[silence] ♪♪ Woman 1: I've always enjoyed life.

Every single minute of it.

It's just a fun adventure.

I am a person that never says something can't be done.

If you give me a project or I read about something and I get an idea and I always want to figure out how to get that done.

I live in a home that I designed completely, built, decorated, landscape and all, and, uh, I'm not leaving here.

Lise: Former Miss Palm Springs, Vicki Biss, has tried her hand at almost everything in life, from barnstorming, to being the first woman to study architectural engineering at UCLA.

But there is something Vicki hasn't been able to do.

Unlock the secrets of a long-held family legend.

Vicki: Daddy was the only one who told me little secrets.

And he said that there was Indian blood in the family.

No one else would talk about it.

My grandfather, my father's dad, was William Tecumseh Biss, and he was supposedly, I was told, born on the reservation, and he was the first part-white child that came out of the reservation.

I don't know what reservation.

I don't know what tribe.

I don't know much else except that I was told that.

Unfortunately, my daddy died at exactly my age.

I was too busy to him.

You know when you're young and raising a family you don't think of those things.

But now I'm his age, and I think about him a lot and I wish I had a day to ask him more and more questions, and I really don't even know if he knew all the answers.

Lise: Mysteries and legends are part of every family history, and we never know if discovering the truth will bring us closer to our ancestors, or pull us further apart.

But in the end, it always seems well worth the journey.

From the studios of BYU Television in Provo, Utah, this is The Generations Project.

♪♪ - Hi everybody, I'm Lise Simms, and each week on our program, we bring you the story of someone who wants to connect with an ancestor, or maybe an entire generation of their family tree.

And we help them do just that.

We're an ongoing project, helping people connect across generations.

And today that person is Vicki Biss.

Hi Vicki.

Vicki: Hi Lise.

- Vicki Biss who has a swing in her living room.

Vicki: Do you love it?

- I couldn't love you more.

Yes, I want one now.

Vicki: Well, do it.

Lise: [laughs] - You have to be sure the, uh, beam...

Both: Is strong enough.

Vicki: Yes.

- Coming from an architect.

Vicki: Yes.

- I know, very savvy.

It tells me so much about the nature.

You are a woman who loves life and loves adventures.

Have you always been that way?

Vicki: Always.

Lise: Really?

- Always.

We had an orchard and I, I used to go out and play and make roads and, and buildings and little cities in it when I was a little girl.

I— it was an apricot orchard, and, um, I was always having fun, just an adventure.

And I think it was our parents', uh, fault, because they would throw us out of the house and lock the door and— Lise: [laughing] Go get some air.

- —lay inside and told us to go play outside.

Both: [laugh] Vicki: So we just made play.

Had fun.

Lise: And it continued into your adult life.

You were a barnstormer?

Vicki: Uh, yeah, yeah, I guess— I-I really didn't.

Uh, you're talking about the airplane.

- Yes, tell me about this.

- I flew on top of the wings of a Stearman biplane.

When I was in college I needed some money and I— it sounded like fun and it was— Vicki: Was it fun?

- It was a ball!

Lise: You're amazing!

A woman ahead of your time.

Vicki: Yeah, made rollercoasters seem not so exciting anymore.

Both: [laugh] - All the way to a swing in your house.

So your story begins with a, a bit of a family legend that there is Indian blood, American Indian blood.

Vicki: I always thought so.

Lise: And you— as a little girl you thought you were an Indian.

Vicki: Mm-hm.

Lise: Tell me why because there's something funny that you said you thought you were Indian because... - Well, first of all we knew— we, we were told that Grandpa's name was William Tecumseh Biss, and Daddy kind of said that.

Lise: Tecumseh.

- But we also— my brother and I used to have tanning... We would get so dark and black, in fact, we had tanning competitions.

Lise: [laughs] - Who could get darker in the summer and I don't have the pigments that have problems with sun.

- Right.

- You know, I don't even use PABA or anything.

I just have really dark skin and I'd say, Oh, that's because I'm Indian.

Lise: Oh, isn't that interesting.

- It was just— just made sense to me.

Lise: It was just part of your history and yet you didn't really know anything in depth about it.

Vicki: No, it was all just, uh, I guess you'd call it folklore, whatever comes down through and I never sat down and said, Come on, show me the family tree, or— we just didn't do that.

Lise: Well, why now then?

- Because I'm older.

- [laughs] - And I have time.

And I'm retired.

And a few years ago I started, uh, looking into the generations and came up with William Tecumseh Biss that— well, not a few years ago, started in the '70s.

I really went on some roots projects.

I'm half-Finnish 50% percent Finnish.

Lise: Oh, really?

Vicki: And I took, uh, my mother, my dad had already died, so she was alone, and I said, You're gonna go meet your cousins.

Lise: Oh.

- She had never met her cousins.

When her mother came over from Finland, never again saw her parents.

Lise: Mmm.

- It was just one of those things.

And she had so much fun.

Lise: What a gift.

- Took my sis— took my sister, Vera, with us.

And then, um, I knew that side.

Lise: Mm-hm.

- And I looked around under Grandpa Biss, and nothing could I find.

Just William T. Biss, and my dad had said it was Tecumseh, could never go past William T. Biss.

Who was he and what his story about an Indian and why did I think I was Indian?

I really like knowing things.

Lise: [laughs] - Every time somebody would ask me well, what is that or who are you, I'd sort of tell them the story but I never felt like I was telling the truth and it bothers me.

Lise: Well, let's find out the truth.

Let's find out the truth 'cause this is where the story begins with a surprise visit from your sister, Marlene— Vicki: Oh, was it ever.

- —who insisted it be a surprise and she brought your cousin, Sandy, you hadn't seen in 50 years.

This is the moment they show up at your door and you don't know they're coming.

Let's look.

Vicki: Okay.

[silence] Hello.

- Hi.

Vicki: Marlene!

Marlene!

- [exclamations and laughter] Marlene: That's Sandy.

Sandy: I'm Sandy.

- Ellison?

Sandy: Ellison.

