The Eckerlin Brothers
Marion Co. WV

The Eckerlin brothers were early settlers in Marion County. They were born in Germany, and the
5 brothers and 2 sisters came to Philadelphia with their parents. Though their parents were
devout Roman Catholics, about 1740 the Eckerlin brothers moved to Ephrata in Lancaster
County. It was here that one brother became an outcast for committing some unknown act, and
the family never spoke to him again. He lived in a cave near Ephrata as a hermit until he died,
even his name unknown to us. The other brothers, Samuel, Gabriel, Isaiah, and Emanuel, joined
the Seventh Day Baptist Church, also known as Ephratians or Dunkards. NOTE: The name
Eckerlin is often written as Eckarly, and indeed one brother, Dr. Samuel, is often called Dr.
Thomas Eckarly.

The sisters, Rebecca Ann and Mary, moved near their brothers after the death of their mother,
around 1743. In 1736, Mary married Thomas Newton, who drowned just a few months after the
wedding. In 1737, she married Simon Girty, Sr. Her first son, born in 1738, was named Thomas
Newton Girty. Simon, Jr. was born in 1741, James in 1743, and George in 1745. A widow once
more, she married John Turner in 1753, and in 1754 John, Jr. was born. Rebecca Ann married
Adam Doane, whose family became the most feared outlaws in eastern Pennsylvania and later in
the upper Ohio and Monongahela valleys. She was captured by indians about 1745 and taken to
the indian town Chartier's Town, now Tarentum near Pittsburgh. She was later released to her
husband, and lived until 1789. She died near Wadestown, West Virginia, in present Greene
County, PA. 

Around 1745, after some serious disagreement with their church, Dr. Samuel Eckerlin, along
with his brothers, robbed the church of "a great fortune" in gold and gems. The brothers, joined
by Samuel's wife and son, Paul, and others, then fled into the wilderness.

Samuel quickly turned up along New River, and then moved into the Monongahela River valley
around 1751. His brother, Emmanuel, had already settled along the Youghiogheny River near
present Cranesville, WV. Emmanuel was taken by indians for a year or so until ransomed by his
brothers and then, being ill, he went to Philadelphia where he died in 1754. The other three
brothers and their party settled, in 1751, on the Monongahela River, at the mouth of now-named
Dunkard Creek. On the Cheat River they erected the first church in what is now West Virginia.

In 1757, Samuel went to Winchester, Virginia, for supplies and was held at Ft. Pleasant on the
South Branch of the Potomac, accused of being a spy for the indians. He was released only with
a squad of soldiers to accompany him and investigate his claim of having a purely religious
colony. Arriving at the Cheat River settlement, they found all of the buildings burned and the
bodies of 27 of the 30 inhabitants. The missing settlers were Samuel's brothers, Gabriel and
Isaiah, and an indentured servant named Baltzer Shilling. The treasure was never found, but
Shilling would later tell what had happened at the massacre.

Shilling was found near present Hundred, WV, in 1759 by indian trader John Owens and taken to
his house along the Monongahela at Ten Mile Creek. Samuel Eckerly would find him there a few
months later. Shilling told him that about 50 Delaware Indians, led by a French priest, had
attacked the Cheat River settlement. Before the attack, Gabriel had hidden the treasure in an
unknown location. The three survivors were taken to Ft. Duquesne. Gabriel and Isaiah were
taken on to Quebec and never heard of again. Shilling was taken as a slave to an indian settlement
on the Sandusky River, from where he eventually made his escape. Samuel and Shilling took up
residence in present Fayette County, PA. Samuel would doctor settlers along the Monongahela
River and beyond, and the two of them would often return to the Cheat River to search for the
lost treasure. Shilling died about 1795, and Samuel finally lived at the William Linn home until his
death.