What's New
Site Map

Search
Engines

Main Page
Surnames
Research

Germany
Baden
Bavaria
Wuerttemberg

Royalty

Poets
Philosophers ...
Movers+Shakers
Entertainers

v. Stauffenberg
v. Wuerttemberg
v. Castell
v. Helfenstein

Popes
Cardinals
Saints

Family Search
Archives, etc.
Diaries

Argentina
South America

Fine Art

Russian
Impressionism
 
 
 

215. EMILY NORRIS¹⁵ PEPPER (HENRY¹⁴, MARIA CATHARINE¹³ SECKEL, JOHANN DAVID¹², JURG DAVID¹¹, GEORG FRIEDRICH¹⁰, HANS GEORG⁹, WILHELM⁸, BERNHARD⁷, LIENHARD⁶, KLAUS⁵, KLAUS⁴, KONZ³, DIETRICH BUTTEL², DIETRICH¹) was born June 28, 1855 in Philadelphia, Philadelphia Cty., Pa., and died December 31, 1933. She married JACOB WALN VAUX February 01, 1877, son of RICHARD VAUX and MARY WALN.

       Children of EMILY PEPPER and JACOB VAUX are:
 

Notes for WILLIAM PLATT PEPPER:
William Platt Pepper, Esq., many years president of the Pennsylvania Museum and School of Industrial Art, one of the founders of the Art Club and one of the organizers of the Charity Ball.

       Children of WILLIAM PEPPER and ALICE LYMAN are:
 

Notes for DAVID PEPPER II:
Compiler of "Notes on the Ancestry of John Platt," privately printed.

       Children of DAVID PEPPER and SALLIE NEWBOLD are:
 

       Children of GEORGE NORRIS and AGNES PRICE are:
 

       Children of ISAAC NORRIS and CLARA LAMB are:
 

       Children of MARY NORRIS and TRAVIS COCKRAN are:
 

       Child of HENRY NORRIS and ELIZABETH EBBS is:
 

       Children of JOSEPH NORRIS and ISABEL FRY are:
 

       Child of WILLIAM NORRIS and LAURA CAMBLOS is:
 

       Children of GEORGE PEPPER and HITTY WHARTON are:
 

Notes for WILLIAM PEPPER II:
#3237
William Pepper, M.D., LL.D., one of Philadelphia's most distinguished
citizens of his own or any other generation.
 

       Children of WILLIAM PEPPER and FRANCES PERRY are:
 

       Children of MARIA PEPPER and JOHN GERHARD are:
 

       Children of EMILY PEPPER and ETHELBERT WATTS are:
 

       Children of KATHARINE PEPPER and JAMES LEONARD are:
 

       Children of FANNY PEPPER and SYDNEY WRIGHT are:
 

       Children of JULIA GARDETTE and JAMES MAURY are:
 

       Children of SUSAN PEPPER and JOHN GIBSON are:
 

       Children of EDWARD PEPPER and ANNAMARIE DESBOEUFS are:
 

Notes for RICHARD TWELLS SECKEL:
#2069
(1829-1919)
Colonel Richard T. Seckel was born in Philadelphia, Pa., the son of John David Seckel and Sarah A. Birshall on Mar 17, 1829. His siblings were Lawrence, Mary, Sarah A., John H., Sarah, Lauita A., and Sibellah S. His early education was entrusted to private tutors. His adventurous spirit led him to make a trip around the stormy Cape Horn which was sufficient experience on the water. He next turned his steps to the Golden West, where he was engaged in civil engineering with marked ability in the employ of the pioneer rail roads in that section for a number of years.

But a greater drama was being played in the South, and he cast his lot with the William Walker expedition in Nicaraugua. "With dauntless courage he faced the fatal drawing of beans and saw a comrade, just at his side, draw the fatal black bean." In fact the so called black bean episode occurred during the Mier Expedition into Mexico near Salado, Mexico on 11 February 1843 with Samuel H. Walker. Some 176 Texans escaping at Salado were recaptured within a week. A
decree that all who participated in the break were to be executed was modified to an order to kill every tenth man. Colonel Domingo Huerta to be in charge of the dicimation. The victims were chosen by lottery each man drawing a bean from an earthen jar containing 176 beans, seventeen black beans being the tokens signifying death. Commissioned officers were ordered to draw first; then the enlisted men were called as their names appeared on the muster rolls. William A.A. (Big-Foot) Wallace, standing close to the scene of the drawing, decided that the black beans were the larger and fingered the tokens successfully to
draw a white bean. Observers of the drawing later described the dignity, the firmness, the light temper, and general courage of the men who drew the beans of death. Some left messages for their families with their companions; a few had time to write letters home. The doomed men were unshackled from their companions, placed in a seperate court yard, and shot at dusk on March 25, 1843. The seventeen victims of the lottery were James Decatur Cocke, William Mosby Eastland, Patrick Mahan, James M. Ogden, Martin Carroll Wing, John L. Cash, Robert Holmes Dunham, Edward E. Este, Robert Harris, Thomas L. Jones,
Christopher Roberts, William N. Rowan, J. L. Sheperd, J.N.M. Thompson, James N. Torrey, James Turnbull, and Henry Walling. In 1848 their bodies were returned from Mexico to be buried at Monument Hill near LaGrange.