- [screaming] - Sandy!

Oh my!

- To old times.

- 50-some years old times.

Our cousin.

Our cousin.

Lise: Vicki's sister, Marlene, is sharing her recollections of what their father used to tell her about the family's connection to American Indians and their grandfather's middle name, Tecumseh.

Marlene: Looking for an answer, and I was always curious.

Yeah, I was the one who always asked the questions of Daddy and, and— - Yeah, I guess.

- —he never really gave me good answers.

He said his grandmother was from the Studebaker family that made the Studebaker cars.

- Uh-huh.

- But her family disowned her because she married our great-grandfather.

- Oh.

- And I said, why?

And— was he Indian?

And he says, Well, maybe she was scared by an Indian.

Or maybe there was a horse thief in the family.

All: [laugh] Vicki: See, Daddy, Daddy was quite a kidder, so I don't know if the stories were just folklore or whatever.

- You never know.

- But you did the asking.

I only know what you told me.

- I constantly asked him.

And I— he'd never give me a straight answer.

And I was always curious.

Lise: So according to Marlene, their great-grandfather may have been an American Indian who married a white woman from the Studebaker family.

But their cousin, Sandy, has another explanation for the American Indian middle name.

All: [laughing] - I really do.

Grandpa and Grandma told me that, um, that his father had been the, um, blood brother to Chief Tecumseh.

So Grandpa's— - Grandpa's father.

- —father was a blood brother of the— - I don't even know his name.

Do you know his name?

Grandpa's father?

- I really don't.

That is— that's a secret.

I do not know that.

Marlene: But we, we know the name of our great-grandmother though.

- Right.

That was— she was Nancy Studebaker, and I know that, but I-I just— I don't— yeah, Nancy was her first name, but I don't know, I don't know Great-grandpa's name.

Lise: According to Sandy, their great-grandfather was not actually American Indian, but simply a blood brother of the famous Chief Tecumseh.

Known for being one of the first Indian advocates of the unification of all American Indian tribes.

Vicki: Oh wow.

I've seen that.

Marlene: Do you remember that one?

Sandy: I don't remember that.

- He grew a beard once and they took a picture.

- What age?

What age?

- I don't know.

It's— look at his hair in this.

It was before— Vicki: You're right.

Sandy: —it was before that.

Because his hair was receding.

Sandy: Yeah, 'cause he's younger in this, in this picture than he is right there.

- He's younger there.

- I wonder what made him grow a beard.

I don't— I never [indistinct]... - But when you look at that, the darkness.

That shows the darkness, just like Uncle Floyd was really dark.

This one doesn't look like him as much.

I bought so many Indian books— - Wow.

- —and got history books 'cause they said, Look in the history books.

Vicki: Do you feel anything with that?

- But look at this one this— - I'm sorry, ya'll.

I see.

[laughs] - Vicki, look at this one.

This is Tecumseh.

- Oh yeah.

- And there was one other picture that I had gotten.

- The story here is saying, is, is... Marlene: Look at the nose.

Look at the nose, look at the high cheekbones, look at the chin— Vicki: Oh my gosh.

- —look at the chin, and when I saw these pictures I'm going, Wait a minute, there's a resemblance there and Tecumseh had green eyes.

♪♪ Vicki: I am very confused.

Is there any Indian blood, actual blood, in the family?

I don't know.

I would love to, uh, dig some more and find out.

But, uh, perhaps it's not my grandfather.

Maybe it's my great-grandfather.

Maybe it's no one.

Lise: Determined to find out the origin of the Indian name, Vicki is meeting with Carol Lindberg, who's researched the Biss family line.

Vicki is particularly anxious to learn the name of her great-grandmother in hopes that this will shed light on the mystery.

- I can tell you the name of your great-grandfather.

William T. Biss's, uh, father.

- Daddy?

My great-grandaddy?

- Your great-grandfather.

- What's his name?

- His name was William M. Biss.

- Ah, perfect.

What's the M?

Carol: I don't know what the M is.

I haven't been able to find that out yet.

But he was American.

- Okay.

- He was born in 1825.

- Wow.

- And he was born in Pennsylvania.

Lise: Now Vicki finally knows the name and ethnicity of her great-grandfather, William M. Biss, a white man born in Pennsylvania in 1825.

- I happen to have a, a Bible that he used to sell.

- William M. Biss sold Bibles?

- He sold Bibles.

And this is a salesman's copies.

And he had put in some information about his children.

Vicki: Oh wow.

Carol: And their names as examples of, of, you know, what people can do to put their family tree information in their Bibles.

And it's in very poor shape because this Bible is dated 1872.

Vicki: Oh, wow.

Carol: But, in the Bible, it has your gra-grandfather's full name.

And his full name was— Both: William T. Sherman Biss.

Vicki: Born August the 11th, 1872, in Dunn.

Vicki: Is that town in Wisconsin?

- Dunn County, Wisconsin.

Lise: Now Vicki also knows her grandfather's full name, William Tecumseh Sherman Biss.

But she's still unclear as to the origin of the name, specifically the middle names of Tecumseh Sherman.

Carol: William was in the Civil War.

- My great-grandfather?

- William M. Biss was in the Civil War.

- The M., the one who sold the Bibles.

Carol: Yes.

Vicki: Okay.

Carol: And he— Vicki: In 1825 he'd be 25 years old or so.

Carol: That's right.

Vicki: Or 20— in his 20s.

Carol: Right.

- Okay.

- And he apparently kept journals in the Civil War.

- Yeah?

- And in the early 1900s, one of his daughters allowed his journals to be published.

This is where he starts his journals in 1861.

He was in for two tours, uh, in the Civil War.

Vicki: Wow.

This is fantastic.

June 1st, June 2nd, June 3rd— Carol: Mm-hm.

- —June 4th.

"It's cloudy.

I have the [indistinct]."

- [laughter] - I have the something-entry very bad, but trust in the Lord.

- Yeah, dysentery.

He mentions, uh, that General Sherman, okay, is part of the, uh, his entry on one of the days for, for some of the battle information.

