Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1904-03-03
sI.oo A YEAR.
From the West Virginia Historical Magazine
cATARINA sE,ERlIN.

In The Historical Rooms in the
C'pltol OF Wes, Virginia there will be
found tombstone, a photo of which
will BE- s-eu on page lis OF the April.
1903. f this magazine The stone is
a rough sandstone, engraved with more
than ordinary skill aud care and has
thereon, besides the inscription, en-
gra ed cross and heart, skull and
bones, and hour glass.
We are not able to say whether the
German artist was a scholar, nor can
We tell from whence he obtained his
verse The inscription j. AS follows ;
HER RUEr oATARJNA BEIERLIS.
GEBoHREN IL JAuR 1851
ACH VIE wIRD MICH JESUS HERTZEN
MEI NER AUGNNrRosr UND LIGHT
ALLIE rRAEN EN ALLIE sCuNERrzEN
wAsHEN voNDEN ANGE SIGHT
DR. J. ? Hale was so satisfied that
this stone intended TO tell that this
woman died IN 1907 and that 1t was
evidence of a prehistoric settlement
IN the vicinity OF Shepherdstown, that
be secured the same and brought II TO
the Historical Society and replaced the
same with marble one at the grave,
on which he had engraved the date of
her death, "l707 He did not learn
this date from the stone, Tor th4t date
was not on II, the stone had crumbled
away aud the figures bad gone many
YEAR ago, bat be heard that the p,o.
pie M the vIclulry had always sup
posed that TO be the date hence he
deemed the stoue OF great historical
value.
1t was to him sufficient to tell of
the mysterious German settlement
which the people love to tell about,
but Of which they can give not
name, or word, nor thing, except
tins tombstone, to satisfy any one that
there was a single German there be.
fore 1882.
We have always contended that this
was all wrong, for IN 1907 1t was not
then known that the Potomac ex-
tended through and west of the Blue
Ridge; that the Valley WAS an undIs-
covered country until Gov Spottswood
went TO gee It aud m 'e his discovery
a great military eJ oft, aud that It
WAS given up to the lndlans by treaty
in 1922 \ J that there was never
found any evidence OF settlement OF
which any one ever heard, and Wash
lngton, who wrote down all he saw IN
l748, made no mention OF It, and there
were no soldiers or voters ever pro-
duced from the vicinity but those who
could be traced to their coming after
1882, and that the history Of the
country made the proposition al ABB
surdIty In the article in this num-
Der entitled "Euly Germans on the
Opequon. under the head Of Notes
will be seen the following:
Anna Catsrins Beyerlio, sponsor
Of Catsrina Barbara. dau. Of Michael
Reusner Of Monocacy, bap. Jan. !,
1885"
This is the record Of clergyman,
made At the time, by which II appears
that Anna Catarins Beyerlin was the
sponsor in baptism for a child in
1875.
If these two records. the Tombstone
aDd the clergymsn's record, were
made for the same woman, then 1907
was not the date of her death. for che
was alive in 1875 and was then at
Monocacy. The two names are alike
in sound. though not spelled exactly
alike, and the clergyman gives her
the name Of Anna, in addition TO Cat
arina. There will be no one acquaint-
ed with the history Of these times,
that will pretend TO say that they are
not the same person and that she came
TO Virginia after the year 1875, and
was buried. probably. when she had
become an aged and beloved old lady,
in 1857, and was given an unusual
monument on account Of Der age and
Christian character.
We regard the clergyman's record
conclusive Of the fact that it was Cat
arinA Beierlin that was slive IN l735.
w. s LAIDLLY.
A chsmist was bosetinO in the COM