Descendants of

Generation No. 1

1. Daniel8 Banta (Hendrick H.7, Hendrick Hendricke6, Hendrick Epkese5, Epke Jacobse4, Jacob Epkese3, Epke Luuesz2, Lieuwe te1) was born 1765 in Somerset, New Jersey, and died December 15, 1827 in Pleasant, Switzerland Co., IN. He married Anna Seever June 05, 1784 in Lincoln, Mercer Co., KY. She was born November 02, 1759 in Conewago, PA, and died June 10, 1829.

More About Daniel Banta:
Fact 1: Pleasant Cemetery, Switzerland Co., IN

Notes for Anna Seever:

HEART-RENDING TRIAL OF MRS. ANNA BANTA

This famous woman was first married to S.(Peter Jr.) Duree, in the State of Virginia, in the year 1771, and remained in that State till 1777-8, when Duree and his wife joined a small company of emigrants and "struck" for the territory-Kentucky-and landed safely at a place then called Lime Stone, now Maysville, Mason County, Kentucky. Remaining here a short time, they broke ground for a settlement about eight miles from the fort. Having made the necessary preparations, Duree, his wife and three children, and an unmarried sister and two young brothers of his wife, attended by a small guard, went ahead of the other families to build a cabin. As soon as they reached the location selected they went to work, and at the end of three days had a cabin up and finished, which was to answer for dwelling-house and fort. The guard now returned to Lime Stone to conduct out the other families. On the fourth morning Duree and his two brothers-in-law went a short distance from the cabin to cut a block to make a mortar to "bruise" their corn in, and were attacked by the savages; at the first fire one of the young men was killed on the spot, and Duree himself received a ball through his chest, inflicting a mortal wound, notwithstanding he ran to the cabin door before he fell. The other young man was cut off from the cabin by a  fleet-footed Indian and tomahawked. Duree's sister, hearing the fuss, ran to the door and was shot dead. Duree's wife saw the whole tragedy through a port hole, with her three little children at her side. The Indians, either becoming alarmed at something or supposing they had killed all the "pale faces" disappeared without breaking into the cabin. Duree's wife dragged her dying husband into the cabin and used every effort in her power to stop the blood which was flowing copiously from the wound; every other remedy failing, she literally corked the artifice of the wound with her handkerchief. Duree revived sufficiently to entreat his wife to take the children and flee to the fort, telling her that he was bound to die and that she could be of no further service to him. As the poor woman stood gazing at her dying husband, surrounded by death on every side, her three little children clinging to her, and he pointing to the door and uttering with feeble voice: "Save yourself and the children, go, go!"-the conflict was short but terrible-the awful decision was made. Now let us drop the curtain while the sad parting takes place, while the faithful wife turns her back on her dying husband forever-not for her own life, but for her children. Having made up her mind to try to reach the fort, she mounted one child on her shoulders, taking another in her arms and the third at her side, was soon flying with all possible speed along the blazed way towards Lime Stone, distance about eight miles. A blinding storm of rain and sleet setting in, she soon lost the trace and wandered in the trackless wilderness till late in the evening, when she again discovered the blazed track, and although she had traveled all day she found herself not more than a mile from the bloody scene from which she was fleeing. She had gone but a short distance, however, when she met the other families coming out to join them, and told them the sad story. While they were parleying over what was best to be done the Indians raised the war whoop in the distance. It appears they were on the track of Duree's wife, and in a few minutes more she would have been murdered with her helpless babes, without mercy. The men saw the situation at a glance; to make a stand there in the wilderness with the women and children was out of the question, hence they cut their packs from the horses and let them fall to the ground, and mounting the women and children, the race back to the fort commenced in good earnest; the horses, maddened by fierce yells of the redskins, went tearing through the thick undergrowth, lacerating the lower limbs of their riders badly, besides which no accidents occurred, and they all reached the fort safely. The next morning they sent out a force sufficiently strong to drive back the Indians and bury their dead. A few years afterwards the brave and somewhat reckless Capt. Dan Banta met the widow Duree; having heard of her fame, she exactly suited him. It is enough to say he courted and married her, and bravely did she stand by him while he played a conspicuous part in reclaiming Shelby County, Kentucky from the wildness of nature. Daniel Banta died DEC. 15, 1827.

