There were several branches of the Iman/Eyman family
in early Virginia.
They had resided in Lancaster for decades and likely struggled to get land.
While Jacob Eiman out in Upper Paxtang got his name as first owner of
land on record, no deeds have been found as yet for Conestoga/Manor Eymans
who seem to have been renters until Christian Eymans and Susannah were
invited to purchase the lands of Christian Herr out of his estate after
1800.
Christian Eyman arrived on the South Branch in the hills above the Shenandoah
valley on the South Branch around 1786. He purchased up to 800 acres
and had sawmill, grist mill, and apparenlty a gunpowder mill.
Soon he was joined by a Peter Eyman, Jacob, and Abraham. These may all
be brothers out of the patriots who served in Upper Paxtang and who lived
at May Apple Bottom in Upper Paxtang. These Eymans had been exploring
lands out in Cumberland and mmigrated south following the Revolutionary
War.
Henry Eyman, together with his wife Mary Sager and their children left
Lampeter where the patriot had been a carpenter and blacksmith, and made
their way to Rockingham near Linville Creek and the North Fork of the
Shenandoah Valley. In this move, Henry was putting his family next to
the Abraham Brennemans and his sister Magdalena Eyman, who had married
Adam Shank. The Christian Eyman who died in Conestoga along Long Lane
in the 1830s ahd also bought prime land at Linville Creek that was purchased
from the estate of Thomas Bryan, whose clan was closely associated with
Daniel Boone. This land was sold near 1814 to Jacob Lincoln, grand uncle
of President Lincoln.
The extent of linkage between these two parts of the family is unknown
at this time. While these distances were not insurmountable for family
visits, there is no clear evidence of closeness in marriage patterns.
It is interesting that even after Henry Eyman of Rockingham migrated
to Ohio he owned saltpetre cave lands in German Valley of West Virginia,
thus putting him to some extent in a similar liine of business.
Some people believe that the Christian and Catherine of the South Branch
was the eldest son of our migrant Ulrich, who arrived in 1763. The author
of this website believes it more likely that Christian was the son of
Jacob Eiman <1725>, the nephew of Ulrich, who had arrived in 1749 on
the St. Andrews.
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