Summary
Christopher descends from the Hochstetler family twice: from Joseph, the boy taken captive in 1757 (Ramseyer side), and from his older brother John, who watched the attack from hiding (Miller side). Their father Jacob Hochstetler (1712–1776) is a 7th great-grandfather on both sides.
Before 1757: from Bern to the Northkill
- Schwarzenburg, Canton Bern. The Swiss call the Schwarzenburg district the Heimat of the Hostettlers; the name probably comes from farms called Hostett (“orchard by a house”). Some of the family joined the Anabaptists in the 1600s.
- Winterkraut and Alsace, late 1690s. The Anabaptist teacher Jacob Hochstetler (c.1666–c.1722), born at Winterkraut near Guggisberg, was at Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines (Markirch) from 1697 — the cradle of the Amish. He signed petitions beside Jakob Ammann in 1701 and 1702, stayed when Louis XIV expelled the Anabaptists in 1712, and was arrested in Bern in 1720 while helping Anabaptist women leave. Tradition puts a hidden room under the floor of the oldest house in Winterkraut. He is believed (not proven) to be the immigrant’s father.
- 1712: Jacob the immigrant born at Echery, Alsace.
- 1738: Charming Nancy, Philadelphia, 9 November: “Jacob Hochstetler, age 26,” with wife and children John and Barbara. (The 1912 book’s Harle of 1736 was a different Jacob, born 1704, whose wife was Eva.)
- 1739–1757: farming on the Northkill below the Blue Mountains (now Berks County), one of the first Amish settlements in America. Joseph was born there about 1746.
The night of the attack
- The family had hosted neighbours for an apple-paring. After the guests left, the dog barked; Joseph opened the door and was shot in the leg (Wikipedia; the 1912 preface says son Jacob) by one of about ten Lenape and Shawnee warriors led by three French scouts.
- Joseph (about 11) and Christian (about 13) loaded the hunting guns. Their father would not let them be used. “He would not disobey God, who had said, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’”
- At dawn the warriors set the house on fire. The family hid in the cellar, wetting the floorboards with apple cider. When the smoke grew too thick and no attackers were in sight, they climbed out the cellar window.
- One warrior, Tom Lions, had stayed behind eating peaches in the orchard. He saw Anna stuck in the window and called the others back. She was stabbed and scalped; Jacob Jr. and a daughter were killed.
- Jacob and Christian were captured; Joseph ran but was retaken.
- The older married son John had come from his neighbouring farm and watched from hiding. He is Christopher’s Miller-side ancestor.
The date: 19 September per Capt. Orndt’s Fort Allen report of 20 Sept 1757 (“Jacob Houghstetler and family, five killed and one wounded”); other sources give 29 Sept, 30 Sept–1 Oct, 12 Oct or 20 Nov.
Captivity and escape
- Jacob was marched 17 days to Fort Machault and Fort Presque Isle, then held at the Seneca village of Buckaloons. Trusted to hunt, he escaped in April 1758, walked east six days, built a bark raft, floated down the Susquehanna eating only grass, and was spotted drifting past Fort Augusta. His sworn statement was taken on 5 May 1758.
- The boys were separated at Presque Isle and adopted into Native families; Christian was adopted by the Lenape chief Custaloga. Jacob petitioned the governor for them in 1762.
- Joseph was handed over at Fort Augusta after Bouquet’s 1764 treaty. His Native family urged him to visit and to think of them as brothers; he returned often to the village, and always said that if his father had let them shoot, the attackers would have fled. He married Anna Blank (fl. 1770) and settled in Mifflin County.
- Christian came home in 1765 in Native dress and haircut; his family fed him without recognizing him, until he told his father his name in broken German on a stump. He became a Dunker (Brethren) minister.
- Jacob bought a farm away from the Indian paths and died about 1776. The 1776 deed of his heirs names John, Joseph, Barbara Stutsman and Christian.
”Indian blood”
A family saying grew up that the Hochstetlers had “Indian blood.” The 1912 compilers rejected it: every descendant comes through Jacob’s Swiss children and their Swiss spouses. It almost certainly comes from the boys’ adoption. Christopher has heard this saying in his own family (2026-10-30). An autosomal DNA test could check it, but anything from the 1750s would be very small.
Christopher’s two lines
%%{init: {"flowchart": {"useMaxWidth": true}}}%% flowchart TB J["Jacob Hochstetler (1712–1776)"] --> Jo["Joseph Hochstetler (c.1746–1812)"] J --> Jn["John Hochstetler (c.1735–1805)"] Jo --> a1["John Hostetler (d. 1807)"] --> a2["Christian Hostetler (1801–1875)"] --> a3["Nancy Hostetler (1836–1860)"] --> a4["Fanny H. Plank (1857–1942)"] --> a5["Mary Ellen Schrock (1886–1972)"] --> a6["Alvin C. Ramseyer Jr. (1921–2008)"] Jn --> b1["Anna Hochstetler (Anelli)"] --> b2["Sarah Miller (d. 1857)"] --> b3["Susanna Nisly (1816–1885)"] --> b4["Magdalena Slabaugh (1847–1925)"] --> b5["Maggie Mae Kuhns (1890–1970)"] --> b6["D. Paul Miller (1917–2018)"] class J,Jo,Jn,a1,a2,a3,a4,a5,a6,b1,b2,b3,b4,b5,b6 internal-link;
A modern view
A 2023 Journal of Mennonite Studies article by Beiler and Stoltzfus questions the “massacre” framing and how the story has been used — worth reading for balance. Novels: Ervin Stutzman’s Return to Northkill series; Bob Hostetler’s Northkill (2014). A Pennsylvania historical marker (1959) stands near Shartlesville.
A second ancestor at the Northkill: “Wounded John” Miller
On the Miller side, Wounded John Miller (fl. 1760) lived near the Hochstetler farm. During the same raid he was chopping wood when he was shot at; his hand took the charge meant for his heart. He saw the raiders leaving the Hochstetler place and shut himself in his cabin with his wife Magdalena and four small children. The 1912 Hochstetler genealogy calls him “John Miller, who was wounded by the Indians when they were taking the fam. of Jacob Hostetler into captivity”. So Christopher descends from two families caught up in the 1757 attack, on both sides of his father’s family.
About this research
Supporting documentation is linked throughout. This project is an exercise in AI-assisted research and development, and I haven’t manually verified every link or conclusion. All transcriptions and translations of Swiss parish records were made with AI, and their accuracy should be treated accordingly.