Subject: RE: Hiatt family - Email 1 of 2
Date: 2/12/2012 7:59:26 P.M. Mountain Standard Time
From: LBruch@nwlink.com
Reply To:
To: :LarryAndy@aol.com
Larry:
The Ft. Zeller family website has some dubious information. In the 20’s there was a genealogy book put together about the Zellers by a “commercial” genealogist and it was picked up and has become huge “legend”. Unfortunately, little proof has been found to date. Whether Lady Clotilde at. al. is fact or fiction is in hot dispute. But rumors, unsubstantiated about her, are rampant on the web.
One good source of info is the Zeller Family Website at . It’s a private site for which you need a password … contact David Lee Zellers, "David Lee Zellers" > Unfortunately he was attacked and very seriously injured during the last year, so may be slow at getting back to you.
I went to Germany & Switz. this summer tracking down some leads on the Zellers in Zurich and in the Institute for Palatine History and Folklife Studies at Kaiserslautern and the Pfalz Evangelische (Lutheran) Church Archives in Speyer. Found interesting tidbits of info, but lots of missing connections. I’m keeping an open mind of fact or fiction, but most of my cousins are in the “it’s a fact” camp. Actually, it is so intriguing, that is the first family genealogy I tried to explore in depth after mom (Georgeanna (Jo) M Lockwood) died and Claudia and I inherited her research. I have tons of info on the Zellers.
In short, prior to Pennsylvania they were first in Schoharie New York in the first 1709 émigrés to Gov. Hunter’s colony in New York from the Palatine via Holland and England. That branch is going to take a lifetime to research. Look up books by Valentine on the early Palatines in North America.
I’ve been sitting too long at the computer and need to rest.
Lee
Surnames : Zeller Family Genealogy Forum
Top of Form 1 Re: Zeller Family PA. (Fort Zeller)
Posted by: Kim Zeller (ID *****3297) Date: May 19, 2002 at 18:24:0 Bottom of Form 1
Top of Form 1 In Reply to: Zeller Family PA. (Fort Zeller) <491.html> by David Lee Zellers of 707
Bottom of Form 1
David, Hello! My name is Kim Michelle Zeller and I am a descendant of the original Zeller family who immigrated to the United States and built Fort Zeller. Here is a small amount of information I have from our family records which have been passed down through the centuries through photographs, chalk drawings, letters, memoirs, family Bibles, and from what many know through history. James Zeller (Sellaire) was born in Zurich, Switzerland in the year of 1660. He married Lady Clothilde de Valois in France in the year of 1682. They had one child together, a boy named J. Hinrich ( Jean Henri) born in France, 1684. James Zeller was the first male settler in America of the Zeller descent. By Act of Parliment he was made a citizen of Great Britian in 1709. He died en route to America in 1709-1710. Jean Henri Zeller and his mother Lady Clothilde de Valios did arrive in NY, America 1710. Jean was active in the campaign of 1711 provision of NY. He eventually settled in Tulpehochen Township, Berks Co. Pennsylvania. He married Anna Maria Berigal. Those two had one child, a son, born in 1732 named George John Zeller. Jean Henri Zeller died in 1756. I have all of the family lineage from this point up until today. Everything is current and our lineage lives on. There is one soul surviving Zeller male, who is my father. My father has two children, both girls. I am married with two children of my own and my sister will be married in June. The Zeller family name will cease to be upon my fathers death. I have so many original documents that I will pass this family album down to my children in hopes that they continue keep the information up to date once I pass on. Even though they do not bear the Zeller Surname they are descendants just the same and my hopes are that they will carry on the Zeller name and history. The Zeller Coat of ArmsThe Shield: the center third of the shield is gold in color and represents generosity, valor, or preserverance. The outer thirds are blue in color and denote loyalty and splendor. The Charge: The cross which appears in the center third denotes a closeness to the supernatural or that the bearer was a veteran of the Crusades. The Motto: Mit Freuden Hindurch loosly translated means "with a happy or joyful heart all through the night" I would love to hear more about your group and why you have such an interest in the Zeller family. I would also love to be of any help to you. I am very proud of my family name and am honored to have come across someone with the interest. Please contact me for anything in regards to the Zeller Family. I currently reside in NY and will be traveling to York, Pennsylvania this Memorial Weekend. If you do not get a prompt response from me that is the reason why. Thanks again! Kim M. Zeller
Was a French Countess.
Born during the liberalism of the Edict of Nantes when it was the fashion for ladies of high rank to be educated, Margaret de Valois, Countess d’Augergne, in her chatelaineship at LeMont Dore left a reputation for letters, while the Countess Clothilde de Valois de Reni, her many-times-removed cousin, fell in love with a scholar. In her teens, she married Jacques de Sellaire, or, if one knew as the family across the border, Von Zeller of Castle Zellerstein, Zurich, and fled from France with him and their children after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to Holland.
Shortly after their son’s marriage in Holland the Zeller’s journeyed to England and the Lady Clothilde, as she was recorded there, place herself, her children, and husband under the protection of Queen Anne, who made them welcome not only in England but, should they choose, in her colonies across the sea. With many of their race and a considerable number of their own class and position, they gladly accepted the chance to begin again in a new world. Clothilde at this time was the sole head of her family, her husband having died, either in London or before their ship arrived at New York in June 1710.