(Note by Ardath Blue) Some records give Anna's maiden name as Shuck and Shafer. There seems to be quite a bit of confusion as to what it actually was but from an unpublished narrative by Martha Miller, a Shuck researcher I have the following:

Agnes and Anna (1759-1829)
Comments by Martha Miller

ANNA SHUCK. The Banta Genealogy page 95 states, "Daniel Banta married Anna Shuck, widow of Peter Duree, who was born Nov. 2, 1759 and died June 10, 1829." This Daniel was a brother of Cornelius Banta who married Magdelena Shuck Duree, widow of Peter's brother, Henry Duree. Peter Duree was killed by Indians in March 1781 (Low Dutch Company history, pages 16-17). These Banta and Duree connections with the Shucks are circumstantial evidence that the widow Anna Duree 's maiden name was Shuck. The Conewago baptisms for Peter and Anna Duree's two children are inconclusive evidence. Both baptisms (1775 and 1778) spell her maiden name as "Seever." Perhaps the most compelling circumstantial evidence is that Daniel Banta and Anna Duree were married in Lincoln Co. on the same day (June 5, 1784) that his nephew, Henry Banta, married Sarah Shuck. Squire R.H. Shuck in his 1903 memorandum mentioned only two of his aunts (not three) as married to Bantas -- and it is clear the two Bantas were Cornelius and Henry (he calls Henry Peter, but states he lived in Bourbon Co.). If this widow Anna Duree was a daughter of Andrew Shuck, then she was for some reason left out of her father's will. The Hannah Batess named in the will is occasionally interpreted as Hannah (Anna) Banta, but this ignores her recorded marriage (see #9 above). There might be some conflict with Anna Banta's Nov. 2, 1759 birth date and Mathias Shuck's 1759 birth date. The descendants of Peter Duree and Daniel Banta are given in the Banta Genealogy under # 504 and 492. There really was an Anna Seever. There was no Anna Shuck in the line of Andrew Shuck.

AGNES SHUCK. According to the Banta Genealogy page 94, "Cornelius Banta married first, Magdelena Shuck, widow of Samuel [Henry] Duree; second, her sister Agnes Shuck; and third, a widow, Nancy Van Nice, who survived him. His first two wives were sisters of William Shuck, who married Mary Banta; another sister, Sally, married Henry Banta." If this Agnes Shuck existed, then she was for some reason left out of her father's will (Cornelius' first wife was still living in 1803). Futhermore, I have never noted any other record of the Cornelius Banta - Agnes Shuck marriage.

Subsequent Information and Comments:
"Anna" - The evidence and concensus seems to be that this was Anna Seever.

The Banta Genealogy, in another section on page 61, shows the children of 163 WYNTIE4 BANTA who married Aug. 5, 1774 to Samuel Durie. These children include the following:

504--PETRUS DURIE,5 b. July 13, 1754, m. Antie Seever.
ISSUE. Baptized at Conewago.
1561--SAMUEL DURIE,6 bp. June 15, 1775.
1562--WYNTIE DURIE,6 bp. Jan. 14, 1778.
Thus, TMB provides the ammunition for his self-contradiction vis a vis page 95.

FS-IGI online 05DEC1999 has following records. These are apparently user-submissions, not extractions of original, primary records. I have not checked these to determine or verify any underlying primary source(s).

"Annie SEEVER Birth 2 Nov 1759 New Jersey Marriage Daniel BANTA Batch number F600440 Sheet: 87 Source Call No. 1553694" This is apparently a user-submission of some kind, not an original records extraction.

Children of Daniel Banta and Anna Seever are: