The Facts As We Know Them
--- Pamela Lassiter Jones,
Mobile, Alabama USA pam@hsiweb.com
Mathias/Matthias ARDIS/ARDEIS was born 1724 October
29, place unknown. According to family
lore he came to America at the age of 16 (circa 1740), with a sister Elizabeth
ARDIS
and a brother John ARDIS. We have yet to
pinpoint the ship that he arrived on.
Mathias ARDIS is first found in Craven County, South
Carolina USA, on Flat Creek. Later he
settled at Beech Island, South Carolina USA, also known as New Windsor community, in present day
Aikens County, South Carolina USA. Aikens County was cut off from Edgefield
County, South Carolina in 1866. Edgefield County, in turn, was
formed from part of the 96th District in 1785. The 96th
District had been formed in 1769 as one of eight circuit court districts
that made up South Carolina. Before 1769, the area was know as the Granville County.
Beech
Island is located on the banks of the Savannah River south of Augusta, Georgia
USA.
Other families near the ARDIS estates include ZINN, BENDER, NEAL, and SIMPKIN.
Mathias ARDIS married Christina /Christian
ZINN sometime before
1750. Christina was the daughter of Gerhart ZINN and Margurite GUTH who came to
Philidelphia, Pennsylvania USA 29 August
1730 with 77 other Palatine families on the ship “Thistle of Glasgow” from
Rotterdam, Holland, but last of Dover , England UK.
Along with her parents were her brothers Valentine ZINN, Heironomos ZINN,
and Jacob ZINN.
Christina was born circa 1725 in
Germany. The ZINNs lived in the
Cloister at Ephrata, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania USA. They moved to the Manheim Community
at Dunkurds Bottom, on the New River, in South Carolina USA, about 1745.
The ZINNs were driven off by Indians about 1758. In 1762 Valentine ZINN bought
part of 300 acres on Flatt Creek in Craven County, South Carolina USA, that Mathias and Christina had
bought in 1758. Some records indicate that Mathias ARDIS' sister Elizabeth married
Valintine ZINN.
Mathias ARDIS, and at least two of his son’s, fought on the
side of the Revolution. Isaac ARDIS was a private in the South Carolina Militia and
served under Colonel PICKENS after the fall of Charleston, South Carolina USA. John
ARDIS was a
Private in the 6th and 1st South Carolina Regiment.
According to journals left by a grandson,
Lucias Q.C. DeYAMPERT, Matthias ARDIS and a son-in-law, John BRADLEY, died onboard a
British prison ship of smallpox. The ship was anchored in the waters off
Savannah, Georgia USA and Mathias ARDIS was said to have been buried at sea. In probate
records the date of death was listed as 1781 September 9. John BRADLEY was the
captain of a Galley ship in 1780, it seems that Mathias ARDIS and John BRADLEY may have been
blockade - runners against the British.
A
notice from an Augusta, Georgia USA newspaper reads as follows:
"Mrs. Christian ARDIS or Ardeis
(Rebel) and widow of Mathias Ardeis deceased puts in her Caviot against any
person administering on the estate of the said Mathias ARDIS until she can have
a hearing, as she not only has a right to Administration but is left the sole
executrix in a will made but cannot at present be probated, one of the
witnesses now being dead and the other two gone over to the enemy."
SEE Mathias ARDIS
Will
The estate was finally settled in the Fall
Court of 1800, Edgefield County, South Carolina USA.
Mathias ARDIS and Christina ZINN were the parents of
ten (10) children. These were:
(1) Mary ARDIS born 1756 who married 1st John BRADLEY and 2nd
John De YAMPERT
(2) Sarah ARDIS born circa 1750 who married 1st Benjamin BOWERS
and 2nd Perdieu PARTAIN Jr.
(3) Abraham ARDIS born 1767 who married 1st.Susannah SHINHOLSER
and 2nd Sarah Rell Mills BENDER
(4) Mathias ARDIS II
(5) Jacob ARDIS
(6) Isaac ARDIS born about 1761, who married Mary HOWELL
(7) John ARDIS
(8) Elizabeth ARDIS who married Francis CARLISLE
(9) Daniel ARDIS
(10) David ARDIS who married Eleanor _______
