Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Collection is open to research.

Use Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Preferred Citation

Etter Family Fraktur, Mss. Collection 1970.1, Kegley Library, Wytheville Community College, Wytheville, VA

Acquisition Information

Donated by the estate of F. B. Kegley in 1970.

Biographical Information

The paternal grandfather of Margaretha Etter, Gerhard Etter, journeyed from Oberried, Switzerland to Pennsylvania in 1737, accompanied by his mother and siblings. He married Catherine Banga, also of Swiss lineage and an emigrant, and settled near Lebanon Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. There he built a small iron forge along Quittapahilla stream in 1746. After his death in 1783, his son Samuel continued working at the forge.

Peter Etter, son of Gerhard and Catherine Etter, was born on 16 February 1745 in Lancaster County. He married Elisabeth Daut (spelled Dautissen on the fraktur) on 31 December 1771 at the Hill Evangelical Lutheran Church in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. The young couple traveled through the Shenandoah Valley and settled at Ratliff's Marsh near present day Rural Retreat in Wythe County, Virginia. Peter served in the Montgomery County militia between 1777 and 1782 during the Revolutionary War. He died from wounds received in an assault or quarrel (depending upon the narrative) in 1811. Elisabeth Etter also died around 1811.

Peter an Elisabeth Etter had three sons and five daughters. LIttle is known about Margaretha Etter other than the information provided by the fraktur giving her birth date of 18 July 1780.

Scope and Content

The Papers consist of a fraktur (birth announcement) recording the birth of Margaretha Etter on 18 July 1870; she was the daughter of Peter Etter and Elisabeth Daut Etter. Also included is a letter from Ellen Shaffer of the Free Library of Philadelphia providing a translation.