And he also mentions that he was at the Battle of Shiloh.

And I think that he was very impressed by the general.

And I think— - William Tecumseh?

- Uh, no.

- Sherman.

- No, William M. Biss.

- No, I mean impressed with what general?

- I think, um, William M. Biss, the, the writer— - Yes, yes.

- —of this was very impressed with General Sherman.

And General Sherman's name was William Tecumseh Sherman.

- Yes, I-I've read about him.

Carol: Mm-hm.

So, I think he may have— he may have named his son... - Because of how he was impressed with... - The... - So, that's how the Civil War guy who is not Indian at all, there's no Indian... because he was working with him in the war.

All these years I've wondered, white boy born on the reservation, who is this, how did— and how could, how could the mother, or who's the other father, or... It— none of it made sense.

This finally makes sense.

Why my brother and I have such dark skin, I don't know.

Maybe just because we lay out in the sun in Palm Springs, I don't know.

But to know is the greatest feeling.

It didn't matter to me who my ancestors were, it was to find them.

My great-grandfather journaled, and Carol told me that she even saw his personality and so many aspects about him while she was reading it.

I can hardly wait to get into the read.

But it was in 1861 when he was marching with General Sherman, and perhaps that's why he named, uh, one of his sons after that too.

But, um, the history in it during the Civil War is just absolutely amazing.

♪♪ Lise: Vicki is on her way to the Shiloh National Military Park in Tennessee.

She's hoping to get a better understanding of what her great-grandfather, William M. Biss, would have gone through as a soldier in the 16th Infantry of the Union Army at the Battle of Shiloh.

And what would have led him to name his son after the famous Union general.

♪♪ The bloodiest battle in United States history up to that point, the Battle of Shiloh was waged over April 6th and 7th, 1862, along the banks of the Tennessee River.

♪♪ On April 6th, the first day of the battle, the Confederate forces launched a surprise early morning attack, attempting to block the Union Army from advancing into northern Mississippi.

Vicki is meeting with park ranger, Christopher Meko, to learn what her great-grandfather would have seen in battle.

Vicki: In this journal, my great-grandfather said, "April 6th, Sabbath morning, 8 o'clock "we were called out in line of battle "to receive the enemy, which we did.

And we lost a great many of our boys."

Aw.

"The battle lasted until dark "and we slept on the field of the battle.

"The battle was renewed "the morning of the 7th of April "through the night and today the enemy made an attack."

Christopher: Lots of suffering.

And, and, uh, it's amazing that those units kept the discipline they did with the horrible, uh, uh, losses and killed and wounded and what that would have looked like with these large caliber muskets firing these huge chunks of lead, uh, really tearing men apart and, uh, not to mention the artillery.

So it would have been a gruesome, uh, a horrible sight.

Unfortunately, when they get hit early that mornin', get pushed out of their camps, they've just lost all their supplies.

Lise: In spite of many tactical advances by the Confederate Army and some initial successes on the first day of battle, by the end of the day on April 7th, the Union forces pushed through to victory.

With a total of almost 24,000 causalities, the human cost of the Battle of Shiloh would surpass all previous American wars combined.

Because of his steadfastness under fire, General Sherman would emerge as one of the battle's heroes, and his great courage would leave a lasting impression on those who fought in the battle, including Vicki's great-grandfather, William M. Biss.

♪♪ Vicki: All my life, I've wondered who was my great-grandfather, and now I know him.

I know his name, William M. Biss.

I know where he was in battle.

He was so lucky, so many of the men got killed.

I— and I'm reading his journal.

He wrote every single day and I always did this myself, so I totally understand it.

I see the exact land he was on.

I feel so close to my great-grandfather.

Now that I've seen this, and, uh, my great-grandfather, William Biss, was almost 30, I think, but then he had to have gotten married because we know he married Nancy Studebaker, and then it continued on because I'm here.

I-I would love to know more of how the family grew from here.

♪♪ [airplane whooshing] Lise: Vicki is meeting Carol Lindberg again.

Carol has been researching further into the Biss family tree.

♪♪ - What have you found out?

- I found out some more interesting things about the Biss family for you.

William M. Biss's father's name was— Both: Samuel... Carol: —Biss.

And he was born in 1790.

His father was William Biss.

He was born in 1740.

- With his own town, Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Lise: Carol has also done some research into Vicki's great-grandmother's side of the family, the Studebakers.

Specifically, she's found the name of Vicki's fourth great-grandfather, Johann Heinrich Studebaker.

Carol: Now... Vicki: And he was the first immigrant.

- He was the first immigrant.

- So 1736 he came, so he must have been born in another country.

- That's right.

- What about these?

- Both, both families are of German descent.

- Both?

- Both families came from Germany.

We're not positive, but William Biss may have come from Germany as the first, um, member here.

- Can you believe it?

I put all this limestone all over my home, and it came from Germany.

I knew it!

I knew I felt good about it, and I bought tons and tons and tons of these slabs of Jura stone— - Okay.

- —and we're almost back to the Jurassic period here with William Biss.

- Now, we know that both Samuel Biss, Sr.— - And they're stonemasons!

- —and William were both stonemasons, 'kay?

And they were both from Germany.

- I love it, I love it.

- Now, um, Johan Henrie Studebaker— Vicki: Uh-huh.

Carol: —was the first immigrant in 1736, and they were German Baptists and they were anti-war Germany Baptists.

Vicki: I don't think it's the stonemasonry and Jura stone and love of building, and putting things together especially strong, hard stone things that's always my favorite in building.

I don't think it's a coincidence.

I wondered when starting this journey what is it about my ancestors, my great-grandfather and great-grandmo— why do I think the way I think?

Why do I love the building and architecture and drawing, and what did I learn from my father and his father.

It all has been questions to me.

And it's really coming together.

I know why I think, a little bit more anyway.

I love everything that I've learned so far.

And I really am anxious to go to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

I have ancestors from way back then.

Uh, let's go to Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

♪♪ Lise: With her excitement over having learned that both sides of her paternal line came from Germany and settled in Pennsylvania, Vicki is heading to Williamsport to find out how they contributed to the founding of that area.

