Person:Samuel Akerling (1)

Page 348.--29th May, 1751. John Mills to Samuel Akerling, 100 acres on Little River of Woods River; patented to John, 15th September, 1749. Teste: Andrew Cowan.

Land Survey: "Survey'd for Samuel Eckerlin, 360 acres of land in Augusta County lying on ye East Side of Monongalo River Between the mouth of Indian Creek & Eckerlin's Creek. This 20th ap. [April] 1753. By Andr. Lewis, asst. s. [surveyor]. Thos. Lewis sur.", [Source: "A History of Preston County, West Virginia", pg. 47].

Disposition of Land from Chalkley's:

Page 210.--16th October, 1767. Samuel Ekerling, eldest brother and heir-at-law of Emanuel Ekerling, deceased, of County of Philadelphia, Penna., to William Davis, of Philadelphia City, £60, 125 acres on New River, part of 900 acres patented to Garret Zinn 20th June, 1753, and by him conveyed to Emanuel, 15th January, 1754; corner John Miller opposite a small island. Teste: Alexander McClenachan, John King, William Christian. Delivered: Wm. Davis, 31st July, 1770.

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Records in Augusta County, VA

From Chalkley’s Augusta County Records: [unless otherwise stated]

Vol. 2 - DELINQUENTS. 1750--Sam'l Akerlin, gone to Pennsylvania; Gabriel Akerlin, gone to Pennsylvania.

Vol. 1 - Akerling vs. Linn (Zinn?).--Will filed 1767. Samuel Akerling (Ekerling), late of County of Augusta, in year 1750, owned land on Dunker Bottom, on New River, sold it to Garret Zinn. Bonds were put in hands of orator's brother, ____ Akerling, who lived on Gawgawganie, where he was taken prisoner, his house and effects burned by Indians. Garrett Zinn, in order not to be murdered by the Indians, moved to Carolina, where he died intestate, leaving Valentine Zinn (defendant) his eldest son and heir, who sold the land to Israel Christian (defendant).

1768-008: [Augusta County (Va.) Chancery Causes, 1746-1912] Samuel Akerling vs. Valentine Zinn etc. - Samuel [Akerling's] brother lived on the Frontier of the Colony upon the waters of the Yawyawganie. In the last war he was taken prisoner by the Indians and his house was burned. Garret Zinn had bought land from the brother. Garret took his family to North Carolina to prevent them from being murdered in the last war. He died there and Valentine Zinn is his son and heir at law. LIbrary of Virginia website

Vol. 1 - MARCH 23, 1769. - (103) Samuel Ekerling versus Valentine Zinn, son and heir-at-law of Garrett Zinn.--Chancery.

References

Filby, P. William, ed. Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. (Farmington Hills, MI: Gale Research, 2006).

U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s
Name: Samuel Eckerling
Arrival year: 1725
Arrival Place: Pennsylvania
Source Publication Code: 9658.50.10
Primary Immigrant: Eckerling, Samuel
Annotation: Date and place of mention. Date and place of birth and death, names of parents, college of matriculation, date of ordination, denomination, and names of parishes may also be provided.
Source Bibliography: WEIS, FREDERICK LEWIS. The Colonial Clergy of the Middle Colonies: New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania 1628-1776. Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, 1957. Reprinted for Clearfield Co. by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 2003.
Page: 46
Morton, Oren Frederic. A History of Preston County, West Virginia. (Kingwood, WV: Journal Publishing Co., 1914)
pg. 46.

A few persons came to make homes on the lands offered for sale by the Ohio Company. Among them were at least two brothers of the name of Eckerlin. The leader of these was Samuel. Wiley speaks of him as Thomas and calls him a doctor. In at least the former respect Wiley is misinformed, although Thomas may very possibly have been the name of a brother. Local tradition has designated the Eckerlins as Dunkards. but they appear to have been members of the monastic community at Euphrata, 58 miles west of Philadelphia. Its huge wooden houses, now in decayed condition, are one of the curious architectural felics of colonial America. Except for their celibacy and other monastic peculiarities, the Euphrata people were very similar to the Dunkards. Like the Quakers also, they were non-resistents and did not approve of war and military service.

In the surveyor's books of Augusta County is the following entry:

"Survey'd for Samuel Eckerlin, 360 acres of land in Augusta County lying on ye East Side of Monongalo River Between the mouth of Indian Creek & Eckerlin's Creek. This 20th ap. [April] 1753. By Andr. Lewis, asst. s. [surveyor]. Thos. Lewis sur.",

The actual surveyor was General Andrew Lewis who fought and won the great battle of Point Pleasant, and whom Washington thought a proper man to lead the American armies in the Revolution. He also surveyed for Samuel Eckerlin four other tracts, aggregating 820 acres. Two of the entire five were on the east side of the river. One is mentioned as three miles where Eckerlin "now lives". This circumstance makes it probable that the brothers arrived on the Monongahela in 1752. Their settlement was in the immediate vicinity of the line between Pennsylvania and West Virginia, and Dunkard's Creek derives its name from them.
[paragraphs skipped]

In this remote locality, not less than fifty miles by any practicable route from the settlements on the South Branch, the brothers lived until about 1756. Their ammunition and salt running low, Samuel Eckerlin went eastward by the Indian path, and in the Shenandoah Valley he got what he wanted in exchange for his furs. But on his return, while lodging at Fort Pleasant on the South Branch, he was arrested as a spy in the service of red men. The suspiciou settlers would allow him to proceed only as a prisoner under guard. The French and Indian War was now well under way, and having suffered much already, they were determined to take no chances.

But when Eckerlin and his escort arrived at the Dunkard Bottom, it was only to look upon the ashes of the cabin and the scalped and mutilated body of the slain brother. During his absence the Indians had detected the settlement, and had made a summary example of what they regarded as poachinhg on their domain. The surviving brother was now glad to accompany his guard on their return, and the valley of the Cheat seems to have known him no more.

He came from the Valley of Virginia. In October 1747, he had taken a survey of 900 acres on New River, at a spot which at once became known as Mahanaim, or Dunkard Bottom, and is often mentioned during the war for independence. In 1767, Samuel Eckerlin brought suit against one Valentine Zinn, whose father Garrett, had purchased a part of this new River survey. In his bill Eckerlin states that he left the bonds with his brother, and that they were destroyed when the latter was murdered and his effects burned. Not wishing to lose his own scalp, Garrett Zinn moved to the Carolinas, and Valentine, his oldest son, sold the land to Israel Christian. It is thus a little curious that two river-tracts, some two hundred miles apart, should have received the same name from the same person. In 1751, Samuel Eckerlin purchased of one John Mills 100 acres on Little River in the valley of Virginia, paying the price of #33.33.