Put a summary of Dr. Kanstens early German Edelmann here but can link back to main tablesof 500 or 600 series. Let this page be a summary of the 400 yrs.

Summary of 480+ years of Edelmann Family History.

My earliest proven ancestor is Catherine Eddleman who received a land grant about 10 miles east of Lexington KY for raising a crop of crop on it in 1778. I have a copy of the deed in which she sold that land to others in 1811. She and her two sons, John and Daniel, and her second husband, John Burger, and his son, John Burger, Jr., then moved to 4 farms in southern Indiana.

During 1955, I executed a carefully thought out plan to search in Germany for my ancestors. That plan was a total failure. I came home with some heart-warming stories and many German friends but no ancestors. In those days I did not know that various Pennsylvania German groups had published books of ship lists and other aids. My main obstacle was a family tradition that "Three Brothers came from the Old Country". When I did discover the books of ship lists, I tended to look only for sets of Edelmann brothers from Germany.

For 50 years, I worked on my lineage mainly by trying to push back into history from John Eddleman's grist mill of 1820 in southern Indiana. In 50 years, I pushed the family history back 50 years to Catherine's Kentucky Farm. While I had some notes of Edelmann in the eastern states, I did not have a documented trail from Catharine of KY1778 to Europe. During May 1997, I decided to publish on the web all trails through PA and NC and Europe that I had found and hope that other branches of the family might see my data and be able to add to it. That has been modestly sucessful and I revised this chapter during March 1998 to bring it up to date.

One purpose of this chapter is to help others set off in the correct direction to find their ancestors. The second purpose of this chapter is to make my Edelmann data readily available to others who have Edelmann/Eddleman in their ancestory.

It appears Eddleman lived in Odenwald (Hesse), south of Munich, Austria, and some say Switzerland. I have been able to talk to a few German Edelmann and they seem to agree that the name Edelman has appeared independently in the above places.

Suggestions, corrections, and comments are appreciated: Contact Harold Eddleman indbio@disknet.com

The info below is to be used in writing the pages of Chapter 800

Now, let us turn back to the stories of the Catherine Eddleman Tribe. I plan to install one page for each of these Eddleman pioneers. Each page will have a descendents chart and a trial biography bringing to together all the established facts and family traditions pertaining to that person. It will include information about Indians, politics, geography, crops, trades, and other available information to give an idea of the life of each person. I hope these stories will help each of us appreciate the struggles of these Eddleman pioneers and help many Eddleman find their roots. You will be able to view their log cabin at the edge of a clearing in a hardwood forest as they slept hoping that disease, famine, or enemy attack would not come that night. Losing half their childern or their parents to attack or illness was typical. Fear of death and disease was paramount among their daily concerns. The miracle of sand minus its oxygen, enables you to learn something of their day to day life by a click of your mouse.

Subject: Swamp Fox Date: 29 Dec 97 20:04:50 -0500 From: SThorn1309@aol.com To: Indbio

I am working on a geneology of the Marion Family. My wife's side of the family is Marion. They are direct decendants of Francis Marion (Swamp Fox). In searching the internet, I came upon your web site.

Per your commentary, you surmised Francis Marion was possilby one of three Eddleman brothers. Have you been able to confirm this?

If you have any info you are willing to share, steer me in the right direction, it would be very much appreciated. In addition, any info my research turns up (family archives), I would be willing to share with you.

Sincerely,

Steven R. Thornton

Original MS-Word document: MARION.DOC USAMHI Biogs

RefBranch

dv Aug 93, kmg Apr 95

FRANCIS MARION, 1732-95

A Working Bibliography of MHI Sources

Bass, Robert D. Swamp Fox: The Life and Campaigns of General Francis Marion. NY: Holt, 1959. 275 p. E207M3B3.

Hartley, Cecil B. Heroes and Patriots of the South: Comprising the Lives of General Francis Marion.... Phila: Evans, 1860. 320 p. E206H28.

. The Life of Gen Francis Marion: Also, Lives of.... Phila: Potter, 1867. 320 p. E206H285.

James, William. A Sketch of the Life of Brig Gen Francis Marion and a History of His Brigade. Marietta, GA: Continental, 1948. 182 p. E263S7J25.

Johnston, Charles H.L. Famous Cavalry Leaders, a Book For Boys; Through the Ages With the Heroes of Sabre, Spur, and Saddle; With Faithful Accounts of Their Forced Marches, Dashing Raids, and Glorious Charges. Boston: Page, 1908. 393 p. U51J6.

Ranklin, Hugh F. Francis Marion: The Swamp Fox. NY: Crowell, 1973. 346 p. E207M3R36.

Simms, William G. The Life of Francis Marion. NY: Derby, 1854. 347 p. E207M3S52.

Vol. VII, No. 4 -- July 1976

Wetlands and the American Revolution

America's vanishing wetlands are a priceless resource. Today, wetlands provide two-thirds of our fish and shellfish, protect the land from floods and provide habitat for wildlife. Two hundred years ago, wetlands helped Americans win the War of Independence by providing "habitat" for General Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox."

>From the summer of 1780, after the surrender of Charles Town (now Charleston, South Carolina) through mid-autumn 1781, General Francis Marion and his small band of irregulars stood nearly alone between the British and failure of the American Revolution. Two-thirds of all th battles of the Revolution took place in the South. Of these, two-thirds occurred in the Carolinas.

Marion's Brigade lived primarily in the cord grass marshes, maritime forests and bottomland cypress swamps of the Carolinas' wetlands. They camped on the higher ground of barrier islands and hummocks, protected from the enemy by the labyrinth of tidal creeks, winding through head-high stands of marsh grass. One can imagine the soldiers hacking through thickets of tough scrub palmetto, yellow jasmine and sweet bay with fixed bayonets and an occasional seaman's cutlass. Thus they went out to meet the British, protected by darkness, lit only by the haunting Carolina moon.

Safely in camp under live oaks, the men must have feasted on the harvest of the wetlands. Fish and shellfish were abundant in the marshes. Racoon, rabbit and bear were plentiful in the forest, as were quail, wild turkey, passenger pigeon and many species of ducks and geese. Marion's men hunted with bow and arrow, to conserve gunpowder and to avoid alerting the British.

It was a dangerous and exhausting life, but often nature helped. After a heavy rain, moss-draped cypress trees would drip for hours, prolonging the respite from the summer heat. Watching herons and egrets fishing at low tide provided recreation and the wildflower carpets covering the lowlands must have been as beautiful as any picture.

As soldiers, the men of Marion's Brigade blended with their surroundings. They paddled silent log pirogues through seemingly endless creeks and were able to move swiftly on horseback, their tracks closing behind them in the river mud and on the tideflats. The hoot of an owl was answered by a panther's scream or the chatter of squirrels as the men communicated with signals devised by the Swamp Fox. The British regulars were no match for Marion's men. Marion's Brigade never suffered a major defeat.

At the close of the War of Independence, Francis Marion emerged from the swamps and built himself a house overlooking the marshes of the Santee. His legend is nearly impossible to separate from fact, but Marion's appreciation, respect and knowledge of the wetland wilderness played an important role in the triumph of the Americans.

The green wooded wetlands of South Carolina still remain, at least in some places, just as they were two hundred years ago. Between the Cooper and Santee Rivers a tract has been set aside as the Francis Marion National Forest, in memory of the campaign of the Swamp Fox. Ironically, the site of Marion's homestead was inundated in the 1950's by water backed up behind a hydroelectric dam. The lake that bears his name now covers forever the priceless wetland heritage of the man and the legend called the Swamp Fox.

By Edward Thompson, Jr., an attorney in EDF's Washington, D.C. office.