Granduncle Mark's Genealogy Parlor

EDDLEMAN, ZUMWALT, DENTON, BURGER,
MORRIS and WILLIAMS Families
and the

RUDDLE'S FORT and MARTIN'S FORT MASSACRES

June, 1780; near Cynthiana, Kentucky






Re-enactment at site of Ruddle's Fort

on 26 June 1999
for the 219th anniversary of
the Ruddle's Fort Massacre.

(Click on image to see larger photo.)











    My Surnames and Ruddle's Fort:

  • My family tells the story of our EDDLEMAN ancestors being at Ruddle's Fort. This is discussed below.

  • Perhaps our ZUMWALT ancestors were with the same group? (Some 'Sumwalts' were listed as being payed for their service by Captain Isaac Ruddell.)

  • John BURGER, who was the second husband of my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother, Catherine Eddleman, is listed as a resident of Ruddle's Fort at the time of the attack.

  • "John DENTON, wife and Miss DENTON," are listed as residents at Ruddle's Fort at the time of the attack. I am a direct descendant of this John Denton's brother, Thomas Denton. So this John Denton at Ruddles Fort was my great-great-great-great-grand-uncle.. (See my DENTON Web page.)

  • Additionally, Thomas WILLIAMS and Kenmit MORRIS were included in a list of captives in the August 13, 1783 edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette (PHILADELPHIA, August 13)
    ( http://www.shawhan.com/indianprisoners.html). These captives share surnames of my southern Indiana ancestors, William Williams and Rachel (Morris) Medley.






First I will tell the story told through
many generations and branches of my family.

We are still working to document some of the details of this story,
but here is the story for your consideration ...

    My Eddleman family originally came from Switzerland and the Rhineland Palatinate region of contemporary Germany.

    David and Catherine Eddleman, along with their sons, James, Daniel and John, were settlers at the Ruddle's Station (Ruddle's Fort) in Kentucky during the time of the American Revolution. They came to Kentucky from North Carolina.

    Life was rough as the Eddleman family battled difficult weather, illness and the frontier dangers associated with wild animals and clashes between Native Americans and the European American pioneers.

    David Eddleman (my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather), along with his son, James Eddleman, were killed by Indians.

    Catherine Eddleman (my great-great-great-great-great-grandmother), along with her young sons, Daniel and John (my great-great-great-great-grandfather), were taken captive during an attack and spent the next few years living with an Indian tribe. Whether or not they were all together is not clear.

    But, Catherine and her sons survived this traumatic event, returning to Kentucky where Catherine became a landowner.



    End of story. The following are details that we have learned.

    Catherine subsequently married John Burger. Catherine Eddleman Burger and John Burger, along with Catherine's sons, Daniel and John Eddleman, moved to Indiana.

    John and Catherine Eddleman BURGER and the EDDLEMAN sons lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky until 1811 when John EDDLEMAN and Daniel EDDLEMAN accompanied their mother and step-father in a move to Indiana.

    Catherine EDDLEMAN BURGER and John BURGER, Sr. owned property in Harrison County, Indiana.

    Daniel EDDLEMAN married Sarah RICH in 1799.

    John EDDLEMAN married Mary ZUMWALT on 04 March 1799 in Harrison County, Kentucky. John and Mary later moved to a section of Harrison County, Indiana which subsequently became Floyd County, Indiana.

    In the 1800 and 1810 U. S. Censuses in Kentucky, John Eddlemon lived in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

    John Eddleman, on 30 January 1811, obtained a land patent for S. E. 1/4. 160 Acres. Township 2. Section 19. Range 5 East. in what is now Floyd County, Indiana.






    And one more story in the family tradition ...

    The persistent family story is that our Eddleman family descends from the union of an Eddleman man with a woman who was of the UTE Tribe of Native Americans. (A tintype photo of this Ute ancestor has been kept in the family and is shown at right. Click photo to see larger photo.)

    For more information about what we know about this Native American ancestry, please go to my UTE Tribe ancestral page.







