Jacob’s Story

In the previous post, Philip established his family in Pennsylvania and he, perhaps, lives until 1788. We also learned of a tragic incident in which Philip’s son, Jacob, was killed and Jacob’s wife taken prisoner but their son, George, survives.

Again, the details are few concerning this event. All we really know is what Helman^[1] recorded in her genealogy. She tells us that “according to James Laux, historian”, Philip Drum’s son, Jacob, “was killed by the Indians, and he in turn had a son, George Drum, who was a lad 12 years old when his father was killed, and his mother captured by the Indians.”^[2] Family oral tradition says that when the farm was attacked, George escaped by hiding in the chimney; the house and all their holdings were either burned, stolen, or otherwise destroyed.

Jacob’s story was repeated in other families over and over, up and down the east coast, but especially in Eastern Pennsylvania. In 2005, Kevin Drum, then of Circleville, Ohio and not part of “our” Philip’s tree, in a note to me, told of his family’s night of terror that happened in 1757 “back in Pennsylvania”. He got the story as it was told by his Grandfather⁴, Eli Drum, who, in turn, heard the story from his Grandfather, George Drum. According to the story, it was a stormy night “when a band of Indians broke into his (Eli’s) Grandfather’s house (Johann Adam Drum) …and brutally murdered him (Johann) and took his wife and son (19-year-old George) hostage.” Kevin then added, “luckily for the future of the Drum family – he (George) escaped and went on to have a whole clutch of kids.”

Kevin did not say where “back in Pennsylvania” Johann’s farm was located but it is likely it was in or near Moore Township. Moore Township is just northwest of Easton, southeast of Jim Thorpe, and north of Allentown, “nestled against the Blue Mountains” according to the township webpage^[3]. The webpage says that around 1755 approximately

…200 American Indians swarmed over the mountains leaving behind a trail of death and chaos. Estimates of 100-200 settlers were slain in Northampton County, and hundreds more were displaced. Homes and farms were burned, livestock was slain, crops were destroyed.”

Another story from closer to the time Jacob was killed is the story of the Harvey family. Benjamin Harvey and his family were quietly sitting in their eastern Pennsylvania home when fourteen Indians walked in and took the family prisoners. Sometime thereafter, the women and children were released but Benjamin and his two sons continued to be held captive. As they marched along, the elderly Benjamin was unable to keep up. The Indians, therefore, decided to kill him. Forcing him to stand erect, they threw tomahawks at him but the weapons all missed him! This caused the Indians to believe that his life was “charmed” so they released him. Although he experienced many hardships along the way, he did find his way home and lived to tell the story. His two sons were taken to Canada where they were eventually ransomed.^[4]

Helman tells us “our” George Drum, son of Jacob, was born in 1762 and was 12 at the time of the attack, marking the year of the attack on Jacob’s farm as 1774. Again, so many questions! Where was the farm located? What time of day and during what time of year did the attack occur? Was Philip and/or his wife still alive? If so, where were they living at the time? Philip would have been 72 years old if he was still alive at the time of his son’s death in 1774.

A search of deeds and warrants for this period conducted to find this farm’s location turned up nothing for Jacob but a land warrant was discovered under the name of “Phillip Drum” in Moore Township dated May 1, 1767. Certainly, this is a candidate for Jacob’s farm!

Such searches result in a lot of similar activity by a Philip (one “L” or two) Drum in, and around this area. He appears in the Pennsylvania Septennial Census of 1786 being counted in Moore, the same census that counted George in Williams Township. He pays taxes in Moore in 1781, 1786, and 1788. In addition to the May 1, 1767 land warrant, there are also warrants under this name dated Sept. 9, 1765, May 19, 1767, and April 6, 1768 in Northampton County but not tagged to a specific township. The questions we are left with are if any or all of these Philip/Phillip’s are the same person and if any or all are “our” Philip!

On Wednesday, May 30, 2018, I was looking for information via the WWW about types of stones used for gravestones in early America when I came across a page of early German-American gravestones. One was for a “Jacob ? Born April 16, ??, Died August 1, 1775.” The website said the gravestone was in a cemetery behind the St. Pauls UCC of Indianland which is in Cherryville but has a mailing address of Walnutport. No, I can’t explain that and no, when I visited there, I didn’t ask. The church’s website listed the grave and even provided a map to help locate the various stones in the cemetery.

Now this stone’s inscription intrigued me. This church is almost exactly where I’d have put Jacob’s farm. About 10 miles north of Allentown, 15 miles west of Easton, 8 miles west of the center of Moore Township and about 40 miles south of Drumyngham (the name I’ve given to my home in Drums). The year of death, 1775, was wrong for “our” Jacob; of course, we think Jacob died in 1774. However, 1775 was still close enough to make it reasonable to check it out. My thought, hope, was that by looking at the stone, I might see a clue that could make the connection; that this was the grave of Philip Drum’s son, Jacob Drum. So, on Thursday, May 31, 2018, I found myself in my car heading south.

