John De-Burt and his wife, Mary (Seaworth) are claimed to have made the first settlement by Euro-Americans west of the Susquehanna River, when they settled in what is present-day Southampton Township (near the town of Chaneysville) in 1710. A land warrant taken out by Michael Dibert in 1766 claims that the tract of land being warranted was "the land my Father returned to, which was his Father's settlement". Michael was a grandson of John and Mary De-Burt. According to research performed by a descendant of John and Mary, they were massacred by Indians, along with seven of their twelve children, in 1732. The surviving five children made their way back to relatives in Virginia.
Charles Christopher Dibert was one of the five Dibert survivors. While in Virginia, he married a cousin, Eve Elizabeth Dubert and they gave birth to Michael. It is believed that the family of Charles and Eve Dibert moved back into Bedford County around 1740, and there gave birth to four more children. The father, Charles Christopher, was killed by Indians in 1757. His wife, Eve Elizabeth, lived to the age of ninety-five.