♪♪ Vicki is meeting Reverend Larry Waltz, president of the Blooming Grove Historical Society at the former Williamsport jailhouse.

She hopes to find out how the Biss family contributed to building the community with their skills of stonemasonry.

♪♪ - This is my family tree.

And it took it from my dad, Raleigh Biss, to William Tecumseh Biss back here, and look, it ends up in Williamsport.

- Beautiful.

- And, and these two, the Samuel Biss and William Biss, they, they were stonemasons from this town.

Rev.

Waltz: I did a little research for you— - Fabulous.

- —and I, I was surprised to see that the first courthouse and the first jail, a Samuel Biss had a portion of the activity here where it says, "John Turk and Mr. Groben were contractors, "Matthew Adams took care of the carpentry work, "Joseph Dunn took care of the bricks, but the stone cut work was done by Samuel Biss."

This building was built in 18— the 1860s.

Samuel Biss, however, started it in 1801.

But it wasn't big enough.

There was some problems that we're having because, you know, it had to expand and there was, I think, a fire actually here.

But some of these stones in all probability were us— reused again for this second addition.

And if— I-I think if you look at these stones to— you can see that they're different textures.

Vicki: Yeah.

- Uh, some are very primitive but then some are designed.

- I wonder which ones are the actual real ones that my great-great-gr— Just a minute.

Rev.

Waltz: Yeah.

- How many greats?

Wait a minute.

Rev.

Waltz: [laughs] - 'Cause it was Samuel Biss that did this building.

Rev.

Waltz: Right.

- Right?

Okay.

Grandfather— great-great-great.

Rev.

Waltz: Right.

Vicki: Three greats.

My great-great-great-grandfather was born 1761, so he'd be about 40 years old.

- That's right.

- Still a strong back— - That's right.

- —and doing it.

And his son— 1790, he'd be about 11 or 12.

He must've been the hod carrier.

- [laughing] Right.

♪♪ Lise: As Larry and Vicki tour Williamsport, Larry is explaining what motivated their ancestors to move from Germany.

Rev.

Waltz: The German immigrants started to come to Pennsylvania at the invitation of William Penn.

Vicki: Mm-hm.

- William Penn came over here in 1683.

But before that, he visited your ancestors in the Palatinate and my ancestors in the Palatinate, which is southwestern Germany.

And said, Come to America.

- Oh, and he went— invited them from there.

- That's right.

And so, they remembered that, because your ancestors and my ancestors, many of them were not free people.

Vicki: But they could be freer here.

He promised them that.

- He did.

And they, they looked around and said, This where I wanna be.

- Let freedom ring.

- [laughing] Let freedom ring.

Absolutely.

Vicki: So of course they'd come.

Rev.

Waltz: Yeah.

Lise: A wealthy man and champion of the drive to unify the American colonies, William Penn received the territory that later became the state of Pennsylvania as payment for a debt.

♪♪ On this land, William Penn established what he called his Holy Experiment, a colony dedicated to religious tolerance.

The wars and religious oppression that came about as a result of the Protestant Reformation in Western Europe in the 1600s made the Holy Experiment a success.

Religious refugees from England, France, Holland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Ireland, and Wales heeded William Penn's invitation to flee their homelands and come settle his new territory.

Vicki's ancestors would join these groups.

♪♪ Vicki: You know, I've been told, it's on the family tree, that my great-grandfather, William Biss, married Nancy Studebaker.

Rev.

Waltz: Mm-hm.

Vicki: And they were German.

And, it— they were— I was told they were anti-war German Baptists.

Both: Anti-war German Baptists.

- Do you know anything about that?

Rev.

Waltz: I come from a group of people who are— - No!

- —and were— - No!

- —anti-war German Baptists, yes.

- What is it?

What is it?

- I knew we had something more in common here.

- Oh my!

- Yeah, they came from southwestern Germany just like Samuel Biss did.

And they came to this neck of the woods in 1805— - Okay.

- —which is just one year after the completion of the jail and the courthouse that we just visited.

- Uh-huh.

- And they have a little settlement out of town called the Dunkard settlement of the German Baptists.

♪♪ Lise: Vicki's ancestors were members of a group of German Baptist churches that became known as the Dunkards, or more formally the German Baptist Brethren.

The first American branch of the group was established in 1723 and was likely the branch where Vicki's ancestors would have gathered.

Vicki: So what religion exac— do they— this is a, a Protestant?

- This is Protestant.

That's right.

It is what is called the left wing of the German Reformation.

- Okay.

- So they have a lot in common with the Mennonites, Hutterites, and the Schwenkfelders, and the Amish, and the Men— uh, the Mennonite persons.

Vicki: Mm-hm.

- They're particularly strong here in Pennsylvania— - Yes.

- —the Mennonite and Amish.

- Yeah, you've always heard that.

- Right.

They brought with them, in terms of belief, that their lives expressed their faith.

Not their church, not the special dress that they would have, not the or-ornamental sanctuaries, you know, that many, many of our denominations that we have today, they wanted to live simply and let themselves be the church in the world.

- That's interesting.

- Yeah.

- From within.

- That's right.

- Yeah.

Rev.

Waltz: But you see the table here?

Vicki: Yes.

- That is the pulpit.

- That's the pulpit?

- That was the pulpit.

I-it was a statement of simplicity.

- Of simplicity.

- Yeah.

- I understand.

- And the pastor did not stand— Vicki: He sat in that little chair.

- —he sat in the chair.

Vicki: That this, this kept the community together.

Rev.

Waltz: Yes.

Vicki: This, this, this was glue.

Every Sabbath was Sunday.

- That's right.

- Sunday.

Yeah.

[cheerful music] ♪♪ I feel great about seeing how my ancestors came over here and worked, hard work, but good honest work.

I really relate to that and, um, I feel a kinship, I really do, and I want to study more.

I love life and I love learning and after today I have hundreds of hours' worth of things, have probably the rest of my lifetime, checking into deeper.

