History of the Zieley Family

Preamble: One of the greatest mistakes our ancestors made was not to keep a careful record of their lives, even though they were colorless and uneventful. If such record had been made and carefully preserved many American families would know more about their family, and have knowledge of the stock from which they sprung previous to their migration to America. We could then trace, with some degree of accuracy, family traits which might explain the development of unusual talents and remarkable personalities in individuals born of "lowly origin" and station, simple, uneducated folk, living plain, uneventful lives. Such cases in America are multitudinous, but as example we might mention two prominent persons who are historically on record. Robert Morris of Philadelphia, signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Abraham Lincoln. Our traits are molded more or less by the heritage received from the long line of our ancestors, and we never know from whom we receive certain tendencies which we find sometimes to our surprise we possess, but if we had a family record going back hundreds of years, we probably could trace these back to some remote ancestor. Note for example the case of Robert Morris. Son of a poor man of a family of servants and common sailors, and arising from this stock there came forth a star of the first magnitude, the greatest man of his age. One of America's sons, great financier, the wealthiest and most powerful man in America in his time, to whom we owe the deepest debt of gratitude, for it was he who made it possible for the colonies to gain their independence from Great Britain, for without his aid Washington would have lost the war. Now consider the case of Abraham Lincoln. Everyone knows the history of his birth and remarkable rise from obscurity to be the Great Emancipator. From where came the strain which produced these two remarkable personalities? No doubt from some remote ancestor, but who? Perhaps King Solomon or maybe Julius Caesar, who knows? America is a shining example of the effect the admixture of races exerts upon the character of the individual. Of all the people inhabiting this globe, no greater race exists, and I might say none equals Americans.

We Americans are the recipient of this wonderful inheritance, a marvelous blessing handed down through the ages and given to America as a dowry, a free gift, but a gift of immeasurable value. A jewel of great price, not purchasable in all the monies of the world and given to America alone. For is not America the melting pot of the Earth, the one spot on this globe where mingle all the races of people on the Earth? Where they mingle and become Americans, and thus it inherits all the advantageous talents and tendencies that has taken thousands of years to develop in the individual of the multitudinous races, born and bred in the far reaching stretches of the inhabited zones of the Earth. In my own case I find myself in possession of talents and capabilities I did not know I possessed, ability to think and do things for which I had no training, a natural feat you say, but which I believe to be an inheritance from some very distant ancestor. In my veins circulates the blood of at least three races of people, French, Dutch and English. And in the blood of my children one more is added, Spanish. Many American families trace their ancestry back to the Revolution, some to the Pilgrim fathers, and a few to the settlers who founded Jamestown, Va., but how few are are able to trace their genealogy beyond these periods. How many know anything of their family record before the migration of their forefathers to America? A goodly number of these early settlers were political refugees, and among these was the ancestor who was the forebearer of the Zieley family. About the year 1570, France was ruled by Catherine de'Medici. There were at that period two great political parties moving against each other. One was the Catholic, and the other the Huguenot party, the latter Protestant supporting Henry of Navarre, afterward crowned king of France. Catherine mistakenly thought she could rid herself of her political opponents by destroying them. She gave orders to the Duc de Guise to round up the Huguenots and kill them.