    The August 13, 1783 edition of The Pennsylvania Gazette (PHILADELPHIA, August 13), provides a list of about 200 people who were still in years of captivity by several Tribes of Native Americans. This list was given by Captain Dalton, Superintendant of Indian Affairs for the United States. This list can be seen at


    Included on the list are Katy Etelmaw, David Etelmaw and Daniel Etelmaw.

    It seems likely that these are our Catherine Eddleman and her two young sons, John and Daniel. (Perhaps our John Eddleman was John David or David John. We know that our John Eddleman would have been about 6 years old at the time of the Ruddle's Station Massacre of 1780. In other words, our John Eddleman was alive both before and after the Massacre. Whether a misspelling of "Eddleman" by the writer, or a misreading of script, the names seem close.)







    According to DESTRUCTION OF RUDDLE'S AND MARTIN'S FORTS IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR By MAUDE WARD LAFFERTY, From The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society, Vol. 54, October, 1956, No. 189, David Erdman was one of the 49 men in Captain Isaac Ruddle's Garrison.

    This list was, in turn, taken from Lewis and Richard H. Collins, History of Kentucky, (Louisville: John P. Morton, 1924), II, 325.

    Is this our David Eddleman?

    Again, this may be a misreading of script or a misspelling.

    John Burger, Sr. (who later married Catherine Eddleman) is also listed in this Garrison.

    For more details see Destruction of Ruddle's and Martin's Forts at







    There is documentation about Daniel Eddleman's captivity with the Indians, History of Decataur County Indiana by Harding, Published 1915 and reprinted 1971.

    This account speaks of Daniel's capture at Bryan Station, which may be inaccurate since Bryan's Station survived.

    However, the story is compatible with the tradition told about Daniel's brother, John Eddleman, in my own Eddleman family.

    See Dr. Harold Eddleman's useful notes at


    Again, we know that our ancestor, John Eddleman, was alive before and after this event, so we still have found no reason to discount the family tradition that our John Eddleman (like his brother, Daniel) was also a captive of the Indians.






    I received the following encouraging e-mail message from Jim Sellars, along with a .tif photo image file of an 1800's copy of the first page of the muster roll of Captain Ruddell's company.

    I've attached the first page of the muster roll of Captain Ruddell's company. It's found in the Draper Manuscript Collection, George Rogers Clark Papers, 17J:27-28. This is not the original muster roll, but a copy made by Lyman Draper during the 1800's from the original. I'm not sure if the original exists or not, it may be within the George Rogers Clark Papers (different than Draper's) housed in Richmond Virginia. I know Catherine Eddleman is mentioned in these papers, probably about land or something.

    Previously published transcriptions of this muster roll have listed David Eddleman as "Erdman" or "Ederman," not this one. Draper has him as "David Edderman" or "David Eddemman," its hard to decypher the the middle letters. I think its "Edderman." I'll let you be the judge, but I think it doesn't matter, its David Eddleman. There was a "David Eddleman" in Captain Richard May's Company of militia at Logan's Station in 1778-1779. "David Eddleman" was shown to have been payed for his service by Captain Isaac Ruddell. Others payed by Ruddell included John Burger, some Sumwalts (Zumwalt?), Lails and others known to have been at Ruddell's Station.

    It appears to me, pending further research, that David Eddleman came to Kentucky in 1778 and settled at Logan's Station. He made improvements near present day Bourbon County in 1778. He served in Captain Richard Mays company until the spring of 1779 when he was transferred to Captain Ruddell's company and erected Ruddell's Station. Probably soon afterward he removed his family to the station since it was near his land he improved in 1778, the land that Catherine received years later. Its also possible that David Eddleman served in Bowman's campaign when Lieutenant John Haggin led 18 people from Ruddell's Station in this raid. Several men in this campaign were killed. I don't think any were killed in Haggin's company though. The only person I have found that served in this company was Charles Gatliff. But I'm sure many of the company are names familiar to us. Its also possible that David could have been killed in this expedition, but I doubt it. The muster roll would have indicated that he died, if it was made out after the campaign. The original will probably confirm this.

