Notes |
- 1767 Pittsylsvania CO VA tax list of Hugh Innes-
John, Peter and Isaac Van Bibber listed. Next to Peter and Isaac Van Bibber are Veath Dillingham with negro Jeany 2 taxables;
James Rentfro Sr. & Joseph Rentfro and Peter Rentfro 3 taxables
James Rentfro Jr. also listed.
John Calloway negroes- Flemen, Asher, Nan and Nell.
William and Joshua Dillingham 2 taxables.
GREENBRIER COUNTY VA COURT RECORDS
Pg 20 Sept 1790 On motion of Conrad Keller a commission is given him to take the acknowledgement of Cloe VanBibber wife of John VanBibber [son of Peter & Margery] her relinquishment of dower in land sold by her husband to said Keller. [NOTE: Capt. John VanBibber lived near Kellers now Summers County WV. They move to Point Pleasant after this date. Brother Peter had already settled there about 1781. The Indians were still a problem on the frontier which continued till the Anthony Wayne Treaty 1795.]
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John Van Bibber had wandered over much of the eastern wilderness from Pennsylvania to Tennessee seeking a suitable place to settle & thoroughly enjoying his nomadic freedom. Through some misadventure, he lost his way & all his possessions including his survive-or-die flintlock rifle. That was not a very healthy situation - with Indians lurking everywhere, who were taking an increasinly-dim view of the invading hordes of whites - & with no way to slay game for a growling stomach.
Just about to give up in despair, Van Bibber spotted smoke curling skyward from what could only have been a chimney. He was certain it was no Indian campfire.
Charging through the underbrush, joy of joys, he found a pioneer cabin which was little more than a lean-to. Whooping & hollering - in English so he wouldn't be shot for an Indian - he greeted the inhabitant, who welcomed him only as a lonioneer & hospitable Southerners can do. The man introduced himselft as Dan Boone, who fed & bedded Van Bibber, beginning a friendship lasting for decades.
Finally, Van Bibber felt he must take his leave, & Boone loaded him up with light trail food, probably including jerky & rockahominy, or parched corn, such as the Indians used, & forced upon him, against his protests, one of his prized flins. It was a beautiful piece, with carved wood stock & fancy brass plating, plus a silver sight made by gunsmith, Michael Kimberlin, of whom research disappointingly fails to turn up any record.
It is entirely probable that several of Chief Cornstalk's braves on the other end of it said, "Ow, that smarts," since the piece had a bore of about 60 caliber.
John later passed the now-famous Van Bibber rifle to his son, Mathias (Mathias was not a son of john, but a nephew through brother Peter) reputed to have been one of the 1st sheriffs of Kanawha County, who scratched his monogram in the brasck plate.
--Van BIbber Pioneers E-Newsletter, Volume 4, No. 8, June 2001.
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John was a Captain and served in Indian wars, Dunmore's War, Colonial wars, and the Revolutionary War.
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