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Zachariah & Hannah Feller
Zachariah Born 1800 Died 1870; Hannah Born 1802 Died 1870
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Red Hook. Located directly behind the church, this monument is a double tablet with both husband and wife.
Symmetry surrounds the double monument and in turn the lives of Hannah Stickle Feller and her husband Zecr (Zachariah) D. Feller. Both were born in November, he two years earlier. Both died in 1870, she a few months after he did. They lived in Milan, fairly close to Upper Red Hook, where she was a farmer’s wife and he a farmer. Both are buried in St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery in Red Hook.
Zachariah, the son of David Feller (1762-1834) and Elizabeth Richter (1770- 1820), was born in Rhinebeck and baptized at St. Peter’s in Rhinebeck on Dec. 6, 1800, with the baptismal record stating he was born Nov. 9, 1800. He married Anna Helena Stickle who was known as Hannah. Hannah's father was Johannes (John) I. Stickle (1773-1871), and her mother was also named Hannah (Fraleigh). (The monuments of Hannah Stickle Feller’s parents, her sister-in-law Sally Feller Stickle who married her brother Paul, and her brother Paul I. Stickle are next to each other in St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery.) There is a small tombstone next to the monument of Hannah and Zachariah. The name chiseled on it is that of Arthur Feller, and his year of death is 1820. He most likely was a son who passed away as a toddler.
Zachariah and Hannah had at least three children who survived into adulthood: Mary Jane (1832-1873), Sarah Margaret (born 1834), and Helen Marie (born 1839). The couple are enumerated in the 1850, 1860, 1865, and 1870 census records for Milan, NY. The 1870 census finds Zachariah as the head of household at 69 years old and a farmer, Anna (Hannah) at 67, Daniel Stickle at 35, Sarah Feller at 34, Hellen Stickle at 30, and Elvin Stickle at five. Perhaps Hellen and Daniel married and had a son? Alvan F. Stickle (perhaps Elvin) and maybe a grandson first appears in the 1865 census although there is no listing of Daniel that year.
Zachariah’s name is mentioned several times in local newspapers. He lived close enough to Upper Red Hook that he was listed as a member of the Society for the Apprehension of Horse Thieves, possibly along with his father-in-law John J. Stickle, as evidenced by this notice from August 12, 1859:
“HORSE THIEVES BEWARE! Notice is hereby given that the undersigned Members of the UPPER RED HOOK ASSOCIATION for detecting and apprehending Horse Thieves have appointed an able and efficient corps of Riders, who are ready at a moment’s warning to start in pursuit of any person stealing a horse or horse from any member of said Association.
Samuel Nelson & Son Henry. William W Pitcher, William Coopernail & Son John, John J. Stickle & son Peter, William Titamore, Pe [sic] J J Rockefeller & son William, William Cramer & Aaron Shook, Henry Cotting & son Benjamin, Nicholas Philips, Jane Hermance & Sisters, Andrew Teator, Henry Staats, Philip Allendorf & son P Alexander, Willehmus Benner, Peter H Teator & son John, Zachariah D Feller, Jacob Albert Feller, Abram Pitcher & son Robert, Daniel A Cuck, Thomas Elmendorf & Sisters, William R Moore, Roman C Ames, Abraham Staats.
SAMUEL NELSON, President.
DANIEL A. CUCK, Secretary
Dated, Upper Red Hook, Aug 12th 1859.”
Further proof of Zachariah’s connection to Milan exists in the journal of Permelia Feller. This day-to-day description was written by Zachariah’s niece Permelia who was born August 5, 1837. She eventually married Samuel Wheeler when she was 38 and then wed the widowed Christian Allendorf, Jr., (1819-1896) on March 11, 1891, when she herself was a 53-year-old widow. The journals Permelia Feller’s “Spending of Days” vol. 1 of 1866 and Vol. 2 of 1876 & 1881 were edited by Eleanor Rogers and published by the Town of Clinton Historical Society, the first in 1996. In that first volume, Permelia (also known as Amelia) wrote of visiting an Uncle Zack. Rogers explained,
“Uncle Zack’ was almost certainly Zachariah D. Feller, a farmer in Milan in the 1850 census, probably a brother of Philip D. [Permelia’s father, also a farmer]. His wife was Anna or Hannah. They lived on the northside of Spring Lake or Williams Road at the corner of Salisbury Road in Milan in 1867. (The road name depends upon whether you use a modern Dutchess or Columbia County map.) No house is there today. At the time of the diary he was about 66 and his wife was 64. Both died in 1870 and were buried at the Lutheran Church in Red Hook.”
Farming is and was difficult and dangerous work, and accidents not uncommon. on June 17, 1858, the Hudson Daily Star reported:
“Vicinity News Items — We learn from a gentleman of this city that Mr. Zachariah D. Feller, of the town of Milan, Dutchess Co., met with a severe accident on Friday last. He had been with a load of hay to the river, and when near home on his return a bolt which connected the neck-yoke and pole of the wagon fell out, permitting the latter to drop. The horses ran furiously towards home. Mr. F. was thrown out upon the ground and sustained such severe injuries that when taken up he was supposed to be lifeless. He soon revived, and is now in a fair way to recover. His worst injury is the fracture of one arm.”
Zachariah did survive the accident, but passed away two years later as reported in the Red Hook Journal on June 10, 1870: “Zachariah Feller, an old and highly respected citizen of Milan, died on Friday morning last, after a brief illness, in the 70th year of his age. His funeral was attended in this village on Sunday by a large concourse of people. - RHJ 10 Jun 1870.” Hannah died that same year on September 14, as noted on their monument. The Fellers were laid to rest in the same cemetery as Hannah’s parents, her brother Peter I. Stickle and his wife Sally Feller Stickle, and many, many other Stickle relatives.