Jacob's Military Service

Very little is known about Jacob's and his brother's military service. Jacob’s name appears on a list of 27 men who served in the Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Militia, Seventh Class of “B” Battalion. On a list dated at Lancaster on “Ye March ye 25^th 1779,” Jacob was one of 11 members who were fined for being absent from duty. The record shows that Jacob paid a fine of 40 shillings for his indiscretion.

At a probable later date, Jacob appeared with nine other men in the Seventh Class of Captain John Lamb’s Company, Fourth Company, Third Battalion, Cumberland County Militia, under order from Council dated August 1, 1780. Entitled “A Return of the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Classes now called upon Duty in Captain John Lamb’s Company,” Jacob appears as Jacob Crislop. His residency at the time was in Allen Township. The following is Jacob’s name as it appears in the roster.

According to Military Records on file in the State Archives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, men frequently left their families and friends to do volunteer service for their country. It was also common for militiamen to leave their Command Unit from time to time to return home to plant or harvest the crops. Upon reporting back, they would be assigned to whatever unit needed replacements. As a result, many militia men served under different commands. It was also not unusual for men to leave their units without permission; hence, they were designated as deserters or “runoffs.” Militia records show that Jacob’s brother, Carl, and his half-brother, Georg Bock (George Buck), also paid fines for being absent from duty without permission.

Jacob's Marriage to Nancy Singer

While still under obligation to service in the Revolutionary War, Jacob married Anna “Nancy” Singer, daughter of Simon and Elizabeth Singer of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. Their marriage took place in Cumberland County in 1779. When they wed, Jacob and Nancy were ages 30 and 24, respectively. The couple resided in Cumberland County until around 1785, which was shortly after the Revolutionary War came to a close.

The American Revolutionary War, like other wars before and after, created certain restlessness among individuals whose lives had been disrupted. Many wished to begin anew in a new location. Jacob Christlieb was no exception. Like his father who yearned for a better life in the New World, Jacob looked to the frontier of northwestern Virginia, where he sought a better life for himself and his family. There, land was plentiful and could be had for little or no money.

When Jacob departed Cumberland County for the frontier, he would have been about 35 years of age with four very small children; Mary had been born in 1780, Elizabeth in 1781, George in 1782, and Christianah in 1785.

It was about that same time that Jacob’s brother, Carl, removed to Mifflin Township where he settled near his half-brother, Georg Bock, and his widowed father, Friedrich Carl Christlieb.

Jacob's Route to Virginia

By the early 1740s, a road known as the Lancaster Pike, which began in Philadelphia, connected the Pennsylvania communities of Lancaster, York and Gettysburg. Later termed “The Great Wagon Road,” it went to present-day Mechanicsburg, about eight miles west of Harrisburg. From there the road went southward into Virginia. It is logical that Jacob and family began their journey near this place.

“Travelers headed west from Philadelphia to Lancaster, where they bought a wagon for the difficult journey ahead—a “Conestoga wagon,” named for the Conestoga River that runs through Lancaster. Building wagons was so important to Lancaster’s economy that, by 1770, Lancaster included among its craftsmen five wheelwrights, thirteen blacksmiths, seven turners, and twenty woodworkers. From there the road headed northwest to Harris Ferry—present-day Harrisburg—where travelers crossed the Susquehanna River. West of the Susquehanna, the road passed through York, then turned southwest through Maryland and into Virginia.”

“The Great Wagon Road in Pennsylvania followed an old Indian trail. At first the Great Wagon Road was narrow, muddy, and uneven. It improved as more settlers used it, but the journey was still long, slow, dusty, and bumpy. Wagons got stuck in the mud and were damaged from hitting large rocks and logs in the road. Travelers had to look for water and most of their food along the way, but they kept going until they found a place to settle.” Source Unknown.

Although Jacob and Nancy’s journey ended in or near Berkeley County, Virginia, the Great Wagon road continued onward through the Shenandoah Valley. Near Roanoke, it passed through the Roanoke River Gap to the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and then south to present-day Winston-Salem and beyond. The Great Wagon Road was over 700 miles in length.

Jacob did not immediately settle in Harrison County, Virginia, as was thought and erroneously reported by historian, B. F. Christlieb. The first evidence of his residency in Virginia was found in the 1787 tax roll for Berkeley County. Listed as Jacob Crisslip, his assessment was for one horse and one cow; the first no doubt a pack animal and the latter, a family cow to provide for his four children, all of whom were under seven years of age. Personal Property Tax Lists of Berkeley County, (West) Virginia.

Four years after Jacob was assessed for taxes in Berkeley County, he appeared on tax rolls in Hampshire County, Virginia. There, he was assessed for personal property on October 1791 and May 1792. Hampshire County (West) Virginia Personal Property Tax Lists, 1782-1800.

It should be mentioned that Berkeley County lies in the northeastern most corner of (West) Virginia, in close proximity to the borders of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Hampshire County lies somewhat south and west of Berkeley. There is an indication that the family may have also resided for a time in Maryland, as the 1850 census for Barbour County, West Virginia, lists Jacob, II, as being born in that state.

Of Jacob’s early settlement in Virginia, Benjamin Franklin Christlieb wrote:

“After his marriage, Mr. Christlieb resided for some time in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania and afterwards in the present location of Philippi, Virginia. That country was then a vast wilderness through which hostile Indians still roamed, and he and his family were frequently driven from their home by the savages, and compelled to seek refuge in a fort some fifteen miles distant. Their nearest neighbor was seven miles distant.” The Christlieb Family, p. 37.

Being unaware that Jacob and family had first resided in Berkeley and Hampshire counties, B.F. Christlieb assumed that the above pertained to Jacob’s life in Harrison County. The description of life in the wilderness more aptly applied to life in Berkeley and Hampshire counties than Harrison. It is understandable that some details were forgotten or omitted from the Christlieb family’s oral tradition, as the information went unrecorded for some 112 years after Jacob’s departure from Pennsylvania.

Although it is a matter of record that Jacob paid taxes in Hampshire County in May 1792, he reportedly arrived in Harrison County that same year. There should be no conflict with this information – he left Hampshire County after the taxes were paid, arriving in Harrison County in time to get a crop in. Having paid taxes in Hampshire County so close to departing is a strong indication that Jacob had not planned to move as soon as he did.

The tax rolls for Berkeley and Hampshire contain all the known information regarding Jacob Christlieb’s ten-year residence in those counties. During the latter years, it would not be unreasonable to assume that he may have visited Harrison County before he took his family there in 1792. Being a family man, he would have had a specific destination in mind before departing for Harrison.