John Casper Walthour

  General Notes:

John Casper Walthour arrived in America in 1736 from Holland. Their ship was captured by the Spaniards and eventually they settled in Savannah, Georgia. Sometime later, the family went North and relocated to Western Pennsylvania. In A HISTORY OF WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA DURING THE REVOLUTION, published 1900, a story relates to a fort called Walthour's Fort. It was located eight miles west of Greensburg, four miles south of Harrison City, and one and a half miles form Irwin. This places the Fort at about Adamsburg and built on the farm of Christopher Waldhower (Walthour), son of John Casper Walthour. Many German families such as the Byerlys, Kunkles, Wentlings, and Gongawares lived in the settlement along with Christopher Walthour and his brother, George. The stockade enclosed the Walthour home and inside this enclosure the people of the community would gather together.
About 1781, a petition was sent to General William Irvine, Commandant of Fort Pitt, from the citizens of Westmoreland County, expressing their concerns of the dangers of Indians in the area. The signatures were mostly German and one of those signatures was that of John Kammerer.


In 1782, the worst fear materialized when Indians (Delawares) descended upon the area, killed two men, and captured a girl as they worked in the field. One man was identified as Mr. Walthour's son-in-law, Willard. His daughter was carried up the Allegheny River where her body was found, hit on the head and scalped. During this attack, one of the Indians was wounded in the leg. His companions had deserted him and left him in the wilderness for thirty days, eating berries and roots, to survive. He eventually wondered back into the village in an emaciated state. When the townspeople realized this was the Indian who had murdered the three people, they put him in a log blockhouse. It was decided he be burned on the very spot where Willard had died. However, one night as the guards slept, the Indian escaped and was never heard from again.
Years later, when peace had been restored, an inquiry was made about the Indian called "Davey." He never returned home. It was believed he either died while trying to swim the river, or he had starved in the wilderness.

John married Agnes.