The massacre of St. Bartholomew occurred on the night of Aug. 24th 1572. Upward of 100,000 men, woman and children were shot down ruthlessly by the Duc de Guise's soldiers, but many Huguenots having been warned by friends in court, fled France, thus escaping this catastrophe. Others ignoring the warning remained behind and lost their lives. Among the latter was a young girl loved by one of the Duc's officers, Jean de Uziele, Captain of the Guard, learning of the plan to wipe out the Huguenots, warned her family, but for some reason they did not heed his warning until too late to take advantage of it. The night of the massacre, Jean de Uziele saved this young girl's life by spiriting her far away during the attack. Under cover of the darkness he carried her away with him on horseback, and after many narrow escapes managed to take her into Holland where later on they were wedded. For this act he was banished from France. Joining other refugees they fled to England and from there they later on sailed to America. How many children were born to this romantic pair we do not know, neither do we know anything about their lives in America. But we do know that one of their descendants moved to New York State and settled in Schoharie County. Quoting from J.R. Simms "Schoharie County and Border Wars of New York," page 36: "It was bigotry and Catholicism, which drove the ancestors of General Marion from France to South Carolina. The grandfather of Marion was a French Protestant: by the authorities of France he was banished to perpetual exile..." "The Puritans, as the Plymouth, Massachusetts, pioneers were called, fled with their pastor, the Rev. John Robinson, in the year 1607, from England to Amsterdam in Holland; from thence they soon after removed to Leyden. From the latter place, in the year 1620, they went to Southampton in England, from whence they embarked for America on the 5th day of August of the same year, and after a long, tedious voyage, anchored in Cape Cod harbor, on the 10th day of the following November." Jean de Uziele and his family were among this company, their descendants finally settled in Schoharie County, New York. Again quoting from Simms, page 89: "A party, consisting of Col. Zielie, with half a dozen of his neighbors, and a few Indians, all mounted on horseback and armed with guns, set out to seek and bring whatever of Maria might be left, after the panther had satiated his appetite. Leaving their horses near the entrance, they went into the woods and began to call to her. She heard the voice of Col. Zielie, and came out from her hiding place. The Indians then declared they would soon have the panther. After fixing a blanket on a tree so as to present a tolerable effigy of one of their party, they all fell back and concealed themselves behind trees. An Indian then began to call, and was soon answered by the animal, which approached stealthily. When it came in sight, it fixed its eye on the effigy, and crawling alone with the stillness of a cat, it approached within a few paces, from whence, after moving its tail briskly for a few seconds, it bounded upon it with the speed of an arrow. In an instant the blanket was torn into strings, and as the disappointed animal stood lashing its sides furiously with its tail, looking for the cause of the voice, (panthers having no knowledge of belief in ghosts) and its deception, a volley of rifle balls laid it dead on the spot." [full quote, John D. Zieley gave only a portion that left out details (J.R.)]

The name de Uziele had then been changed to Zielie, this was about 1750. Again on page 160, we find this account: "Several black fiddlers were, in their day, noted persons. Jack, a slave belonging to Col. Zielie, and another of the same name, belonging to John Lawyer, who, to distinguish them, were called Jack Zielie and Jack Lawyer, flourished in their way, about the time of the revolution. A frolic could not easily be sustained then, unless one of them was present. They played the fiddle, holding it in various positions, sometimes before and at others behind them." Colonel Zielie was the father of Captain John Zielley, then spelled the latter way. Beginning then with Jean de Uziele, and bridging the gap where the records were lost, we start our genealogy with Colonel Peter M. Zielie. We know through our family tradition that he was a direct descendant of Jean de Uziele. Colonel Peter M. Zielie had three sons, Capt. John Zielley, Adam, and Martin. Captain John Zielley was born Feb. 26, 1744. He died on March 9th, 1825, aged 81 years. His body is interred in the Zieley family plot in Canajoharie, NY. Capt. John Zielley moved to the town of Palatine, Montgomery County, New York, bought a section of land and settled there. He fought though the Revolution with the American forces under Colonel Willett, was in numerous engagements, both against Indians and Torries and British, [he] was taken prisoner near Stone Arabia where his company was attacked by a superior force under Sir John Johnson and Brandt. Word was sent to General Van Rensselaer, who was marching up the valley with a force of Americans, for aid. General Van Rensselaer, instead of sending to Stone Arabia much needed assistance, continued his march up the Mohawk Valley. The small force of Americans were beaten, and Capt. John Zielley was taken prisoner and sent to Canada where he was incarcerated for almost two years. His sword and equipment are in the Fort Rensselaer Club in Canajoharie, or were the last I knew about them, as they were presented to this club by Martin Zielley, my father's uncle, a grandson of Capt. John Zielley. Part of the Continental currancy and Spanish dollars, Capt. John Zielley was paid for his services, are now in my possession.

[This is where he ends the history preamble. The start of "The Memoirs of John D. Zieley" begins after the gallery of images on the next page (three). Go to the very bottom of this page for the link. Genealogical information copied by John D. Zieley in this journal can be found among the related links just below. It's entitled: "The Zieley Family of America" written by his father, David Zieley.]

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