You can never get enough information.

But we certainly got a good start on it today.

I thought all of my ancestors came over about 1900, the turn of the century.

And here these were here way before the United States was even, uh, declared independent.

It's, it's wonderful to know that I have deeper roots.

- Your story is so interesting, Vicki, because we've literally here gone from the Biss side to the Studebaker side, and we're sort of walking the line in between right now.

You have a journal.

- Look at this dear journal from my great-grandfather, William M. Biss, the one who had the Bible.

Lise: Right, the stonemason side of the family.

Vicki: The stonemason side of the family.

Lise: The Biss side.

Vicki: My great-grandfather, William Tecumseh Biss' father, the one I could never find.

Lise: You didn't know his name to begin with and now you do.

- Didn't know his name.

He married Nancy Studebaker, so that part of the story that he married a Studebaker was right.

Lise: And Carol tells you that he is a white man.

Vicki: Absolutely white.

- Which is— yeah.

Vicki: Yeah.

- So there's no American Indian heritage at this point in time that you know of.

Were you disappointed at all?

- No, not at all.

I-I just loved knowing.

And the more I read this— I have read this journal three or four times and I love this great-grandfather— Lise: Aww.

- —so much— Lise: Why?

- —each time.

He's just has so much heart.

And he's— he, he quotes scriptures and he's hoping that they're fighting for the right thing.

And he's writing poems and sending poems home to his wife and children, uh.

Lise: Aw, how precious.

Vicki: And just— he's just got a wonderful heart.

And, and he goes through the battles and they're fighting and, and people are having dysentery and all kinds of things too.

He's in and out of the... [chuckling] Mr. Sawbones, they're cutting off legs and arms from the battles, but one battle here— Lise: Read me something because I know... Vicki: —the Battle of Shiloh was really important, and Shiloh was the Methodist church that was right there at Pittsburgh Landing.

And do you know what Shiloh means?

Lise: You told this to me before and I didn't know this.

Please tell me.

- A place of peace.

- Fascinating.

- The bloodiest worst battle so far in the Civil War and it's at a area, they named it Shiloh, and it means the place of peace.

Lise: Ironic.

- Is that crazy or what?

Lise: It is.

Vicki: So April 6th and 7th in 1862 was the Battle of Shiloh.

April 6th and 7th this is what he wrote.

I'll go on the 7th.

"We were ordered out to reinforce General Buell.

"But before we got out to the field of battle, "the Rebels broke and fled, "leaving their dead and wounded on the field.

"Of all the sights I ever saw, "I saw here.

"May God hasten the day "when nations will go to war no more.

"The cavalry routed them "and drove them beyond our lines "and we lay in our arms all night.

The rain poured down in torrents all night."

It poured down all day when we were in Pittsburgh Landing.

Lise: [laughing] That's right.

Vicki: We had umbrellas and it's— that was great.

I said, This is wonderful, now I really feel.

Because all through the journal it's— it raining today, it's rained all night, it's raining.

It must, must be a really rainy— Lise: [laughs] - —area of the United States.

Lise: That's why it's so green there.

Vicki: I had never been to Tennessee before.

It was wonderful to go see Tennessee.

Lise: Yeah.

- But I feel it even more because it was raining.

Lise: And through his journal I feel like you really feel a connection with these relatives.

Vicki: I absolutely can.

I really feel that that great-grandfather was someone very important for me to meet.

Lise: Aww.

And you feel like you have met him through his journals a little bit?

Vicki: Absolutely.

And I love his poems.

And I love his scriptures that he quotes or just puts.

I've gone through and looked up each one.

He's, um, he was a priest or mini— uh, minister or whatever, and that's probably why he was selling Bibles and had that Bible with his name embossed that someone found that now we saw.

Lise: Isn't that amazing?

- That he filled out.

I actually went home after this and filled out my own Bible.

- [gasps] To pass on.

- It was given to me in 1976.

It was a Bicentennial Bible.

It was still— Both: Empty.

- I've filled it out.

Lise: Oh, very good.

Vicki: Just like William Biss did.

Lise: Passing on the story.

Vicki: Passing on, yes.

- Because you know the value of it now.

- Exactly.

- We, we also heard about the Studebaker side.

A fascinating connection.

I mean, obviously a very famous name in our American history and the fact that they're both from the same area in Germany, Palatinate?

Vicki: Palatinate area.

The Studebakers, I found, uh, came from Solingen, and they— that was a very private family, the Studebaker family.

And so-- that made the finest swords and knives.

Lise: Oh, isn't that intriguing.

So they were a foundry business.

- Knives for hunting, swords for wars for fighting.

- In middle— - And, uh, the, the knives were the best, and those craftsmen, were brought over, encouraged by William Penn to come over to Pennsylvania, and they were blacksmiths, which is iron in my whole home is stonemasonry.

Lise: From the Biss.

- And iron.

Lise: From the Studebakers.

- From the Studebaker.

- Astounding.

- And they made, uh, Studebaker cars came as it went from the, uh, knives, and the horseshoes, and all that too, and then they had this huge contract with the government for all the cannon wagons in the Civil War.

Lise: Ahh.

Vicki: They made those.

And then one Studebaker brother went to California in the gold rush to do gold panning and... Lise: Sure, like everybody else.

Vicki: And when he got there they said, Make wagons.

He made a fortune making wagons for all the gold rush guys there.

- Savvy.

- And then finally came back to South Bend, Indiana, and, uh, helped his brothers with the Studebaker brothers covered wagons is what they were making then, drawn by horses.

Lise: Vicki, were you this in— - And then it went to cars way later when 1900s.

- I love how you've delved further and further.

Vicki: I love reading, reading, reading it.

- But you didn't always.

Vicki: No!

- It's only been since this journey that you've been compelled to look further.

Why?

- Well, now I know something.

I have something.

I have something.

Lise: Somewhere to start.

Vicky: Yeah, you have to have some subject to go in.

And if you just give me a decade, or any century, or, or a subject, and I just love it.

