The Ulrich/Baker Ancestral Lines

The story of Joseph Hochstetler is that he was able to flee the burning house, but he did not continue to flee, rather hid behind a woodpile.  When Jacob and Christian were being led away, the Indians circled back and surrounded Joseph.  

There is no written record of Joseph’s experience in the Lenape tribe, or his life in the tribe, which is thought to have settled down in Ohio.  The actual details of his return are also unknown.

Below is a timeline of events after the roughly 6 years of negotiations between the Indians and Pennsylvania Governor Hamilton, and Swiss mercenary Colonel Henry Bouquet:

Council at Easton – Oct 8-26, 1758

Second Easton Council – Aug 3-12, 1761

Council at Lancaster – August, 1762

October 17, 1764 – Custaloga (Chief of the Wolf tribe of the Delaware Indians) and Beaver (Chief of the Turkey tribe) returned 18 prisoners and 83 small sticks to Col. Bouquet.  The sticks represented the prisoners that they would return.  

November 9, 1764 – All but 12 prisoners are returned.  Some of the prisoners could not be delivered at that time because of the distance and that a severe winter had already set in.  The Indian negotiators promised they would be returned in the Spring of 1765.  

May 8, 1765 – The final peace agreement was signed, as all prisoner’s were returned.  Although Joseph’s name is not included.  This is strange because Jacob Hochstetler’s petition for the return of his children specifically mentions Chief Custaloga, and this petition formed the basis for the Pennsylvania Governors commission to swap prisoners and it is the basis of Col. Bouquet’s work in negotiating and documenting the return of prisoners.   In spite of all this, in  government documentation, Joseph’s return is unknown.  

In a personal letter written by John Hertzler, he writes of the kind treatment of Joseph and “when they brought him down the Susquehanna River, to the Fort on the east side of the river, in Northumberland County, they tried to have him go back with them and live with them as brothers.  He often visited them and enjoyed himself hunting, fishing, running and jumping.”    (This letter was written by John Hertzler, whose wife – Barbara Zug – eventually became related to Joseph, since her niece later became Joseph’s wife.)