Magdalena Schneider ^{1 2}

   Another name for Magdalena was Maria Magdalena Schneider.

   FamilySearch ID: MKYV-4GF.

  General Notes:

She survived the Indian massacre that took the life of her parents. ³

  Noted events in her life were:

1. Cause of Death: In Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania is reproduced an account of an Indian massacre, 8 Oct 1763, North Whitehall Twp., Lehigh, PA. ⁴
Through the kindness of Miss Minnie F. Mickley, of Mickleys, PA, I have furnished with a sketch, written by her father, Jos. J. Mickley, Esq., in 1875, entitled a "Brief Account of Murders by the Indians, and the cause thereof, in Northampton County, Penna., October 8th, 1763," from which I have taken the liberty of making many extracts, because of the complete manner in which his subject is treated...
Bethlehem, Oct. 9, 1763
Sir: This morning at about break of day, a number of Indians attacked the inhabitants of Allen's Town (Allen Township); have killed several, and wounded many more. Your Captain, who was here yesterday, lays at the house of John Stenton, at Allen's Town, wounded. Several of the soldiers have been killed. I send to Simon Heller, and request him to send a safe hand with it, that you may receive it as quick as possible. Now is the time for you and the men to exert yourselves in defense of the frontier, which I doubt not you will do. I expect to hear from you when you have any news of importance. Send one of your worst men; as it will be dangerous in the day time, send him in the night. The enclosed letter to Mr. Grube (Rev. B. D. Grube, a Moravian Missionary at Wechquetank) I desire you send as soon as possible.
I am &c., TIMOTHY HORSFIELD.
To Lieutenant Hunsicker, Lower Smithfield.
This, however, was not the only mischief done by the Indians. They had come to avenge themselves on those who had ill-treated them, but, unfortunately, their savage nature once aroused, and excited by the first taste of blood, they continued their work of death throughout the whole neighborhood, sparing neither friend nor foe, slaying those who had abused them as well as those who had shown them many continued acts of kindness, until obliged to retreat. The missionary Heckewelder in his Account of the Indian Nations, p. 334, endeavors to palliate their crime by saying that the murder of the innocent people was owing to a mistake on the part of the savages. He remarks that "The Indians, after leaving this house (Stenton's) murdered by accident an innocent family, having mistaken the house they meant to attack; after which they returned to their homes." It was generally believed that they mistook this house for that of Paulus Balliet, which they intended to attack. Mr. Bailliet lived at the place now Ballietsville, and kept a store and tavern, similar to that of John Stenton.
Whatever may have been the explanation, the terrible fact still remains. The following account is given in the Pennsylvania Gazette, being an extract from a letter from Bethlehem, dated October 9:
"Early this morning came Nicholas Marks, of Whitehall Township, and brought the following account, viz:
That yesterday, just after dinner, as he opened his door, he saw an Indian standing about two poles from the house, who endeavored to shoot at him; but, Marks shutting the door immediately, the fellow slipped into a cellar, close to the house. After this said Marks went out of the house, with his wife and an apprentice boy. [This apprentice boy was the late George Graff, of Allentown, then fifteen years of age. He ran to Philip Jacob Schreiber with the news of these murders. He was Captain of a company in the Revolutionary War. In 1786 he resigned as Collector of the Excise, and was Sheriff of Northampton County in the years 1787-88-89. For three years he was a member of the Legislature, then holding its sessions in Philadelphia, from Dec. 3, 1793, to Dec., 1796. He lived many years in Allentown, where he died in 1835, in the 88th year of his age,] in order to make their escape, and saw another Indian standing behind a tree, who tried also to shoot at them, but his gun missed fire. They then saw the third Indian running through the orchard; upon which they made the best of their way, about two miles off, to Adam Deshler's place, where twenty men in arms were assembled, who went first to the house of John Jacob Mickley, where they found a boy and girl lying dead, and the girl scalped. From thence they went to Hans Schneider's and said Mark's plantations, and found both houses on fire, and a horse tied to the bushes. They also found said Schneider, his wife, and three children, dead in the field, the man and woman scalped; and, on going farther, they found two others wounded, one of whom was scalped. After this they returned with two wounded girls to Adam Deshler's and saw a woman, Jacob Alleman's wife, with a child, lying dead in the road and scalped. The number of Indians they think was about fifteen, or twenty.
I cannot describe the deplorable condition this poor country is in: most of the inhabitants of Allen's Town and other places are fled from their habitations. Many are in Bethlehem, and other places of the Brethren, and others farther down the Country. I cannot ascertain the number killed, but think it exceeds twenty. The people of Nazareth, and other places belonging to the Brethren have put themselves in the best posture of defense they can; they keep a strong watch every night, and hope, by the blessing of God, if they are attacked, to make a good stand."
"In a letter from the same county, of the 10th instant, the number killed is said to be twenty-three, besides a great many dangerously wounded; that the inhabitants are in the utmost distress and confusion, flying from their places, some of them with hardly sufficient to cover themselves, and that it was to be feared there were many house, &c., burned, and lives lost that were not then known. And by a gentleman from the same quarter we are informed that it was reported, when he came away, that Yost's mill, about eleven miles from Bethlehem, was destroyed, and all the people that belonged to it, excepting a young man, cut off."

2. Book: History of Lehigh County, 10 Oct 1763. ⁵
A letter dated October 10, 1763 states, "The dead were buried on the Schneider Farm. The site of the graves is near a tree in the field west of the garden at James Frantz home. One of the houses stood where is now the garden."
Dorothy Schneider was scalped and was treated as was her sister, Magdalena who was the wife of Nicholas Allemong. Dorothy lived to age 45 years and had periods of mental derangement until her death. Magdalena fully recovered.

3. Book: History of Lehigh County, 1765. ^{3 6}
Petition to the Assembly dated 15 May 1765. Petition from Nicholas Marks, next friend and brother-in-law to Magdalena and Dorothy Schneider, daughters of John Schneider, of Whitehall township in the county of Northampton, deceased, both being minors, were presented to the House. The petition states that on the 8 Oct. 1763, the said John Schneider, his wife, and three children, were most cruelly murdered by the Indians, at their dwelling house in Whitehall twp., one of the children was taken captive; the two girls named above were wounded, one scalped and left for dead. One of the girls, Magdalena, through the skill of the surgeons who attended her, has happily recovered; but the other, Dorothy, is still in a languishing condition. Medical expenses were attached to the petition, which the estate of their deceased father is insufficient to pay. The petition requested financial assistance. On 18 May, funds for the medical expenses were granted.

Magdalena married Nicholas Allemong.