah Moorman, didn't find much of value after the Indian attack. They only mention a "small stone colt of three years old also one mare of the same age belonging to the Estate of Frederick See deceased to Fifty shillings each" (dated August 1764, Augusta Co. WB4) It was common practice for the Indians to take what they thought was valuable--horses, pots, rifles, etc-- and burn the cabins and kill the livestock they couldn't take with them. These horses may have been pastured elsewhere or got loose during the attack.
The Shawnee attack on the Muddy Creek settlement occurred in mid-July around the 13th-17th. Several contemporary accounts ( John Stuart's Memorandum, Felix Renick's account given him by Catherine See, and the Clendening version related in the 1826 Anne Royall book) provide good first-hand descriptions of the actual attack.
Bio by Sara Patton
At some point, Maria died and Frederick remarried to his second wife, Catherine, either in PA or after he moved to Virginia. Many See descendants have accepted her as "Catherine Vanderpool", a daughter of either Abraham or Wynant Vanderpool although there are no records to support this claim.
Sometime between 1745 and 1748, the Sees, along with others from the Tulpehocken area, migrated to the South Branch of the Potomac in today’s Hardy County, WV. Frederick remained there until 1750-1751 when he and brother-in-law Felty Yoakum relocated to the Greenbrier area of Augusta County to establish farms on the west side of Muddy Creek, near Mill Creek. Brother John See also claimed land in the region. Unfortunately, relations with the French and their Indian allies became increasingly hostile and by 1754 erupted in numerous attacks on frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania. By 1755, the French and Indian War was in full swing, and the Greenbrier settlements a key target for Indian attack. After a siege of Baughman's fort and the killing or capture of many neighboring families, the Sees and Yoakums were driven back across the crest of the Alleghenies and the entire Greenbrier was abandoned. Many of those families headed for the Cowpasture Valley just north of today’s Lexington, VA (still part of Augusta County). There, in Aug, 1756, the Augusta Co court appointed Frederick See administrator of his brother John’s estate. (John had been killed by Indians the previous March.) And in Sept, Frederick and Felty were listed in Court Martial proceedings for failing to show up for militia training. This is the last record we find for Frederick See until 1763 when he was attacked and killed by the Shawnee at his home on Muddy Creek in the Greenbrier.
Some argue that the Sees returned to the South Branch to be near the rest of the See family, but given the danger of Indian attack there, it seems unlikely. That Frederick See (and his family) were NOT living in the South Branch Valley in the Hampshire/Hardy Co area is also indicated by the fact that in 1757 his younger brother (George) was appointed the administrator of their mother 's (Margaret SEE) estate. Ordinarily such an assignment would go to her eldest son (Frederick) had he been living in the area.
To date, I have not been able to locate Frederick See and his family between the period 1757-1763 through documentary evidence. There is a good possibility that the Sees were with Felty Yoakum's family (brother-in-law to Frederick See.) They were neighbors on Muddy Creek in the early 1750s and again in 1763 when both men were killed during the Shawnee attack on their settlement. Fortunately, we are able to follow Felty Yoakum through documentary evidence: in 1750, land on Muddy Creek; in 1755 as a witness to Henry Baughman's death; in 1756 with Frederick See in Andrew Lockridge's militia unit; in 1758 as part of the Augusta militia, and in Nov. 1761 as a "witness from Bedford Co",VA where his father and several brothers were living. By 1763 Felty Yoakum and Frederick See were back on Muddy Creek.
Another possibility is that Frederick See took his family to North Carolina as did many other families from the Greenbrier, Cowpasture, and even the South Branch areas, including Abraham Vanderpoole and Jacob Yoakum who married his wife (Elizabeth SEE, Frederick’s sister) on the Dan River of North Carolina ca 1756 before returning to the South Branch Valley (Draper Mss. 12CC #9). If Frederick’s wife Catherine was the sister of Abraham Vanderpool, it would make sense for the See’s and Vanderpools to go together, though the Vanderpools did not return north.
