Individual Details
Christopher DEGRAFFENREID
(1691 - 27 Oct 1742)
After marriage moved to Philadelphia, then Maryland, and then permanent residence in Williamsburg, Prince Edward County, Virginia.
[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 10, Ed. 1, Tree #0296, Date of Import: 28 May 1998]
Son of Baron Chrisstopher and Regina (Tscharner) deGraffenreid, was born 1691 Berne Switzerland. He came to America in 1713 to succeed his father , the Baron, as head of the Colony in North Carolina. He married 22 Feb 1714 in Charleston, South Carolina, Barbara Tempest, a widow, whose maiden name was Needham. She was the daughter of Sir Arthur Needham or Wymondsley, Hertfordshire, Eng. Barbara was born 31 aug 1688 in england. After their marriage Christopher and barbara settled in Virginia. He died 27 oct 1742 at his plantation on the James River in Virginia. Barbara died 26 June 1744 in Virginia. Christopher and Barbara deGraffenreid had one known son, Tscharner deGraffenreid, born 28,Nov,1722 in Williamsburg, Lunenburg Co., Virginia.
McCall-Tidwell & Allied Families, p. 182, says Christopher wrote in family bible about his marriage to Barbara Tempest:
"We were married in Charleston, South Carolina, in America, Feb 22, 1714. God bless us and our issue. We moved first to Philadelphia, to Maryland and lastly to Virginia."
McCall-Tidwell & Allied Familes, p. 184-186, quotes the following letter from the Baron to his son Christopher of April 16, 1736:
"Dear Son - Since you desire me to send you an account about our family - being settled in a strange and remote country thinking it not necessary to enter into ample particulars, I send you nothing but this little genealogy, that stranger may see that you are descended from an honorable and distinguished family, although the Patents & recommendations signed by Queen Ann to all the Gentlemen Governors of the Eng. Colonies in America show that I have not been a vagabond or of a middling extraction which is attested by my own Sovereign. I will not go further than to to your great-grandfather; his names was Christopher de G, Baron & Lord of Worb; he was a member of the Sovereign Council, afterward Governor of the City of Bydan then he was made a Senator & had several honorable employments till he was to be elected Lord Chief Advoys of the Commonwealth, but he resigned that place in favor of - Generale de Erlach, being satisfied with his dignity of Lord Banneret or Tribunus Populi, which is one of the first dignities in the Republic. He married first a lady of the Right Hon. & noble faily de Mulinen & wh is, with some other families of rank, above all the others. By this lady he had 6 children, 3 sons & 3 dau. of wh the 2nd son was called Anthony de G. & he was my father. He was likewise Baron & Lord of Worb, Member of the Sovereign Council, Governor of the four-Mandements of the Aigel & afterwards Lord Advoys at Morat, he dyed at the age of 92 years. He married first Catherine Jenner of very ancient and Honorable family, the same lady was my Mother & of my late sister de Steiger. His second lady was of the family of Lombach by whom he had 6 sons & 2 dau. I, Christopher de Graffenried, also Baron & lord of Worb, only son of my Father's first lady, was born in 1661 & married after my travels when I was 22 yrs. old, was elected to a Member of the Sovereign Councill in the 30th year of my age. Four years after I was chosen Master of the Customs & after I had the administration of that dignity 6 yrs. I was elected Governor of the City & dependances of Yverton considerable by its great extent having had two & twenty Lords Vassals & as many Parsons under my command without mentioning Country Court Judges. The troubles of Neuchatel were very fatal to me on many accounts. I was at extraordinary expense for the maintaining of many soldiers who consumed all my provisions instead that if I had been able to sell the grains I should have had a benefit of 6% but having been obliged to spend it for my country's sake, I had no benefit of it. I was obliged to make extraordinary expenses for the maintenance of so many Generals, Collonels, (and other officers) & when I had laid out 900 pistoles, I only received a gratification of 50 - I was so much moved at all those misfortunes & that I was not able to get anything by the Government nor to pay my debts that I undertook that unfortunate expedition in Carolina of wh I had no other profit than empty titles....
Having been the Governor of my Switzer and Palatine Colony in North Carolina, Representant of the Prince Palatine for the two Provinces of Carolina, Duke of Beaufort, Baron de Bernburg & Landgrave of Carolina.
