George Nicholus Debolt, Sr.

The following is from "DeBolts in America: The DeBolts of Fayette and Greene Counties, Pennsylvania," written by C. Gerald DeBolt in collaboration with Esther DeBolt Ryczek, digitized in 2001 by Ron and James White, retrieved August 17, 2007 from http://www.brittanywhite.com/Debolts%20in%20America.txt.

"The Debolt story in Fayette Co. began with the arrival of three brothers, Michael, Jr.(Hans Michael Debolt, Jr.),George and Henry into Western Pennsylvania in the 1750s. The story of their arrival in America and their early years was covered in the introductory paragraph. Michael, Jr. and his children, Michael III (c.1744 - May,1784), George (c.1746 to late 1828 or early 1829) and Mary (1748 - 1842) settled in what was later to be called Fayette County. As of this writing, the only record we have of the elder George and his brother Henry was to a 1772 tax list for the Fayette Co. area of then Bedford Co. Michael, Jr., however, took out a warrant for a patent to land on April l, 1773. Quoting from Hostetler’s article about the early Debolts, “1st April, 1773, The Hon. Richard Penn, Esquire, (who was the youngest son of William Penn), Lieutenant Governor of the late Province of Pennsylvania, by virtue of certain powers, granted to Michael Debolt to be surveyed, one hundred acres of land on Catt’s Run, on the east side of the Monongahela River subject to the purchase money, and so forth.” The map on p.28 shows the location. The land was mostly on the south side of Catt’s Run, however a small part lay across the creek. This land was considered part of German Twp. It was still German Twp. in the early 1800s. Today I believe all land south of Catt’s Run is in Nicholson Twp. It was formed from German Twp. some time after 1810. I did not check the date. The land was not surveyed until Jan. 20, 1785. Most of those lands warranted in the 1770s were not surveyed nor their patents granted until the period 1785 to 1787. In the case of the Debolts the reasons for this were mostly personal as we shall see. However, the main reason generally was that the Revolutionary War was being fought. It was not known who would govern the land. The earlier warrants and patents were granted by colonies of England. After 1783 they were being granted by states under the Articles of Confederation and later under the U.S. Constitution. The Catt’s Run property when surveyed in 1785 was for 153 acres and the land patent was granted to George Debolt on 0ct.25, 1787. This George Debolt was the son of Michael, Jr. By late 1784 or early 1785 Michael, Jr. was dead. He willed the Catt’s Run property to his son and it was George Debolt who had the land surveyed and acquired the patent calling the land “White Oak Flat”. Hostetler said it was called “St. Michaels” in the patent, apparently getting that in formation from Harrisburg archives. The Uniontown courthouse maps show it as “White Oak Flat”. Interestingly, on the same date of Oct. 25, 1787, this same George Debolt acquired patents to at least two other properties, one, also called “White Oak Flat”, in Greene Co. (then still Washington Co.) and one in Fayette Co. called “Much Water” on Jacob’s Creek not far from the Catt’s Run property. See p. 5 • See also maps on PP.28 and 29. The period c.1784, 1785 was a complex one for the Debolt family personally and a complex period for those trying to research it today. I’ve set aside a special section to explain as best I can what happened during that period involving the deaths of three, possibly as many as six, adult members of the Debolt family. See p. ll. The death of Michael, Jr. in late 1784 or early 1785 closes the chapter on the first generation of Debolts in Western Pennsylvania. His brothers who had come west with him were also gone, at least as far as records show. As mentioned earlier, they were last listed on a tax list of 1772 as being in Fayette Co. They are not mentioned on any later records for Fayette or Greene County. According to the 1790 Census, only two Debolts were heads of house-holds in Fayette and Greene Counties. They were George Debolt (incorrectly spelled Teaboe) in Greene Co. and George Debolt (spelled correctly) in Fayette Co. The George Debolt in Greene Co. was George, Jr., the son of George, Sr. who had come west with his brothers. The story of George, Jr. is covered later. From the census, based on family member’s ages, there were no adults living with George, Jr. except him and his wife. The same is true for the family of George Debolt in Fayette Co. Thus, it is fairly safe to say the three original brothers were all dead before 1790. We know Michael, Jr. was dead by 1785. Also, the 1790 Census lists only one other Debolt (spelled Debolts) for the entire state of Pennsylvania. It was for Hugh Debolts of Lancaster Co. It was a family of just two adults, no children of any age were listed."

The following additional item was included in the 'Additional Footnotes' of the previous reference:

"John R. DeBolt has also provided some interesting information which shows that George Debolt, Jr. and Nicholas Debolt of Greene Co. had two other brothers and one sister. They were Michael, Henry and Polly (Mary) Debolt. He has no additional information about Michael and Polly (Mary); however, he did provide the following material about Henry Debolt. 1. He was born in 1773 in Greene Co. ,Pa. 2. He married Mary Gerrard (1774 - 1850). 3. He died in 1806 in Trenton, Ohio. In addition, this information contends that the father of the four boys and one girl was a Nicolus Debolt whose father was George Debolt, thus adding an extra generation between George Debolt, Sr. and the five children. Although not impossible, I don’t believe it to be likely. Probably, if there was this Nicolus who is said to have died in Centerburg, Ohio, his name was Nicolus George or George Nicolus and his father was Hans Michael Diebolt, Sr. Even this scenario involves him leaving his Pennsylvania family sometime after 1773 and eventually going to Ohio. Since George Debolt, Sr. did disappear from Pennsylvania records after 1772 it is possible."

The following is from “Excerpts from the Memoires of William and Rebecca Johnson,” written by Lucetta Johnson, digitized in 2001 by Ron and James White, retrieved August 17, 2007 from http://www.brittanywhite.com/Debolts%20in%20America.txt.

"Cousin Mary Sterling has traced our family history to three Debolt brothers, one of whom was killed by the Indians. Tradition says that he was chased by the Indians down the creek at the mill where many years later my father and mother lived. One is said to have been drowned in a spring. There is another tradition that a Debolt man was saved three times by an Indian girl and that he saved her from a bear...

"Mother’s Great-grandfather Debolt was a Huguenot who came from France, if we accept the story told by the man who “laid out” Nicholas Debolt, Mother’s grandfather. She herself does not remember that her father ever gave her any information about his Grandfather and Grandmother Debolt or their family. Whether there were any children besides Nicholas, she does not know. However she does recall that her great-grandfather’s widow married a man by the name of Notts and that this couple had a son whom her father called Uncle Ben."