There is a story which appears out of the mists of time regarding Magdalena Zeh. This story has been reported in several books, some of which are: The Appalachian Frontier by John Anthony Caruso published by the University of Tennessee Press in Knoxville, Tennessee, 2003, page 28; The Old New York Frontier by Francis Whitney Halsey published by C. Scribner's Sons, 1901, page 36; and History of Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York by Jeptha R. Simms published by Munsell & Tanner, Printers,Albany, 1845, pages 69-71. The earliest telling of the tale was published in "Brief Sketch of the First Settlement of Schoharie County by the Germans" by John M. Brown in 1823. A PDF copy of the actual image of this book @

http://www.wikitree.com/photo.php/7/7e/Magdalena-1.pdf

Some thought of the hardships endured by not only Johannes and Magdalena Zeh and their children; but, in truth, the rest of the German Immigrants who had been sent to New York by the English Crown, is needed in preamble of this story. The Zehs were Catholics who were attempting to avoid religious persecution in their own homeland. They had already been to England, where they and many others were put up in tents during the cold winter there. Queen Anne had given them clothing, blankets, food, and even some money; but, all this was resented by the poor English people who looked on with envy. They had been attacked by these same poor native English peoples; and, the Crown thought it best to try and resettle them elsewhere. This was not an easy task. No one wanted them because they were without any means of support. Finally it was agreed to send them to New York, in America, where the Crown could use them to make pitch and tar for their naval vessels; and, thereby, keep them afloat. There were many pine trees in America from which to make pitch and tar. They finally concluded to resettle the Germans on land which had formerly been the property of a man named Bayard, granted to him in a rather large grant in Schoharie, New York. The land had been taken back from him as he had neglected to make the necessary improvements upon it.

When the immigrants arrived in 1710, not only did they have to build log huts in which to live; but, plant crops for food, and make everything they needed in order to survive. Before they even left, the Zehs were required to become Protestants because the Crown would not settle Catholics on the land or pay their passage to America. It they had refused to become Protestant, they would have been sent back to Germany. While living on the land, they were to make pitch and tar in addition to everything else they had to do. They understood that the land was to be given to them after a period of time. However, this did not take place.

Some time later, around 1715, Mr. Bayard was deputized by the English Crown to give titles or deeds for the land to the Germans. However, when he went to visit them, he was virtually run out of town. He hid in a house while a mob of Germans waited outside asking for him to be turned over to them. His side of the story was that he was only trying to give them deeds to the land; but, in view of the intensity of further events, I believe he was probably trying to either get money out of them or find a way to get his land back again. He managed to escape the house and make his way to Albany where he told his side of the story.

Albany supposedly sent a Sheriff Adams to Schoharie to arrest the miscreants. At this time, the people were being told that they would either have to buy the land, pay rent, or leave. During the time elapsing between the hasty retreat of Mr. Bayard and the deputizing of Mr. Adams (who probably was deputized specifically for this occasion as there is no mention of him being a Sheriff anywhere in Albany), the Governor of New York had decided to sell the land to Mr. Bayard and six other partners. This created a group thereafter referred to as the "Seven Partners".

When Sheriff Adams arrived in Schoharie, the Germans were having none of it. Magdalena was considered to be the ringleader and self appointed captain of the mob, consisting solely of women, which beat Sheriff Adams and literally ran him out of town on a rail. They pranced him through the small German settlements for the 6 - 7 miles to the bridge on the road to Albany. Here, Magdalena grabbed a fence stake and beat the Sheriff about his body hard enough to break a couple of ribs, and put out one of his eyes. Some accounts say that she then urinated in his face and left him laying in the road.

I have searched the court records of Albany to see if I could find some documented evidence of the outcome of this incident. Some further references to this incident say that some of the miscreants were arrested; but, the court records in the minute books are missing between the years 1702 and 1717. This leaves out the time period in question. Surely, this momentous incident had a bearing on some of the immigrants moving to Pennsylvania. The immigrants sent emissaries to the British Crown in London; but they were robbed on the trip, and arrived in debt, for which they were locked up in the Tower of London for about a year. They stayed on, trying to plead their case to the Crown; but, Queen Anne had died in the meantime, and the news of how Bayard and Adams were treated had reached London. Upon their return to New York, five years later, they told the immigrants about land that was available to them in Pennsylvania. They advised them to either buy their land, pay rent, or move to Pennsylvania. Son, Johann George Zeh, seems to be the only one of the Zeh family to move to Tulpehocken Creek in Pennsylvania. The rest stayed behind in New York and either payed rent or bought land in the area; raised families; and, lived out the rest of their lives there.