Dear David and other Zeller Cousins,
Thank you for your sensitive explanation of the origins and research of
the Zeller family. I have the same information that Sally Wildasin Ward has
contributed from her grandmother's writings and I do know where it came from.
About 50 years ago this information was circulated to descendents of Bishop
Zeller by a very lovely lady named Marcella Henry Miller a Dayton, Ohio
schoolteacher. She was not only a cousin but a good friend of my mother's and
I remember her well. She got interested in genealogy and did a good job
researching the local descendants of Bishop Zeller but unfortunately got a
lot of information from Berks Co. Zellers which turned out to be a romantic
fabrication. Marcella made up a typescript of the information she found and
had it mimeographed and sent it out to all her relatives at considerable
expense I am sure. It was a good thing because at least it got family members
interested.
I had this infrormation long before I began to work seriously on
genealogy but when I began to check it out discovered that more recent
research had disproved most of it as David has stated. It was a real wrench
to give up the idea of Lady Clothilde and I still would be thrilled to "
find" her. But the fact that no daughter of the Zeller clan was ever named
for her makes it look like a lost cause. I think that if there ever was a
maternal figure in the Zeller family is was likely Anna Batdorf who was
probably the mother -in -law of the immigrant Johan Zeller. But this is only
speculation.
I am in the process of writing a book on my mother's ancestry which
includes the Zeller family among many others. I have been working on a
chapter on the Zeller ancestors but it is slow going. there is so much
information available that it is hard to condense it into a story which
anyone will want to wade through! But when I get a little further along I
will send it to you if you would like. The true story of of the 1709
Palatines is fascinating and far more interesting than the old stories we
have been led to believe. You are right, David, the TRUTH is what we as
genealogists are interested in today and we should all work together to find
it.
Sincerely
Mary Cassel Case