Researching your family tree is like (if I may quote Forrest Gump) a box of chocolates; you never know what you're going to get. That was certainly true in the case of my 5th great grandfather, Peter Balthasar Suman.
I discovered the Suman name in my family tree when I located the death certificate of my great great grandmother, Clarinda Swadner Routsong. Clarinda was the wife of Henry Routsong, who is pictured in my first post. According to the certificate, Clarinda's mother was Eleanor Suman, who was born in Maryland. I was excited to have a new name to research and it didn't take me long to find a Suman cousin named Ed who lived on the West coast and had done exhaustive research on the Suman family tree. He told me that Eleanor was the daughter of Jacob and Mary Templin Suman, who had migrated to Montgomery County, Ohio from Frederick County, Maryland around 1830. Many Frederick County families followed this same pathway to Ohio during the mid to late 1800's. He also informed me that Jacob's father, Peter, had been executed for treason on 17 August, 1781. Oh my gosh! I thought I had found the skeleton in the family closet. This required much further research. Peter was either a traitor or a martyr, depending upon which account of the story you chose to read. Most accounts seem to back up the martyr side of the story, however, and that's the side I choose to believe.
Peter Suman was born in Schriesheim, Germany on 17 May, 1730. At 19 years of age, he left Germany on the ship, "Dragon" with many other members of the Brethren society and followed Alexander Mack to Philadelphia. He arrived in Pennsylvania on 26 September, 1749. He settled in Northeast Lancaster County, PA because the Penn Company promised each settler 5 acres of free land if they cleared the land. At this time, he also married Eleanor Miller and together they cleared 10 acres of land. But, after all of this work, the Penn Company decided they would have to pay for the land anyway. This they either could not or would not do, so they had to leave their Pennsylvania home. They headed down the Monocacy Trail and settled in Frederick County, Maryland, in Burkittsville. Here they joined the congregation of the church now known as the Pleasant View Church of the Brethren.
When the Revolutionary War began, Peter, being a Brethren, did not believe in violence. This did not make him popular among many of the citizens of the Burkittsville area. According to the book, Brethren Society by Carl F. Bowman:
"When war broke out, Maryland was no longer hospitable. Those who refused to enroll in the militia faced heavy fines, public embarrassment, and acts of vandalism"
"When war broke out, Maryland was no longer hospitable. Those who refused to enroll in the militia faced heavy fines, public embarrassment, and acts of vandalism"
Some stories will state that Peter, along with 6 others, actually did conspire to help English and Hessian prisoners escape the prison barracks and return to England. Most accounts, especially those regarding the history of the Brethren church, will tell you that Peter was a victim of prejudice and jealousy and that he was set up to be convicted of the crime in order that others could take over his land.
However, there is no doubt as to Peter's fate, and that of those who were convicted along with him on 25 July, 1781.
The Warrant of Execution read as follows: The sentence of the judge is as follows...It has been suggested to the court that not withstanding your Guilt has been ascertained by an Impartial jury, you consider the proceedings against you as nothing more than a mockery, and have adopted the Vain Idea, propegated by the Enemies of Your County that she dare not punish her unnatural subjects for engaging in the service of Great Britain. From the strange insensibility you have heretofore discovered, I have been forced to conclude that you are laboring under a Delusion which may prove fatal to your prospects of Future Happiness in the Hereafter.
The Crime of which you have been Convicted, upon the clearest and fullest evidence, is of such a Nature that you cannot and must not look for Pardon. Had it pleased Heaven to permit the Full Execution of your unnatural Designs, the Miseries to be experienced by your devoted country would have been dreadful even in the contemplation...
The Ends of Public Justice, the Dictates of policy, the feelings of Humanity, all require that you should serve as an awful Example to your Fellow-Subjects; and the Dignity of the State, with everything that can interest the Heart of Man, calls to the Heavens for your just punishment...
If the Consideration of approaching Fate can inspire proper Sentiments, you will pour forth your Thanks to that watchful rovidence, which has arrested you at an early stage of Guilt; and you will employ the short time you have to live in endeavoring by sincere Penitence to obtain Pardon from that Almighty Being who is to also sit in Judgement upon you, upon me, upon this faithful jury, and upon all mankind. I must now perform the painful Task of announcing the terrible Punishment ordained for High Treason....
You, (Peter Suman, Casper Fritchie, Henry Schell, Adam Graves, Yost Plecker, John George Graves, Nicholas Andrews) and each and every one of you, attend to your Sentence...
You shall be carried from this place to the Goal of Frederick County, and hence to the gallows of Fredericktown and be hanged thereon.
You shall be cut down to the Earth alive, and your Entrails shall be taken out and burnt while you are yet alive, your Head shall be cut off; your Body shall be divided into four Parts, and your Head and Quarters shall be placed where His Excellency - the governor - shall appoint for public exhibition. So God have Mercy upon your Poor Souls.
And on 17 August, 1781, Peter Suman, Casper Fritchie, and Yost Plecker were executed. Government accounts state that the three were only hanged, but the stories handed down through Brethren society say that they were quartered and their remains were hung on posts or fed to the dogs. The legend then tells of Eleanor and friends taking parts of the Peter's body and burying them at the Ausherman school. There are stories of members of the Brethren congregation keeping watch over the graves by lamplight to keep them from being desecrated.
The execution was so gruesome that many people began to complain bitterly to the authorities about the brutality and the remaining 4 men were not executed. To add to Eleanor's grief, at the time of Peter's conviction, Eleanor's land was taken away. One can only imagine the hardship experienced by Peter's family. Thankfully, legal action in November of 1796, gave Peter's land back to his rightful heirs.
Eleanor died on 20 June, 1818 in Maryland.
It isn't surprising to me that his sons, Jacob and Peter, left Maryland behind and headed for a new frontier in Ohio. I imagine them dreaming of new beginnings and I admire their courage and bravery. When I visit Jacob and Mary's gravesites, I think of how they must have struggled to build their new home here and how I'm glad that even a little bit of that DNA runs through my veins.
