Michael Seltzer POW

Michael Seltzer POW¹

• Birth*: 2 February 1753; Heidelberg Twp., Berks Co., Pennsylvania¹
• Death*: circa December 1777¹

Notes

• Note*: Bio:
  Michael Seltzer was born in 1753, it is said. He married Magdalena Lantzer, daughter of George Lantzer, and they had three sons, John, George Michael and Abraham. He resided in Windsor Township, Berks County. He enlisted at Reading in 1776 and was captured at the Battle of Fort Washington 16 Nov 1776. He died in captivity shortly thereafter. In March 1788 his widow, by then remarried to Frederick Waltz, initiated probate on his estate.
  
  Michael is sometimes said to be the son of Jacob Seltzer and his wife Maria Catharine Hiester. This compiler has found no contemporary evidence supporting this assertion. This compiler finds the assertion unlikely, as Michael's widow and sons did not file as heirs of Jacob Seltzer, and were not named in Maria Catharine (Hiester) Seltzer's will, and were not beneficiaries of the real estate settlement. (See Michael Seltzer son of Jacob senior in this database.)
• Note: Sons George & Abraham:
  George Michael Seltzer son of Michael and Magdalena Selzerin, b. April 22, 1771, bapt. May 19, 1774. Sponsors: Georg Benzer and wife.
  Abraham Seltzer son of Michael and Magdalena Selzerin, b. October 9, 1774, bapt. May 19, 1774. [sic] Sponsors: Georg Benzer and wife.²
• Note: Son John:
  Registration of deaths, Schuylkill County;
  Name: John Seltzer
  Father: Michael Seltzer
  Mother: Magdalena Seltzer
  Wife: Mary Elizabeth Seltzer
  Occupation: Farmer
  Birth: Jan 27, 1777, Windsor Twp., Berks Co.
  Death: Aug 3, 1854, East Brunswick Twp., Schuylkill Co.
  Burial: Evangelical Burial ground E. Brunswick Twp., Schuylkill Co.³
• Note: Military Service - DAR:
  
  SELTZER, MICHAEL
  Ancestor #: A205292
  Service: PENNSYLVANIA
  Rank(s): PATRIOTIC SERVICE, PRIVATE
  Birth: 2-2-1753 HEIDELBERG TWP BERKS CO PENNSYLVANIA
  Death: POST 1-27-1777 IN SERVICE
  Service Source: PA ARCH, 5TH SER, VOL 2, PP 177, 179
  Service Description: 1) CAPT JOHN SPOHN; PRISONER OF WAR
  Residence: 1) City: WINDSOR TWP - County: BERKS CO - State: PENNSYLVANIA
  Spouse: 1) MAGDALENA LANZER¹
• Note: Military service - Penn Archives:
  Fifth Pennsylvania Battalion, Col. Robert Magaw.
  "Roll of Captain John Spohn's Company. (a.) Enlisted at Reading, Penn'a. On the 28th of May, 1776, his company officers and men numbered seventy-eight." (p. 177)
  Privates continued: "Selser, Michael, Reading, taken November 16, 1776." (p. 179) [date of Battle of Fort Washington]
  
  [Note that there was another Michael Seltzer, a sergeant in Captain Michael Wolf's Company of Berks County Militia, on duty at South Amboy, August 26, 1776. Penn Archives, 2nd series Vol. XIV, p. 251.]⁴
• Note: Deaths of prisoners:
  Prisoners suffered and died under atrocious conditions. Many were released and died within days.
  
  A detailed account of the capitulation of Fort Washington is described in Richard Ketchum's book, The Winter Soldiers. Ketchum writes that of the 230 American officers and the 2,607 American soldiers who surrendered at Fort Washington, only 800 were still alive eighteen months later.^5,6
• Note: Circumstances of death:
  Noah Bradley, a family historian and genealogist, published information on his wife's genealogy. She descended from Michael Seltzer's son John. Bradley included the following unsourced quote:
  "My grandmother told me many times about her grandfather who went to war and was captured by the British and died in captivity either from exposure or starvation. The story of his imprisonment was brought back to the family by one of the prisoners from their section of the country who escaped. He left a widow with three young sons of whom her grandfather, Abraham was one. John and Jacob being the names of the other two."
  
  Apparently this quote came from someone in Abraham's line rather than Bradley's wife's line. But taken at face value it is important in that it ties Michael, the documented father of Abraham and George Michael, to Michael the POW.⁷
• Note: Estate of father-in-law George Lantzer:
  
  The maiden name of Michael Seltzer's wife Magdalena is said to be Lantzer. This is supported by the 1807 estate of George Lantzer of Windsor Township Berks County. The administrator was "George Seltzer a grand son of George Lantzer of Windsor Township deceased".
  
  Incidentally, the estate papers included petitions for guardians for minor children Catherine, Elizabeth, John and Melchoir Fritz.⁸
• Note: Estate of Michael Seltzer; Remarriage of widow Magdalena to Frederick Waltz:
  Administration was granted 3 March 1788 to "Magdalena Waltz late Magdalena Seltzer widow and relict of Michael Seltzer deceased now intermarried with Frederick Waltz of Windsor Township in Berks County, George Miller Junr and Philip Shatz both of same place."
  Inventory taken 29 Dec 1788 and exhibited in court 26 Jan 1789. Totaling £4.19.6. Items included only kitchen items, a hoe, and two prayer books.
  It is odd that eleven years passed after his death before probate was initiated.⁹
• Note: Estate of Frederick Waltz:
  Will of Frederick Waltz of Schuylkill Twp. Berks County carpenter written 20 Feb 1805 and proved 16 Mar 1805 names wife Magdalena and names as executor "son in law John Seltzer".
  The account includes payments to Abraham Seltzer and George Seltzer.
  Inventory total £87.17.6. Account balance £136.8.11 3/4.
  Petitions for guardians of minor children under 14 Peter, Daniel and Molly Waltz. So born after 1794; so presumably children of Magdalena.)¹⁰
• Note: Name confusion:
  There are few civil records concerning Michael Seltzer. The state census indicates there were other people with this name:
  
  Name     Residence Year     Residence Place     View Images
  Michael Seltzer     1786     East Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
  Michael Seltzer     1800     East Hanover, Dauphin, Pennsylvania
  
  Michael Seltzer     1786     Windsor, York, Pennsylvania
  Michael Seltzer     1793     Windsor, York, Pennsylvania
  Michael Seltzer     1807     Windsor, York, Pennsylvania¹¹
• Note: J. H Beers and Co. Schuylkill County Pennsylvania Genealogy account:
  
  Publisher J.H. Beers published a confusing biographical sketch tracing a descendent line from a Michael Seltzer who "was at Valley Forge" and died a prisoner, and had sons Abraham, John and Jacob. This sketch follows a description of Jacob Seltzer taken almost verbatim from Montgomery's Annals of Berks County.
  
  The Schuylkill County book sketch is confusing because:
  1) The paragraph on Michael directly follows on the paragraph on Jacob, thereby implying that Michael is the son of Jacob; but it does not outright state that Michael is the son of Jacob.
  2) The Schuylkill County book leaves out that Michael son of Jacob was, per Montgomery, "still a boy" when he enlisted, not a married man with two children and a pregnant wife.
  3) The Schuylkill County book sketch says Michael was at Valley Forge; but Michael the POW died a year before Valley Forge.¹²