Michael Hyder (1740-1790), patriot

As we noted in an earlier post, Hans Michael and Katherine Chasteen Hyder immigrated from Germany to the American colonies in 1729. Their son Michael Hyder, Sr., fought in the American War for Independence, and his contributions to that and other skirmishes are memorialized on his headstone:

Erected by his Descendants to Michael Hyder Sr. Died 25 June 1790
Member of the Watauga Association in Watauga Fort, June 21, 1776. Took part in all the early Indian wars in Tennessee under Shelby, Sevier and Christian.
Was in the following battles of the Revolution, Thickety Fort, Cedar Springs and Musgrove's Mill in South Carolina. Was detailed from the King's Mountain, SC expedition to defend the Watauga Settlement from Indian invasion.

Concerning the Watauga Association, the Wikipedia article gives this information:

The Watauga Association (sometimes referred to as the Republic of Watauga) was a semi-autonomous government created in 1772 by frontier settlers living along the Watauga River in what is now Elizabethton, Tennessee. Although it lasted only a few years, the Watauga Association provided a basis for what later developed into the state of Tennessee and likely influenced other western frontier governments in the trans-Appalachian region. North Carolina annexed the Watauga settlement area, by then known as the Washington District, in November 1776. Within a year, the area was placed under a county government, becoming Washington County, North Carolina, in November 1777. (This is the present day Washington County, Carter County and other areas now located in the northeast part of the state of Tennessee.)

While there is no evidence that the Watauga Association ever claimed to be outside the sovereign territory of the British Crown, historians have often cited the Association as the earliest attempt by American-born colonists to form an independent democratic government. In 1774, Virginia governor Lord Dunmore called the Watauga Association a “dangerous example” of Americans forming a government “distinct from and independent of his majesty's authority.” President Theodore Roosevelt later wrote that the Watauga settlers were the “first men of American birth to establish a free and independent community on the continent.” While no copy of the settlers' compact, known as the Articles of the Watauga Association, has ever been found, related documents tend to imply that the Watauga settlers still considered themselves British subjects, even after the initial hostilities of the American Revolution had commenced.

Naturally, with an ancestor who fought in the War for Independence, we who are descended from him would be eligible to become members of the Daughters of the American Revolution or Sons of the American Revolution, in the unlikely event we were of a mind to do so.

The following shows the Hyder line, extending from 16th-century Germany down to our great-grandfather Nelson, who was born in 1875 and died in 1959:

• Hermann Bauer (1574-unknown), married Appolonia
• Wolf Bauer (1592, Oberfranken—unknown), married Katherina (1596, Glashütten—12 November 1686, Glashütten)
• Johann Bauer (1644, Plösen, Oberfranken—1731, Plösen, Oberfranken), married Margaretha Nützl (1645, Plösen—unknown)
• Barbara Bauer, married Hans Hyder (Heider) (1676, Glashütten—unknown)
• Hans Michael Hyder (1704, Glashütten—1776, Lincoln, North Carolina), married Katherine Chasteen (c 1708- c 1746)
  
• Michael Hyder, Sr. (1740, Washington County, North Carolina—25 June 1790, Hampton, Carter, Tennessee), married Elizabeth Wood(s) (19 April 1745, Virginia—3 January 1841, Elizabethton, Carter, Tennessee)
• Michael Hyder II (24 October 1767, Tennessee—6 October 1861, Carter County, Tennessee), married first Martha Lockhart (1775-1812), and second Sarah Eisenberg Zimmerman (1780, Shenandoah County, Virginia—6 May 1865, Bowder Branch, Carter, Tennessee): Michael and Sarah had:
• Jacob Hyder (21 October 1814, Carter, Tennessee—17 March 1881, Carter, Tennessee), married Elizabeth Bean (1812, Washington County, Tennessee—before 1868). Elizabeth appears also to have been married to Jacob's brother Joseph D. Hyder (1820-1882) at some point.
• Mary Hyder (1844, Tennessee—2 June 1925, Adrian, Michigan). Mary was married at least twice, first to Archie Hughes (1840-unknown) and second to David Shepherd (July 1849, North Carolina—after 1925, Lenawee County, Michigan), but her son immediately below was born to an unknown man between two of Mary's marriages and thus was given her maiden name.
• Nelson Hyder, married Lucy Jane Bentley.