Ancestor of the Month

March 2006  

Dr. Johan Martin Shultz

b. 1740                           d. 1787

Dr. Johan Martin Shultz was an ancestor of whom one can be proud. He was a man of fine reputation who was trusted and respected by those who knew him.

Johan Martin (Martin) Shultz was born in Lancaster County, PA in 1740. He was the son of Johan Velten (Valentine) Shultz and his wife Maria Eva Stocker. Shultz had come to the new world before the Revolution and settled in Lancaster County, PA. Martin’s parents, it is believed, were from Westphalia, Germany.

Apprenticeship

As a young man, Martin was apprenticed to a cordwainer. A cordwainer is a shoemaker of fine boots and shoes. He uses finer leather and is considered more of a craftsman than a regular shoemaker or cobbler. Cobblers repair and use old leather; cordwainers use only new, finely tanned leathers. The word is

connected with the word cordovan which today refers not only to a color, but also to a “vegetable tanned [leather] …used only for the highest quality shoes,” Thus, Martin was to become more than just a shoemaker; he was to become a craftsman.

Martin Becomes of Age

Apprenticeships usually lasted for seven years or until the apprentice became of age. Martin completed his apprenticeship in 1721 when he was 21 years old. Significantly, several important things happened that year. First he married Juliana Stentz, daughter of Heinrich and Dorothea Stentz, also from Germany. Second, he agreed to become the guardian of Philip Bayer, Juliana’s fifteen-year-old nephew who had been recently orphaned. Both these actions show good qualities of Martin’s character. He waited until he could afford a wife and family before he married. Next, he accepted a responsibility he was not required to take by agreeing to take Philip as an apprentice and ward. By doing this, he was required to teach Philp to read the Bible, to write, and to do arithmetic to the rule of three. He was also to provide Phillip with food and lodging and give him two suits of clothes (one new and worth five pounds and of Phillip’s choice) at the end of the apprenticeship. Thus, by age twenty-one, Martin had a business, a wife, an apprentice, and a legal responsibility.

Martin and his wife made their home in Hellam Township, York County, Pa. They eventually had eight children, six of whom survived: Valentine K, David, John R., Jacob, Martin S. and Julia Ann Shultz.  It is from Julia Ann that we are descended.

Family Moves to Carolina

After 1760, the shoe trade was booming in New England. Virginia shipped her tanned leathers there. Martin may have felt a falling off in trade or difficulty in obtaining good leather in PA. Perhaps there was too much competition from New England bootmakers.  Whatever the reason, he began planning a move to the Carolinas. He consulted with a number of his neighbors and they agreed to accompany the Shultzes in their move to this wilderness area even though it was

was purported to have no doctors. Because of the move, Martin had to go back to court and be relieved of his responsibility for Philip. Rather than just abandon the lad, however, he made arrangements for Philip to be apprenticed to another cordwainer, Daniel Peterman. The new apprenticeship terms were the same as in the original contract between Martin and Philip.

By 1764 Martin and Juliana had made all their preparations for the journey and set out with their group of friends and neighbors for Carolina, The group made their way to Mecklenburg County, NC. They settled in an area near Killian’s Creek and Leeper’s Creek or Lick Run which is now the eastern part of Lincoln County, North Carolina.

Life in Carolina

For the next few years, Martin witnessed a number of deeds for people in the area. Many of these people were those who had come from PA with him. After Tryon County was created from Mecklenburg Co.  Martin was made constable by the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of Tyron County. He was sworn in “on Thursday after the first Tuesday in April, 1770.” These events show that he was respected by the court and his peers.

Again for the next few years Martin witnessed a number of deeds for people in the area. He also began buying and selling land himself. By 1777, Martin was identified on the deeds he signed as Doctor Martin Shultz. Apparently between the time he had moved from PA and 1777, he had taken training as a doctor in Mecklenburg (Later Tryon) County, NC. Why he gave up his profession of cordwaining and took up medicine, we don’t know. However, he probably had little if any source of fine leather in NC and the area needed doctors. Some early historians say that there were no doctors in the area. If that is so, Martin was simply filling a need and may have trained himself. From this point on, he seems to be identified as doctor.

Another Move

Feeling the itch to move again, the Shultz family prepared during the fall and winter of 1777 and 1778 to move to Washington County NC. They arrived there in the summer of 1778 and settled near the Holston River.   Again he began buying and selling land. Soon that part of Washington County, NC became Washington County TN. By 1779, Sullivan Couny, TN was carved out of Washington Co, and the Shultzes now lived there.

Revolutionary War

The Revolutionary War was well under way by this time. In fact, Martin may have thought that moving further west might be a way of escaping the war. Martin was caught up in the war, never-the-less. He enlisted in the militia and served as a surgeon under Colonel Shelby and Colonel Campbell.  Family tradition says that he was in the Battle of King’s Mountain, and he is listed on the rolls for the

battle as a private under John Sevier.