Before I talk to you I must make an end of my genealogie, here above I told you that I had been married but I did not tell with whom. It was with the Lady Regina Tscharner, daughter of the noble Beat Lewis Tscharner, Member of the Sovereign Councill of our Commonwealth his Ladys and her Mothers name was Marguerithe Giider also of an ancient Patrician family, her Father was great Treasurer, I had by the said lady my wife 13 children of wh there are 8 still alive, viz: you and your youngest brother Francis Lewis and 6 daughters, three of them married and three not. Your youngest brother has already his second wife, the first, a Daxenhofer, who brought him a son, the second is of the family of de Graffenried the Lord of Carrouge's daughter & has brought him two.
Now I must talk of you & your posterity. You have married Madam Needham an English gentlewoman from which you have a son. You may put here the Genealogie of your Spouse yourself & as I observe that fortune doth not look upon you as favorable eyes & that you don't come near your ancestors in titles & health I admonish you to employ all that lays in your power to bring up your son above all & especially in the fear of God Almighty & to put him in the way of getting on being able to get his livelihood in an honest way in order that if perhaps he should not rise to a high fortune & titles nor have so considerable inheritances as he could wish for he should at least be able to live honestly always without being troublesome to any body.
May it please the Almighty God to preserve you & your Spouse many years in a perfect peace & more prosperity than you had formerly. May it please that merciful God to bless the soil of your new plantation so that you may earn of its product not only your necessarys but also improve by it to be the more able to bring up your son whom God may please to give his holy blessing so that he may live as well to your comfort as my own - as long as it shall please the Almighty to leave me here in this valley of Misery, who am his grandfather & your affectionate Father,
Christophle de Graffenried
What belongs to my Patents & papers about Caroline titles & honors with the medall of Knight & Landgrave, I did already write to you about that matter in my precedent letter to which I refer my Self.
Worb ye 16 April 1736
My hearty salutations to your Spouse and son."
[Brøderbund WFT Vol. 10, Ed. 1, Tree #0296, Date of Import: 28 May 1998]
Son of Baron Chrisstopher and Regina (Tscharner) deGraffenreid, was born 1691 Berne Switzerland. He came to America in 1713 to succeed his father , the Baron, as head of the Colony in North Carolina. He married 22 Feb 1714 in Charleston, South Carolina, Barbara Tempest, a widow, whose maiden name was Needham. She was the daughter of Sir Arthur Needham or Wymondsley, Hertfordshire, Eng. Barbara was born 31 aug 1688 in england. After their marriage Christopher and barbara settled in Virginia. He died 27 oct 1742 at his plantation on the James River in Virginia. Barbara died 26 June 1744 in Virginia. Christopher and Barbara deGraffenreid had one known son, Tscharner deGraffenreid, born 28,Nov,1722 in Williamsburg, Lunenburg Co., Virginia.
McCall-Tidwell & Allied Families, p. 182, says Christopher wrote in family bible about his marriage to Barbara Tempest:
"We were married in Charleston, South Carolina, in America, Feb 22, 1714. God bless us and our issue. We moved first to Philadelphia, to Maryland and lastly to Virginia."
McCall-Tidwell & Allied Familes, p. 184-186, quotes the following letter from the Baron to his son Christopher of April 16, 1736:
"Dear Son - Since you desire me to send you an account about our family - being settled in a strange and remote country thinking it not necessary to enter into ample particulars, I send you nothing but this little genealogy, that stranger may see that you are descended from an honorable and distinguished family, although the Patents & recommendations signed by Queen Ann to all the Gentlemen Governors of the Eng. Colonies in America show that I have not been a vagabond or of a middling extraction which is attested by my own Sovereign. I will not go further than to to your great-grandfather; his names was Christopher de G, Baron & Lord of Worb; he was a member of the Sovereign Council, afterward Governor of the City of Bydan then he was made a Senator & had several honorable employments till he was to be elected Lord Chief Advoys of the Commonwealth, but he resigned that place in favor of - Generale de Erlach, being satisfied with his dignity of Lord Banneret or Tribunus Populi, which is one of the first dignities in the Republic. He married first a lady of the Right Hon. & noble faily de Mulinen & wh is, with some other families of rank, above all the others. By this lady he had 6 children, 3 sons & 3 dau. of wh the 2nd son was called Anthony de G. & he was my father. He was likewise Baron & Lord of Worb, Member of the Sovereign Council, Governor of the four-Mandements of the Aigel & afterwards Lord Advoys at Morat, he dyed at the age of 92 years. He married first Catherine Jenner of very ancient and Honorable family, the same lady was my Mother & of my late sister de Steiger. His second lady was of the family of Lombach by whom he had 6 sons & 2 dau. I, Christopher de Graffenried, also Baron & lord of Worb, only son of my Father's first lady, was born in 1661 & married after my travels when I was 22 yrs. old, was elected to a Member of the Sovereign Councill in the 30th year of my age. Four years after I was chosen Master of the Customs & after I had the administration of that dignity 6 yrs. I was elected Governor of the City & dependances of Yverton considerable by its great extent having had two & twenty Lords Vassals & as many Parsons under my command without mentioning Country Court Judges. The troubles of Neuchatel were very fatal to me on many accounts. I was at extraordinary expense for the maintaining of many soldiers who consumed all my provisions instead that if I had been able to sell the grains I should have had a benefit of 6% but having been obliged to spend it for my country's sake, I had no benefit of it. I was obliged to make extraordinary expenses for the maintenance of so many Generals, Collonels, (and other officers) & when I had laid out 900 pistoles, I only received a gratification of 50 - I was so much moved at all those misfortunes & that I was not able to get anything by the Government nor to pay my debts that I undertook that unfortunate expedition in Carolina of wh I had no other profit than empty titles....
