In 1751 two prisoners were ransomed from Indians by the Commandant of Fort Ponchartrain de Troit.
They had been captured while camping for the night on the banks of the Ohio River where the Scioto
River emptied into the Ohio by a band of Indians from the Detroit area. They were at the time enroute
from Pennsylvania to a German settlement called the German Coast of the Mississippi. They informed
the commandant that they had immigrated from the Koln area.
The names were Johannes Yax and Catherine Herbinne. He was Catholic and she was Lutheran. She
was later received into the Catholic Church at St Annes Church in Fort Pontchartrain (now Detroit).
Seeking any information, especially prior to their capture by the Indians.
Bill Higgins of Virginia
home.bill@verizon.net
Prior conclusions that they were a couple named Jacks and Herbst have been disproved by the
Jacks family who were descended from that couple and who have solid documentation of their
genealogy.