First Families of Orangeburgh District, South Carolina
Zeigler, Zeagler, Seigler, Zigler
The Bernard Zeigler Family
The Bernard Zeigler Family was one of several Zeigler families who settled in colonial Orangeburgh District, South Carolina. Even though they shared common given names with some of the other Zeigler lines, Bernard's family stayed in the vicinity of his original land on Pope Spring Creek for several generations. This makes it easier to pick out his descendants by their location and neighbors. On modern maps Pope Spring Creek of the Four Hole Swamp is called Poke Spring Creek.
FIRST GENERATION
1. Bernard Zeigler was born before 1718 in Germany.1 He died after June 1777 in Orangeburgh District, South Carolina.2 Bernard married an unknown female or females in Germany perhaps about 1738.3 He married his last wife, Anna Maria Wedel, on April 24, 1753, in Orangeburgh Township, South Carolina.4
Bernard and his family arrived on the ship Cunliff in 1752 with a large group of German immigrants. He petitioned the Governor's Council on November 7, 1752. Bernard asked for 200 acres on behalf of himself, his wife, his twelve-year-old daughter, Anna Barbara, and a three-year-old daughter, Christiana. In addition, he requested bounty provisions. Both of his requests were approved.5
Bernard's land was laid out on Pope Spring Creek, a branch on the eastern side of Four Hole Swamp.6 Several of his fellow shipmates, including Conrad Hungerpiller, Jacob Hungerpiller, and Maria Wedel also acquired land along Pope Spring Creek.7
Bernard's wife apparently died within a few months of their arrival in South Carolina. He married his fellow shipmate, Maria Wedel, about six months after their voyage. Bernard and Anna Maria had several of their children baptized at the church in Orangeburgh and also served as baptismal sponsors for some of their neighbors' children.8 Bernard also became the step-father to Maria's son, George Smith.9
Bernard joined his local militia unit as was required of all men between sixteen and sixty in colonial South Carolina. He was part of a regiment that was stationed at the Congaree Stores from November 14, 1759, to January 1760 as part of the activities that took place during the Cherokee War.10
On June 9, 1777, Bernard wrote his will.11 He died probably soon after this as he indicated that he was "well stricken in years and sick" when he wrote it.
Children of Bernard Zeigler and an unknown wife or wives were: 12
2.i.Anna Barbara Zeigler, born about 1740 in Germany; no further records.
3.ii.Christiana Zeigler, born about 1749 in Germany; no further records.
Children of Bernard Zeigler and Anna Maria (Wedel) Zeigler were:
4.iii.Zibilla Zeigler, born December 10, 1753, in South Carolina; died August 4, 1754, in South Carolina.13
+5.iv.John Jacob Zeigler, born September 23, 1755, in South Carolina;14 died before 1818 in South Carolina.15
6.v.Hans Casper Zeigler, born September 28, 1757,16 in South Carolina; died in 1782 in Charleston, South Carolina.17 Casper had a plat certified in 1771 for 100 acres on a branch of Pope Spring Creek.18
7.vi.Eva Catharine Zeigler, born December 1759 in South Carolina;19 no further records.
SECOND GENERATION
5. John Jacob Zeigler was born September 23, 1755, in South Carolina.20 He died before 1818 in Orangeburgh District, South Carolina.21 Nothing is known about the identity of his wife.
Jacob acquired two grants on Pope Spring Creek. One was certified in October 1786 for 96 acres and the other was certified in 1789 for 320 acres.22 He seems to have acquired other land in the area of Pope Spring Creek, possibly including the land that his parents and his brother had owned. An 1818 tax list for St. Matthews Parish survives and would include the area of Pope Spring Creek. It lists the estate of "Jacob Sigler" being taxed on 630 acres and four slaves.23 The return was signed by John Smith, son of George Smith who was Jacob's half-brother.24
Jacob headed a household in 1790 that included himself, three females, and two slaves.25 He is not listed in the 1800 census as the area of Pope Spring Creek was in the missing Lewisburg County portion of that enumeration.26 In 1810 his family consisted of himself, age 45 and up, an older female, age 45 and up, and four males under 25.27 There were three households headed by a Jacob Zeigler in 1810. Bernard's son, Jacob, was the household near the Hungerpillers on Pope Spring Swamp.
Jacob wrote a will before he died but a copy of it does not exist. It is mentioned in a deed when his son, George, sold land in 1834. The deed states that the property was left by Jacob to his sons, George and Henry. The land was on Pope Spring Creek and consisted of portions of tracts surveyed for Bernard Zeigler and Casper Zeigler, among others. The tract George was selling was bounded by land of William Zeigler.28 Given the location of the property, it seems clear that George, Henry, and William were three of the males in Jacob's household in 1810 and were his sons.
Children of John Jacob Zeigler and an unknown wife were:
8.i.George Zeigler, born say about 1796 in Orangeburgh District; died after 1834 in an unknown location. George "Sigler" appeared on the same tax roll of 1818 that listed his father's estate. He was taxed on 210 acres and three slaves.29 He was probably at least twenty-one by then and thus born by 1797. If George was the 10 to 15-year-old male in his father's 1810 household, he was born between 1795 and 1800. Nothing more is known of George after he sold his land in 1834.