Having been the Governor of my Switzer and Palatine Colony in North Carolina, Representant of the Prince Palatine for the two Provinces of Carolina, Duke of Beaufort, Baron de Bernburg & Landgrave of Carolina.
Before I talk to you I must make an end of my genealogie, here above I told you that I had been married but I did not tell with whom. It was with the Lady Regina Tscharner, daughter of the noble Beat Lewis Tscharner, Member of the Sovereign Councill of our Commonwealth his Ladys and her Mothers name was Marguerithe Giider also of an ancient Patrician family, her Father was great Treasurer, I had by the said lady my wife 13 children of wh there are 8 still alive, viz: you and your youngest brother Francis Lewis and 6 daughters, three of them married and three not. Your youngest brother has already his second wife, the first, a Daxenhofer, who brought him a son, the second is of the family of de Graffenried the Lord of Carrouge's daughter & has brought him two.
Now I must talk of you & your posterity. You have married Madam Needham an English gentlewoman from which you have a son. You may put here the Genealogie of your Spouse yourself & as I observe that fortune doth not look upon you as favorable eyes & that you don't come near your ancestors in titles & health I admonish you to employ all that lays in your power to bring up your son above all & especially in the fear of God Almighty & to put him in the way of getting on being able to get his livelihood in an honest way in order that if perhaps he should not rise to a high fortune & titles nor have so considerable inheritances as he could wish for he should at least be able to live honestly always without being troublesome to any body.
May it please the Almighty God to preserve you & your Spouse many years in a perfect peace & more prosperity than you had formerly. May it please that merciful God to bless the soil of your new plantation so that you may earn of its product not only your necessarys but also improve by it to be the more able to bring up your son whom God may please to give his holy blessing so that he may live as well to your comfort as my own - as long as it shall please the Almighty to leave me here in this valley of Misery, who am his grandfather & your affectionate Father,
Christophle de Graffenried
What belongs to my Patents & papers about Caroline titles & honors with the medall of Knight & Landgrave, I did already write to you about that matter in my precedent letter to which I refer my Self.
Worb ye 16 April 1736
My hearty salutations to your Spouse and son."
Events
| Birth | 1691 | Bern, Switzerland |  | ||
| Marriage | 22 Feb 1714 | Charleston, Charleston County, SC - Barbara Tempest NEEDHAM | | ||
| Death | 27 Oct 1742 | Amelia County, VA | |
Families
| Spouse | Barbara Tempest NEEDHAM (1688 - 1744) |
| Child | Anthony Tscharner DEGRAFFENREID (1722 - 1794) |
| Father | Christopher DEGRAFFENREID (1661 - 1743) |
| Mother | Regina TSCHARNER (1665 - 1740) |
| Sibling | Franz Ludwig DEGRAFFENREID (1703 - ) |
Endnotes
1. De Graffenried Association Newsletter, Vol. IX, No. 2, p. 31.
2. Thomas P. Degraffenried, History of the Degraffenried Family (Vail-Ballou Press, Binghampton, NY, 1925), p. 149.
3. Spence, Irene Bush.
4. Thomas P. Degraffenried, History of the Degraffenried Family (Vail-Ballou Press, Binghampton, NY, 1925), p. 151.