Lewis Wetzel

People are always apt to learning their roots of ancestory, but usually its countries they want to know about; it's already known they're from some place like West Virginia, so it's much more interesting to be able to say they have German in them, or Italian, or French, or Irish. But in the end, despite ties with those Irish people from the past, everyone ended up here in Appalachia for one reason or another, whether it was his or her recent family migrating or a migration that took place long ago. In my Appaclachian Literature class, we took a look at our ancestory that finds its roots a bit closer to home.

As it turns out, my -- and I believe it's six greats -- uncle is Lewiz Wetzel, an Indian killer who, as Wikipedia puts it, roamed the hills of today's Ohio and West Virginia. Lewis lived through the years of 1763 and 1808. His father, John Wetzel, was a German immigrant, thus giving me that dose of an overseas country's blood in my viens.

When Lewis Wetzel was a mere boy, he and his brother were held prisoner by Indians but managed to eventually escape. From then on, Lewis promised to avenge his family, and therefore spent the majority of his days hating Indians. Lewis definitely appears heartless when it came to Indians: "He scalped the Indians he killed. He grew his hair out almost to the ground, to taunt the Indians with what would be an unmatchable trophy. The Indians gave him the nickname 'Deathwind' because of his lethal sharpshooting," Wikipedia has written. But by many Americans he was considered a hero.

The coolest part of this little tale rests with the fact that Wetzel Country, West Virginia, is named after Lewis Wetzel.

Taryn