Date of birth calculated from tombstone inscription.
It should be said that due to the events of the French & Indian War and Revolutionary War, many of the homes, court houses, and churches were burned to the ground, the records they held forever destroyed. Much of what we know today comes from personal interviews of the survivors. Mrs. Alice Hatch and her husband were descendants of some of those survivors, and Jeptha Simms interviewed many of them. Although there are discrepancies in the tales, as one would expect in these circumstances, the integrity of those telling the tale is in my opinion honest and truthful to the best of their ability.
""When Frederick Bell was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, he left a widow (Dorothy Crim Bell) who afterwards married Johannes Conrad Shaffer and Gertrude Shaffer was one of her daughters, the other marrying a Adam Thumb Jr. from the Valley."
"Dorothy, daughter of Paul and Lana Crim, married Frederick Bell, who was killed in the Andrustown Massacre. Their two sons were Adam and Richard, the latter was a prisoner with the Indians and died a few years later. Dorothy married second, Conrad Shaffer and had two daughters. One married Mr. Thumb and Charity married Han Yost Petrie and reared a large family. Their home was just east of Columbia Center. Dorothy married third a Mr. Shepperman and lived north of Herkimer where she is buried. In the Thumb cemetery north of St. Johnsville. She spent her last years with her daughter Mary (Mrs. Adam Thumb, Jr.)"
Mrs. Hatch also relates:
"Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre. This primitive cabin was on the east side of the road a few rods south of the homestead of the late Walter Crim. Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of whom, Frederick III, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in donning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions... he died in early manhood."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
"Henderson's or Andreas Town and its Destruction.--The facts here given were obtained at a personal interview in 1852 with the venerable Adam Bell, a son of Frederick Bell, Jun., named in the narrative, who was born at Andreas Town, July 22, 1773."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Possible children:
Johann Dieterich Bell
Birth 23 Jun 1770
Christening 23 Jun 1770
Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
"In July, 1778, Stauring, Leppard, Hawyer and the two Bells, father and son, went to Andreastown to secure some hay... Fred. Bell, Sen., was an old man and widower, but the wife of the younger Bell, and the wives of Stauring and Hawyer joined the party to cook... With the workers were two boys, one a son of Stauring, then in his teens, and Richard, a son of Fred. Bell, Jun., some eight years of age. Just after breakfast on the morning of the 18th... a party of Indians with several Tories... appeared... The Bells, father and son, chanced to be near their dwelling... the latter... ran into the house and was shot through a window while in the act of taking down his gun... His father... climbing a fence... shot down and there scalped... young Stauring ...was shot down... the Bell boy was made a prisoner."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Adam Bell
Son of Frederick Bell, Jun., born July 22, 1773
Interview of Adam Bell by Jephtha R Simms, The Frontiersmen of New York
"Adam Bell born May 22, 1772 died May 17, 1854, married Ann Eve Bowers, born 1772, died Oct. 8, 1841... eight children were, Peter, Frederick, Richard, Joseph, Henry, Elizabeth, Mary and Almina Laddy (Lany)."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Annae Bell Frank
Laurentius Franck & Anna Bell
Marriage 8 Nov 1802
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
~New York Marriages, 1686-1980
Note: probably the Lawrence Frank born 1773, died 1830
Abrahamus Frank
Birth 2 Dec 1806
Christening 21 Dec 1806
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
Father Laurentii L. Frank
Mother Annae Bell
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
Frederick Bell III
About 1776
"The grandparents of this man--Frederick and Mary Bell or Pell as it was then called, were among the Palatines and drew the lot on which they lived north of Herkimer and which was later occupied by Frederick's sister who married Lawrence Frank. This Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre.... Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of who, Frederick, 3rd, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in doning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions. He grew melancholy and dissatisfied with civilized life and died in early manhood and upon Adam his only brother devolved the responsibility of maintaining this branch of the family name."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Magdalena Bell
Birth 2 Jun 1777
Christening 9 Jun 1777
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
NOTE: Per Barker in Early Families of Herkimer county, there were two Frederick Bells born about the same time: one being the husband of Dorothy Crim father of Frederick and Magdalena, who was born about 1751, and killed by the Indian sticking his gun through the cabin widow while reaching for his gun; the other husband of Maria Eva Haack, possibly the father of Diedrich, Adam, Jacob and Frederick who married Anne Bellinger. Another family difficult to sort out. Please consider this a work in progress, subject to change and interpretation.