Toward the end of the French and Indian war, probably around 1761, the See and Yoakum families returned to Greenbrier to take up their land once again. In 1763, the little settlement on Muddy Creek–including the Sees and Yoakums–was unexpectedly attacked by the Shawnee, the men killed and the remainder of the family captured by Indians. In a story told by Frederick’s daughter, Catherine See Johnson/Johnston to Felix Renick, her cousins husband, “one of those large war parties, seventy or eighty in number, …came and encamped several days on Mr. See's place, and appeared to be in a kind of frolic. Mr. See, notwithstanding their pretended friendship, expressed over and again to his family his fears of their evil design; and to win their favor as much as possible, he killed a fine hog for them, gave them bread and other things they wanted. His kindness however availed nothing. ….Several Indians one day entered the house in a friendly manner as usual, and at a certain signal drove their tomahawks into the heads of the old gentleman and his son-in-law, and made prisoners of all the balance of the family. The blood of the father fell on the head and face of a little son (John), who was at the time fondling on him. The Indian not wishing to kill the boy, on seeing him so bloody, was fearful he might be hurt, took him up, carried him to the creek, and washed him, and found that he was safe.” After killing Frederick, his son-in-law and Felty Yoakum, they set fire to the cabins and loaded up with whatever booty they could find. Some of the war party continued on to attack other families in the area, even crossing the mountains to attack other settlements. Once done, the Shawnee gathered up their captives—mostly women and children--and marched them across the mountains to the Ohio River and on to the Shawnee villages in Ohio where they were adopted into various Indian families. The bodies of Frederick See, his son-in-law, and Felty Yoakum were undoubtedly left where they lay.
Most of the family was released a year and a half later, except for daughter Elizabeth and son John. Upon their release, they were taken in with their families in the South Branch, later returning to the Greenbrier in the early 1770s.
Some 8 months after the Shawnee attack, the estates of Frederick See and brother in law, Valentine Yoakum were appraised and administered by the same men--all from Bedford County, VA, where the Yoakums fled between 1757-62. Since the See and Yoakum wives were in captivity and no other immediate family remained in Augusta Co, Charles Lynch as the chief creditor, was allowed to settle both estates. His appointment as administrator and those assigned to appraise their estates provides an important clue as to the whereabouts of Frederick See between 1756-1761, when the French and Indian War forced the abandonment of the Greenbrier region.
Based on the appraisals of both Frederick See and Valentine Yoakum, the appraisers of the estate, John Candler, Robert Brooks, and Zachariah Moorman, didn't find much of value after the Indian attack. They only mention a "small stone colt of three years old also one mare of the same age belonging to the Estate of Frederick See deceased to Fifty shillings each" (dated August 1764, Augusta Co. WB4) It was common practice for the Indians to take what they thought was valuable--horses, pots, rifles, etc-- and burn the cabins and kill the livestock they couldn't take with them. These horses may have been pastured elsewhere or got loose during the attack.
The Shawnee attack on the Muddy Creek settlement occurred in mid-July around the 13th-17th. Several contemporary accounts ( John Stuart's Memorandum, Felix Renick's account given him by Catherine See, and the Clendening version related in the 1826 Anne Royall book) provide good first-hand descriptions of the actual attack.
Bio by Sara Patton
Based on his 1744 marriage records, Johann Friederich Zeh, better known as Frederick See, (or incorrectly called by some as Frederick Michael See or Michael Frederick See,) was probably born in the early 1720s when his parents were living in Schoharie, NY. The Zeh or See family, along with other German Palatine families, had migrated to the Tulpehocken-Swatara region of central Pennsylvania by the fall of 1725. The family farm where Frederick grew up was located near today’s Myersburg, PA in Lebanon county. Frederick married there on 22 May 1744 to Maria Ottilia Stemple as listed in the records of Rev. John Casper Stoever.
At some point, Maria died and Frederick remarried to his second wife, Catherine, either in PA or after he moved to Virginia. Many See descendants have accepted her as "Catherine Vanderpool", a daughter of either Abraham or Wynant Vanderpool although there are no records to support this claim.
