In the previous post, #2 – Into the Unknown, Philip
traveled with his family across the European continent and the Atlantic Ocean
to begin a new life in America, leaving his former life behind.
Now we come to a gap in the story. Just what happens in
the lives of this little Family in the 35 years from when Philip signs the
oaths in Philadelphia in 1738 and his son, Jacob, meets his death about 1774,
is almost unknown. Of course, a lot happened across the American colonies and
around the world during these years. On June 10, 1752, the scientist,
philosopher, and statesman Benjamin Franklin sent a kite into the air during an
electrical storm to demonstrate the properties of electricity.[1]
France and Great Britain fought a war around the globe
and across the North American colonies that became known as “The French and
Indian War”. It was also known as “the Seven Years War” and, in some places, as
“George Washington’s War” since it was George Washington that brought on the
first engagement of the war on American soil. It lasted from 1754 until the
final treaty was signed in 1763.[2]
 |
| A book from my library. |
In 1761, while
arguing against the Writs of Assistance – vaguely defined search warrants
issued by Great Britain – lawyer James Otis
declared that “taxation without representation is tyranny!” John Adams, who
later became our first Vice-President and then our second President, was in the
room and heard these words spoken. He declared this moment to be the first act
in the American Revolution.[3]
That 35-year period was a busy time and things promised
only to get busier!
It must have been busy for these Drums as well. Philip,
if he was still alive, had to find land to live on and income to buy goods. Shelter had to be built, the land needed to be cleared, and crops needed to be raised for food. It must have been much harder for Jacob and his mother
if Philip had died shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia as some have
claimed. However, a search of newspapers of the time found a notice of land for
sale at the Forks placed in the German Newspaper by one Philip Drum in 1750.
Forks Township surrounds Easton, PA. Easton sits at the point where the Lehigh
River meets the Delaware River. Was this “our” Philip? There likely were more
than one. In fact, there is much evidence that this was the case.
With or without Philip, the family must have lived
within, and was cared for by, the Pennsylvania German Community, members of
which probably met them at the dock in Philadelphia. This community was very
strong in the Easton/Allentown area of Pennsylvania at that time; an area that
includes places like Whitehall, Moore, Cherryville, Walnutport, and Williams.
Jacob grew from a child into a young man, married, and
began a family of his own. Apparently, according to evidence posted on-line by
other researchers, Jacob married a woman named Catherine Strauss[4] in 1749[5]. Catherine and Jacob both appear to have the same birth year
making them both 19 years of age at the time. If the date of 1749 is the year
they married, as far as we know it would be another thirteen years before their
first child comes along, certainly the first to survive, the little boy they
named George.
This story about Catherine Strauss, however, may not be factual. One of "our" "cousins", Susan Lehrmitt, great granddaughter of Lavina Drum (Philip+W2, George, Jacob,
Philip) Straw, dropped me a comment on January 16, 2022 that pretty much blows the story out of the water, as they say. Darn. And I SO wanted that information to be correct. I was suspicious of it because I could not find anything to confirm it as fact. Susan appears to have found what I could not and sent me the following to set the record straight. Please let me know if you have found evidence that is contrary to what Susan has submitted. However, she wrote:
Hi Ron. As a great granddaughter of Lavina Drum, I appreciate all the work you've done on tracing the Drum history. I've been sweating with Ancestry.com, and finally concluded that Philip Drum, well-documented resident of Moore Township, could not be Jacob's father or George's grandfather. Moore Philip’s will and Zion's Church graveyard records clearly document his 1721 birth and 1788 death as well as listing children. No mention of deceased Jacob or orphaned grandson George. The 1788 will states his daughter "Catharout" married Henry Strauss. (This created a possible Catherine Strauss, but not Jacob’s wife!) This Philip, born in 1721, was too young to be the grandfather of “our” George, born in 1762. The 1779 confirmation of “Joh. George Drum”, at age 16 in First Church of Christ, Easton validates his 1762 birth year. George seemed to be very connected to the Woodring (Wotrin) family of Williams Twp: his future wife and brother-in-law were also listed in the confirmation records of the same church. I suspect he lived in Williams Township from an early age, and perhaps Jacob did as well. George was a member of the Williams Township Militia (under Capt. Peter Hays)along with Philip Woodring. I’m even wondering if the Wotring family took George Drum in after his father’s death. It doesn’t seem like he had any nearby relatives.
