Back to Family Story outcomes, S22
by Caeli Beatty
Growing up I was always told by my grandfather I was the descendant of royalty. Of course over the last 20 years, I categorized myself as a princess. I mean, who wouldn’t? Well after spending the semester researching my ancestry, I learned that my ancestors truly did live in a castle, the Worb Castle, in Bern, Switzerland. I will admit, I learned that does not quite make me a princess. However, I learned something even more interesting …
My ancestor was captured by the Tuscarora Native American tribe.
Now let me get into it in a bit more detail…
Through lots of research I was able to confirm that my lineage trails back to the De/Von Graffenreid family. Specifically to my 8th great grandfather, Baron Christopher Von Graffenried (1661-1743). (Von was later changed by his son to De, the French version of the name.)
I am a descendant of the Baron through my maternal lineage. Specifically, I am related to him up through my maternal grandfather into the line carrying the Williams and Graffenried surnames. I am able to be quite certain that the Baron is my relative for a multitude of reasons. First being that my maternal grandfather, Richard Seidel, was able to pass down some knowledge of the Graffenrieds that I was able to confirm via censuses and grave records. I was furthermore able to use the ThruLines function of AncestryDNA to see a long list of DNA matches that also carry the Baron in their tree. The certainty of the Baron being my ancestor made this story even more exciting.
The Baron lived in the Worb Castle, in Bern, Switzerland. However, he was made an offer to travel to the New World. He chose to be a part of an expedition to mine for silver in the New World. After the Baron sent over Palatine settlers with John Lawson, he joined them in the Carolinas with Swiss colonists in 1710. The Baron had debts he needed to pay off.
Von Graffenried settled in North Carolina and was quick to set up his own town, New Bern. Of course this town was named after Bern, Switzerland, the location of the castle. Quickly, Von Graffenried owned a large plot of land after displacing the Native American town of Chattoka. Things did not go smoothly from here on out. A year after Von Graffenried’s arrival, in the summer of 1711, his town was struck by yellow fever. Many people did not survive, even servants working in the Von Graffenried household succumbed to yellow fever.
Things began to worsen for my ancestor when tensions with a nearby tribe, the Tuscarora, began to rise. The tribe felt that the settlers were not holding up to their end of the deal and they were closing into the land that was not deemed theirs. The settlers ventured into the land of the tribe without any approval. On top of this, the settlers partook in enslavement of the Native Americans and poor trade practices.
After a decision made by the head of the tribe, Von Graffenried and Lawson were captured by the Tuscarora Native Americans. Graffenried was set free, however the same does not go for Lawson. The story is told that Lawson was much more aggressive than Graffenried and that is why he was executed. The manner in which he was killed is still unknown. These conflicts led to the Tuscarora War. Graffenried lost respect from his settlers. He moved to Virginia in order to continue the search for silver. His attempts in bringing all of the settlers with him were unsuccessful. He suffered but recovered from yellow fever while in Virginia.
Graffenried ultimately returned to the castle in Switzerland empty handed after his release from the tribe. The silver he sought for was never acquired. The debts he sought to pay back were never paid. Graffenried passed away in 1743 and was buried in the Worb Castle.
It is a sense of relief knowing that the Baron’s son, Christopher DeGraffenried (1691-1742), was born prior to the Baron’s coming to the New World. Even if the Baron was killed by the tribe, my ancestry would have lived on.
Prior to my research this semester I would have never expected a story of this manner to come from my own ancestry. Although my ancestors did not quite make me a princess, they did provide me with a shocking story I am able to carry on.
Works Cited
“Christoph Von Graffenried, 1st Baron of Bernberg.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Feb. 2022, https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christoph_von_Graffenried,_1st_Baron_of_Bernberg.
“Christoph Von Graffenried’s Account of the Tuscarora War.” NCpedia, https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/christoph-von-graffenrieds.
Martin, D.G. “The Tuscarora War’s Dirty Secret.” Up and Coming Weekly, 4 Feb. 2019, https://www.upandcomingweekly.com/entertainment/5791-the-tuscarora-war-s-dirty-secret.
Wetherington, Todd. “Tuscarora Were the Most Powerful and Highly Developed Native American Tribe in Eastern NC.” New Bern Sun Journal, Sun Journal, 17 Nov. 2021, https://www.newbernsj.com/story/news/2021/11/17/tuscarora-wars-bloody-history-still-echoes-new-bern-landmarks/8622350002/.
“Worb Castle.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 8 Feb. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worb_Castle.