    My guess is that David Eddleman died in November or December of 1779. He wasn't shown as killed in Draper's muster so he was probably still alive before that time. I think Dr. Eddleman's website said that the location of the land is unknown. If you haven't seen the land surveys and patents, you must do so. Copies of the survey and patent books with indexes are located at the Kentucky Historical Society Library in Frankfort. All of the surveys have a small pictures of the land plate. You'll just have to do some detective work to pinpoint the exact location. They usually gave some reference point as to where the land started, ie "6 miles from Ruddle's" or something like that.

    I think we can solve the mystery of the Catherine/David Eddleman connection soon with a little more research. I just need to get a hold of those Clark papers in Virginia. They have numerous references to Ruddell's and Martin's Stations and the people who lived there. Could be exciting.

    Jim Sellars

    Wow! Thanks, Jim! The Ruddle'sforters are a great group of people. I appreciate the guidance from all of you.






    I remember the 1964 reunion of the descendants of
    James Marion Eddleman and Mary Martha (Taylor) Eddleman
    (my great-great-grandparents).

    This reunion was held in the city park at Vincennes, in Knox County, Indiana.

    At this reunion, Leslie Frey (daughter of Blanche Eddleman Frey, granddaughter of James Marion Eddleman, great-granddaughter of Noah Eddleman, great-great-granddaughter of John Eddleman), read the report documented by her parents' generation of the migration of the Eddleman family from Germany and subsequent encounters with Indians, etc.

    It was at this presentation that I first heard the story of our Ute Tribe heritage, although my mother, aunts, grandfather and my grandfather's uncles already knew about this, having heard the story throughout their lives.

    A relative may be able to find this written report.
    Keep your fingers crossed!

    Read our family's traditional story of Ute ancestry at:








Stone-walled cemetery at edge of site
where Martin's Fort stood in 1780,
in Bourbon County, Kentucky.

Martin's Fort is 8 miles from Ruddle's Fort and was also destroyed in the same campaign.

(Click on image to see larger photo.)



Stoner's Creek (Seen from the hilltop
which was the site of Martin's Fort
in Bourbon County, Kentucky).

Still filled with large fish, this creek must have provided food for our ancestors.

(Click on image to see larger photo.)



Ruddle's Fort stood on this site
at the time of the 1780 Massacre
in Harrison County, Kentucky.



(Click on image to see larger photo.)



I had the privilege of attending the first reunion of the descendants of the victims of the Massacres at Ruddle's Station and Martin's Station. Some descendants of Ruddle's Fort pioneers are shown, at the Fort site, at right. (Click photo to see larger photo.)

This reunion occurred on 26 June 1999, for the 219th anniversary of the Massacres. The reunion started at the Bourbon County, Kentucky Park and Fairgrounds, in Paris Kentucky, which is in the heart of the Kentucky Bluegrass region.

Then, thanks to the kind generosity of the current landowners, we descendants were able to visit the actual sites of the Ruddle's Fort and Martin's Fort. It was awesome to stand at the site where my great-great-great-great-great-grandparents may have faced such drama in their lives.

This reunion is to be an annual event. Next year there will be even more re-enactments on site. To stay aware of developments, join Bob Francis's Ruddle's and Martin's Forts Discussion Group:





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    You should consider joining this Ruddle's and Martin's Fort Discussion Group. People share very useful information, as well as some fun facts.

    For example, Dr. Harold Eddleman recently mathematically calculated for us that there would now be over a million descendants of the Ruddle's Fort settlers.

    And, Jim Sellars discovered that President George Bush is one of those Ruddle's Fort descendants.

    The group is currently planning the next re-enactment, even discussing what foods would be legitmate. I haven't heard anyone mention 'possum, but Jon Hagee did include bear on his list!

    I seem to have misplaced my bear and beaver recipes ...





Other Web Sites Relating to Kentucky Fort Massacres:





See Also:









Copyright 1996-2006, Granduncle Mark
(Mark Ellsworth Hickman, PhD)



Granduncle Mark's Genealogy Parlor

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