King’s Mountain

King’s Mountain has two faces. On one hand it was a decisive America victory

and changed the tide of the war in the South. On the other hand, it had elements

that were shameful and disgraceful. The battle lasted a few minutes over one hour. Every single British soldier was killed, wounded, or captured. The commander of the British forces had boastfully said that if the men from the other side of the mountains didn’t stop crossing the mountains engaging in skirmishes and fights, he would cross the mountains, hang them, and lay waste to their lands. Incensed by the insult, the “Overmountain Men” fought ferociously. (The Overmountain Men made up over fifty percent of the Patriot troops at King’s Mountain, but other Southern colonists were involved, too.) It was a battle in which Americans fought Americans.  About the only real professional soldier was the Commander, Colonel Patrick Ferguson. The British “troops” were made up of “a handful of soldiers” but consisted primarily of Loyalists and sympathizers in the region who had been told that if they didn’t fight, the barbaric “Overmountain Men” would slaughter them.  (This notice came from the same Colonel Ferguson who had infuriated the Overmountain Men.    He seemed to have an insulting way with words.)

The Patriot troops marched over the mountains from NE TN and SW VA and met with other men from GA and the Carolinas.  They found the British troops atop King’s Mountain, which Ferguson had thought would be a good place to defend.  However, the mountain left no way for escape.  The colonists surrounded the Loyalists and picked them off each time the British soldiers tried to charge with bayonets.  (The Overmountain Men were hunters who were generally crack shots.)  Above the battle noise the men could hear a silver whistle that Ferguson was using to direct his troops.  The whistling stopped when Ferguson was shot from his horse.

The battle lasted a few minutes over one hour.  Dead and wounded were lying all over the area.  Ferguson’s second in command knew the cause was hopeless and ordered his men to surrender.  Official reports say the firing stopped immediately.  Diaries, journals, and other first hand accounts, however, say that that was not the case.

After the Battle

During an earlier battle, British troops under a Colonel Banastre Tarleton had killed colonial soldiers who had been trying to surrender. The colonists, therefore, were in no mood for kindness. They reportedly killed British soldiers at King’s Mountain who were trying to surrender and yelled, “Give them Tarleton’s quarter” as they shot the defeated men.

Some early sources say there were no doctors at King’s mountain, but the British had one doctor, a Dr. Uzal Johnson, and the colonists had Dr. Martin Shultz.  The problem was—lack of supplies.  No medicine, no bandages, no splints—nothing.  Reportedly amputations were carried out with whiskey and brute force.  Undoubtedly our Dr. Shultz did what he could, but that was precious little.  One eyewitness account says that in at least one instance Dr. Johnston was not permitted to administer aid to the British forces.

Casualties, like the battle, were one=sided.  Every single person on the British side was either killed or captured.  The dead included Colonel Ferguson, who was felled by at least eight shots.  On the British side 225 were killed, 163 were wounded, and 715 were taken prisoner.  On the colonists’ side 28 were killed and 62 were wounded.

Wounded and dead were left where they fell over night; then, the next morning those able were marched north to be exchanged.  Most of the Patriot troops dwindled away as the men headed back home where they were needed.  It has been said that the army “dissolved” as quickly as it had formed.  (Modern observers might have called this action deserting, but the Overmountain men, who were almost all volunteers, didn’t look at it that way.  They needed to get home to protect their families from the Indian tribes who considered the settlers in their area intruders.)

Atrocities

Supposedly the untrained patriot soldiers slashed prisoners with swords and hit them with rifle butts as they were marched away.  Many of the defeated were “lost” on the march away from the battle.  (It is assumed that some were killed; however, a good portion of them probably escaped as the Overmountain Men left the army.)  Nine of these who were considered particularly odious were hanged during the next few days.  In many respects it was not a glorious moment in American history

End of the Line

Martin Shultz left with the other Overmountain Men and made his way back to TN.  The land where he lived continued to go through the name changes that so many places during that time did.  When he died in the fall of 1787, his home was in Sullivan County, State of Franklin.  He was 47 years old.

Juliana, Dr. Shultz’s wife, outlived him by several years.  After his death, she moved from Sullivan County to Emert’s Cove (Pittman Center) in Sevier County.  Her son Martin Shultz, Jr., lived there, as did her daughter Julia Ann who had married Richard Reagan.  Julia Ann was the mother of Daniel Wesley Reagan, Papaw’s grandfather.

Dr. Martin Shultz did not live a long life, but he contributed to his family, community, and country.  He could be relied on to do what was right and what needed to be done.

Dr. Martin Shultz is Papaw’s great great grandfather.  If you are Eli McCarter’s great great grandchild, Dr. martin Shultz is your 6-great grandfather.

Line of Descent from Dr. Martin Shultz to Rev. Eli McCarter

Dr. Martin Shultz (1735-1787) + Juliana Stentz (c1741-c1810)

Julia Ann Shultz (1775-1846) + Richard Reagan (1769-1829)

Daniel Wesley Reagan (1802-1892) + Nancy Ogle (1810-1844)

Marriah Reagan (182-1923) + Thomas Hill McCarter (1846-1923)

Rev. Eli McCarter (1886-1955) + Mary Elizabeth Hatcher (1889-1969)

Sources

Beach, Peggy.  “Battle of King’s Mountain”

cocleveland.nc.us/battle of kings mtn.htm.

 “Dr. Johan Martin Shultz,’ smokykin.com  “

”King’s Mountain,” National Park Service.

 “Lost Sate of Franklin” members.tripod.com.

Reagan, Donald B.  Smoky Mountain Clans. Vol. 2, rev. ed. 1983.

 “State of Franklin.” Rootsweb.com/~genepool/franklin.htm.

 The Honorable Cordwainers’ Co. thcc.org.