Sometime between 1745 and 1748, the Sees, along with others from the Tulpehocken area, migrated to the South Branch of the Potomac in today’s Hardy County, WV. Frederick remained there until 1750-1751 when he and brother-in-law Felty Yoakum relocated to the Greenbrier area of Augusta County to establish farms on the west side of Muddy Creek, near Mill Creek. Brother John See also claimed land in the region. Unfortunately, relations with the French and their Indian allies became increasingly hostile and by 1754 erupted in numerous attacks on frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania. By 1755, the French and Indian War was in full swing, and the Greenbrier settlements a key target for Indian attack. After a siege of Baughman's fort and the killing or capture of many neighboring families, the Sees and Yoakums were driven back across the crest of the Alleghenies and the entire Greenbrier was abandoned. Many of those families headed for the Cowpasture Valley just north of today’s Lexington, VA (still part of Augusta County). There, in Aug, 1756, the Augusta Co court appointed Frederick See administrator of his brother John’s estate. (John had been killed by Indians the previous March.) And in Sept, Frederick and Felty were listed in Court Martial proceedings for failing to show up for militia training. This is the last record we find for Frederick See until 1763 when he was attacked and killed by the Shawnee at his home on Muddy Creek in the Greenbrier.
Some argue that the Sees returned to the South Branch to be near the rest of the See family, but given the danger of Indian attack there, it seems unlikely. That Frederick See (and his family) were NOT living in the South Branch Valley in the Hampshire/Hardy Co area is also indicated by the fact that in 1757 his younger brother (George) was appointed the administrator of their mother 's (Margaret SEE) estate. Ordinarily such an assignment would go to her eldest son (Frederick) had he been living in the area.
To date, I have not been able to locate Frederick See and his family between the period 1757-1763 through documentary evidence. There is a good possibility that the Sees were with Felty Yoakum's family (brother-in-law to Frederick See.) They were neighbors on Muddy Creek in the early 1750s and again in 1763 when both men were killed during the Shawnee attack on their settlement. Fortunately, we are able to follow Felty Yoakum through documentary evidence: in 1750, land on Muddy Creek; in 1755 as a witness to Henry Baughman's death; in 1756 with Frederick See in Andrew Lockridge's militia unit; in 1758 as part of the Augusta militia, and in Nov. 1761 as a "witness from Bedford Co",VA where his father and several brothers were living. By 1763 Felty Yoakum and Frederick See were back on Muddy Creek.
Another possibility is that Frederick See took his family to North Carolina as did many other families from the Greenbrier, Cowpasture, and even the South Branch areas, including Abraham Vanderpoole and Jacob Yoakum who married his wife (Elizabeth SEE, Frederick’s sister) on the Dan River of North Carolina ca 1756 before returning to the South Branch Valley (Draper Mss. 12CC #9). If Frederick’s wife Catherine was the sister of Abraham Vanderpool, it would make sense for the See’s and Vanderpools to go together, though the Vanderpools did not return north.
Toward the end of the French and Indian war, probably around 1761, the See and Yoakum families returned to Greenbrier to take up their land once again. In 1763, the little settlement on Muddy Creek–including the Sees and Yoakums–was unexpectedly attacked by the Shawnee, the men killed and the remainder of the family captured by Indians. In a story told by Frederick’s daughter, Catherine See Johnson/Johnston to Felix Renick, her cousins husband, “one of those large war parties, seventy or eighty in number, …came and encamped several days on Mr. See's place, and appeared to be in a kind of frolic. Mr. See, notwithstanding their pretended friendship, expressed over and again to his family his fears of their evil design; and to win their favor as much as possible, he killed a fine hog for them, gave them bread and other things they wanted. His kindness however availed nothing. ….Several Indians one day entered the house in a friendly manner as usual, and at a certain signal drove their tomahawks into the heads of the old gentleman and his son-in-law, and made prisoners of all the balance of the family. The blood of the father fell on the head and face of a little son (John), who was at the time fondling on him. The Indian not wishing to kill the boy, on seeing him so bloody, was fearful he might be hurt, took him up, carried him to the creek, and washed him, and found that he was safe.” After killing Frederick, his son-in-law and Felty Yoakum, they set fire to the cabins and loaded up with whatever booty they could find. Some of the war party continued on to attack other families in the area, even crossing the mountains to attack other settlements. Once done, the Shawnee gathered up their captives—mostly women and children--and marched them across the mountains to the Ohio River and on to the Shawnee villages in Ohio where they were adopted into various Indian families. The bodies of Frederick See, his son-in-law, and Felty Yoakum were undoubtedly left where they lay.
