The following account of
Samuel Seiber's life is based upon family records, family recollections and
extensive research of available public records. In any instances where
documented records were in conflict with handed down accounts, I have relied
upon the documentation in an attempt to provide accurate information.
Samuel Wesley Seiber was born April 5, 1790,
in Berks County, Pennsylvania as the third child of Philip and Catharina
Maria (Himmelberger) Seiber. By the time Samuel was two years old, his
family had migrated to Baltimore, Maryland. As a small boy, he sat on his
father Philip's shoulders to see President George Washington exiting a
carriage. At the time, Philip told little Samuel to remember the event and
to one day tell his children that he had seen the first president of the
country. Philip Sr moved his family from Baltimore, Maryland, to Poplar
Creek (Frost Bottom) in Anderson County, Tennessee, c.a.1800 (when Samuel
was about ten). Samuel's mother had apparently died, as his dad Philip
remarried (to Mary Lively) in Tennessee in 1802.
Samuel grew up in Frost Bottom on the
mountain fork of Poplar Creek, and around 1809 he married Isabel Frost.
(Isabel's
family had moved to Poplar Creek from Lee County, Virginia, in 1796 and had built a house there
in Frost Bottom.) Sam and
Isabella's first child, Nancy, was born in September of 1810, and their
second, Philip, in 1812. Nonetheless, in September of 1814, when Andy
Jackson called for volunteers to join him in the nation's battle with the
British, Samuel and his brother Phillip Jr responded. The two Seiber
brothers left their families and walked nearly 200 miles, from Frost Bottom
(Andersonville, Tennessee) to Nashville, to sign up. They joined the Third
Tennessee Militia and then walked with the rest of their troop down through
Mississippi territory to New Orleans, a distance of some 550 miles. The men
arrived sometime in December, and were soon fighting for their country. They
first encountered the enemy on December 28th when the British launched a
minor attack. A similar minor event occurred on January 1st. But on January
8th, Samuel and Philip and the rest of Andy Jackson's men found themselves
engaged a major conflict--The Battle of New Orleans. Ten thousand seasoned
British troops attacked 5500 American sharp-shooting recruits and volunteers
who had stacked cotton bales as a bulwark. The battle lasted only an hour
and a half. When the firing ceased, the defeated British had lost 2000 men
and the victorious Americans, 71. Despite their victory however, the
Americans remained encamped until March 13, 1815, when Andy Jackson received
official word from Washington that the war had ended. Samuel and Philip,
along with the other volunteers from Tennessee and Kentucky, then started
the treacherous walk through snow and extreme cold back to their homes.
Ironically, after having survived the fierce battles, many of the citizen
soldiers died on their way home--Philip Jr was one of them. He was buried
somewhere along the way between New Orleans and Frost Botton. Samuel
returned safely to his wife and son and daughter.*
*Actually, peace had been declared on
Christmas Eve but the news had not reached New Orleans.
After the war, Sam and Isabell had more
children, including a set of twin boys, Elijah and John, born in 1816 and
then Thomas in 1821. By 1824, with several school-aged children, Sam (and
two neighbors, Andrew Braden and Henry Etter) borrowed $28 from the state of
Tennessee to start a school (according to Aunt Katie, the first school in
Anderson County). In 1828, the couple had a second set of twins, Mariah and
Sam Jr, bringing the total number of children to seven. By the time their
eighth child (Columbus) was born in mid-August of 1832, their eldest
daughter Nancy had married a neighbor, John McKamey (in 1830). On October 2,
1832, Isabel was struck by lightning and was killed as she stood at the
chimney's fireplace stirring a pot of stew. (*Because Benjamin Seiber did
not list Columbus in his Family Bible Record, the assumption was that the
child had died as an infant from lack of sustenance. Census records,
however, from 1840 and 1850 indicate otherwise. In 1840, a child Columbus is
listed as age 7 along with all of Samuel and Elizabeth's other children. He
is listed again at age 17 in 1850, and then he disappears from known
records.) Two years after Isabel's death, Sam, at the age of 44, married
Elizabeth Wilkins Chiles, a 29-year-old widow with three children from her
first marriage.
Sam and Elizabeth began their marriage in
1834 with ten children (nine at home), and over the next fifteen years added
to and subtracted from that number as children were born or married or died. By
1849, the total number had increased to seventeen--his eight, her three,
their six. As the number increased, however, it also diminished--first by
two marriages within two years (1840, 1842) and then by two deaths (1842)
just months apart (causes unknown). Then in 1843, Thomas Seiber and
step-sister Polly Chiles surprised the family by choosing to marry each
other. Brother John, who had become a justice of the peace (later to be a
Baptist minister), performed the ceremony. By the time that Sam and
Elizabeth's last child, Benjamin, was born in 1849, Sam was ten days shy of
his 59th birthday and Elizabeth was 44. At the time of the 1860 Census, Sam
and Elizabeth's six children were still single and living at home with them.