This is a road map that was put out by Texaco in 1975. I've labeled points of "Drum" interest. The yellow star is Cherryville, the location of Jacob's grave.

Pennsylvania is a beautiful state, even if it is a foggy day and you can’t see a darn thing in front of your car. As I turned off I-80 East and onto I-476 South; also known as the Northeast Extension and, at one time, The Blue Route[5], I went from a drizzly mist into a disturbingly dense fog. “How apropos!” I thought. Here I was, on my way to a cemetery deep in what was once the center of the Pennsylvania German community, to look at a gravestone that only might be an ancestor’s; hoping to part the fog of time while driving through a fog of the present. Apropos in-deed.

I found the church easy enough - looked just like the photo on their web page. I walked around behind the church and saw row upon row of graves. So, I went to the second row back, counted three stones in and found a very German gravestone which had stuff inscribed on it, very little of which could I make hide nor hair of; in fact, I could hardly see it.

Stones this old are already in poor condition just due to exposure to the elements. We don't need to make matters any worse by aggressively attacking the engravings. I carefully removed some lichen and a bit of moss, but still found very little I could make out. I looked at it from various angles, still very little. 

The word “geboren” (born) could be made out as was the word “gestorben” (died); perhaps there was a name at the top but if so, it clearly was not “Jacob”; and something was inscribed across the bottom that I could not make out at all. The rest, dates, etc. were so difficult to make out I finally gave up. I wondered how the church folks could read it!

I took some photos, jumped back in my car, and headed home. If this was Jacob’s stone, I couldn’t find that name on it anywhere.

Back to the web page I went to double-check myself. Yup, right behind the church, fourth row back, third grave from the road. Wait. FOURTH row? I was in the SECOND row! I studied the wrong stone. Friday, June 1, although just as overcast and threatening as Thursday but this time with less fog (again apropos), back I went to the church in Indianland, I mean Cherryville, I mean, well you know. Nothing had changed from the day before. Back around behind the church I went, counted back FOUR rows, this time, then three stones in. There it was. This one looked a bit more like the picture on the web page. I’d found the stone and only on my second try. But what does the stone say? It was another stone you could hardly read anything on. This one, however, clearly had MUCH more inscribed on it than just “geboren” and “gestorben”.

The stone is in terrible shape. It is slowly being dissolved by air pollution and lichen. That’s what those dark areas are all about. Lichen is a terrible enemy of grave stones. Air pollutants and the freeze-thaw cycle begin to weaken the stone's surface. Taking advantage, the lichen puts a bit of acid onto the stone’s already weakened surface and then, when the stone grows softer in that spot, inserts a tiny root. Then it repeats the process. Eventually, the stone’s surface begins to break apart and washes away or is blown away by the wind. The key word here is “away”. That is what is happening to this stone.

I could still make stuff out on this stone, however. There, in the upper right area beneath the decorative head, I was able to make out “JACO”. Only by very careful, extensive examination of the stone was I able to find the “B”. A word near the bottom sure looked like “August” and across the bottom row on the stone was clearly cut “177” and a mark that could possibly be a “3” or a “5”. Whatever it is, it seems smaller and at an unusual angle compared to the “177”.

Out came the camera. A few photos later, a wave to the lawn maintenance guy who’d just arrived on his huge, yellow, riding lawn-mowing machine, and I was back on the road headed north for the second time in two days. I don’t know why but both days my GPS sent me south via I-476 (approximately 51 miles) but the return trip was via Route 93 (approximately 49 miles). Both are beautiful drives but then, after all, we are talking Pennsylvania.

The question remains, however, is it “our” Jacob buried beneath this stone? Well, first of all, no matter who belongs to this marker, he isn’t “under” the stone. He might be near-by. Apparently in the late 1940’s, the stones were moved into straight rows to enhance grounds maintenance. Seems a lot of churches were doing this then; sort of a “grounds maintenance thing”. I’m certain the guy riding his huge yellow mower would have been more than thankful for the 1940’s effort had he known about it! I guess that really isn’t important, however. That the stone still exists is important bringing us back to that vexing question, “did we find Jacob Drum?”

I studied the photos, changed them to black and white, enlarged them, slanted them, studied them for seven hours (cumulative, not consecutive), and I did come to a few conclusions. First, I think I just may be crazy. I mean, who does stuff like this!? Second, if you look at a thing long enough, you can begin to see anything you want to see! I wasn’t getting anywhere so I finally drew what I thought I was seeing onto graph paper so I could check it out later and see if I still agreed with what I originally drew.

Sometimes such drawings are also helpful when trying to decide if something is a “B” or a “D”, but not always. For example, take the first letter I can “see” in Line 6. In one photo it looks like an “N”, in another photo, I’m certain it is an “R”. I can see that there are words on the stone, but letters are missing. In line 3 I can see what looks like parts of letters but can’t be sure what letters they are. In line 2 I can’t be sure if that first object is part of a letter or a crack in the stone!

On my graph I included the areas where the lichen damage exists as well, and, of course, the places the year of birth and Jacob’s last name would fall are places that are almost totally gone.  To see if I could figure out what was missing, I began to run words and phrases through “Google Translate” to see if I could match potential letter placements on the stone to known words. I might think it’s an “E” but by comparing my drawing with actual German words, I see it might really be a “B” or a “space” might be a missing “P”, etc.

Following inscription patterns seen on other stones from the same culture and a similar time-frame; basing my ideas on what happened to Jacob and George; I tried various phrases until something seemed to work. In the end, I think I may have actually deciphered the writing on this stone. Remember, however, my mother always accused me of having a good imagination. Very little of the following can be vouched for, for certain! Stuff in BLUE is totally made-up wishful thinking. The rest of it is probably more wishful thinking than fact but here goes. I am “certain” the stone once read:

hier liet Jacob
Drum bgraben
geborn April16
1730. Geliebter
Vater. von brutal
en Heiden getö
tet. Gestor
ben 11 August
MO 1773

hier liet Jacob Drum b[e]graben. gebor[e]n April16, 1730. Geliebter Vater. von brutalen Heiden getötet. Gestorben 11 August 1773 MO

Jacob Drum has been buried here. (Here was Jacob Drum buried) Born April 16, 1730. Beloved father. Killed by brutal heathens. Died August 11, 1773.”

If you can see any of that in the photo above, you’ve been staring at it at least seven hours.

Jacob's stone - front

Reverse of Jacob's stone

Here is another photo from a different angle, just in case you are tired of staring at the other one.

BTW, as you can see here, the back of this stone is quite beautifully carved.

And since I mentioned the back of this stone, here is the back of the “wrong” stone I looked at first. It too has a beautifully carved back.

"Wrong" stone's back.

I find it interesting, irritating, and just a tad ironic, that the beautiful artwork carved into the backs of these stones is carved very deeply. If only the words on the front had been thus carved.

The “MO” had me perplexed for awhile. It seems somehow disconnected from the rest of the inscription. Although rather large, it occurred to me that it may be the initials of the stone-carver. So, I looked closely at the beautifully carved “wrong stone” to see if it was on that stone as well. Sure enough, there in the lower right (this time) corner of the front of the stone is what appears to me to be “MO”, at a similar angle and similar large size.

Funny how one of the few things I think I can actually see in the inscription of these stones is the carver’s initials!

As for the 1775 vs. 1773 issue (at one time I thought it was a 0): I am not able to make out if it is a “5” or a “3”. Either way, 5 or 3, I don’t believe it is a “4”.

BTW, the church website says the date of death is August 1, 1775. I do not see anything after the word “August” but I do see two lines before it which I read as 11.

So, we end almost where we started, in a fog. Without additional information we cannot be sure if Jacob’s resting place has been found. What we found is a grave in the “right” location given what we know of Jacob’s history. Where the last name would most likely be on the stone, there is not a lot of space, but just right for the four letters that make up the name “Drum”. Helman tells us George was born in June of 1762 and that he was “a lad 12 years old” when the attack occurred, thus 1774. August of 1773 would make him 11 years and 2 months. Are we splitting hairs? Did Helman mess up doing her arithmetic? August of 1775 would be 13 years and two months. Of course, is 1762 correct?

Sometimes it is all about that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach. Feelings you get in the pit of your stomach are not usually how historians determine fact over fiction, but then, I’m not an Historian! I’m just a guy with a lot of curiosity who sometimes talks to the pit of his stomach. My stomach tells me I’ve found Jacob and he rests in, of all places for a man who lost his life to an Indian raid, Indianland.

Return to Drums of Drums, PA on August 13, 2018 for our next post, The Drums of Drums Arrive in Drums.

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[1] Helman, Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum Family (Allentown, PA: Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927).

[2] Helman, p3

[3] http://mooretownship.org/historical.html accessed 6/10/2016

[4] Markle, Gladys J., “When Pennsylvania was Frontier”, Annals of the Sugarloaf Historical Association, Vol. 1 (Hazleton, PA: Sugarloaf Historical Association, 1934) p34.

[5] I-476 is an extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike and happens to travel northeast, thus “Northeast Extension. As for Blue Route, well, back in the 1950’s when officials were thinking about adding a northeast extension, they had three possible routes marked on a map, each in a different color. The route I-476 followed was marked in blue, thus “The Blue Route”.