2nd husband
"Lt. Conrad Schaeffer - pr. born ca 1745 to 1755 m by 1782 Dorothy Crim dau of Paul Crim & Magdalena Steele and widow of Frederick Bell (d 1778). Schaeffer Gertrude b GF 18 Feb 1784 (sp Gert Crim, Geo Hausman)" Early Families of Herkimer County, New York by William V. H. Barker 1986
1780-1852 Maria Shafer/Shaver Thumb
Birth records of children, Hester b. 1820, and Johnathan b. 1823, show parents as Adam Thumb and Maria Shafer/Shaver.
1850 Federal Census
Oppenheim, Fulton, New York
Adam Thumb 76 New York
Mary Thumb 70 New York
James Thumb 47 New York
Hannah Thumb 36 New York
Jonathan Thumb 26 New York
Clarina Thumb 21 New York
Martha Thumb 1 New York
Catharine Smith 34 New York
Emily Smith 5 New York
Delia Smith 3 New York
Buried in Thumb Cemetery
Mary Thumb 2/26/1852 Age [ ] yrs
wife of Adam Thumb
"Gone But Not Forgotten"
Gertraut Schaeffer Petrie
Birth 18 Feb 1784
Christening 7 Mar 1784
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Joh. Conrad Schaeffer
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
"1807 PETRIE, Daniel, son of John J. Petrie and wife, Gertrude, b. 19 Feb, bapt. 25 Mar.
Sponsors: Daniel Petrie and Anna Siginauer
NOTE: John J. or Han Yost Petrie, son of Col. Jacob Petrie and brother of Conrad, Jacob Frederick, Daniel and others. Gertrude Shaffer, daughter of Dorothy Crim whose first husband, Frederick Bell, was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, July 18, 1778."
~Baptismal Records of the Reformed Church of Columbia, 1806-1816, Columbia Center, Herkimer County, New York, Organized 1798
herkimer.nygenweb.net/columbia/columbiabap1.html
***
Conrad Schaeffer died sometime after 1784, and before 1790 when Dorothea had married 3rd Christian Schepperman and delivered a son.
Peter Schepperman
Birth 6 Jul 1790
Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Christian Schepperman
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
1790 Federal Census
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Christian Shepperman
1 male of 16 & upwards
1 male under 16
3 females
It should be said that due to the events of the French & Indian War and Revolutionary War, many of the homes, court houses, and churches were burned to the ground, the records they held forever destroyed. Much of what we know today comes from personal interviews of the survivors. Mrs. Alice Hatch and her husband were descendants of some of those survivors, and Jeptha Simms interviewed many of them. Although there are discrepancies in the tales, as one would expect in these circumstances, the integrity of those telling the tale is in my opinion honest and truthful to the best of their ability.
""When Frederick Bell was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, he left a widow (Dorothy Crim Bell) who afterwards married Johannes Conrad Shaffer and Gertrude Shaffer was one of her daughters, the other marrying a Adam Thumb Jr. from the Valley."
"Dorothy, daughter of Paul and Lana Crim, married Frederick Bell, who was killed in the Andrustown Massacre. Their two sons were Adam and Richard, the latter was a prisoner with the Indians and died a few years later. Dorothy married second, Conrad Shaffer and had two daughters. One married Mr. Thumb and Charity married Han Yost Petrie and reared a large family. Their home was just east of Columbia Center. Dorothy married third a Mr. Shepperman and lived north of Herkimer where she is buried. In the Thumb cemetery north of St. Johnsville. She spent her last years with her daughter Mary (Mrs. Adam Thumb, Jr.)"