I think you are right to question the facts surrounding Jacob’s demise. I haven’t found anything to substantiate this charming family story. 1774 seems late for Indian attacks in Northampton County—most Indians had moved west by 1768. It’s very odd that 12-year-old George would be an only child—-those women really produced babies! And wouldn’t George be a bit big to fit in the fireplace at that age? I have found enough Catherine Strauss information to convince me that she could not have been George’s mother. The Zion's Church Allen Twp. record reports that a Catherine Strauss married a Jacob Drum, but she could not have borne George Drum in 1762. Her mother Gertraut Trum was born in 1748 and her father Heinrich Strauss in 1738. There certainly could be a “Trum-Drum” connection, but the dates don’t work for those folks to be our direct ancestors. So, I have reluctantly deleted the Strauss name from my tree and replaced it with a question mark. Lots of questions remain!
Keep on digging..
Susan Smith Lehrmitt
I think you are right to question the facts surrounding Jacob’s demise. I haven’t found anything to substantiate this charming family story. 1774 seems late for Indian attacks in Northampton County—most Indians had moved west by 1768. It’s very odd that 12-year-old George would be an only child—-those women really produced babies! And wouldn’t George be a bit big to fit in the fireplace at that age? I have found enough Catherine Strauss information to convince me that she could not have been George’s mother. The Zion's Church Allen Twp. record reports that a Catherine Strauss married a Jacob Drum, but she could not have borne George Drum in 1762. Her mother Gertraut Trum was born in 1748 and her father Heinrich Strauss in 1738. There certainly could be a “Trum-Drum” connection, but the dates don’t work for those folks to be our direct ancestors. So, I have reluctantly deleted the Strauss name from my tree and replaced it with a question mark. Lots of questions remain!
Keep on digging..
Susan Smith Lehrmitt
I guess, as they say, that ends that! BTW, I am still a believer in the Jacob Farm Attack story, but agree there are a number of details about it that need to be cleaned up. Of course, this puts quite a dent in a few other posts I've written, not to mention surmises included below in this post. Like I said, "Darn". But many thanks to Susan for keeping this all on track! Now back to the story.
The year 1761 was an important year in many ways. In
September of that year, Jacob’s wife, Catherine(?), became pregnant and, although
the treaty wasn’t signed until 1763, the actual fighting of the French and
Indian War on the North American continent ended in 1761. The role George
Washington played in the start of the war on this continent made him an
international celebrity and his fame only grew as the war progressed. Many in
the colonies and around the world saw him as an American celebrity rivaling
that of Benjamin Franklin.
As “American” feelings and fervor grew through the 1750’s
into the 1760’s many people began to think of themselves more as Americans than
as British. Were Jacob and Catherine(?) counted in this group? Were they both
“moved” enough to cause them to choose the name “George”, after George
Washington, for their new son who was born in June of 1762? Or were they
keeping faith with the promise made by Philip upon his arrival in Philadelphia
in 1738 and naming their son after King George of Great Britain?
The French and Indian/Seven Years War was an expensive
war. To help cover the costs of this war, Great Britain passed new taxes,
specifically the unpopular StampTax of 1765. This act set into motion a series of events that
included the event Paul Revere called “The Boston Massacre” in 1770 and the Boston Tea Party in 1773. In 1775, the year after Jacob lost his life, the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World”
was fired in Concord, Massachusetts[6]
and the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776.
Our next glimpse of
this little family is given to us by Laura Helman in a genealogy she wrote for
the Drums in 1927[7].
In her book she tells of a tragedy – the loss of Jacob and his wife in an
attack by American Indians around 1774.
From 1737 through 1790 there was great unrest in the
native population of Eastern Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, and Virginia. The
Indians suffered continual encroachment on their traditional hunting and home
lands by “new” people from Europe. Numerous times they tried to make peace with
these new peoples only to be disappointed or worse almost every time. Any peace
that was established proved to be only temporary. It happened over and over,
again and again, throughout the North American continent and across its long
history after the Europeans arrived.