Most of the family was released a year and a half later, except for daughter Elizabeth and son John. Upon their release, they were taken in with their families in the South Branch, later returning to the Greenbrier in the early 1770s.
Some 8 months after the Shawnee attack, the estates of Frederick See and brother in law, Valentine Yoakum were appraised and administered by the same men--all from Bedford County, VA, where the Yoakums fled between 1757-62. Since the See and Yoakum wives were in captivity and no other immediate family remained in Augusta Co, Charles Lynch as the chief creditor, was allowed to settle both estates. His appointment as administrator and those assigned to appraise their estates provides an important clue as to the whereabouts of Frederick See between 1756-1761, when the French and Indian War forced the abandonment of the Greenbrier region.
Based on the appraisals of both Frederick See and Valentine Yoakum, the appraisers of the estate, John Candler, Robert Brooks, and Zachariah Moorman, didn't find much of value after the Indian attack. They only mention a "small stone colt of three years old also one mare of the same age belonging to the Estate of Frederick See deceased to Fifty shillings each" (dated August 1764, Augusta Co. WB4) It was common practice for the Indians to take what they thought was valuable--horses, pots, rifles, etc-- and burn the cabins and kill the livestock they couldn't take with them. These horses may have been pastured elsewhere or got loose during the attack.
The Shawnee attack on the Muddy Creek settlement occurred in mid-July around the 13th-17th. Several contemporary accounts ( John Stuart's Memorandum, Felix Renick's account given him by Catherine See, and the Clendening version related in the 1826 Anne Royall book) provide good first-hand descriptions of the actual attack.
Bio by Sara Patton
At some point, Maria died and Frederick remarried to his second wife, Catherine, either in PA or after he moved to Virginia. Many See descendants have accepted her as "Catherine Vanderpool", a daughter of either Abraham or Wynant Vanderpool although there are no records to support this claim.
Sometime between 1745 and 1748, the Sees, along with others from the Tulpehocken area, migrated to the South Branch of the Potomac in today’s Hardy County, WV. Frederick remained there until 1750-1751 when he and brother-in-law Felty Yoakum relocated to the Greenbrier area of Augusta County to establish farms on the west side of Muddy Creek, near Mill Creek. Brother John See also claimed land in the region. Unfortunately, relations with the French and their Indian allies became increasingly hostile and by 1754 erupted in numerous attacks on frontier settlements of Virginia and Pennsylvania. By 1755, the French and Indian War was in full swing, and the Greenbrier settlements a key target for Indian attack. After a siege of Baughman's fort and the killing or capture of many neighboring families, the Sees and Yoakums were driven back across the crest of the Alleghenies and the entire Greenbrier was abandoned. Many of those families headed for the Cowpasture Valley just north of today’s Lexington, VA (still part of Augusta County). There, in Aug, 1756, the Augusta Co court appointed Frederick See administrator of his brother John’s estate. (John had been killed by Indians the previous March.) And in Sept, Frederick and Felty were listed in Court Martial proceedings for failing to show up for militia training. This is the last record we find for Frederick See until 1763 when he was attacked and killed by the Shawnee at his home on Muddy Creek in the Greenbrier.
Some argue that the Sees returned to the South Branch to be near the rest of the See family, but given the danger of Indian attack there, it seems unlikely. That Frederick See (and his family) were NOT living in the South Branch Valley in the Hampshire/Hardy Co area is also indicated by the fact that in 1757 his younger brother (George) was appointed the administrator of their mother 's (Margaret SEE) estate. Ordinarily such an assignment would go to her eldest son (Frederick) had he been living in the area.
To date, I have not been able to locate Frederick See and his family between the period 1757-1763 through documentary evidence. There is a good possibility that the Sees were with Felty Yoakum's family (brother-in-law to Frederick See.) They were neighbors on Muddy Creek in the early 1750s and again in 1763 when both men were killed during the Shawnee attack on their settlement. Fortunately, we are able to follow Felty Yoakum through documentary evidence: in 1750, land on Muddy Creek; in 1755 as a witness to Henry Baughman's death; in 1756 with Frederick See in Andrew Lockridge's militia unit; in 1758 as part of the Augusta militia, and in Nov. 1761 as a "witness from Bedford Co",VA where his father and several brothers were living. By 1763 Felty Yoakum and Frederick See were back on Muddy Creek.