Mrs. Hatch also relates:
"Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre. This primitive cabin was on the east side of the road a few rods south of the homestead of the late Walter Crim. Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of whom, Frederick III, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in donning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions... he died in early manhood."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
"Henderson's or Andreas Town and its Destruction.--The facts here given were obtained at a personal interview in 1852 with the venerable Adam Bell, a son of Frederick Bell, Jun., named in the narrative, who was born at Andreas Town, July 22, 1773."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Possible children:
Johann Dieterich Bell
Birth 23 Jun 1770
Christening 23 Jun 1770
Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
"In July, 1778, Stauring, Leppard, Hawyer and the two Bells, father and son, went to Andreastown to secure some hay... Fred. Bell, Sen., was an old man and widower, but the wife of the younger Bell, and the wives of Stauring and Hawyer joined the party to cook... With the workers were two boys, one a son of Stauring, then in his teens, and Richard, a son of Fred. Bell, Jun., some eight years of age. Just after breakfast on the morning of the 18th... a party of Indians with several Tories... appeared... The Bells, father and son, chanced to be near their dwelling... the latter... ran into the house and was shot through a window while in the act of taking down his gun... His father... climbing a fence... shot down and there scalped... young Stauring ...was shot down... the Bell boy was made a prisoner."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Adam Bell
Son of Frederick Bell, Jun., born July 22, 1773
Interview of Adam Bell by Jephtha R Simms, The Frontiersmen of New York
"Adam Bell born May 22, 1772 died May 17, 1854, married Ann Eve Bowers, born 1772, died Oct. 8, 1841... eight children were, Peter, Frederick, Richard, Joseph, Henry, Elizabeth, Mary and Almina Laddy (Lany)."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Annae Bell Frank
Laurentius Franck & Anna Bell
Marriage 8 Nov 1802
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
~New York Marriages, 1686-1980
Note: probably the Lawrence Frank born 1773, died 1830
Abrahamus Frank
Birth 2 Dec 1806
Christening 21 Dec 1806
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
Father Laurentii L. Frank
Mother Annae Bell
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
Frederick Bell III
About 1776
"The grandparents of this man--Frederick and Mary Bell or Pell as it was then called, were among the Palatines and drew the lot on which they lived north of Herkimer and which was later occupied by Frederick's sister who married Lawrence Frank. This Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre.... Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of who, Frederick, 3rd, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in doning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions. He grew melancholy and dissatisfied with civilized life and died in early manhood and upon Adam his only brother devolved the responsibility of maintaining this branch of the family name."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Magdalena Bell
Birth 2 Jun 1777
Christening 9 Jun 1777
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
NOTE: Per Barker in Early Families of Herkimer county, there were two Frederick Bells born about the same time: one being the husband of Dorothy Crim father of Frederick and Magdalena, who was born about 1751, and killed by the Indian sticking his gun through the cabin widow while reaching for his gun; the other husband of Maria Eva Haack, possibly the father of Diedrich, Adam, Jacob and Frederick who married Anne Bellinger. Another family difficult to sort out. Please consider this a work in progress, subject to change and interpretation.
2nd husband
"Lt. Conrad Schaeffer - pr. born ca 1745 to 1755 m by 1782 Dorothy Crim dau of Paul Crim & Magdalena Steele and widow of Frederick Bell (d 1778). Schaeffer Gertrude b GF 18 Feb 1784 (sp Gert Crim, Geo Hausman)" Early Families of Herkimer County, New York by William V. H. Barker 1986
1780-1852 Maria Shafer/Shaver Thumb
Birth records of children, Hester b. 1820, and Johnathan b. 1823, show parents as Adam Thumb and Maria Shafer/Shaver.
