Christena SIX was born in 1764, in the Shenandoah Valley, Frederick County, Virginia, the daughter of John Conrad SIX and Margaret BONNETT. She died in Wood County, West Virginia in 1844 while in the home of her daughter, Margaret.

On April 1, 1781 in her father's home on Dunkard Creek in Greene Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, seventeen year old Christena was about to experience an event that would change her life forever. On that day, she was taken from her home and family, having been captured by Indians and taken to the Indian Camps at Detroit, Michigan.

Christena had most likely been captured by members of the Indian Tribes known as the Wendat or Wyandat Tribes who had been almost totally annihilated by the warriors of the Five Nation Iroquis League. TheWendat who had survived had been brought to the newly founded Detroit by the French colonial governor Antoine Le Mother CADILLAC in the early 1700's. During the time of Christena's capture, the Detroit area was under the control of the British government and was then ceded to the United States under the Treaty of Paris in 1783.

It is not known how long Christena had been kept in captivity or how she acquired her freedom from her captors. She was still in the area when, about 1786, she married John Charles MUNGER. John had been captured by the British and Indians from Ruddells Station in Kentucky on June 20, 1780, along with his father, mother and brother and sister, and was then taken to the Detroit Indian Camps also. Perhaps they had been given their freedom as part of the Treaty of Paris.

John Charles and Christena remained in the area for several years eventually moving to Upper Canada. They became the parents of four children: Joseph who was born 22 April 1787 at Grosse Isle, Michigan; Susan who was born in 1787 and died in 1794 at the age of seven years; Margaret who was born 24 December 1791 in Canada; and Elizabeth who was born 9 February 1793 in Upper Canada. John Charles was killed in the Battle of Fallen Timber on the Miami River on 20 August 1794.

Being left with four young children to raise, Christena stayed in Canada with John Charles' brother, William MONGER/MUNGER. She lived there until her return to her father's home by 1798, almost thirteen years since her capture by the Indians in 1781. When Christena's brother, Lewis SIX, came to Canada to bring her home, she returned with him taking her two young daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth but leaving her son, Joseph, to remain with his Uncle William and to later inherit his father's land.

Christena's father, Conrad SYKES, had died shortly before 20 May 1783 when his coffin was purchased. He had been found dead in the woods leaning against a tree. This left his estate to be settled by Christena's brother, Henry SIX, the Administrator named in Conrad's will.

On the 20th day of September, 1798, Christena assigned her interest in a tract of land to her brother, Henry SIX. She signed the document along with her sister, Mary, and her husband Jonathan GARRISON, and her sister Barbary (Barbara), and her husband, Robert KNOTTS. Christena then signed a receipt for the "moveables" in Conrad's estate on the 3rd day of January 1800 and another receipt for "error" on 16 September 1809, leaving her "Mark" on these documents.

Christena's daughters both married sons of Daniel ANDERSON, a neighbor of the SIX family. Margaret MUNGER married John ANDERSON, who was born on 24 Mar 1792, about 1810 and Elizabeth MUNGER married his brother, James ANDERSON, who was born 17 Oct 1787 on 4 July 1816. In 1810, "Teeny" SIX, was living in Dunkard Township and by 1820 appeared to be living with her brother, Lewis SIX, and his family.

Margaret and her husband, John, moved to Ohio, then to Wood County, West Virginia. Elizabeth and her husband, James, moved to Tyler, Wetzel County, West Virginia about 1828. Christena lived alternately with her two daughters and their husbands and she died in Wood County in 1844, while living with Margaret and John. She is buried in Wood County, West Virginia.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Christena SIX was a true heroine and a survivor. She must have had a lot of courage and endurance. She was truly an ancestor to be proud of.

Author: Donna E. Kilroy, written for Tom and Joan Imes.

SOURCES: Tradition of Christena SYCKS/SIX/SYKES by L.K. Evans
The MONGERS � A Family of Old Virginia by Billie Jo MUNGER
1810, 1820 Census, Greene County, PA.
Estate Documents of Conrad SYKES
The Iroquois Tribes, Grolier Encyclopedia, 1995 CD-ROM version