Lt. Col. Johan Peter Seiler, The Great Powwow Man

DAR# A099056

Johann Peter Seiler was born in Germany. He was educated at the University of Heideleberg. He arrived in Philadelphia, PA. and settled in Raubsville, PA. along the Delaware River. He was assigned the rank of Lt. Col. during the American Revolution by virtue of his medical expertise. Dr. Seiler was the most esteemed physician in the Forks of the Delaware region. His reputation as a physician was known throughout the colonies. His "curative skills" were respected from Massachusetts to the Carolinas. Dr. Johann Seiler was acclaimed by the Delaware (Leni-Lenape) Indian tribes as "The Great Pow-Wow." The word derives from the Narraganset word powwaw, meaning great spiritual leader. He was regarded by the indians as a doctor of such great skill that his powers to heal the sick and infirmed were attirbuted to his consultation with supernatural forces. It was said that he never asked for a fee from any Native American. Food and animal furs were given to him as payment in full for his services. He wisely sold these products at the Philadelphia marketplace for "handsome sums." Both his son and grandson became respected physicians in the Delaware River Valley region as well.

source: Find a Grave

Peter Seiler (son of Andreas Seiler and Maria Catharine) was born 26 Sep 1721 in Ittlingen, Upper Kraichgau, Germany, and died 08 Jan 1803 in Williams, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania.He married Anna Margaretha Maurer on 1744, daughter of Jacob Maurer and Margaret.

Hans (aka. Johann) Peter Seiler, along with his brother, Pleicard Dietrich Seiler, arrived in America at Philadelphia, PA, on 9 September 1738 on the ship "Two Sisters". The list of passengers prepared by the ship's captain, James Marshall,includes "Bliker Tidrich Zeyler - age 24" among the male passengers. (He was actually only 19 years of age, not 24.) In the listing of children (ie. half freights) is "Hans Peter Zeyler - age 15". (He was actually 17 years of age, not 15.) In the list of adult male passengers, who swore the required oath of abjuration is "Blenhart Dit. Saillor". Pleicard (aka. Blenhart) Seiler witnessed his name, as transcribed by the court clerk, with a large letter "X". His name mistakenly appears in the list of those, who swore the required oath of allegiance, as "Michael Frederick Zeyler". Hans Peter Seiler was not required to sign the oath since he was still a minor. (Strassburger & Hinke, "Pennsylvania German Pioneers", (Published 1934 by the Pennsylvania German Society), Vol. I, pgs. 209-212, Lists 54 A, B, and C)

Johann Peter Seiler may have first settled in Greenwich Twp., Warren Co., NJ. However, he was a resident of Williams Twp. in Northampton Co., PA, for several years prior to the Revolutionary War.

The "History of Raubsville" gives the following account of Dr. Peter Seiler. "Among the early settlers was Dr. Peter Sailer. He was exiled from his native land, Germany, for witchcraft and on coming to America went to a fellow countryman at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, but finally located at Raubsville. He gained a reputation for his miraculous cures from Massachusetts to Georgia. Dr. Sailer practiced medicine for over fifty years at Raubsville and administered to patients who sought his advide not only in his immediate vicinity but to those who came a great distance to receive relief. He died in 1805. His posterity gained an enviable reputation in the medical world and at the present time Dr. Wilhelm Sailer, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, still practices in Raubsville. His predecessors had not established fees for their services, but accepted whatever the patients chose to bestow on them."

Dr. Seiler was a Lieutenant Colonel in the First Battalion of Northampton County Militia, under the command of Colonel George Hubner. (Pennsylvania Archives, Fifth Series, Vol. VIII, pg. 80)

On 6 June 1772 and 5 December 1772, "Peter Seeler, son Daniel, daughter Elisabeth, and daughter Susanna", attended services at the Old Williams Township Church. (Source: Records of Old Williams Township Congregation Church, Marx Room, Easton Public Library, Easton, PA)

Dr. Peter Seiler died in Williams Twp. at the age of 82 after an illness of fourteen days. (Source: Records of German Evangelical Lutheran Church, Marx Room, Easton Public Library, Easton, PA)

Dr. Peter Seiler left a will, written 6 January 1803 and probated 20 January 1803 in Northampton Co., PA.. He bequeathed part of his estate to his wife, Anna Margaret, and set up a trust fund for his grandchild, Abraham Seiler, son of Daniel Seiler. He then directed that his remaining estate was to be divided into eight equal parts with one part bequeathed to each of the following:

• - Son Frederick
• - Son Daniel
• - Son Jacob
• - Son Peter
• - Daughter Catharine
• - Daughter Susannah
• - Daughter Ann Mary
• - The children of his daughter, Elizabeth

Peter also directed that his daughter, Feronica (Veronica), wife of Martin Rau, was to be excluded from any dividend of residue of his estate, but in lieu, was bequeathed the tract of land on which they now live. The executors of Peter's estate, which was probated 20 January 1803, were his sons Frederick Sailer and Peter Sailer. (Estate file #2210, will book 4, pg. 121, Northampton Co. courthouse, Easton, PA)

More About Peter Seiler:

• Burial: 11 Jan 1803, Raubsville Cem. Williams, Pa..
• Record Change: 30 Mar 2006

More About Peter Seiler and Anna Margaretha Maurer:

• Marriage: 1744
• Children of Peter Seiler and Anna Margaretha Maurer are:
• +Fredrick Seiler, b. 1748, d. 25 Jun 1826, Bethlehem, Northampton Co., Pennsylvania. Source

The Encyclopedia of Witches

Saylor Family (19th century) Family of prominent German powwowers, or folk doctors who practiced magical medical arts. The Saylor Family were influential healers for about two centuries in the Lehigh Valley area of Pennsylvania.