1850 Federal Census
Oppenheim, Fulton, New York
Adam Thumb 76 New York
Mary Thumb 70 New York
James Thumb 47 New York
Hannah Thumb 36 New York
Jonathan Thumb 26 New York
Clarina Thumb 21 New York
Martha Thumb 1 New York
Catharine Smith 34 New York
Emily Smith 5 New York
Delia Smith 3 New York
Buried in Thumb Cemetery
Mary Thumb 2/26/1852 Age [ ] yrs
wife of Adam Thumb
"Gone But Not Forgotten"
Gertraut Schaeffer Petrie
Birth 18 Feb 1784
Christening 7 Mar 1784
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Joh. Conrad Schaeffer
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
"1807 PETRIE, Daniel, son of John J. Petrie and wife, Gertrude, b. 19 Feb, bapt. 25 Mar.
Sponsors: Daniel Petrie and Anna Siginauer
NOTE: John J. or Han Yost Petrie, son of Col. Jacob Petrie and brother of Conrad, Jacob Frederick, Daniel and others. Gertrude Shaffer, daughter of Dorothy Crim whose first husband, Frederick Bell, was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, July 18, 1778."
~Baptismal Records of the Reformed Church of Columbia, 1806-1816, Columbia Center, Herkimer County, New York, Organized 1798
herkimer.nygenweb.net/columbia/columbiabap1.html
***
Conrad Schaeffer died sometime after 1784, and before 1790 when Dorothea had married 3rd Christian Schepperman and delivered a son.
Peter Schepperman
Birth 6 Jul 1790
Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Christian Schepperman
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
1790 Federal Census
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Christian Shepperman
1 male of 16 & upwards
1 male under 16
3 females
Date of birth calculated from tombstone inscription.
It should be said that due to the events of the French & Indian War and Revolutionary War, many of the homes, court houses, and churches were burned to the ground, the records they held forever destroyed. Much of what we know today comes from personal interviews of the survivors. Mrs. Alice Hatch and her husband were descendants of some of those survivors, and Jeptha Simms interviewed many of them. Although there are discrepancies in the tales, as one would expect in these circumstances, the integrity of those telling the tale is in my opinion honest and truthful to the best of their ability.
""When Frederick Bell was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, he left a widow (Dorothy Crim Bell) who afterwards married Johannes Conrad Shaffer and Gertrude Shaffer was one of her daughters, the other marrying a Adam Thumb Jr. from the Valley."
"Dorothy, daughter of Paul and Lana Crim, married Frederick Bell, who was killed in the Andrustown Massacre. Their two sons were Adam and Richard, the latter was a prisoner with the Indians and died a few years later. Dorothy married second, Conrad Shaffer and had two daughters. One married Mr. Thumb and Charity married Han Yost Petrie and reared a large family. Their home was just east of Columbia Center. Dorothy married third a Mr. Shepperman and lived north of Herkimer where she is buried. In the Thumb cemetery north of St. Johnsville. She spent her last years with her daughter Mary (Mrs. Adam Thumb, Jr.)"
Mrs. Hatch also relates:
"Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre. This primitive cabin was on the east side of the road a few rods south of the homestead of the late Walter Crim. Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of whom, Frederick III, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in donning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions... he died in early manhood."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
"Henderson's or Andreas Town and its Destruction.--The facts here given were obtained at a personal interview in 1852 with the venerable Adam Bell, a son of Frederick Bell, Jun., named in the narrative, who was born at Andreas Town, July 22, 1773."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Possible children:
Johann Dieterich Bell
Birth 23 Jun 1770
Christening 23 Jun 1770
Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
