From the Shenandoah Valley to Mecklenburg County
Jeremiah Clontz, the Revolutionary War Patriot, married a woman born and raised in the Commonwealth of Virginia. How did these two, one from the Piedmont of North Carolina and the other from the Shenandoah Valley, meet?
“Peaked Mountain” is known today as South Massanutten MountainHenry Long, Jr. and his wife Anna Catherine Pence (married April 20, 1761 by Rev. Alexander Miller in Augusta County, Virginia) left the beautiful Shenandoah Valley under the shadow of Peaked Mountain, the lower extreme peak in the Massanutten Mountains, to settle in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina on the Rocky River in 1766. With them they brought their daughter, Anna Catherine Long born April 7, 1762, and baptized on April 25, 1762 at Peaked Mountain Lutheran Church.
Henry Long (Lang) and Anna Catherine Pence (Bentz in German) were descendants of the original German settlers around Peaked Mountain in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Many of their descendants still live there.
Henry Long was too old to fight for the Colonies during the War for Independence. However, he furnished the Continental Army with: “(blocked out on the check) and thirty pounds of beef…”
He was paid by Congress on a February 25th (again, the year is blocked out). So, Henry is a Revolutionary War Patriot, classed as a Public Servant.
Henry Long and Catherine Pence’s children were:
- Anna Catherine, who married Jeremiah Clontz
- Jacob, who married Barbara Hagler
- Henry Long, who married Catherine Kiker
- John, who married Millie Hinson
- Margaret “Peggy,” who first married Mr. Sehorn and then a Mr. Long
- Mary, who had a son, Archibald Polk
- Magdeline “Molly,” who married Phillip Hagler
- Adam, who married Hannah Polk
After the war was over, Anna Catherine Long and Jeremiah Clontz, who fought in the Revolutionary War with his brother, George, met and married. Their families were neighbors in an area known as Dutch Buffalo along with:
- John Hagler
- Michael Christman
- Christian Gregory
- Adam and Andrew Cruse
- The Goodman, Barringer, and Brown families
Jeremiah Clontz was descended from Hieronymus Glantz, a Palatine immigrant. The family name has many different spellings: Glantz, Claunch, Cloynch, Clonts, and Clontz…some phonetically spelled. Hieronymus Glance debarked the ship THE ADVENTURE on September 23, 1732 as Jeremy Glance (aged 29) with:
- Marrea Medl Glance (30)
- Anna Margreate Glance (9)
- Hans Micalle Glance (4)
The available records show that they settled in Lunenburg County, Virginia while Hans Micale (John Michael) moved on to Mecklenburg County, North Carolina.
The children of Jeremiah and Catherine Long Clontz were:
- Henry, who married Margaret
- Jeremiah, who married Catherine
- Jacob, who married Elizabeth “Betsy” Shelby
- Sarah
- John Adam, who married Martha “Patsy” Blair
- Catherine, who married Charles T. Polk. (They moved to Harden County, Tennessee, where they both died.)
Jeremiah and Catherine are buried in Union Cemetery (formerly as Bethlehem Cemetery) in Union County, North Carolina. Their numerous descendants live all across our nation today.
References:
- Chalkley’s Chronicles of the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Augusta County, Va. 1745–1800
- The Pence Families of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, by Richard A. Pence quotes Valentine Pence’s letter dated 22 November 1805, Augusta County, VA
- Rev. Alexander Miller’s records of baptisms and marriages in the Shenandoah Valley of VA
- Peaked Mountain Church Baptismal record of Anna Catherine Long, April 25, 1762
- Catherine Pence’s will of June 1803 in Records of the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, by John Weyland
- Revolutionary War pension records
- Settlement of Henry Long’s Estate, dated 16 February 1805 Mecklenburg County, NC
- The Mecklenburg Signers and Their Neighbors, The Lost Tribes of North Carolina, Part III, by Worth S. Ray
- German Pioneers to Pennsylvania, Passenger Ship’s Lists: THE ADVENTURE arrived Philadelphia, PA., September 23, 1732
- Will of Catherine Long dated 29 March 1820
- Deed to Henry Long, Mecklenburg County, NC dated 12 December 1789
- Union Cemetery, Brief, Union County, NC tombstones of Jeremiah Clontz and Catherine Clontz
- DAR records for Jeremiah Clontz and Henry Long, Revolutionary War Patriots
- Records of Betty K. Price, Genealogist
- Copy of Original check—“State of North Carolina, Mecklenburg County for beef Henry Long furnished to the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War”— signed by David Wilson, C. C. furnished by Jean Guillan Atalino, Waxhaw, NC