(1) Freiderich Getman and Maria Bierman were Palatinate immigrants from Germany who settled in the Mohawk Valley of New York State about 1710.  Frederich was elected deacon of the Stone Arabia Dutch Reformed Church in Herkimer County, on 18 May 1788, and in 1789. He signed the church charter on 20 January 1790 and was subsequently elected as elder in May of 1791, 1792, and 1793.  In 1790, he owned seat number 73.  Parents of:
 
 
 

        (2)  Capt. Christian Getman, born 6 March 1734; married on 8 July 1760, Anna Eva Zimmerman, born February 1743.  The marriage record at Stone Arabia Dutch Reformed Church calls him "unmarried son of Freiderich Gettman" and calls her "left behind widow of Johannes Merckel."  Simms states she was a daughter of Jacob Zimmerman, but her baptismal record and her date of birth in two Getman Bibles clearly show she was a daughter of Adam.  Anna was baptized in 1743 and sponsored by Robert Nelles and Eva Zimmerman.  She died 25 April 1822 in Ephratah, New York.  Two bibles belonging to Christian Getman, and recently owned by the late Frank J. Bowman of Scarsdale, New York, preserve their family record (photostats can be seen in the Montgomery County Department of History and Archives, Fonda, New York):

"Christian Gottman gebohren Martz 1734 [other Bible states 6 March 1733-4].  Anna Eva gebohren February 4th 1743.  July 8th 1760, Ghristian Göman wit Anna Eva gebohren Zimmerman.  Anna Eva Getmand, wife of Christian Getman, died April 25th 1822."

       "Not a few instances of captivity and suffering were experienced in the Mohawk Valley settlements in the French and Indian war, the most of which have been irrevocably lost, but there is another which tradition has preserved . . . Near the beginning of this war John Markell who had married Miss Anna Timmerman, of St. Johnsville, began a residence in the westerly part of Minden.  In the summer of 1757, Markell and his wife left home, she with a child in her arms, to go to a neighbors.  A little distance from their dwelling, they unexepectedly saw in the path a dozen armed Indians.  Markell at once viewed them as strangers and if so, as foes -- and knowing that their escape was impossible, he said in German to his wife, who was directly behind him, "Anna our time is up."  These were his dying words, for in the next instant one of the party sent a bullet through his body which lodged in hers.  They both fell to the ground, the child escaping from her arms.  With her face down she feigned death.  Markell was tomahawked and scalped, and as an Indian was about to scalp her, she heard one of his comrads say, what she devined to be  "Better knock squaw on head."  "She's dead now" was the reply.  He drew his knife around the crown and placed his knees against her shoulders, and with his teeth tore off the reeking scalp.  A third one of the party dashed out the brains of the crying infant against a tree.  The foemen did not linger long to strip their victims and well they did not, for Mrs. Markell could not much longer have enacted the death scene.  It is impossible to conceive the agony of this brave woman, who was conscious all the time her foes were present, without being seen to move a muscle.  It is believed that the party went directly to the house of the family and plundered it for all they desired.  Mrs. Markell found friends and being properly treated recovered but carried the bullet to her grave.  A year or two later she married Christian Getman of Ephrata where she lived a long and useful life.  She died in April 1821 [sic] at the age of 85 years.  She is still remembered by four or five of her aged relatives, from whom these facts were obtained, as a very industrious and exemplary woman.  The loss of her scalp was afterward concealed by combing her hair.  By her second marriage she had four sons:  Peter, Christian, Jacob, and Adam . . . and two daughters, Catherine and Anna."

The children of Anna Eva Zimmerman and John Markell were:

1. child Markell, born about 1758, killed by Indians in the summer of 1758.

1. Catharina, born 27 September 1761, died 15 March 1813, sponsored at baptism by Catharina, daughter of Adam Zimmerman and Johannes Getman; about 1780 she married Ludwig Rickard, born 12 September 1757, died 9 January 1819, son of Ludovicus Rickard and Catharina Coenradt.
2. Johannes Petrus, born 3 January 1764, died 22 May 1845, sponsored at baptism by Georg Gettman and his wife Ottilia; married 10 March 1785 Elizabeth Richter, born 28 February 1762/3; she had a widow's pension for his Revolutionary War service (National Archives #W19495).
3. Anna, born 16 November 1765, sponsored at baptism by Friedrich Schnell and Anna Fehling, both single; apparently died young.
4. Anna Eva, born 19 December 1767, died 4 March 1841, sponsored at baptism by Friedrich Ohrdorff and his wife Anna Eva; she married, as his second wife, on 8 July 1788 Johan Jost Shull, born at Dillenburg, Germany, died 10 January 1837, Danube, Herkimer County, New York

Johannes, born 16 January 1770, sponsored at baptism by Johannes Snell and his wife; died young.