Sam was then 70, Elizabeth 55, Frederick 23, dau. Elizabeth 22, Massey 21,
Eliza 17, Malinda 13, Benjamin 11. Elizabeth died in 1876 at the age of 71,
and Sam in 1871 at the age of 81.
Various Records & Documents:
Anderson County, Tennessee Census, July
16, 1860, Roll 1239, Part 1, Page 37A:
Samuel 70, Elizabeth 55, Frederick 23, Elisabeth 22, Massy 21, Eliza 17,
Malinda 13, Benjamin 11. Land valued at $800, other property $300. Samuel's
place of birth, Maryland; all others listed, Tennessee. Three of those
listed had attended school within the year. All in the family could read and
write.
Four neighboring households listed on same page: William Hibbs family;
William Bailey family; Willis Talley family (which includes 13 people with
surnames of Martin, Hackney, Henderson, Wheelin, Cogburn, Romines); Dew
family.
Samuel and all his neighbors were listed as farmers.
MILITARY: War of 1812, WC-19379;
"Tennesseans in War 1812"
Enlisted Men; LIEBER, Samuel, Cpl, Col Wm
Johnston, Capt J Tunnell, E TN Mil.
DEEDS: Anderson County, TN; Deed Book D-2,
page 47-48;
Know all men by these presents that We John SEIBER, Nancy McKamy and Mariah
Burris agree of Samuel SEIBER Deceased of Roane County Tennessee have sold
and Do hereby Sell Grant - Convey and Confirm unto - Isaac M. Duncan and his
heirs and assigns of Anderson County - Tennessee In consideration of the -
Sum of twenty-five dollars the - Receipt - whereof is hereby acknowledged Do
Grant - and Confirm unto the Said Isaac M. Duncan all the right and Title
and Interest - I have to the following Described Premises Situate In the
State of Tennessee Anderson Co: on the Waters of Mountainfork of Poplar
Creek Civil District - No: 7 and Bounded as follows (viz) Beginning on a
Whiteoak on the side of the Spur of the Mountain thence N63W 64 poles to a
Stake at the creek thence West 70 Poles to a chestnut on the Side of the
mountain thence N 45W 60 poles to a White oak thence N 15 East with
Conditional Line and fence Between I. M. Duncan and the heirs of Samuel
SEIBER Until it reaches William Ayers Cross fence Thence north East with
Said fence to the Lane thence with said lane to Will Creek thence up Said
Creek to a Stake Samuel SEIBER Corner thence 85 West 43 Poles to the
Beginning Containing two hundred acres more or Less It Being all the Lands
that Samuel Seiber died Seized possessed of To have and to hold to the Said
purchaser His heirs and assigns forever and I expressly Release all Claims
under Homestead and Dower laws and Covenant that I have good Right to convey
Said premises that they are free from all Encumbrances whatever To Said
Isaac M. Duncan his heirs forever The 1830 Anderson Co TN p 187
Saml 40/50, Wife 40/50, son<5, 5/10, (2) 10/15, dau<5, 15/20
above Described Peace of Land and that the title to the Same to the above
named Purchaser will forever Warrant and Defend
Witness My hand and Seal this the 14th of June 1880.
Signed Sealed and Delivered IN Presence of
Micheal D. Duncan
John SEIBER (seal)
Thomas (his x mark) Duncan
Nancy ( her + mark) McKamy
J. E. Heightower
Mariah (her + mark) Burress
State of Tennessee } Personally appeared before me
Anderson County } A. J. Queener Clerk of the County Court
Of Anderson County aforesaid Michael D.
Duncan a Subscribing Witness to the within Deed who being first Sworn
deposed and said that he is acquainted with John SEIBER Nancy McKamy and
Mariah Burress the bargainors and that they acknowledged the same in his
presence to be the act and Deed upon the day it bears Date Witness my hand
at office this 2nd day of May 1887.
A. J. Queener Clerk
State of Tennessee } Personally appeared before me
Anderson County } T. J. Prasise Deputy Clerk of the County.
Written in the left hand margin is:
State of Tennessee} Personally appeared before me T J Prasise Deputy Clerk
Anderson County } Of the County Court of
said County J. E. Hightower a subscribing Witness to the foregoing Deed with
whom I am personally acquainted and who being first sworn deposed and said
that he is personally acquainted with Nancy McKamey the Bargainor and she
signed the same in his presence and acknowledged the same to be her act and
deed upon the day it bears date Witness my hand at office in Clinton this
10th day of July 1882. T J Prasise Deputy Clerk of the County.