9.ii.Henry Zeigler, born about 1800 in Orangeburgh District; died in 1857 in Florida. He married Rachel Danzler in Orangeburgh District. Henry and Rachel are both buried at Union Cemetery in Jefferson County, Florida.30
10.iii.William Zeigler, born about 1804 in Orangeburgh District; died after 1850, probably in Orangeburgh District.31 His first wife was likely Magdalen Dantzler, who was born in 1803 and died before 1832.32 His second wife may have been Margaret (-?-) who appeared as the oldest female in his 1850 census record.
Information provided by Margaret G. Waters on 14 November 2020
Many references to this surname are found in OGSGS Newsletters: Please consult the Newsletter Indexes.
1 Date of birth is estimated as twenty years prior to his date of marriage but was possibly earlier.
2 Caroline T. Moore, Abstracts of the Wills of the State of South Carolina 1760-1784 (Columbia: R. L. Bryan, 1969), volume 3, page 255, "Barnet Bigler" will.
3 Date of marriage is estimated, based on the age of his oldest known child, but could be earlier.
4 Joop Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Orangeburgh, SC (1738-1761); Marriage (after 1750) 40, Zeigler x Wedlin (1753); digital images and translations; Giezendanner Family Research (https://sail.home.xs4all.ht/index.html : 2020).
5 Brent Holcomb, Petitions for Land from the South Carolina Council Journals, Volume III: 1752-1753 (Columbia: SCMAR, 1997), page 108.
6 "Barnard Zigler" plat, Colonial Plat Books (Copy Series), 1731-1775, volume 8, page 606, item 3; Surveyor General's Office, Series S213184; South Carolina Department of Archives and History; digital images, (http://www.archivesindex.sc.gov? : accessed 2020).
7 Frederick A. Smith and William R. Delk, The Cunliffe: The 1752 Voyage of the Ship, Cunliffe and A Partial Reconstructed Passenger List for the Ship, Cunliffe (Orangeburg: Orangeburgh German-Swiss Genealogical Society, 2003), pages 6 and 8.
8 Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Baptisms (after 1750), see numbers 151, 186, 212, 285, 296, 434, 435, 506, 597, 635.
9 Holcomb, Petitions for Land, volume 3, page 108. George Smith began paying the quit rent on his mother's land in 1769. See images of those records in Frederick A. Smith, From Heidelberg to Orangeburgh: History and Genealogy of the Descendants and Ancestors of Georg A. Smith (1745 to 1802) of Midway Community, Amelia Township, South Carolina (privately published by author, 1988), pages 44-45.
10 Murtie June Clark, Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1983), page 914.
11 Moore, Abstracts of the Wills of the State of South Carolina 1760-1784, volume 3, page 255.
12 Holcomb, Petitions for Land, volume 3, page 108.
13 Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Burial 32, Zibella Ziegler.
14 Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Baptism (after 1750) 296, Ziegler.
15 "St. Matthews 1818 Tax List," South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research 1 (Fall 1973), page 214, "Sigler, Jacob, est."
16 Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Baptism (after 1750), 434, Ziegler.
17 Murtie June Clark, Loyalists in the Southern Campaign of the Revolutionary War, Volume 1 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1981), page 546.
18 "Casper Sleiger" plat (1771), Colonial Plat Books (Copy Series), 1731-1775, volume 19, page 515, item 1.
19 Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Baptism (after 1750) 597, Ziegler.
20 Giesendanner, "Book of Record," Baptism (after 1750) 296, Ziegler.
21 "St. Matthews 1818 Tax List," South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research 1 (Fall 1973), page 214.
22 "Jacob Sigler" plat (1786), State Plat Books (Charleston Series), 1784-1860, volume 3, page 326, item 2; Surveyor General's Office, Series S213190; SCDAH, Columbia. "Jacob Sigler" plat (1789), State Plat Books (Charleston Series), 1784-1860, volume 27, page 140, item 1.
23 "St. Matthews 1818 Tax List," South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research 1 (Fall 1973), page 214.
24 Smith, From Heidelberg to Orangeburgh … Descendants and Ancestors of Georg A. Smith, page 118.
25 1790 US census, Orangeburgh District, South Carolina, page 405, line 25, Jacob Zeigler; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed October 2020).
26 Margaret G. Waters, "Can't Find Your Ancestors in the 1800 Orangeburgh District Census?" The Orangeburgh German-Swiss Newsletter, volume 17 (Spring 2016), page 5.
27 1810 U.S. census, Orangeburgh District, South Carolina, page 132A, line 41, Jb. Seagler; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed October 2020).
28 Orangeburg County, South Carolina, Deed Book 3, pages 134-35, George Sigler to Henry Rickenbacker; Registrar of Deeds, Orangeburg.
29 "St. Matthews 1818 Tax List," South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research 1 (Fall 1973), page 214, "Sigler, George."
30 Find A Grave, "Henry Thomas Zeigler," memorial 32927737 and "Rachel Dansler Zeigler," memorial 68523347, Union Cemetery, Jefferson County, Florida; with gravestone photos. Note: Gravestone does not show Henry's supposed middle name.
31 1850 U.S. census, population schedule, page 348B, dwelling 640, family 641, William Zeagler; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : viewed October 2020).
32 Dr. Julian D. Kelly, "Philip Dantzler's Family," undated manuscript (copy held by author). These notes reference Peter Dantzler's Family Bible at the Calhoun County Museum in St. Matthews, South Carolina as well as a deed of gift, made by Philip Dantzler for slaves to his children and grandchildren. A copy of this gift deed has not yet been located.
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