Brigetta (Van Bibber) Robinson (1735 - abt. 1787)

Born 7 Oct 1735 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Ancestors

Died about 1787 at about age 51 in Greenbrier, Virginia, United States

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Biography

She is the daughter of Peter Van Bibber and Anna Gooding. ^[1]

INDIAN MASSACRE

John and Peter's only sister, Brigetta, who had married Isaac Robinson in Bottetout came with her husband and family to Point Pleasant in the party with her brothers. They settled on Crooked creek not far from her brothers. It was not long before they were to suffer a fate that was unhappily too common to the settlers on the Ohio river at that time.

Late one afternoon in the spring of the year of their coming to Crooked creek, their son Isaac, a boy about 8 years old, was fishing in the river some distance from the house. He was disturbed by the sound of shots and yells from the direction of his home, and immediately set off running across the clearing. He arrived to witness a scene of horror. His father lay dead. Indians were in the act of killing his baby brother, two years old, and his mother and 4 year old brother were prisoners. Isaac was made a prisoner and the savages after rifling the house set fire to it and made off with their captives and loot.

It was some hours later than John Van Bibber discovered the ruined home. He went immediately in pursuit and came upon the 4 year old John lying dead in the road. The Indians had a good start and they traveled fast that night so that he never caught up with them and had to return.

It was five years before Brigetta was heard of when she was purchased by a fur trader and returned to Bottetourt county. She related a story of cruelty and hardship. After two days and nights of rapid flight from Crooked creek, the Indians stopped to rest. That night beneath the stars a baby boy was born to her. Next day the journey was resumed, and a few days later, the baby, becoming burdensome to her captors, was killed and body thrown at her feet.

Arriving at the Indian village, Brigetta was made to cook and sew and do the work of a servant. This might have been bearable had not the only solace to her grief been taken from her, when an Indian brave adopted her son.

In 1795, seven years after her capture and two years after her release, George Wayne signed a treaty with the Indians under which all captives were to be released. Brigetta Robinson set out at once to discover the whereabouts of her son. It was a long and tedious journey. In one of the small Indian villages where she was led in her search, she fell ill with smallpox that had broken out in the village, and it was months before she could proceed further.

When at last she found him, she met disappointment and grief in his refusal to accompany her home. After weeks of entreaty, he was finally persuaded to return with her to his uncle's at Point Pleasant, where after four years his constitution yielded to the restraints of civilization and he died.

It was shortly after the murder of Isaac Robinson and the capture of Brigetta, that a great sorrow befell John Van Bibber. One day, with his colored man, Davy, he rowed across the Ohio river to make his year's supply of sugar. His eldest daughter, Rhoda, a beautiful young woman of 19 with abundant auburn hair, decided to row over with 12-year-old Jacob to meet him. As they drew near the shore, a party of Indians appeared and attacked them. Van Bibber, hearing the yells and shots hurried in the river. They were too late. By the time they reached the shore Rhoda had been killed and John made captive, and the Indians were in flight. Van Bibber and Davy pursued and killed four of the Indians, wounding a fifth, who was found dead a few days later. The remainder of the savages escaped with Jacob. He was taken to Detroit, where he soon learned to speak the French and Indian languages and was made an interpreter.

The British at that time, 1787, having little faith in the ability of the United States to hold together, were still in possession of the Northern forts, and were inciting the Indians against the advancing tide of settlers from the States. The British commandant of the fort at Detroit was offering bounties for scalps of white settlers on the Ohio and so Rhoda Van Bibber's scalp with its beautiful auburn hair was sold to the commandant for $60. Jacob told of seeing barrels of scalps of women and children. After Wayne's treaty, Mathias Van Bibber, his cousin, went in search of him and brought him home to his mother after an absence of seven years. He died the following year.

Sources

1. ↑ Entered by Marie Mills, Dec 4, 2011