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| From a brochure for the Pocono Indian Museum, Bushkill, Penna. |
The unrest felt in
eastern Pennsylvania was greatly exacerbated by an agreement made in 1737, one
year prior to the arrival of Philip and his family on the Glasgow, between the
Lenni Lenape Indians, also known as the Delaware Indians, and the two sons of
William Penn who managed affairs after his death. The agreement became known as
“The Walking Purchase”. As more and more Europeans arrived in Pennsylvania,
more and more land was required to house them; land that was controlled by the
Lenni Lenape. The Penns approached the Lenni Lenape chief Nutimus and offered
to buy the needed land. An agreement was concluded that said the Lenni Lenape
would sell the land that fell within a triangle to be formed by the Delaware
River to the east and a line to be made by a man walking perpendicular to the
river for a day and a half.
On the surface it seemed to be a reasonable proposition.
However, the Penn’s did not plan to play honestly. They hired three men,
professional runners, and started them training months before the date of the
“measurement”. Men were sent out to cut a path through the brush and
undergrowth, station boats at creek crossings, and provide supplies along the
route. On the appointed day at the appointed hour of noon, the three men set
out, walking at first but quickly picking up the pace until they were in full
run. The Indians quickly realized they were being tricked and became furious.
They complained bitterly but there was little they could do to stop the fraud.
The first runner, Solomon Jennings, fell exhausted after
2.5 hours and covering 19 miles. Jim Yates dropped out on the second day, but
Edward Marshall continued until he had reached a total of 65 miles in 18 hours.
He then quit as well and the “purchase” was over. The triangle thus created
covered more than 1,200,000 acres. It encompassed the area of Pennsylvania that
today includes the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem, and Easton; the heart of the
Pennsylvania German Community in the second half of the 18th
Century.
Of the “purchase”, Chief Nutimus said, “If this purchase
must hold, why then we are no more brothers and friends but much more like open
enemies.” The fraud was often cited as one of the primary grievances by the
Lenni Lenape, a wound felt deeply far into the 1790’s, echoes of which are
still felt yet today.[8]
The Europeans not only took the land, but they imposed
their wars and disagreements on the Indians as well. Native peoples felt forced
to take sides to safe-guard their future; choosing sides depending on which
side they thought might best serve their cause. However, between the French,
the British, and the colonists/Americans, it was a hard choice! Even within the
colonists, themselves, there were disagreements! Both Connecticut and
Pennsylvania claimed lands in what would become Northeastern Pennsylvania,
eventually resulting in the Yankee-Pennamite wars
(a series of battles on the ground and in the courtroom between 1769 and 1786).
These wars ended when the court awarded the lands to Pennsylvania. It was out
of this conflict that the county of Luzerne was created as part of the final
decision.[9]
Between the Seven Years War, Yankee-Pennamite War,
Walking Purchase, and other similar interactions with the native population, it
is no wonder they were somewhat upset with the “newcomers”! And they let the
“newcomers” know it in the most harsh and savage ways. They were, after all,
fighting for their land and their very existence. To be a settler on the
“frontier” in those days took courage! Many settlers’ lives were ended during
an attack upon their farm by Indians, often working with French or British
soldiers, depending on the war taking place at the time.
By the 1770’s, it was usually the British working with
the Indians when farms were raided. By keeping the frontier in chaos, the
British at first hoped the colonists would seek safety with the British and later,
when the American Revolution had begun, hoped so many American soldiers would
be needed on the frontier to protect the settlers, there would not be enough to
carry on the war of rebellion. It would be this chaos on the frontier that
would end Jacob’s life and change George’s forever.
In 1774, because of the unrest between the colonists and
the British, communities began to establish “Committees of Observation” whose
purpose was to monitor developments and, through their sub-committees of
communication, keep everyone informed and aware of what was transpiring across
the colonies. When Northampton County elected their Committee of Observation in
December of 1774, included on the membership list was one Philip Drum[10]. Was this “our” Philip? It certainly would
make sense for a 72-year-old man who just lost his son and daughter-in-law to
an Indian attack, especially if it was aided by British soldiers, to become
civically active in this manner. Of course, we cannot be sure. All that is
recorded are the member’s names.
