Let’s spend a little time with Philip Chelf of the Robinson River community. His history, prior to the Robinson River Valley, is extremely murky, to say the least. There are some earlier records that suggest the name, but they may not pertain to the man. Let me give them in chronological order, without any claim that they apply to our Philip.
Philip Jacob Schel was on the passenger list of the ship Samuel, 27 Aug 1739, when it docked at Philadelphia. Some other records of this time, that seem to pertain to this person, give the name as Schnell. Hank Z. Jones, for another person by the name of Schell, reports that it also occurs in the German records as Schelt or Scheldt. It is not hard to believe that the name in these various versions might have evolved into Chelf. The family lore that there were two brothers, Philip and Jacob, might be partially vindicated by one man with both of these names. Also, other current members of the family have reported the lore that an "S" was dropped from the name. The 1739 immigrant reported that he was 23 years old, so he was born about 1716. Later, at the German Lutheran Church outside Madison, the name was spelled on some occasions as Jelf, which I believe was used for some time by later generations of one branch. Remember that when the Germans wrote a "J" it was to be pronounced as a "Y". For example, Jäger became Yager . So the "J" of Jelf is not hard, but soft.
[If this man married shortly after 1739, he could have a marriageable son by the early 1760's, but the chances that a son of the immigrant married Barbara Yager Clore in the 1760's is unlikely; however, the immigrant would seem to be too old.]
Isaac Hite had a land grant for 491 acres, surveyed 30 May 1762. This land was on branches of the North River of Shenandoah, adjacent to Jacob Gibson, his own land, and Thomas Perry. The chain carriers for this survey were Wm. Lygaser and Philip Chilp. A reference for this is Peggy Shomo Joyner, " Abstracts of Virginia’s Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, Frederick County, 1747-1780" , v. II, p.74". [This information was supplied by Wanda Cunningham.] Was this a case that Philip Chilp was a relative, or was he a hired hand? Our 1739 immigrant would have been 46 years old in 1762, a little old for a chain carrier but not an impossibility.
Philip Chelf sold land in Culpeper Co., Virginia in 1762. This deed of a lease and release was dated 18 Oct 1762, and Philip Chelf/Chelph, of Frederick County, sold 100 acres to Russell Hill of Culpeper Co. The property was described as follows:
"Beginning at three pines corner to John Roane and James Gillison and runneth thence south twenty-four Degrees west one hundred and eighty poles to three pines. South thirty degrees west forty-five poles to the three pines in John Thomas’ line. Thence with the said Thomas’ line to the said Thomas’ corner in James Gillison’s line. Thence with the said Gillison’s line to the beginning."
[I believe this Thomas land was a part of the John Paul Vogt patent, which John Thomas bought from him (John Paul Vogt). The Roane land was probably the Bloodworth land sold to Capt. Roane.]
How did Philip Chelf acquire the right to sell this land?
(18 Jan 01)
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