Coming back to the states, he again went into the West and in 1860 married at Bloomfield, Missouri, Miss Katherine Malinda Owen who proved a help-mate indeed. Together they raised a splendid family. As the clouds of War were gathering on the Southern horizon, he enlisted under the flag of the Confederacy on 10 May 1861 at Bloomfield, Mo. as a Lt. Col. of Engineers in Gen. M. Jeff Thompson's Brigade, Mo. State Guards (Army of the Trans-Mississippi). John Muse was the First Captain and Isaac Preston the First Colonel. After crossing the Mississippi enroute to Memphis, Tenn., Lt. Col. Seckel was Provost Marshal
for the Southeastern District of Missouri and he reported to Gen. Holmes at Little Rock, Ark. for duty in 1863. (R.T. Seckel was slightly wounded at the battle of Frederickstown, Mo. and taken prisoner at Bloomfield, Mo., on 1 March 1863.) he was sent to prison at Myrtle Street, St. Louis, which was called "Lynch's Nigger Pen". Seckel received complimentary notice from the Commanding General for gallantry on the field at Frederickstown, Mo., where 2500 Confederates kept
11,000 Federals at bay.

Continuing the account, Lt. Col. Richard T. Seckel had this to say: "I was also in the battles of Big River Bridge, Wilson's Creed, Pea Ridge, New Madrid, Island No. 10, Bloomfield, Helena, and Price's raid into Missouri. My comrade, Brazzo, of St. Louis, was killed at Bloomfield, while gallantly fighting against odds, while I was captured. He was buried on the field. We built the Cairo and Fulton Railroad as far as Charleston, Mo. and destroyed it during the war. We also built the Fort at New Madrid called Fort Thompson, as well as the fort at Island No. 10, on the
Mississippi River. Referring to the fight at Big River Bridge, or Blackwell's Station, which was an open bridge three or four hundred feet long, and command-
ed by a fort. We cut the wires before daylight, and planned to attack front and rear. I had the honor of leading the attack in front to draw the enemy's fire, so that our men might take them by surprise in the rear. This was successful, and while it lasted it was a red-hot engagement. After capturing the fort we burned the bridge and retired in good order.
 

At the battle of Frederickstown, Mo., in connection with the Marble City Guards of Cape Girardeau, Mo., commanded by Capt. Sam Ward, now of Shreveport, La., we charged the Federals and drove them back in confusion, and checking the Federals' advance, we were able to carry off considerable lead for the use of the Confederacy. After several months in the Myrtle Street prison (Lynch's Nigger Pen), I was taken out on exchange, but for some reason that order was count-
ermanded and I was sent to Fort Delaware. On the way to Fort Delaware off the coast of North Carolina, I was approached by one of the prisoners and told that there would be an effort to capture the ship. She was a large steamer named "Maple Leaf." I was asked if I wanted to take a hand, and on telling him I would be glad to do so he said "At three taps you take that musket from that man," pointing to a guard at the door of the second cabin. I had that musket at the first tap, and in thirty minutes the capture was complete. We ordered the Captain to
run close to the shore near Currytuck Sound, and we paroled the whole outfit after swearing them to keep on their voyage to Fort Delaware. However, they did not, but returned and reported our escape. While in the dismal swamps, after we had proven who we were, a young lady, Miss Adelaide Campbell, brought us a pound cake with a Confederate flag stuck in the center, and you bet we gave her three cheers three times over. She was a daughter of the sunny South, lovely pure and true. I hope she still lives, and I know if she does not that she is in Paradise. Admiral Sims' son was with us in the capture, and Capt. Daugherty of
St. Charles, Mo., and I were the first to reach Richmond and report to Gen. Winder, who was then in command. After remaining in Richmond for a few days, I received transportation and rejoined my command at Jackson Port, Ark.
Referring to Gen. Price's raid to St. Louis just prior to this, I saw the General at Camden, Ark., and he gave me dispatches for Gen. Marmaduke, and his last words were: "Tell them that my course will be onwards."

After our raid into Missouri and on our return for 300 miles you could see nothing but chimneys. My place at Bloomfield was fired and robbed by Yankees. They did not leave my wife even a change of clothing, but I made some of them pay dearly for it later on."
Copy of letter received from Commanding General:
Missouri State Guards,
Headquarters First Military District
Jan. 17, 1862
From: Commanding General
Missouri State Guards
Headquarters First Military District
Dated: Jan. 17, 1862
To: Lieut. Col. Richard T. Seckel
Engineer's Department
First Division, Missouri State Guards
Confederate Service
Sir, you will find accompanying this package a white
plume, one of te two which I promised to present to those on
my staff who should distinguish themselves for personal daring
and courage on the expeditin to the Iron Mountain Railroad.
This one is presented to you for the efficient and
courageous assistance you afforded me at the fight at
Blackwell's Station, on the Iron Mountain Railroad, and as a
compliment for the "sang-froid" you exhibited at the battle of
Frederickstown. I hope your courage and conduct will ever be
as unsullied as this plume, and that in your case the world
may consider the white plume a badge of honor, and not of
reproach.
With my kindest wishes for your future success and
happiness, I am yours respectfully,
M. JEFF THOMPSON,
Brigadier General Commanding.
 

After the war Richard came with his family to Paris, Texas. He raised a fine family in Lamar County, fathering Harry, Mary, Katherine L. and Sallie A. Seckel. Richard Twells Seckel (3/17/1829-11/1/1919) died and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Paris. It can be said "a rich life is not measured in things but in experiences". Surely Richard T. Seckel's life was one of many experiences.
|
 

       Children of RICHARD SECKEL and KATHERINE OWEN are: