Jacob Persinger
Jacob Persinger Jr
American
The Persinger family is among the oldest in the Valley. Jacob Persinger, Sr, (1716-1789) came to Pennsylvania from Switzerland in 1735. He arrived in western Virginia with his wife and family about 1750. During that decade, the dangers to settlers in the Valley were great, due primarily to the outbreak of the French and Indian War. By 1756 the General Assembly had ordered the establishment of a chain of forts through the Valley frontier, starting at a point seven miles below Warm Sprinqs in Bath County on Jackson's River. It is thought that Persinger settled near the head of Roaring Run where he built a grist mill later known as Rook's Mill. He served with Dickinson's Rangers in 1757, the year of the reputed kidnapping of his wife and son by Indians. The tale of Persinger's son, Jacob Jr, has become a part of the folklore of the Valley. While many stories both real and fictitious are told of the courage and resourcefulness of the settlers against the Indians, Persinger's story seems unique. Not only does the tale deal with the boy's captivity but also with his subsequent search for his identity after his return to civilization.
According to the Jacob Persinger legend, during Jacob Sr's absence in 1757, an Indian war party came to Roaring Run and took Rebecca Persinger and her son prisoners. One version of the event states: "A group of pursuers followed a trail left by Rebecca by tearing off bits of clothing and leaving them hanging on bushes along the way ... the trail was lost at Paint Bank and Rebecca was never heard from again.... In 1763 as a result of the Treaty of Paris, Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnees was required to give up his prisoners in an exchange that took place near Iron Gate, Va. Jacob Persinger Sr. claimed the 10 year old boy and gave him the name Jacob, Jr. The young boy did not like the ways of the white man and ran away to return to the Indians several times, only to be returned upon orders of the chief. Jacob Jr. doubted that he was the son of Jacob Sr." [Howard Humphries, The Persingers of Alleghany County, Va 1750-1965. Virqinia, Historic Landmarks Commission files, unpublished manuscript.]
As in all the different versions of the story, Persinger's life with the Shawnee became embellished through its telling from generation to generation. All stories agree that he wanted to remain with his captors and preferred Indian ways throughout his life. In this vein the tale continues, "In 1778 he married Mary Kimberlin. She refused to live in his teepee so he built her what was reported to have been one of the finest farm houses in the county.
Persinger served in the Revolution and is listed as a corporal in the Virginia Militia. According to tradition, Persinger was a farmer but preferred hunting and fishing to the agrarian life. He died in 1841, leaving his son John, "the whole of my estate both real and personal except as hereinafter named." John died tragically in 1842, killed by a slave, Blue, who became the first person to be executed legally in Alleghany County. Lee Persinger, Jacob's great nephew, became the sole owner of the 283-acre property in 1858. - NRHP, 6 March 1982