Since we do not know when Philip died, perhaps we may
continue with our flights of fancy! It is just as likely that Philip lived till
1788 as it is that he died in 1739. A record has been located of a Will that
went to probate November 22, 1788. The deceased was named Philip Drum and had
lived in Moore Township. As continues to be the case, however, it is difficult
to know if this was “our” Philip. In fact, a record of a Revolutionary Soldier
from Northampton County named Philip Drum has also been located showing him as
having died in November of 1788. The Will could very easily be THIS Philip’s
and not “our” Philip’s.
However, an intriguing potential connection between this
Will and “our” Philip does exist and it has to do with Jacob’s wife, Catherine
Strauss, who was taken by the Indians during that awful attack in 1774. The
executor named in the Will was Moore Township resident, Henry Strauss.
This then raises a question. Why would a man named Drum
have someone named Strauss be the executor of his Will unless there was a close
family relationship - such as Catherine? Of course, we do not know if Catherine
is related to Henry, perhaps she is his daughter, but could this be the
evidence needed to show “our” Philip was the same man who wrote the Will that
was read in 1788; that “our” Philip lived until November of 1788?
If Philip did indeed live until 1788, Philip certainly
lived a long, full, and interesting life! In those 86 years, this man
experienced the coldest winter in 500 years, traveled from Bavaria up the Rhine
to Rotterdam, sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, homesteaded in southeastern
Pennsylvania, saw his son marry and have a child, his grandson, only to see his
son die, and daughter-in-law carried away, at the hands of American Indians,
became civically active at age 72, witnessed the birth of a new nation, watched
his grandson march off to war in support of that new nation, saw him get
married and have a child, his GREAT-grandson, whom his parents named after HIM,
and witnessed the re-birth of that nation under a new constitution![11]
Now THAT would have been a life well lived!!!
Return to the Drums of Drums, PA on July 30, 2018
for post #4, Jacob’s Story.
[2]
“Washington and the French and Indian War” http://www.mountvernon.org/george-washington/french-indian-war accessed 12/17/17.
[5]
Butler Township History, Butler Township website, http://www.butlertownship.org/about-us/history/Print.html
accessed 6/14/2016
[6]
Conventional Wisdom says that the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” was fired on
Lexington Green in Lexington, Massachusetts. However, there are some, myself
included, who argue this important shot was not fired in Lexington but in
Concord. The action taken in Lexington that April 19 morning was totally
defensive. The British soldiers quickly pushed the colonists off the Green and
continued their march to Concord. However, the colonists gathered at Concord
bridge, after seeing what they thought was the soldiers burning their town,
determined to stop things there. It was at Concord Bridge that they not only
took a stand but fired on the soldiers in an offensive action, so it was there,
at Concord Bridge, that the first shot of the revolution, the “Shot Heard
‘Round the World”, was fired. In fact, it got its name from a poem written by
Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837 called the “Concord Hymn”
which begins, “By the rude bridge that arched the flood/Their flag to April’s
breeze unfurled/Here once the embattled farmers stood/And fired the shot heard
round the world.”
[7]
Helman, Laura M., History and Genealogy of the Drum Family (Allentown,
PA: Berkemeyer, Keck & Co., 1927)
[8]
Stories from PA History, The American Revolution, 1765-1783: Chapter Four:
Border Wars, Explorepahistory.com http://explorepahistory.com/story.php?storyId=1-9-11&chapter=4
accessed 5/13/2016
[9]
Historical Markers, Fort Wyoming Historical Marker, Explorepahistory.com http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-178
accessed 5/13/2016
[10] http://home.ptd.net/~nikki/american.htm
accessed 9/30/2005 (page no longer opens). Page 49 in History Magazine, Vol.
IX, 1865 (NY: John G. Shea) records the individuals elected to this committee
and includes “Philip Droom”. Another name listed in the defunct page's list is
John Griesemer. It appears in the magazine list as “John Greesemer”.
[11] If
Philip died in November of 1788 he would have missed voting in the first U.S.
Presidential Election, and, therefore for George Washington, by approximately
six weeks. The first national election held in Pennsylvania under the new
constitution was held on January 7, 1789. Pennsylvania voters elected 10
representatives to the Electoral College, all of whom supported George
Washington.
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