The American branch of the Saylor family was founded by Johann Peter Seiler, born on September 26, 1721. He was orphaned. With his brother, he immigrated to America in 1738 and worked off the cost of his passage as an indentured servant. He settled first in New Jersey and married Anna Margaret maurer of Greenwich. A daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1750. The couple had 10 children in all.

The Seilers moved to Raubsville, Pennsylvania. Johann established a successful folk medicine practice using herbal remedies, charms, magical spells and a laying on of hands. By 1779, he owned 200 acres of land. In the 1780s he bought more tracts near the HexenkopF and surrounding areas. He had a large library of books, a still for preparing herbal concoctions and beehives. In the revolutionary War, Seiler served as a lieutenant colonel in the army, and three sons served as privates.

Seiler was among the first practitioners to be called a powwower. He treated both whites and Indians; the latter called him “the great powwow man.”

Seiler died on January 8, 1803. His tombstone bears a carving of a hexenFoos, a six-pointed flower drawn with a compass, intended to keep evil spirits away.

Seiler’s son Jacob became well known as a powwower and so did Jacob’s son Johannes and Johannes’ son John Henry.

But the star of the Saylor family was Seiler’s youngest son, Peter, born in 1770. Peter inherited the family estate and his father’s medical practice. By then, the spelling of the family name had changed to Saylor. Peter developed his own unique brand of witchy medicine, spurred on by the popularity of the handbook The Long Lost Friend (1820) by John george hohmAn, another famous powwower. Peter lived to the age of 91 and devoted himself to his medical arts, practiced out of the family estate, where he built a splendid stone house. Saylor’s Lane, leading to the house, was often lined with the carriages and carts of patients waiting their turns.

Peter was a formidable figure, and stories circulated about his magical prowess. It was said that he once butchered a hog and left it hanging inside one of his magical circles. A man tried to steal the hog but, upon entering the circle, became unable to move until Peter arrived and set him free. Peter also was said to be able to tie knots in threads with his tongue.

In powwowing, disease and illness are caused by the Devil and the Demons and wItches who serve him. Illness is cast out, based on the model set by Jesus in the New Testament, when he exorcized Demons into a herd of swine. Similarly, powwowers of the 19th century cast out illness into animals.

Peter was especially known for his ability to cast out illness, and his favored receptacle was not animals, but the hexenkopF, a large rocky hill that had the profile of a witch’s head. The German immigrants had brought witch lore with them, and they associated the Hexenkopf with witch activities; Peter’s activities increased the witch lore and the fear of the hill. He was known to cast Magic Circles on the ground and stand within them, uttering his incantations to “call down power.” He and other powwowers in his family—as well as in the tradition in general—believed that his magical powers waxed and waned with the moon. The best and most powerful day was the first Friday following a full moon; the most difficult cases were treated then.

Peter trained his son Peter Jr. and his nephew Jacob in powwowing. Shortly before he died in 1862, Peter instructed his son to take certain witchcraft books out of his library, weight them down with stones and throw them in the Delaware river because he wished that the books be never more used. Peter Jr. complied. The instruction evidently was conditional for him to inherit the family estate and the medical practice.

Peter Jr. changed the spelling of his last name to Sailor. He was 53 when his father died, and he was able to practice powwowing for only six years before he was paralyzed by a stroke on August 22, 1868. He died on September 3. He was a bachelor and had no children to train, but he did instruct John Henry Wilhelm.

Jacob Saylor moved to Bethlehem Township and established his practice. He also began writing down some of the remedies, but the collection was never published. It survives as a manuscript at Franklin and marshall College in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

After 1868, the Saylor male line of powwowers ended, and the calling was pursued by the Wilhelms, who were related to the Saylors by marriage. John Henry and his brother, Eugene, were the most famous. Their father, Jacob Wilhelm, also was a renowned healer and wrote a detailed book of his cures.

The old Saylor home reportedly is haunted by unknown spirits or ghosts. Disembodied voices have been heard, and a repairman once insisted that the furnace turned on by itself. The nearby Wilhelm home no longer exists, having burned to the ground in 2002.

FURTHER READING :

Heindel, Ned D. Hexenkopf: History, Healing & Hexerei. Easton, Pa.: Williams Township Historical Society, 2005. Taken from : The Encyclopedia of Witches, Witchcraft and Wicca – written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – Copyright © 1989, 1999, 2008 by Visionary Living, Inc. http://occult-world.com/magicians/saylor-family/