I-I do get carried away when I— Lise: No, no, in a good way.

- —I'm studying something.

- And there's more of your story to tell.

In fact, this is a really interesting moment where we're going here.

We're actually going from the Biss to the Studebaker side, specifically your fourth great-grandfather, Johann Heinrich Studebaker, who landed in a very significant place.

Vicki: He came over on a boat called Harley, that was the name of the owner of the boat.

- Right.

- With Clement Studebaker, Peter Studebaker, and Heinrich Studebaker.

Every Studebaker in this country, there's 250,000, like a quarter of a million Studebakers.

Lise: All came from these three men.

- From these three men, Clement, Peter, and Heinrich.

- And this settlement called Conococheague... Vicki: Conococheague Creek.

Conococheague Creek.

Conoco like the gas.

- Conococheague Creek is very significant and this is where your family history really takes a fascinating turn.

I'd love to show it.

Vicki: Okay.

- Okay, let's watch.

♪♪ Situated along the Potomac River watershed, the Conococheague settlements were established in 1735 by Irish-Scottish immigrants.

By the time Vicki's ancestor, Johann Heinrich Studebaker, arrived, the settlement was just beginning to take root.

♪♪ Vicki is meeting Dr. Walter L. Powell, the executive director of Conococheague Settlement, to find out just what the settlement would've been like when her ancestors arrived.

Vicki: We have something traced back to, um, here.

Seven— immigrant— first immigrant, 1736.

Dr. Powell: Oh, yes.

Vicki: And it's a Joh— Johan Henrie Studebaker.

Dr. Powell: Oh, this is— [laughs] Vicki: Look at that.

- Yeah.

Oh, this is, uh, this is very exciting because, uh, this property, uh, is, is just a mile or so as the crow flies from a place that we call the Heinrich Studebaker farm.

Just a mile from here.

Vicki: It was his?

Dr. Powell: Yes.

Well, thi— his, his story is, is a great story.

It's the classic immigrant story of the early 18th century.

Uh, he came from the Palatine region in Germany where so many immigrants came.

And they came to Pennsylvania because William Penn had encouraged German immigrants to come here.

- I heard that story yesterday.

- Yeah.

- He came and said, Please come.

- Literally, they wanted them, they were industrious, they were of course escaping for religious reasons.

Uh, but he came to this area, that's about right, 1736, 1738, uh, established a small farmstead again just about a mile or so from here.

In fact, uh, oh yes, [laughing] we've got a lot we can tell you about them.

You're in the right place.

- Fantastic, fantastic.

- You-you've hit, uh... Lise: In the late winter of 1756, 20 years after arriving in the American colonies, Johann Heinrich Studebaker, his wife, and five children were homesteading along the southern border of what would become the state of Pennsylvania.

♪♪ Less than a year earlier, the French-Indian War had broken out, and the Studebakers now found themselves in the midst of a series of massive Indian attacks.

On the morning of March 3rd, the Studebaker family were in the direct path of a Delaware and Shawnee Indian raiding party making its way across the countryside, burning homes, killing people and animals, and taking prisoners.

♪♪ Vicki is meeting with avid historian, Calvin Bricker, in front of a cabin that looks similar to her ancestors' that was located a few miles away.

Calvin is recounting the details of that fateful day.

Calvin: The Indians gave out war whoops, attacked.

As Heinrich ran for his gun, they shot him.

His oldest son, 12-year-old Joseph, ran towards the cabin and the Indian ran him down, captured him.

They broke into the door, captured his wife, Mrs. Studebaker, the 2-year-old child, 5-year-old Elizabeth, and 10-year-old Philip.

[melancholy music] ♪♪ This whole attack would have been quick.

They grabbed the few possessions, the rifles, some of the cooking stuff, they left everything.

They did not kill the animals.

They did not burn.

Most Indians would travel fast, 24 hours non-stop.

You had very little, uh, rest.

And as I said, it just recently snowed.

- You mean the Indians had very little— they just kept... Calvin: And the prisoners had to keep up.

If you could not keep up, they would kill and scalp you.

And this was the fate of Mrs. Studebaker.

Vicki: Aww.

Calvin: She was pregnant.

Vicki: Yeah?

Calvin: She had a two-year-old child.

This was a scouting party that was already a day and a half behind the rest of the war party.

They had to catch up.

And she would've been totally exhausted by the time they caught up and rendezvoused.

She could not keep up as they wanted to move out, and I suspect that's when they killed her.

♪♪ Lise: A prisoner who had been taken captive during the raiding party would later testify that he'd seen at least a dozen scalps taken from the massacred settlers, three of which would have come from Johann Heinrich, his wife, Mary, and their two-year-old baby.

♪♪ Three of the four surviving Studebaker children, Philip, Joseph, and Elizabeth, were marched in procession to the Indian town of Kittanning, where they underwent the process of adoption into Indian families.

♪♪ Vicki is meeting with Debbie "Turtle" Swartz, an adopted member of the Delaware Tribe, who's explaining why the Indians took the Studebaker children and the ritual of adoption they would have experienced.

♪♪ Debbie: Some of our women have lost husbands, children, brothers, so they go to the men and they send the men and the men go and bring us back these captives.

- So the Indians were going to get the children?

- That's part of the reason that they go.

- To take them away?

- Because that energy has to be replaced.

- From their family?

Okay.

- But you see since they were adopted, they become part of our family.

- Now what do you mean adopted?

- Well, there were different ways that adoption was done.

But in your particular case and your ancestors, they were taken to a stream.

The women then take them and start scooping up this, this mud and, and dirt from the bottom, and they, they start scrubbing, I mean, from head to toe.

And they scrub, and they scrub, and they scrub and— almost to the point of blood.

- Yeah.

- Because it is very, very important that you get rid of all this negativity.

I'm sure the children can even see blood in the water.

So again— - Yeah, yeah.

- —they're even more scared.

Uh, in the case of the boys, they probably even plucked their hair.

Then they're gonna take them and take clam shells and take soot from the fire and start plucking by hand all the hair except for— Vicki: A little... Debbie: —a little tiny bit back here.

