Until I started really getting into genealogy research, we had always thought that my husband was only Irish and English. Then I discovered that he had German ancestors which was verified by his DNA ethnicity report. It’s nice when your research is proven correct by DNA results.
My husband is descended from Georg Dachstatter who came to the US from Germany in 1709. There is 6 volume book set written about him and his descendants, The Dockstader family: Descendants of Georg Dachstatter, Palatine emigrant of 1709, who settled in the Mohawk Valley of New York by Doris Dockstader Rooney. I wish I could find a reasonably priced copy of it to buy, or that it was available online to search through. It is however available in some large libraries and luckily my husband has a cousin who works in one who was able to copy a bunch of pages about their direct line for us. The name changed over the course of time from Dachstatter to Dockstader to Doxtater.
Peter Doxtater, my husband’s 5 times great-grandfather had a very interesting life. During the French and Indian War, when he was only 4 years old, he and his sister were captured by Native Americans fighting on the side of the French and taken to Canada. They were treated well and learned about their ways of warfare and their language. He forgot his native language while there. At the end of the war they were returned to their parents in New York. The knowledge he gained of Native American modes of warfare was of great benefit during the Revolutionary War. So much so that the British supposedly had a bounty on his head for $50. (I’m not 100% sure of the accuracy of this story, but I have read about it in several books. If he was really 4 years old when he was captured, that would have been in 1755. The French and Indian War ended in 1763. So if he really was in Canada until the war ended he would have been there for 8 years and would have been 12 when he went back home.)
During the Revolutionary War he fought with the Tryon County New York Militia at the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777. He was with the 4th (Kingsland-German Flatts) Regiment under Col. Peter Bellinger. Of the 800 militia soldiers, 500 died or were injured. Peter appears to have escaped unharmed. I told my kids it’s a good thing he wasn’t among the fatalities or they wouldn’t be here. You can read about the battle here: https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/the-battle-at-oriska.htm.
At the time of his service he was living in the town of German Flats on the Mohawk River. According to his pension papers, he served for two years. He gave a sworn statement in 1832 at the age of 81. He was often out in scouting parties. Twice during the war, while he was out scouting, his house, crops, and cattle were destroyed by Native Americans. Toward the end of the war, after being told by friends who were released prisoners, that the Native Americans were after him, he moved to Albany for his safety. His first pension application was rejected, so he needed to file again in 1833. In that he stated that he served for the entire length of the war, sometimes for a day or two, sometimes a week, sometimes a month for a total of at least three years. He filed again in 1834 stating he was 84 years old and feeble and infirm. It was not unusual in the early days of the US for bills to come before Congress “For the Relief of” an individual person or group of people. It looks like that happened in order for Peter to finally get his pension. On January 5, 1836 in the 1st session of the 24th Congress Bill H.R. No. 73 for the Relief of Peter Doxtator and Jacob Weaver. The applications for pensions were made at the last Congress. A favorable report was made by the committee on March 25, 1834. A bill for the relief of the petitioners passed the House. Not sure why they had to present another bill in 1836, if it had passed the House in 1834, but it does mention that the applications had previously been rejected by the War Department. So he was finally granted a pension in 1836. He was given $80 per year plus $400 in arrears, because he should have started receiving the payments in 1831. His pension papers file is 28 pages long.
After the war, Peter (along with Miles Copper who I wrote about in another blog post) was among the earliest settlers of Adams, New York. He went there from German Flats, NY in 1800. There is a Doxtater St in Adams, NY which I hope to get to see on vacation this summer. Here’s the link to the Dachstatter/Dockstader/Doxtater line https://myfamgen.com/dachstatterdockstaderdoxtater-family/.
Great stuff!