The Rofelty Family Massacre
Historians have left the story of the Rofelty (or O’Felty) massacre a bit confusing. They have failed to say just what year it took place, but it is assumed that it happened during the Revolutionary period. At the time of the massacre the Rofeltys were living on a tract of land across the Tenmile from Benjamin Stites’ Mill, later Pollock’s Mill, on land later owned by DeGuids, adjoining Edward Burson. Mathias Rofelty was away from home, leaving his wife and two grown daughters on the plantation. The Indians killed the wife and one grown daughter and scalped the other, who miraculously recovered from her wounds. She was taken to the home of Edward Burson, the same place the Indians had stopped after perpetuating their foul deed, and here she lived for some time before marrying and raising a large family. Local court records show that there were a number of other children in the family, including one son, who brought about a partitioning of the estate of the father on January 30, 1815 (O.C. Docket 1, pp 56). The other children of the Rofeltys were:
1. Catherine Rofelty, who married Harmon Moore.
2. Sarah Rofelty, who married Silas Estill. She is probably the one who was scalped and lived, for her descendants were connected with the Haines family, as stated by Waychoff. Her husband Silas Estill, was a son of Daniel Estill, and he died about 1833. Their children were:
1. Mathias Estill (or Estle), who married Mary Stewart.
2. Daniel Estle.
3. Elizabeth Estle, who married (1) Samuel Hathaway and after his death in 1824 she married ______Haines.
4. Caty (Catherine) Estle, married ____________McMasters.
5. Hannah Estle, who married ___________Whitman.
6. Barbara Estle, who married ___________Hixenbaugh.
7. Delilah Estle, who married ____________Daniels
1. Sarah Blackledge, who married Nathan Harris.
2. Jesse Blackledge.
4. Hannah Rofelty, who married ____________Collins
5. Susannah Rofelty, who married William Teagarden, and moved to Columbiana, Ohio.
6. Mathias Rofelty Jr.