That represents your soul.

- That little piece of hair?

- That's your soul.

Vicki: Is your soul coming out of the body?

Debbie: Well, that's your soul.

That's why they decorated it.

Then they take them back to the village, okay?

- They do something nice?

- And they put nice fresh clothes on.

The girls would dress pretty much like this and the boys would wear breechcloths.

And of course they're upset that they've lost their parents.

Vicki: Mm-hm.

- And of course there's that sorrow, but eventually it fades.

♪♪ Lise: Joseph, Philip, and Elizabeth were eventually separated to live with different tribes.

In 1762 with the ending of the French and Indian War, Philip was one of many captives returned to freedom.

In 1764, Indian tribes under the leadership of Chief Pontiac were forced to return all white captives in their possession including the two remaining Studebaker children, Joseph and Elizabeth.

Though Joseph was slowly able to adapt to life with his extended family, Elizabeth could not, and fled back to her Indian family in Ohio, where she lived the rest of her life.

[drum beating] [soft music] ♪♪ Vicki: It's raining, but I am certainly not crying.

I am so happy with all of the information I've found out.

I never thought I would find out that I really do have Indian ancestry, but it's not the direction I thought.

♪♪ I've felt inside me a lot of the things that I've learned this week.

♪♪ I don't think anything in life is a coincidence.

Things are meant to happen.

And this trip and this gathering of knowledge was absolutely meant to happen and I can see why now.

[silence] - So, you have your answers.

Vicki: I do.

Can't believe it.

- And strangely the story bookends on the Studebaker side when you thought the story was on the Biss side.

You have a direct connection to these children who were taken and adopted by Indian tribe— an Indian tribes— different— three different Indian tribes.

You were, um, in an orphanage for some period of your youth?

Vicki: Well, it was a Masonic Home for Children, but I really saw the parallel.

Heinrich Studebaker was killed and scalped and his three children, Philip, Joseph— Lise: Elizabeth.

- —and Elizabeth, were taken and adopted by the Indians.

They were taken away.

Well, it wasn't like that for us.

Daddy was very, very sick and we were sent to be cared for with love by the Masons in the Masonic Home for Children in Covina, my brother, my older sister, and I.

And I really relate to it.

Lise: At very similar ages.

Vicki: At the same ages, yes.

- The same ages.

- And it was a wonderful experience for me.

I loved it at the Masonic home.

Lise: That's fascinating to me 'cause you were about Elizabeth's age?

Or were you— Vicki: Just a little older, yeah, between Elizabeth's and Philip's age.

Lise: And for you, it was an adventure.

Vicki: It was an adventure.

I loved it.

Lise: And you said your siblings did not have the same experience.

Vicki: No, no, they didn't.

- They were a little bit older— - They were a little older and... - —and it was tougher for them.

- And Vera wanted her mommy and— - Sure.

- —my brother was— I think we were sent away when he was 14 and he was becoming a rebel.

Maybe that's why we had to be sent [laughs] there.

Both: [laughing] - But, and we laugh about it and I have gone back.

I took him back there a couple years ago, and, and I just had such wonderful memories that that's what I designed my, um, my own home, my angel home from.

It had all the, uh, wonderful feelings of strong stone and just a lot of things.

Lise: Well, it intrigues me and really touches me that Elizabeth wasn't able to regroup in Western society and in fact fled back to her Indian family.

Vicki: She did, she was too young.

She was barely five.

- So, it's all she knew.

- When she was taken away— - Adopted.

- —kidnapped, put in the creek, adopted, and now she's 14.

Lise: Wow.

- And that's all she knew.

So, she ran away.

So that's where I figure the story comes from that, that someone was disowned and they weren't.

She just simply disavowed the white family because she was more comfortable with the Indian family.

It wasn't really any disowning of any kind.

But I can see where over generations that story would get all mixed up like when you play telephone— Lise: Mm-hm.

Vicki: —and it changes, and that's the only place it is.

So it really came from the Studebaker side.

And then crazy enough when I'm reading about the Studebakers, they— the next generation or two, Will— uh, Chief Tecumseh was born in 1758— Lise: Mm-hm.

- —which is, you know, about that time, but then he grew up and in his early 20s, he and his brother, Prophet, were strong Indian chiefs.

And they were friends of the Studebakers.

Lise: [laughs] Vicki: The Studebakers hosted these Indians because the Studebakers were always pushing west to the new frontier.

Lise: Ahhh.

- And their farms and things were like ten miles apart.

And the Indians would stop and be fed, and be friends, but the, the Chief Tecumseh was their favorite because he put them at ease.

He was intelligent, he had good— they really liked Chief Tecumseh.

And now, in that area there is a wood carving of Abraham Studebaker and Chief Tecumseh— Lise: Are you kidding?

- —at this museum.

The two of them.

Lise: How fascinating.

And how ironic that it was the Biss side that used the name Tecumseh.

And it was the Studebaker side that had relationships with the chief.

Vicki: Yes, yes.

- Astounding.

- But it was Nancy's grandfather who was raised by the Indians.

Lise: Right.

- But— and Nancy is my great-grandmother.

But when my great-grandmother and great-grandfather got married they must have been talking about it— Lise: Sure.

- —'cause Tecumseh, I'm sure General William Sherman Tecumseh, the Tecumseh came from, uh, the general.

Lise: Absolutely.

- No, no, the general himself was named from the chief.

- Right.

- Because he was born like seven years after Chief Tecumseh died in a horrible war.

I think it was— Lise: That's right.

- —the Battle of the Fallen Timbers.

And so— and he, and he was a good man.

And he was only trying to do the right thing for Indians, so it was a— it was an important name.

Lise: Absolutely.

- So Sherman got it.

- And then it gets carried on through your family— Vicki: And then it gets carried on there.

- —and both sides... - So, what a circle.

Wow.

- That's a neat thing to discover.

Vicki: Oh, I had so much fun discovering all of that.

- You— your sister Marlene had a very different opinion of what had happened going into this.

Vicki: Yes, she did.