Another possibility is that Frederick See took his family to North Carolina as did many other families from the Greenbrier, Cowpasture, and even the South Branch areas, including Abraham Vanderpoole and Jacob Yoakum who married his wife (Elizabeth SEE, Frederick’s sister) on the Dan River of North Carolina ca 1756 before returning to the South Branch Valley (Draper Mss. 12CC #9). If Frederick’s wife Catherine was the sister of Abraham Vanderpool, it would make sense for the See’s and Vanderpools to go together, though the Vanderpools did not return north.
Toward the end of the French and Indian war, probably around 1761, the See and Yoakum families returned to Greenbrier to take up their land once again. In 1763, the little settlement on Muddy Creek–including the Sees and Yoakums–was unexpectedly attacked by the Shawnee, the men killed and the remainder of the family captured by Indians. In a story told by Frederick’s daughter, Catherine See Johnson/Johnston to Felix Renick, her cousins husband, “one of those large war parties, seventy or eighty in number, …came and encamped several days on Mr. See's place, and appeared to be in a kind of frolic. Mr. See, notwithstanding their pretended friendship, expressed over and again to his family his fears of their evil design; and to win their favor as much as possible, he killed a fine hog for them, gave them bread and other things they wanted. His kindness however availed nothing. ….Several Indians one day entered the house in a friendly manner as usual, and at a certain signal drove their tomahawks into the heads of the old gentleman and his son-in-law, and made prisoners of all the balance of the family. The blood of the father fell on the head and face of a little son (John), who was at the time fondling on him. The Indian not wishing to kill the boy, on seeing him so bloody, was fearful he might be hurt, took him up, carried him to the creek, and washed him, and found that he was safe.” After killing Frederick, his son-in-law and Felty Yoakum, they set fire to the cabins and loaded up with whatever booty they could find. Some of the war party continued on to attack other families in the area, even crossing the mountains to attack other settlements. Once done, the Shawnee gathered up their captives—mostly women and children--and marched them across the mountains to the Ohio River and on to the Shawnee villages in Ohio where they were adopted into various Indian families. The bodies of Frederick See, his son-in-law, and Felty Yoakum were undoubtedly left where they lay.
Most of the family was released a year and a half later, except for daughter Elizabeth and son John. Upon their release, they were taken in with their families in the South Branch, later returning to the Greenbrier in the early 1770s.
Some 8 months after the Shawnee attack, the estates of Frederick See and brother in law, Valentine Yoakum were appraised and administered by the same men--all from Bedford County, VA, where the Yoakums fled between 1757-62. Since the See and Yoakum wives were in captivity and no other immediate family remained in Augusta Co, Charles Lynch as the chief creditor, was allowed to settle both estates. His appointment as administrator and those assigned to appraise their estates provides an important clue as to the whereabouts of Frederick See between 1756-1761, when the French and Indian War forced the abandonment of the Greenbrier region.
Based on the appraisals of both Frederick See and Valentine Yoakum, the appraisers of the estate, John Candler, Robert Brooks, and Zachariah Moorman, didn't find much of value after the Indian attack. They only mention a "small stone colt of three years old also one mare of the same age belonging to the Estate of Frederick See deceased to Fifty shillings each" (dated August 1764, Augusta Co. WB4) It was common practice for the Indians to take what they thought was valuable--horses, pots, rifles, etc-- and burn the cabins and kill the livestock they couldn't take with them. These horses may have been pastured elsewhere or got loose during the attack.
The Shawnee attack on the Muddy Creek settlement occurred in mid-July around the 13th-17th. Several contemporary accounts ( John Stuart's Memorandum, Felix Renick's account given him by Catherine See, and the Clendening version related in the 1826 Anne Royall book) provide good first-hand descriptions of the actual attack.
Bio by Sara Patton
Bio by: Bev
Gravesite Details
Because Frederick See was killed by Indians and his family taken captive, his body was probably not buried but just left where he fell, on his farm on Mill Creek.
Family Members
Siblings
