Mattson Neely Family History

[From a letter from Samuel Eckerlin to Alexander Mack, Jr., published in Pennsylvania Berichte, January 6, 1750] 

“Upon this occasion I want to report to you about the great inundations which occurred on the 25th of August, a little past midnight, on the Roanoke and the area northeast of it. Our river as well as the Little River were also very high but nobody here suffered mentionable damage. On the Roanoke, however, and other nearby places there was much damage. At several spots entire hills were swept down and leveled and several tracts of bottom land, all inhabited, were filled with so much gravel and sand that they can no longer be lived on. This I have seen myself. Also, houses and barns were carried away and with them a great deal of the crop. The Roanoke was a mile wide at several places and the water rose to 15 feet above otherwise dry land. Since you are familiar with this area, I want to give you details about several places as follows: One mile below Tobias Breit a man and a child were drowned; a woman managed to save herself on a tree; livestock was practically all drowned because the water rose so suddenly and right at midnight that none could have been driven away. The house of Henrich Braun with whom we stayed has been torn up. Clad in nothing but their shirts they got away with their children, the water reaching up to their arms. His three cows in the field were carried 3 miles downstream by the waters where they gained firm land alive. 

Peter Kinter and his wife found a horrible end. They were not yet asleep but had been drinking together, were in good cheer and thought of no danger till the water suddenly rose up to the house and no more escape was possible. So they retreated to the attic. No sooner had they reached it than the water rose up to them. They placed boards on the collar beam and sat on them. When the water reached up to their arms and no more flight seemed possible, he lost heart and told his people: He believed that this was another deluge and the Last Judgment had come. He asked his wife to give him a kiss. As he grabbed her, both slid from the board and away with the waters. Those who were with them on the boards saw no more of them.

“Kassel’s wife and children and their old mother were in the house at the same time. They all survived up on the collar beam save for a small child whom Peter Kinter’s wife had on her lap. It drowned with them. After daybreak, the others found out that they had been carried with the upper part of the house for a mile into some woods. They found a rope and tied it to a tree so that they would not be carried any further until the waters subsided or someone would come to their rescue. 

After a few days, Peter Kinter’s wife was found dead and naked hanging on a tree with one arm. And several days later he was also found. But he had no more head and only one arm. Maybe some wild animal had already feasted on him.”

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Peter and Mary Kinder, along with their youngest child, were drowned in the Great Flood of 1749 near Salem (Roanoke Co.) VA. Their orphaned children – Christinah, Sarah and Peter – were bound out as by the local Church Wardens. Christinah Bruce Kinder was the oldest child – she would have been 12 years old when this happened.

1738 Sep 19 – Peter, George, and Caspar Kinder, Palatine males over the age of 16, arrived in Philadelphia, having emigrated from Rotterdam via Plymouth. They signed their last name “Gunther” but it was recorded on the oath of allegiance as “Kinder.” 

The children of Peter and Mary Kinder:

1. Christinah B. Kinder, born 1737 in Augusta Co., Virginia; died 29 April 1806 in Adair Co., Kentucky; married Robert Fletcher I 23 November 1760 in Rockbridge Co., Virginia.

2. Peter Kinder Jr., born Abt. 1740 in <Augusta Co., Virginia>.

3.  Sarah Kinder, born Abt. 1743 in <Augusta Co., Virginia>.

4.  Catherine Kinder, born Abt. 1748 in <Augusta Co., Virginia>; died Aft. 1792.

1749 March 2 – Peter’s estate was appraised. His estate included 10 horses, 10 cows, sundry tools, a beaver hat, and 150 acres of land.

Sources

https://www.werelate.org/wiki/Roanoke_Flood_of_August%2C_1749

Children of Peter Kinder and Christiana are: 

Chalkley 1, page 39.

http://ancestorsofvirginia.blogspot.com/2011/07/sowege-gliding-swan-pekowi-shawnee-wife.htm

https://www.geni.com/people/Johann-Kinder/6000000008661129798