"In July, 1778, Stauring, Leppard, Hawyer and the two Bells, father and son, went to Andreastown to secure some hay... Fred. Bell, Sen., was an old man and widower, but the wife of the younger Bell, and the wives of Stauring and Hawyer joined the party to cook... With the workers were two boys, one a son of Stauring, then in his teens, and Richard, a son of Fred. Bell, Jun., some eight years of age. Just after breakfast on the morning of the 18th... a party of Indians with several Tories... appeared... The Bells, father and son, chanced to be near their dwelling... the latter... ran into the house and was shot through a window while in the act of taking down his gun... His father... climbing a fence... shot down and there scalped... young Stauring ...was shot down... the Bell boy was made a prisoner."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Adam Bell
Son of Frederick Bell, Jun., born July 22, 1773
Interview of Adam Bell by Jephtha R Simms, The Frontiersmen of New York
"Adam Bell born May 22, 1772 died May 17, 1854, married Ann Eve Bowers, born 1772, died Oct. 8, 1841... eight children were, Peter, Frederick, Richard, Joseph, Henry, Elizabeth, Mary and Almina Laddy (Lany)."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Annae Bell Frank
Laurentius Franck & Anna Bell
Marriage 8 Nov 1802
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
~New York Marriages, 1686-1980
Note: probably the Lawrence Frank born 1773, died 1830
Abrahamus Frank
Birth 2 Dec 1806
Christening 21 Dec 1806
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
Father Laurentii L. Frank
Mother Annae Bell
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
Frederick Bell III
About 1776
"The grandparents of this man--Frederick and Mary Bell or Pell as it was then called, were among the Palatines and drew the lot on which they lived north of Herkimer and which was later occupied by Frederick's sister who married Lawrence Frank. This Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre.... Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of who, Frederick, 3rd, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in doning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions. He grew melancholy and dissatisfied with civilized life and died in early manhood and upon Adam his only brother devolved the responsibility of maintaining this branch of the family name."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Magdalena Bell
Birth 2 Jun 1777
Christening 9 Jun 1777
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
NOTE: Per Barker in Early Families of Herkimer county, there were two Frederick Bells born about the same time: one being the husband of Dorothy Crim father of Frederick and Magdalena, who was born about 1751, and killed by the Indian sticking his gun through the cabin widow while reaching for his gun; the other husband of Maria Eva Haack, possibly the father of Diedrich, Adam, Jacob and Frederick who married Anne Bellinger. Another family difficult to sort out. Please consider this a work in progress, subject to change and interpretation.
2nd husband
"Lt. Conrad Schaeffer - pr. born ca 1745 to 1755 m by 1782 Dorothy Crim dau of Paul Crim & Magdalena Steele and widow of Frederick Bell (d 1778). Schaeffer Gertrude b GF 18 Feb 1784 (sp Gert Crim, Geo Hausman)" Early Families of Herkimer County, New York by William V. H. Barker 1986
1780-1852 Maria Shafer/Shaver Thumb
Birth records of children, Hester b. 1820, and Johnathan b. 1823, show parents as Adam Thumb and Maria Shafer/Shaver.
1850 Federal Census
Oppenheim, Fulton, New York
Adam Thumb 76 New York
Mary Thumb 70 New York
James Thumb 47 New York
Hannah Thumb 36 New York
Jonathan Thumb 26 New York
Clarina Thumb 21 New York
Martha Thumb 1 New York
Catharine Smith 34 New York
Emily Smith 5 New York
Delia Smith 3 New York
Buried in Thumb Cemetery
Mary Thumb 2/26/1852 Age [ ] yrs
wife of Adam Thumb
"Gone But Not Forgotten"
Gertraut Schaeffer Petrie
Birth 18 Feb 1784
Christening 7 Mar 1784
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Joh. Conrad Schaeffer
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
"1807 PETRIE, Daniel, son of John J. Petrie and wife, Gertrude, b. 19 Feb, bapt. 25 Mar.
Sponsors: Daniel Petrie and Anna Siginauer
NOTE: John J. or Han Yost Petrie, son of Col. Jacob Petrie and brother of Conrad, Jacob Frederick, Daniel and others. Gertrude Shaffer, daughter of Dorothy Crim whose first husband, Frederick Bell, was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, July 18, 1778."
~Baptismal Records of the Reformed Church of Columbia, 1806-1816, Columbia Center, Herkimer County, New York, Organized 1798
herkimer.nygenweb.net/columbia/columbiabap1.html
***
Conrad Schaeffer died sometime after 1784, and before 1790 when Dorothea had married 3rd Christian Schepperman and delivered a son.
