Catherine Reihm and Johann Balthasar Leibrock, traveled from their home in Germany to Holland where they boarded the Bennett Galley in Rotterdam with 258 other passengers. They arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 13, 1750. At that time, the spelling of the name Leibrock was changed to Lybrook. Balser and Catherine got married on May 4, 1754. All Lybrooks are descended from them. They ended up moving south and settling at the mouth of Sinking Creek which attached to the New River in Giles County, Virginia where they had six children. At that time, Giles County was Montgomery County.

Living amongst the Lybrooks in the west Virginia area were the Shawnee Native Americans who were originally a peaceful tribe living in the Ohio Valley. Before being forced to relocate to Virginia, they spent the majority of the 17th century fighting with the Iroquois Confederacy (the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca tribes) during the Beaver Wars. The Iroquois wanted to monopolize the beaver trade when they discovered the Anglo-American settlers' desire for beaver pelts, and that of Basque fishermen, who used the fur to stay warm while traveling the frigid Atlantic Ocean. The Iroquois traded the fur for firearms among other things such as iron tools, blankets, and beads. With the firearms, they ultimately annihilated the Algonquin-speaking tribes living in the Ohio Valley which included the Shawnee. By 1640, the beavers were practically gone, and by 1656, the Iroquois had control of Ohio Country. When you consider the loss of Shawnee lives during the Beaver Wars, the loss of their home in the Ohio Valley, and the impact of the diseases the Europeans brought to the New World with them, the Shawnee took a hard hit. When they lost the land in the Ohio Valley, they began traveling south, with some ending up along the New River in Virginia. 

On July 31, 1755, the Shawnee put the fear of God in the Lybrooks after throwing the decapitated head of a man named Philip Barger on their front porch. Catherine, who was home alone at the time, heard a commotion outside, went to the front porch and was the one who opened the sack. A far worse attack occurred 19 years later on a hot, August Sunday. It became known as the Sinking Creek Massacre of 1774. John Lybrook was 11 years old at the time. He went down to the creek for a swim with his siblings and some of their friends, the McGriffs and the Snidows. The younger boys, including John, took a seat in the shallow water, while the older boys continued into the deeper water of the New River. On either side of the river were 10 foot walls practically impossible to climb up aside from the occasional sandy deer trail. The girls climbed into a canoe with John's older sister Katy sitting in the back rowing. 

The first Shawnee was spotted at the top of one of the river walls by the older boys when arrows began raining down on them. They quickly dove beneath the water's surface to avoid being hit. When they came up for air, they swam away on their backs keeping a watchful eye on the Shawnee and his dropping arrows. When the older boys found a way to escape the open water of the river, they darted to the woods for shield. 

The younger boys not knowing what to do continued sitting in the shallow water while John got up and ran. Every path he took he was dismayed to find a Shawnee. They were surrounded. Eventually, John found an empty path, and not long after he tore down it, he realized he was being chased. With nowhere else to go, he leapt over an eight foot ditch, and just as he reached the other side, he felt the lasso of the Shawnee graze his back. He landed, turned around and watched the Shawnee head back to the younger ones still in the shallow water. Then he noticed his older siblings on the other side of the river yelling at him to run, so that is what he did. He said that was the moment the terror kicked in and didn't recall anything from that moment to his arrival at the fort. When he arrived, he quickly alerted the others of the massacre going on near the mouth of Sinking Creek. 

While all this was going on, the young girls in the canoe heard the yelling and rowed over to the water's edge. As they approached the shallow water, a Shawnee stepped out of some tall weeds and into the canoe. All the children sat paralyzed in fear as they watched the Shawnee hit them on the head one by one and scalp them. Katy was 13 years old, and after watching two of her siblings, Elizabeth and Daniel, get murdered before her eyes, she jumped out of the canoe, rushed to shore, and started running. After the Shawnee finished taking all the lives of the children remaining in the canoe, he began chasing her. Just as he had her in his hand, the Lybrook's dog came bounding out of the path from home and protectively attacked the Shawnee. While the Shawnee was dealing with the dog attack, Katy was able to free herself. She got up and ran, and the Shawnee continued in pursuit of her with the Lybrooks' faithful dog continuously attacking him the entire way. Because of her dog, Katy was able to escape with her life. 

The three young boys who stayed in the shallow water ended up being led away by the Shawnee and taken back to the rest of their tribe. They devised a plan of escape which worked for two of them. They stayed awake late into the night until they were certain all the Shawnee were sound asleep. Then, they stole away into the night. Like the Shawnee, one of the three boys also fell into a deep sleep, and the other two were unable to wake him, so they left him there. Shortly after escaping, they found a hollow log which they hid in. It was a wise move, because the Shawnee quickly realized they escaped and came looking for them. They circled their hiding spot more than once while the two boys remained motionless in fear. Eventually, the Shawnee gave up and headed back to their camp to resume their sleep. The two boys were able to successfully get away, though their trek through the woods took days. The Shawnee kept the third boy and he grew up amongst them. Eventually, he was released and went home. He had adapted to the ways of the tribe and never fit back into society.  

During the Sinking Creek Massacre, Balser was at the mill where he was found by the Shawnee. He was able to escape, but not without being shot in the arm. As a result of the bad blood between the Lybrooks and the Shawnee, Balser ended up becoming a frontier Indian Scout and fought against the Shawnee and Mingo tribes during the Battle of Point Pleasant. Unfortunately, the horror did not stop there, and 42 years later on October 15, 1815, Catherine went missing from the Lybrook home. Months later, her body was found abandoned in the woods scalped. It was assumed her death was caused by the Shawnee. 

John spent the rest of his life hunting along the New River and killing a large amount of animals including 3,000 deer, 600 bear, and 100 panther. The most notable was a 14 foot panther he killed at 13, two years after the Sinking Creek Massacre took place. Around the age of 25, John ended up falling in love with Annie Chapman who was from Culpeper County, Virginia and engaged to James French. On Annie's wedding day, while she was with her bridesmaids at the church, John waltzed in and asked Annie to leave with him, which she did. They walked out hand-in-hand and rode together on his horse to his father's house. Annie and John got married on January 11, 1787 and raised their seven children in Giles County, Virginia.

Mouth of Sinking Creek

GPS Coordinates: 37.3048803, -80.6211060

Further Reading:

Crawford, B. Scott. A Frontier of Fear: Terrorism and Social Tension along Virginia's Western Waters, 1742-1775. West Virginia History: A Journal of Regional Studies, Vol. 2, No. 2, West Virginia University Press, 08 Oct. 2008.

Johnston, David E. A History of Middle New River Settlements and Contiguous Territory. Standard Printing and Publishing Company, 1906.

Womack, Dorothy O. Keep In Touch: The Balser and Catherine (Ream) Lybrook Family: Truths and Tales. Womack Publishing, 2000.