John Jacob Eller Jr. (1754 - 1800)

Born 20 Mar 1754 in Philadelphia County, Province of Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Husband of Mary Marlena (Biffle) Eller — married 7 May 1776 in Rowan, North Carolina

Descendants

Died 1800 at about age 45 in Tennessee, United States

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Biography

John Eller Jr. was a North Carolina colonist.

Name

Name: Johann Jacob /Eller/^[1]

Birth

Birth:

Date: 20 Mar 1754

Place: , Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA^[2]

Johann Jacob Eller was born 20 Mar 1754 in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania son of Johann Eller and Maria Goettge, his parents' first child.^[3] Soon after, his parents moved to Rowan County, North Carolina where he spent his youth.

At that time Rowan County was very large, and settlements were few. No organized church was then in existence, though believers met regularly, without benefit of an ordained minister. A group of Lutheran believers met at a meeting house on Dutch Second Creek in 1772 and selected two delegates to go to Germany and attempt to secure a Lutheran pastor and a school teacher for their group, which they did. The Consistory of Hanover selected two men; Adolphus Nussman, as pastor, and Johann Gottfried Arends as schuldiener (teacher). Their diaries record their arrival, via Charleston, and their ride on horseback from Charleston to the Rowan site in 1773. Adolphus Nussman was thus the first permanent Lutheran pastor in North Carolina. We can and must assume that Arends began his school at a log structure on the Zion Dutch Second Creek area on the site that is now Organ. We note that a group of Lutherans had met there in a structure in 1772 when they elected the delegates. ^[4]

Jacob married Mary Magdalena or Marlena Büffel 07 May 1776,^[5] They were married by Pastor Gottfried Ahrende (Arends), Organ Lutheran Church.^[6]

Jacob Jr. and his family left Rowan County, NC, soon after his marriage, for Sullivan County (now in Tennessee) on the western frontier of North Carolina in the Holston River Valley. Janine Eller Porter (in the EFC, Vol.2#1, p.4) says Jacob and his father-in-law Adam Biffle entered land grants on 29 Jul 1779 on the South Side of the Holston River in present Sullivan County, TN. Ms. Porter says that there were unfriendly Indians in the area. She also says that Jacob Eller became close friends with John Sevier, who later became the first Governor of Tennessee.^[7]

Certificate No. 1493 was issued by Washington County, North Carolina, who on 29 Jul 1779, ordered the surveyor of Sullivan County to lay off land for John Eller on Holston River beginning at John (possibly Sevier's) line, however the writing is hard to read.. The certificate was issued to John Matlock, assigned to John Layman, who in turn assigned it to Adam Biffle. Biffle then assigned it to his son-in-law, Jacob Eller. The certificate was annotated for 100 acres 25 Oct 1787.^[8]

On 26 Nov 1789, Jacob Eller was granted, for 50 shilling for each 100 acres, a tract of 100 acres on the south side of Holston River in Sullivan County, North Carolina (later to become Tennessee). Boundaries mentioned are a red oak at the top of a ridge, with Frederick Kiellon's line, William McCormack's corner, mentions a stake at the foot of a ridge, and along said ridge to the beginning.^[9]

Before the 1790 census, Adam Biffle and his sons left Tennessee and returned to Buncombe County, NC. By 1800, Jacob and his family joined them. Jacob put his land in the name of his 13 year old son. In the early 1800's, Jacob and Mary separated, apparently several times. In the December 1806 separation, obtained by Mary from the NC General Assembly, she stated that Jacob deserted her, but returned two times to take whatever she had saved for her family.^[7] Mary was granted a divorce 20 Nov 1806 by the House of Commons, State of North Carolina. Jacob may not have taken the news very well. After the divorce and an acquittal in a criminal case in Superior Court in Buncombe County in 1807, Jacob Eller, Jr. disappeared from North Carolina.

Where did Jacob go? Ms. Porter offers one speculation, that he was the Jacob Eller who married Elizabeth Winterbower on 18 Nov 1809 in Jefferson County, Tennessee.^[7] Jacob's Grandson, Jacob Eller of Macon Co., TN writes in the Goodspeed Histories of Tennessee, "My Mother's father was with General Jackson in the Indian War and participated in the famous fight at Horse Shoe Bend, where he was killed." In "Our Eller Roots," by W.G & N.T. Eller (1994, Eller Chronicles VIII-4, Nov), it is reported that Jake Eller lived to be 108 years old.^[10][6]

Research Notes

I checked the book First Church, Davidson County : a history of Pilgrim Evangelical and Reformed Church (United Church of Christ), Lexington, North Carolina, 1757 to 1957; by Snider, Frank W; Publication date 1957; Publisher [Lexington, N.C.] : Pilgrim Evangelical and Reformed Church; but found no reference to Eller, Büffel, Ahrende, or spelling variations. Perhaps this is the wrong book, but no title or page number was indicated, so I am unable to either confirm or deny this reference. I was also unable to determine what means Ruth Goodman used for her reference; perhaps she just means she found the item and added it.

I removed the 1797 death date for Jacob Eller Jr. as the records show he was alive, and visited Buncombe County, North Carolina after that date. Jacob would have been age 60 (27 Mar 1814) at the Horse Shoe Bend fight. Obviously he could not have been killed in 1814, and also lived to be 108 years old. I couldn't tell which of Goodspeed's Tennessee histories was meant, with no complete title or page number. Hope someone can help with this. I have some more sources to check.^[11]

Sources

1. ↑ Note: Ancestry Record genepool #5106540 Note: Data: Text: Birth date: 1754 Birth place: United States, PA APID: 1,4725::5106540
2. ↑ Birth year: 1754; Birth city: United States; Birth state: PA. Note: Ancestry Record genepool #5106540 Note: Data: Text: Birth date: 1754 Birth place: United States, PA APID: 1,4725::5106540
3. ↑ Eller, J. Gerald; Edward K. Eller; Janine Eller Porter; Eller Family Association; John Jacob Eller and His Descendants; page 1
4. ↑ Sifford, Harry T., President, Historic Organ Church Foundation, Inc., Organ Lutheran Church, Rowan County, North Carolina, founded 1745 : a brief history Rowan County, North Carolina; November 1993 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2013 http://archive.org/details/organlutheranchuOOsiff
5. ↑ North Carolina, Marriage Index, 1741-2004
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Pilgrim Evangelical and Reformed Church, Davidson County, North Carolina
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2} "Eller Family Chronicles," Vol.2 #1, p.4
8. ↑ Tennessee, Early Land Registers, 1778-1927 for Jacob Eller Series 02: Entries 1779 - 1792 Frame 405 of 638, Tennessee State Library and Archives
9. ↑ North Carolina and Tennessee, Early Land Records, 1753-1931 North Carolina (Revolutionary War) Land Grants Roll 23: Book 15, page 110, Warrant 543, frame 56 of 165
10. ↑ Ruth Goodman, 112 Brookwood, Rockingham, NC 28379
11. ↑ Kerns, Margaret Ann (Kepner), 729 NW 1101 Road, Urich, Missouri 64788-8121, research, analysis and conclusions

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