Peter Schepperman
Birth 6 Jul 1790
Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Christian Schepperman
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
1790 Federal Census
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Christian Shepperman
1 male of 16 & upwards
1 male under 16
3 females
It should be said that due to the events of the French & Indian War and Revolutionary War, many of the homes, court houses, and churches were burned to the ground, the records they held forever destroyed. Much of what we know today comes from personal interviews of the survivors. Mrs. Alice Hatch and her husband were descendants of some of those survivors, and Jeptha Simms interviewed many of them. Although there are discrepancies in the tales, as one would expect in these circumstances, the integrity of those telling the tale is in my opinion honest and truthful to the best of their ability.
""When Frederick Bell was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, he left a widow (Dorothy Crim Bell) who afterwards married Johannes Conrad Shaffer and Gertrude Shaffer was one of her daughters, the other marrying a Adam Thumb Jr. from the Valley."
"Dorothy, daughter of Paul and Lana Crim, married Frederick Bell, who was killed in the Andrustown Massacre. Their two sons were Adam and Richard, the latter was a prisoner with the Indians and died a few years later. Dorothy married second, Conrad Shaffer and had two daughters. One married Mr. Thumb and Charity married Han Yost Petrie and reared a large family. Their home was just east of Columbia Center. Dorothy married third a Mr. Shepperman and lived north of Herkimer where she is buried. In the Thumb cemetery north of St. Johnsville. She spent her last years with her daughter Mary (Mrs. Adam Thumb, Jr.)"
Mrs. Hatch also relates:
"Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre. This primitive cabin was on the east side of the road a few rods south of the homestead of the late Walter Crim. Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of whom, Frederick III, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in donning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions... he died in early manhood."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
"Henderson's or Andreas Town and its Destruction.--The facts here given were obtained at a personal interview in 1852 with the venerable Adam Bell, a son of Frederick Bell, Jun., named in the narrative, who was born at Andreas Town, July 22, 1773."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Possible children:
Johann Dieterich Bell
Birth 23 Jun 1770
Christening 23 Jun 1770
Reformed Dutch Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
"In July, 1778, Stauring, Leppard, Hawyer and the two Bells, father and son, went to Andreastown to secure some hay... Fred. Bell, Sen., was an old man and widower, but the wife of the younger Bell, and the wives of Stauring and Hawyer joined the party to cook... With the workers were two boys, one a son of Stauring, then in his teens, and Richard, a son of Fred. Bell, Jun., some eight years of age. Just after breakfast on the morning of the 18th... a party of Indians with several Tories... appeared... The Bells, father and son, chanced to be near their dwelling... the latter... ran into the house and was shot through a window while in the act of taking down his gun... His father... climbing a fence... shot down and there scalped... young Stauring ...was shot down... the Bell boy was made a prisoner."
~The Frontiersmen of New York..., Vol 2, Jeptha Root Simms; Albany, NY: G.C. Riggs, 1883
Adam Bell
Son of Frederick Bell, Jun., born July 22, 1773
Interview of Adam Bell by Jephtha R Simms, The Frontiersmen of New York
"Adam Bell born May 22, 1772 died May 17, 1854, married Ann Eve Bowers, born 1772, died Oct. 8, 1841... eight children were, Peter, Frederick, Richard, Joseph, Henry, Elizabeth, Mary and Almina Laddy (Lany)."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Annae Bell Frank
Laurentius Franck & Anna Bell
Marriage 8 Nov 1802
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
~New York Marriages, 1686-1980
Note: probably the Lawrence Frank born 1773, died 1830
Abrahamus Frank
Birth 2 Dec 1806
Christening 21 Dec 1806
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
Herkimer, Herkimer, New York
Father Laurentii L. Frank
Mother Annae Bell
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
Frederick Bell III
About 1776
"The grandparents of this man--Frederick and Mary Bell or Pell as it was then called, were among the Palatines and drew the lot on which they lived north of Herkimer and which was later occupied by Frederick's sister who married Lawrence Frank. This Frederick Bell and his son, Frederick, Jr. were killed at their home at the Andrustown Massacre.... Frederick was at this time an aged widower and Frederick, Jr. had married Dorothy, a daughter of Paul Crim and had two sons, one of who, Frederick, 3rd, aged two or three, was taken prisoner and retained with his captors for years, until he imbibed much of their customs and sentiments and when after years of captivity, he was restored to his family, he delighted in doning his Indian toggery and betaking himself to the woods to hunt and fish, and seemed to wean his affections from his wildwood companions. He grew melancholy and dissatisfied with civilized life and died in early manhood and upon Adam his only brother devolved the responsibility of maintaining this branch of the family name."
~Genealogies Compiled by Mrs. Alice G Hatch [1847-1937]
Magdalena Bell
Birth 2 Jun 1777
Christening 9 Jun 1777
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Friedrich Bell
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962
NOTE: Per Barker in Early Families of Herkimer county, there were two Frederick Bells born about the same time: one being the husband of Dorothy Crim father of Frederick and Magdalena, who was born about 1751, and killed by the Indian sticking his gun through the cabin widow while reaching for his gun; the other husband of Maria Eva Haack, possibly the father of Diedrich, Adam, Jacob and Frederick who married Anne Bellinger. Another family difficult to sort out. Please consider this a work in progress, subject to change and interpretation.
2nd husband
"Lt. Conrad Schaeffer - pr. born ca 1745 to 1755 m by 1782 Dorothy Crim dau of Paul Crim & Magdalena Steele and widow of Frederick Bell (d 1778). Schaeffer Gertrude b GF 18 Feb 1784 (sp Gert Crim, Geo Hausman)" Early Families of Herkimer County, New York by William V. H. Barker 1986
1780-1852 Maria Shafer/Shaver Thumb
Birth records of children, Hester b. 1820, and Johnathan b. 1823, show parents as Adam Thumb and Maria Shafer/Shaver.
1850 Federal Census
Oppenheim, Fulton, New York
Adam Thumb 76 New York
Mary Thumb 70 New York
James Thumb 47 New York
Hannah Thumb 36 New York
Jonathan Thumb 26 New York
Clarina Thumb 21 New York
Martha Thumb 1 New York
Catharine Smith 34 New York
Emily Smith 5 New York
Delia Smith 3 New York
Buried in Thumb Cemetery
Mary Thumb 2/26/1852 Age [ ] yrs
wife of Adam Thumb
"Gone But Not Forgotten"
Gertraut Schaeffer Petrie
Birth 18 Feb 1784
Christening 7 Mar 1784
Reformed Protestant Dutch Church
German Flatts, Herkimer, New York
Father Joh. Conrad Schaeffer
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
"1807 PETRIE, Daniel, son of John J. Petrie and wife, Gertrude, b. 19 Feb, bapt. 25 Mar.
Sponsors: Daniel Petrie and Anna Siginauer
NOTE: John J. or Han Yost Petrie, son of Col. Jacob Petrie and brother of Conrad, Jacob Frederick, Daniel and others. Gertrude Shaffer, daughter of Dorothy Crim whose first husband, Frederick Bell, was killed at the Andrustown Massacre, July 18, 1778."
~Baptismal Records of the Reformed Church of Columbia, 1806-1816, Columbia Center, Herkimer County, New York, Organized 1798
herkimer.nygenweb.net/columbia/columbiabap1.html
***
Conrad Schaeffer died sometime after 1784, and before 1790 when Dorothea had married 3rd Christian Schepperman and delivered a son.
Peter Schepperman
Birth 6 Jul 1790
Lutheran Trinity Church of Stone Arabia
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Father Christian Schepperman
Mother Dorothea
~New York Births & Christenings
1790 Federal Census
Palatine, Montgomery, New York
Christian Shepperman
1 male of 16 & upwards
1 male under 16
3 females
Inscription
Dorothy Shepperman
Died June 1 1839
Age 86 yrs, 6 ms, 5 ds
Family Members
Spouse
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See more Shepperman or Crim memorials in:
- Thumb Cemetery Shepperman or Crim
- Oppenheim Shepperman or Crim
- Fulton County Shepperman or Crim
- New York Shepperman or Crim
- USA Shepperman or Crim
- Find a Grave Shepperman or Crim
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