And she still does.

I have not, I have not told her.

Lise: You haven't shared anything yet?

- No, she surprised me at the door and she knows about the Bible and the Biss but she knows nothing about are we not Indian, what happened.

She knows nothing about the massacre.

I made this book.

I'm, I'm going straight from here to Marlene's.

- [laughs] - And I've got this story starting.

- And so now you're the one with the surprise.

- I'm the one with the surprise.

We have the Bisses, who were stonemasons, and the Studebakers, who were blacksmiths, they— doing metal, ending up being the biggest carriage, uh, maker in the world.

Lise: Wow.

- And then it went into the Stude— Studebaker cars.

Crazy thing about that is in 1961, Raymond Loewy, the famous, uh, designer— Lise: Yes.

- —for Studebaker?

Lise: Yes.

Became an architect.

- Designed it in Palm Springs!

Lise: In Palm Springs.

The Loewy— - In 1961!

Lise: The Loewy buildings in Palm Springs are some of my favorites.

Vicki: But Daddy drew all of his architectural drawings were of stonemasonry and metal.

Vices and couplings and all of that.

Lise: And your house is stone.

Vicki: And his parents were both from those two... Lise: And metal.

- And my house is stone and metal.

It— and somehow it must have seeped in or somehow.

There's no mistakes.

Lise: I think so too.

- I feel so together— Lise: Aww.

- —about this story.

It's just— it's me!

- It is very complete.

Vicki: It's me.

- How do you think Marlene will react?

Vicki: I don't know.

- [laughs] - I'm about to show her, she knows this part.

Here's Marlene.

I— we went to Blooming, she doesn't know quite that much.

Oh, one quick thing I have to say that the World Series of Little League is in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.

Lise: Oh really?

- They took me by the fields.

- Oh yes!

- Reverend Waltz took me by the fields.

And right now the, uh, World Series is going on and my brother watches it religiously.

Lise: Oh my gosh.

- We're on the phone watching the game together and talking.

I-I can't believe... - I love the way— - —that they know it.

- —you find the connecting thread through everything.

And it even goes to where you grew up in Palm Springs, which is— was Indian reservation land.

Tell me about that connection.

Vicki: Absolutely.

The Indians, um, Agua Caliente Indians had the desert and somewhere along, I think it was the late 1800s, the Pacific Railroad and, uh, the government and everything decided what to do.

And in this case, they made a checkerboard out of the entire Coachella Valley.

The Indians got the black squares and the Pacific Railroad got the white squares.

And it's still that way.

And we lived on the black squares.

Lise: On the reservation?

- We lived on Indian land.

And I took the rent check once a month, every check, to Ilene Miguel, I took the rent check on the first of the month to give her money for our land.

We lived on Indian land.

Lise: Isn't that fascinating?

No wonder you felt such a bond with Indians.

No wonder you felt it was part of your heritage.

Not only the legend that was woven through your family's verbal history, but there you were living on a reservation as a kid.

Vicki: Yes, we did.

But anyone who is in America, you must have this merging with the Indians because they were here, you know, and they were, they were living here first.

No one really owned anything— I don't know how ownership— I've gotta really study that, how ownership of what land.

Lise: Mm-hm.

- William Penn bought Pennsylvania and— Lise: Right.

- —brought the German settlers and talked them into it, so all my ancestors came over.

But you have to learn to live together— Lise: That's right.

- --the Indians and the Americans.

And of course they fought with the French and the British.

The French Catholics were against the British, uh, Protestants.

And they each had their own Indian al-allies.

It's an amazing story.

I can't stop reading.

I will tell you more later.

Lise: I feel like this has changed your life.

Vicki: It has!

- Tell me how specifically it's changed your life.

- Love reading the history.

I just— - You were not a history buff prior to this.

- It wasn't the buff.

It was interesting, but I didn't have time.

I was too busy being a cheerleader and getting— volunteering and doing all these— and raising children and having a family but no, no, I'm going back to high school.

Too mu— too busy being things in high school and college too that I didn't really put a lot of time into history because that's a lot of reading.

Lise: Right, true.

- Lots of reading.

And now I can an— can't stop reading.

Lise: Isn't that wonderful?

- I could do history forever.

- Isn't that wonderful?

And you have plenty of history to dig through.

There's always something new to learn, isn't there?

Vicki: It all relates.

I just went through a museum and every era, every century and decade, I look and I see the— and I know the time and know just how the land looked.

Lise: Isn't that amazing?

- Did they have covered wagons?

And if they did, they were Studebaker wagons.

But is it covered wagon time?

Or are they on horses?

Or is there a train going through yet?

You know, the, the... Lise: You come from hardy stock, and Vicki Biss, you are hardy stock.

We put you through it.

Vicki: I feel-- - You had no sleep, you were in rain, you said you were like a drowned little rat.

And you were the first one to say, Let's forge ahead.

Let's skip the hotel.

Vicki: Let's keep going, let's keep going.

- What was that like for you with cameras over your shoulder and...?

- I never even thought about it.

It was just so much fun learning all of this that it was.

We were without sleep.

In four days we probably got five hours sleep total.

Lise: [laughing] I know.

- And it was, uh, just too interesting to stop.

And I wanna go back and study it more.

Lise: And you have found some very interesting information because a, a, a relative who fought in the Revolutionary War that you— Vicki: Yes, Philip, my great-great-great grand— the one who was taken by the Indians and finally returned nine years later and he ended up with a family and children.

And he was in, uh, the— oh, I forget the name, but the reg— it was in the Revolutionary War.

Lise: Right.

And so it allows you to be a Daughter.

Vicki: I could be a DAR, I think, and I could volunteer my time and do it.

I-I don't understand it all.

I never thought there was that opportunity— Lise: Knowing you, you'll go digging through it and with all your energy you'll bring something to them, just like you've brought to us today.

Thank you so much, Vicki.

Vicki: Oh, my pleasure.

- We love your story and thank you for sharing.

And thank you for joining us.

Please come back next time for the next episode of The Generations Project.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