Sarah Susannah (Williams) Stalnaker (1686 - 1755)

Born 1686 in Germany

Descendants

Died 19 Jun 1755 at about age 69 in Augusta County, Virginia

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Biography

Sarah (Williams) Stalnaker migrated from Germany European_Flags-25.png to USA.

Captain Samuel Stalnaker and Sarah (Susannah) Williams had the following children-Jacob Stalnaker Sr, born about 1710, who married Marie Elizabeth Truby, born about 1720; Adam Stalnaker, born in Virginia, died June 18, 1755 in Virginia (killed by indians); Nancy Stalnaker born about 1717, married James Booth, born 1705 in Wales; and George Stalnaker.

Captain Samuel Stalnaker was an explorer, trapper, and guide, and the first white man to discover Cumberland Gap. He was a Captain in the French and Indian Wars, and was a mediator between the Indians and the early Virginia government. He commanded a stockade fort at Draper's Meadows.

The name Stalnaker is derived from the German word "Stahal" and "Stald" for steel, and "Negel" meaning sharp point or spear. The original was "Stahlnegel" meaning sharp pointed steel spear. So the word was first applied to a warrior who was armed with such a weapon.

• (Note: That Samuel Stalnaker was in Augusta County, Virginia before 1748 is proven by the Journal of Dr. Walker, who states that in April, 1748, he met Samuel Stalnaker on his way to the Cherokees. (Filson Club Papers, No. 13, Page 42).

• On March 23, 1750, Dr. Walker again met Stalnaker, who had just come to the place to settle on Middle Fork of Holston River, the last western settlement in Virginia. Here his house was built and here, no doubt, the Cherokees wished to meet the Commissioners of Virginia. On the map of 1751, this settlement is located on the Middlefork of Holston River, a few miles above its junction with the south fork, which is now Washington County, formerly a part of Fincastle, and the first county in Virginia named for George Washington.

• When Samuel Stalnaker was born; where he was born; when and where he was married, is unknown. The next record we have is in "Summers History of southern West Virginia," Page 58, in which is given a register of persons killed or taken prisoners by the Indians in 1754, 1755, and 1756, on the New and Holston Rivers and Reedy Creek. This register states that Samuel Stalnaker on Holston River was taken prisoner, and escaped, but that his wife, Mrs. Stalnaker and his son, Adam, were killed.

• The official report of this is found in "Dinwiddie Papers, Vol. 2, Page 447," in a letter written to Governor Sharpe of Maryland by Governor Dinwiddie dated April 1, 1756. Regarding Indian troubles saying, "One Stalnaker who was taken prisoner by Shawnees escaped and says he saw six French officers and one thousand from Outboten? bound to Fort Duquense and the frontier. Samuel Stalnaker was an explorer, trapper, and guide, the first white man to discover Cumberland Gap, and who hunted and explored in Kentucky many years before Daniel Boone ever entered it.)

• (Note: From "First explorations of Kentucky: Doctor Thomas Walker's journal of an..." by Josiah Stoddard Johnston 23rd.

• We kept down Holston River about four miles and Camped; and then Mr. Powel and I went to look for Samuel Stalnaker, who I had been inform'd was just moved out to settle. We found his camp, and returned to our own in the evening, 24th. We went to Stalnaker's, helped him to raise his house and camped about a quarter of a mile below him.

• In April, 1748, I met the above mentioned Stalnaker between the Reedy Creek Settlement and Holstons River, on his way to the Cherokee Indians, and expected him to pilate me as far as he knew but his affairs would not permit him to go with me. This was the Middle Fork of the Holston, which joins the French Broad near Knoxville and forms the Tennessee. The Holston was called by the Indians first the Cat-Cloo, afterward the Watauga. It took its present name from an early hunter and explorer named Holston, Haywood's Tennessee.

• Samuel Stalnaker was probably, as his name indicates, one of the early pioneers from the Lower Shenandoah Valley or from Pennsylvania, of German descent, the family having numerous representatives in the valley. He was doubtless a hunter and Indian trader who had visited the Cherokees and was acquainted with the route to Cumberland Gap, upon which Doctor Walker had never been, or he would not have needed a guide. It was from him evidently that Doctor Walker received information as to certain localities he was about to visit, as Clinch River, Cave Gap, and other points of which, as he advanced into Kentucky, he gave evidence of previous information. It is not improbable that the route from the Ohio River to Cumberland Gap and the Cherokee country, which at that time was defined and known as "the Warriors' Path," was traveled by hunters and traders, and that Stalnaker was acquainted with it personally or from others. On Fry and Jefferson's Map, 1751, Stalnaker's settlement is put down as the extreme western habitation.)

• Note: Believed by The Virginia Historical Society to be one of the Germans who were the first settlers in the Valley of Virginia in 1732 and emigrated there with others via Pennsylvania after entering the country via Charleston, South Carolina.

• Note: Ordered to make a road between Reed Creek and Eagle Bottom - Patrick Calhoun, great-grandfather of John C. Calhoun, was ordered on this road at the same time.

Name

Name: Sarah Williams (Killed by Indians)

Name: Sarah /Williams/^[1]

Name: Susannah

Source: #S-1801649134

Death

18 Jan 1755 Augusta, , Virginia: killed by the Cherokee Massacres of those years 1755-1757

Sources

1. ↑ Source: #S20 Page: Database online. Data: Text: Record for Sarah Williams

• Journal of Dr. Walker (Filson Club Papers, No. 13, Page 42).
• The Stalnaker Family by Cecil Edward Stalnaker
• Virginia Historical Society
• Source S-1442911979 Repository: #R-1801649135 Title: Public Member Trees Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 2006.Original data - Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.Original data: Family trees submitted by Ancestry members.
• Source S-1801649134 Repository: #R-1801649135 Title: OneWorldTree Author: Ancestry.com Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc. Note: