Revised 8/16/2017. Copyright @2017; The following Documentary Timeline has been compiled and created by Paul Rhetts. It may be copied for research purposes; but it may not be reproduced for inclusion in any printed or electronic distribution of any kind without the express written permission of the author. Any requests to use this information should be sent to Paul Rhetts, LPDPress@q.com.
Johann Kaspar (Stover) STOEVER, Sr. (1684-1738) m. (1) Gertraud FRIESSE (1686-1728); (2) Maria Magdalena POOLE (1685- )
s/o Dietrich STOEVER (1653-1720) and Magdalena EBERWAIN (1657-1703)
1-d/o Peter FRIESSE (1686-1728) and Catherine CLAUBERG (1648-1708)
2-d/o unk
p/o Anna Elizabetha Catherine STOEVER (1710-1750)
1-Children:
1. John Casper Jr (1707-1779) m. Maria Catarina Merkel, 1733; Anna Maria Barbara Nagel, 1757
2. Philip Friesenen (1708-1807) m. Maria Elizabeth Keller, 1756
3. Jacob (1715-1767) m. Margaret ___; Catherine Hite Bowman, 1755; Sarah Boone, ?
4. Anna Elizabetha Catherine (1710-1750) m. John Michael Koontz, 1728
5. Johann Michael (1714-1718)
6. Maria Katharine (1717-1724)
7. Eva Maria (1720- )
8. Maria Christina (1722-1724)
9. Christina Katherine (1724- )
2-Children:
10. Elizabetha (1734- )
11. Philip (1734 - )
13 Jan 1684 Johann Kaspar (Stover) STOEVER, Sr. born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany [The first spiritual inspiration among the early congregations of Lutherans in Page Valley probably came from the Rev. John Casper Stoever, Sr. Born Jan. 13, 1684 or 1685 in Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany, Stoever was the son of Deitrich and Magdalena Eberwein Stoever. The grandson of the Rev. Andrew Eberwien, it seemed inevitable that John Casper would play a role in the Lutheran Church. By the time Stoever was nearly 35-years-old in 1720, he moved to Annweiler in the Hardt Mountains in Bavaria.
1686 Gertraud FRIESSE b. at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany (one source says 1687); died 1728
19 Jan 1687 Gertraud FRIESSE baptized at Solingen, Rheinland [FHL#176230 lists her parents as Peter Friesse and Catharina Clauberg]
1689 Maria Magdalena POOLE born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
nd John Casper Stoever, the elder, received his education at the University of Gussin, Grand Duchy of Baden. His records were kept in German, English, French, Dutch, Hebrew and Latin, have been preserved.
betw 1704-1707 married (1) Gertraudt Freisenen at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
21 Dec 1707 son Rev John Casper STOEVER Jr born at Ludorf, Solingen Amt, Germany; died 13 May 1779 at Cleona, Lebanon County, Pennsylvania; married Maria Caterina MERCKEL 8 Apr 1733 at Annville, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania [Will of John Caspar Stoever, 1739. Will Book F, pp. 126-128, Philadelphia, Pa. For English translation, see Will Book, No. 1, Orange County, Virginia, pp. 84-89. The date of the translation at Orange should be 1739 instead of 1738. fide History of Madison County, VA] [immigrated to Philadelphia in 1733 to Germanna. Johann Jr. was ordained as a minister April 8, 1733, and took over his fathers ministry. He was the first German Lutheran Minister to be ordained in America. On the same day as his ordination he married Catherine Merckling (MERKEL), daughter of Christian Merckling and Mary Catherine, and born in 1715 in Lambshein in the Palatinate. Earl Town remained the center of his pastoral duties until 1742 when he relocated to Lebanon Township, Lancaster County, PA. Here, he continued with his ministry, but with several others formed the Lebanon Land Company, purchasing large tracts of land. Some of that land was later deeded to the Evangelical Lutheran Church, called Salem Church. He is described as ...a well-dressed colonial pastor and an educated man full of energy and ambition [but]...his manner was sometimes violent and rough. He started numerous churches and accumulated a large amount of wealth. He served as scribe for the people on civil matters, such as deeds; many of the old deeds of Lancaster County are in his handwriting. In 1762, he was authorized by the government to issue marriage licenses and then to perform the marriages. Stoever died 13 May 1779. He was buried in the cemetery of Hill Lutheran Church, Lebanon Co, PA. He was born at Luedorf in Amt Salinger Duchy of Berg Germany baptism sponsors Casper Stoever and Johann Christopher Ederwein. John was a brilliant child. He read German, perfectly at age of 6. Studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and French. On 8 Apr 1733 he was ordained in the ministry. His work as pastor was of great value and is recorded in the biographical works of the Lutheran Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John Casper Sr. and Jr. were among the earliest emigrants from the Duchy of Berg Germany to gain prominence in the North American church. John Casper Stoever Jr. formed the Lutheran congregation at Muddy Creek New Holland Brickersville and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In his personal folio of 553 pages originally bound in ornamental pigskin, printed as early as 1538 title page was missing, but its contents revel it was a collection of writings of Martin Luther. John Casper Stoever Jr. and Maria Catarina were parents of eleven children. [John Casper Stoever the younger. Lutheran. According to his autobiography, was born December 21, 1707, at Luedorff, Berg, Lower Palatinate. Son of John Casper Stoever the elder. Studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French and theology under a succession of private teachers, including his father and four pastors, one of whom was Valentine Kraft. Arrived in Philadelphia September 11, 1728, in company with his father. After one signature to the required oaths, there is the abbreviation "Miss.," while after the other there is "S.S. Theol. Stud." They arrived just thirty days after the death of Anthony Jacob Henkel. In his autobiography, Stoever wrote that, during the voyage down the Rhine and across the ocean, he had preached on Sundays and that, upon his arrival in Pennsylvania, he had continued to do so. Taken literally, these words mean that there was no break in this activity on his part, and that Stoever became a preacher in the Pennsylvania field--if not a pastor--in September 1728. Given the recent death of Henkel, there was a pressing need (and it was also a growing need) for both preaching and administration of the sacraments. Probably Stoever did not begin his private or personal register of baptisms and marriages, in the form in which we now have it, until after 1740, about the time he began opening registers for several of his congregations. The earliest baptism he entered--though not necessarily the first which he performed--was dated November 19, 1729. Between then and December 1731 he performed fifty-nine which appear in the register. The earliest marriage entered--though again not necessarily the first performed--was dated March 18, 1730. He recorded ten marriages performed in that year and an equal number in 1731. There are no lists of communicants and confirmands in his private record. It is possible that he did not begin administering communion and confirming until after he was ordained, but the heading of his marriage register demonstrates the position he believed he held in the spring of 1730: "Record of persons united in Matrimony by me, John Casper Stoever, Evangelical Lutheran Minister in Pennsylvania, Anno 1730." Sought to regularize his ministry by receiving ordination. The Swedish Lutheran clergy refused him, arguing that they had no authority from their church in Europe for such an act. Nor did they offer to seek the necessary permission to examine and ordain him, as they might well have done. Stoever next turned to Daniel Falckner, pastor in New Jersey, who in 1731 listened to him preach a sermon and then also refused his request. Shortly before this, and after an irregular ministry of three years, Philip Boehm had secured the assistance of Dutch Reformed pastors in New York in obtaining his ordination in 1729 according to established Reformed procedures. Probably Stoever knew that there was no possibility of similar help for him from the Lutheran pastor in New York, William Christopher Berkenmeyer, to whom an unordained man performing pastoral acts in places to which he was not regularly called was anathema. About this time there is an unexplained gap in the entries in Stoever's register. No baptisms were recorded between March 1732 and January 1733, and no marriages between May 1732 and April 1733. By the time the entries resumed at the normal level later in the year, Stoever had achieved his objective. On April 8, 1733 Christian Schulz, who had arrived in Philadelphia about six months earlier, ordained both Stoevers, father and son, to the ministry. The ceremony took place in the barn at Providence in which the congregation was worshiping at the time. The father, whose whereabouts between 1728 and 1733 are still not entirely accounted for, then returned to his Virginia congregation. The younger Stoever may have promised Schulz to serve his three congregations until his return from a trip to Europe in search of financial and other help. Married April 8, 1733, on the day of his ordination, Maria Catharine Merkel (1715-1795). They had eleven children. Schulz's departure for Europe in 1733 and his failure to return left Stoever the only ordained German Lutheran pastor in Pennsylvania until the arrival in August 1742 of his former teacher, Valentine Kraft. "At the present time," wrote the representatives of Schulz's congregations in 1739, "there is not one German Lutheran preacher in the whole land except Casper Stoever, who is now sixty English miles distant from Philadelphia." Schulz's three congregations, which united to send him to Europe in 1733, were Philadelphia, New Hanover, and Providence. Stoever served them for two years. For Philadelphia he began two registers in 1733. His last recorded communion in the provincial capital occurred in June 1735. Sometime after he cast his private register into its present form, Stoever added to the record by entering the name of a place (not necessarily an organized congregation) with which he identified the recipients of his pastoral acts. Among the places named for the years before he withdrew from the three congregations were Germantown, Goshenhoppen, Maxatawny, Manatawny, Colebrookdale, Oley, and Moselem. In or about 1735 Stoever moved the center of his activity into the Conestoga settlement. On March 7 of that year (1734 by the Old Style calendar), the proprietors granted him a warrant for 200 acres on a branch of Mill creek in Lancaster county. The survey made on May 10, 1736 enclosed a tract of 295 acres, for which Stoever secured a patent deed on November 11, 1741. (Lancaster Warrant S-85; Copied Survey C-182, p. 186; Patent A-9, p. 474, BLR). This land was located a short distance south and west of the present Lutheran church in New Holland. Stoever's pastoral activity in Conestoga began as early as 1730. He was instrumental in organizing four congregations in the settlement at some time between 1730 and 1743. These were, with the approximate period of his pastorate in each case, Muddy Creek (c. 1733-1759), Earl township (c. 1733-1744), Lancaster (c. 1733-1742), and Warwick (c. 1743-1754). The beginnings of Stoever's labors here coincided roughly with those of the Reformed Conrad Templeman, who explained to the Holland fathers in 1733 how the Reformed in the Conestoga settlement had begun meeting for worship in 1725, how Philip Boehm came to administer the sacraments, and how the steady growth of the settlement had led to the formation of six preaching places, or congregations. Stoever may have assisted in a similar development among the Lutherans in the Conestoga settlement. Along with eight other residents of Lancaster county, Stoever was naturalized by the act of March 29, 1735 and thus acquired "all rights, privileges and advantages of natural-born subjects" of the province of Pennsylvania. In 1740 Parliament passed a law making it possible for provincial courts to grant British citizenship to foreigners. John Casper Stoever of Lancaster county took advantage of this statute and was naturalized on September 24, 1741. (NFP, p. 17) While living in Conestoga, Stoever also preached in the Tulpehocken settlement, where his activity at Reed's church had begun about 1735. His work there was characterized by frequent contention and several resorts to the civil authorities by both friends and foes. His supporters withdrew from Reed's in 1742 and began building Christ, Tulpehocken. Before the church was completed, however, they quarreled with their pastor and dismissed him. Nevertheless, Stoever's presence and influence in and near this settlement continued to the end of his life. At one time or another he was pastor at Little Tulpehocken (1742-1760s, 1774-1779), Northkill, Blue Mountain, and Atolheo (1746-1757). As early as 1735, Stoever began crossing the Susquehanna river to perform pastoral acts in the Kreutz Creek and Codorus settlements. He began a register for the Codorus Lutherans in 1741 and entered about 200 baptisms before withdrawing two years later. Beginning in 1735, prompted in all probability by his father's absence from his Virginia parish, he extended his visits west of the river to include the Conewago and Monocacy settlements as well as Hebron and other places in Virginia. During the next seven years he followed this route abut twice annually, and extended his ministrations to non-Germans. For example, in 1735 and 1737 he baptized five children of Thomas Cresap, an agent of the Maryland proprietors who figured prominently in the Maryland-Pennsylvania border conflicts then raging in York county. A second important move for Stoever took place in or about 1743. On June 6 of that year he sold the property on Mill Creek. (Lancaster County Deed N, p. 448). On March 6, 1744 (1743 by the Old Style calendar) the proprietors granted him a warrant for 300 acres in Lebanon township, now in Lebanon county. On October 2, 1745 they issued a second warrant for 100 acres for "an addition to his other Land Situate in Lebanon Township." The interest and quitrent for the land covered by the first warrant were scheduled to begin in 1737, which means that either Stoever or someone else had begun to improve it about that time. The survey made on April 2, 1745 for both warrants included 376 acres 104 perches along the Quitopahilla creek, for which Stoever secured a patent deed on December 22, 1752. (Lancaster Warrants S-353 and S-450; Copied Survey A-1, p. 282; Patent A-17, p. 224, BLR) This land was located in the Quitopahilla settlement, between Annville and Lebanon, and about twenty-five miles northwest of his first farm. Stoever's Reformed colleague and friend in Conestoga, Conrad Templeman, took up land and moved into the area at about the same time. While Stoever continued to serve some of his congregations in Conestoga and Tulpehocken, the move into the Quitopahilla settlement meant an eventual, significant rearrangement in his parish. Probably about 1740, Stoever had organized the Lutherans in a union church at Quitopahilla and about 1752 he organized Bindnagel's both of which congregations he was serving when he died in 1779. If there was a Lutheran church at Swatara, he was undoubtedly its pastor. In any event, he did serve two congregations which were successors to Swatara: Fredericksburg (c. 1766-c.1774) and Jonestown (c.1765-1779). There may have been a third such congregation: Ziegel, which he served from about 1765 to about 1774. Beginning about 1750, there was a church named Grubben, near Lebanon, of which he was the Lutheran pastor. When the town of Lebanon was laid out and settled, he became pastor of the Lutheran congregation there. Although he continued to serve it from its organization until his death, there was almost continuous division among the members, and Stoever often had to share the pulpit with other pastors. There is evidence that in the 1730s and 1740s Stoever had a conception of and concern for a developing Lutheran church in Pennsylvania. The wide extent of his activity is such evidence. In addition, he did try to interest at least one religious leader in Europe, John Philip Fresenius, in sending ministers and other forms of help for the Pennsylvania field. After the death of Casper Leitbecker in 1738, he may have had a part in trying to persuade Bernard van Dieren to come to Tulpehocken. For a few years after Valentine Kraft came into Pennsylvania in 1742, he and Stoever tried to cooperate with each other and several other ministers in a joint effort to improve conditions, but they accomplished little. Kraft and Stoever probably ordained David Candler for the work west of the Susquehanna river, but unfortunately the latter died the next year. Clearly, Stoever was not as successful as Philip Boehm who, once he secured regular ordination, worked indefatigably against heavy odds to interest a European church in committing substantial aid to the Pennsylvania Reformed, and who kept at it until such aid was forthcoming. The man who brought substantial help to the Lutherans was Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, who arrived in late 1742 with a regular call to the three congregations in the Philadelphia area which Stoever had left seven years before. The two men, who were about the same age, developed an immediate dislike for each other. As early as January 1743, Muhlenberg wrote in his journals that "a certain man, named Stoever, who calls himself a pastor, slandered Mr. Zigenhagen and me to one of our deacons." (MJ 1:84) Four years later, for reasons unknown, Muhlenberg wrote Stoever a most presumptuous letter, stating that "it has been my desire that Your Reverence might be a useful tool in our church in Pennsylvania," but for that to happen, "by means of a real, inner conversion of heart," he would have to "repair the manifold evils which you have introduced among the unconverted, distracted youth, partly on account of incompetence for your high and important office." He hoped that Stoever would "proceed honestly to acknowledge the countless mass of sins which you have heaped up, partly in your own person and partly in connection with the office which you have assumed, and you will repent of them as sins." Following repentence, he promised "we shall offer Your Reverence our assistance in every possible way and acknowledge and receive you as our brother and colleague." Muhlenberg also proposed that Stoever undertake an extensive course of reading in theology and church history, offering to lend him the necessary books, some of whose titles he included in his letter. (Quoted in Lutheran Church Quarterly 21(1948)::180-182) Apparently the Hallensians were not satisfied with the progress of Stoever's rehabilitation by the time of the first ministerium in 1748, at which one of the topics discussed was "why other so-called preachers, as Stoever, Streiter, Andreae, and Wagner were not invited." (DH, p. 11) Two years later, partly because of the advice given him by his father-in-law, Conrad Weiser, who was well-acquainted with Stoever, Muhlenberg was ready to invite him to the forthcoming meeting. But, if we can believe his journals at this point, his colleagues insisted that the invitation must be for an informal conference after the meeting, an arrangement which Stoever understandably rejected. In recounting these events in his journals, Muhlenberg came about as close as he ever did to showing an appreciation for the pioneer work of his colleague. "Mr. Stoever, in the first years of his ministry, before there was any other preacher here, devoted a great deal of diligence and labor to his ministry," he wrote, "consequently his honorable life in the early years and his dishonorable life in recent years up here and farther down in the country are almost balanced in the eyes of the simple country people." (MJ 1:243) The doubts were not all on one side. In 1753 Fresenius informed Gotthilf August Francke that Stoever had written to him several times, asking whether he and Tobias Wagner "should connect themselves with the men sent out from Halle," since "the people called the Halle men Pietists and Moravians" and they themselves had questions about their orthodoxy." (Quoted in Lutheran Church Review 12 (1893):187-188). When, after a hiatus of six years, the ministerium was revived in 1760, and Wagner had returned to Europe, Stoever put in an appearance at the meeting as an uninvited guest--a clear indication of his dissatisfaction with an independent ministry. Finally, in 1763 his name was placed on the roll. Between 1763 and 1773, when he last attended, Stoever was present for six of the seven ministerium meetings for which minutes or other records have been preserved. Relations between him and the Hallensians appeared at last to have become genuinely warm. When Muhlenberg visited him near Lebanon in 1769, he said he was "entertained in Christian and hospitable fashion," even though he arrive late at night and had to rouse the Stoevers out of bed. After examining his host's library, Muhlenberg marveled at finding "a collection of theological books, both new and old, such as I had not expected to find in a remote country district." (MJ 2:421) Yet, when Muhlenberg prepared a lengthy letter to Halle in 1778, describing the conditions of the Halle missionaries and the other pastors then associated with them in the ministerium, he ignored Stoever entirely. Strange as it seems, there is simply no mention of his name. Muhlenberg summed up what may well have been his conviction all along when he wrote in 1780, after Stoever's death, that "as long as the old preacher, Mr. Stoever, was living, he was prejudiced against the Halle Ministerium." (MJ 3:377) After joining the ministerium, Stoever continued to make changes in his parish. From about 1763 to 1765 he served Heidelbergtown or Schaefferstown. In 1768, at the request of the ministerium, he took over four congregations previously served by Theophilus Engelland (Bishop's, Hill or Maxe, Hummelstown, and Middletown) and served until other arrangements could be made for them in 1770. Even in the last years of his life, he was called back to congregations which he had prevously served: to Little Tulpehocken (1774-1779), Hill or Maxe (1776-1779) and Warwick (1777-1779). In addition to his extensive and continuing pastoral activity, Stoever was also a farmer, miller, town proprietor, and man of substance. One of the things Muhlenberg noted in his journal that he had learned about Stoever in the year 1749-1750 was that he was "in a position to serve [congregations] without necessary support because he has considerable means of his own." (MJ 1:243) When the original promoters of the new town of Lebanon went bankrupt and the sheriff sold the rights in 1763, Stoever became one of the new proprietors. In 1771 young Frederick Muhlenberg, who was then serving country congregations in the vicinity, called on Stoever in Lebanon, only to find him in a small house, collecting ground rent. They talked at some length. "While we were still engaged in conversation," Frederick wrote, "the master of the house returned and brought some money. The conversation between them now turned to acceptance and rejection, the giving of notes, etc., which I did not understand." (Quoted in Lutheran Church Review 25 (1906)::348) For forty-five years, Stoever was the senior German Lutheran pastor in the Pennsylvania field. In his rugged way, he continued to minister year after year. Up to the end, there was usually a party favoring him and another in opposition, a situation to which he must long since have grown accustomed, and perhaps one which he relished. On May 13, 1779 he was fatally stricken while conducting a confirmation service. Two days later he was buried at the Quitopahilla church. The news spread rapidly. On May 16 someone informed Muhlenberg in Philadelphia of what had happened. "Old Pastor Stoeber fell down and gave up the ghost last Ascension Day in the church at Libanon," he wrote in his journal, "just as he was about to examine and confirm a group of young people." (MJ 3:242) Stoever made his will on the day before he died, abundantly endowning his wife and surviving sons and sons-in-law with farms, ground rents, and money. The inventory taken on June 8 showed that his library consisted of at least 170 books, a total which may not have included the German books which were to be divided among his children and the "school Books of different Tongues" which were bequeathed to "the Seminaries at Philadelphia." Ironically, it was eventually decided that the closest thing to "the Seminaries at Philadelphia" was the St. Michael's and Zion's congregation, the citadel which the Hallensians had occupied since 1742.] [John Caspar Stoever, the younger, b. 21 Dec 1707 at Leudorff, Berg, Lower Palatinate, Germany. Immigrated at Philadelphia 11 Sep 1728 in company of elder JCS, and signed arrival documents as a Theological Student. JCS the younger preached regularly and opened registers of pastoral acts in several Lutheran congregations in PA, which included baptisms beginning 19 Nov 1729 and marriages beginning 18 Mar 1730. Was ordainge 8 Apr 1733 by Rev. Christian Schulz. The same day the younger JCS married Maria Catharine Merkel (1715-1795), and they had eleven children. From 1733 to 1742 JCS the younger was the only ordained Lutheran pastor in PA, and the registers he kept show he performed pastoral acts in many congregations scattered from Philadelphia to as far west in PA as Oley in Berks Co. In 1735 JCS the younger moved to live in the Conestoga settlement and owned 200 acres on a branch of Mill Creek in Lancaster Co. The land was south and west of the present Lutheran church in New Holland. JCS was naturalized by the act of 29 Mar 1735 and gained the rights and privileges of one born in the Province of Pennsylvania. In 1740 British Parliament passed a law permitting the courts in the provinces to grant British citizenship to foreigners living in the provinces, and JCS the younger applied and was granted this status on 24 Sep 1741. JCS the younger began ministry west of the Susquehanna River in 1735 and continued southward into Monacy and Hebron parishes in Maryland and Virginia during the period that JCS the elder was on his trip to Europe. On 6 Jun 1743 JCS younger sold his property on Mill Creek and obtained title to 300 acres in Lebanon Twp., now in Lebanon Co., and in 1745 another 100 adjacent acres was accessed. JCS younger enjoyed income from numerous enterprises and became a man of considerable wealth. He was fatally striken during a service on 13 May 1779 and was buried two days later at the Quitopahilla church. His estate was inventoried on 8 Jun 1779, and the estate went to his surviving wife, sons, and sons-in-law. Married (2) Anna Maria Barbara NAGEL on 26 Apr 1757 at Lebanon, PA [Military service: buried at Hill Church Cemetery in No Annville, Lebanon, PA (doc)] [Lancater PA Will Abstracts: Image 206: John Casper #943 (doc)]
1710 son Jacob STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
1710 dau Anna Elizabetha Catherine STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany; died 1748 at Virginia; married John Michael KUNTZE 25 Jun 1738 at Earltown, Berks, PA [The roots of Elder John Koontz were also deeply entwined in the history of the Germanna Colony and early German-American religion. The first generation born in Virginia, on March 26, 1739, Elder Koontz's father, John Cuntz, had arrived in Philadelphia on Nov. 30, 1730, aboard the Joyce. His mother, Elizabeth Catherine Stoever Cuntz, was the daughter of the Rev. John Casper Stoever, Sr. Not unlike his grandfather, Elder Koontz also had a greater calling for religion in Virginia. While originally Lutheran, Koontz was highly influenced by the Baptist revival that spread like wildfire throughout Virginia in the latter half of the 18th century. While living near Front Royal and attending one of these revivals, Koontz was so moved that he traveled to Fauquier County for baptism in December of 1768. Returning to the Shenandoah Valley, Koontz began teaching the gospel according to the Baptist faith in the area of Mill Creek. Preaching in both German and English, Koontz's sermons were moving and eloquent enough to convert many, including Martin Kauffman and many of his Mennonite flock. Reportedly, his efforts to convert so many subjected Koontz on more than one occasion to beatings by "ruffians" of the Massanutten neighborhood. Koontz reportedly preached to his Massanutten flock at Mill Creek Church from 1772 until 1824. Elder Koontz died less than a decade later between December 1831 and April 25, 1832. The controversy over the death date stems from the date of probate on his last will and testament. Buried in the Shuler-Koontz cemetery within site of his home near Alma, Koontz's stone was removed in later years to the Seekford cemetery. The old homeplace of Elder Koontz, better known as the Shuler-Koontz homestead, deteriorated significantly in this century and collapsed in the 1960s.
1712 dau Eva Christina STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany; married Johann Jacob NEFF on 11 May 1742 at Warwick, Lancaster, PA
1714 son Johann Michael STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
26 Nov 1717 dau Maria Katherina STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
1717 pastor Of the Hebron Church founded by the 1717 Germanna Colony, Lutheran educator and pastor
13 Apr 1722 dau Maria Christina STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
27 Jun 1724 Christine Katharina STOEVER born at Frankenburg, Hesse, Germany
15 Jun 1728 immigrated to Philadelphia; left Germany with his son, Johann Casper ST…VER, (II), and daughter, Anna Elisabetha Catherina ST…VER in the spring of 1728. They arrived in Philadelphia on September 11, 1728 aboard the ship James Goodwill. John Casper the younger and Elizabeth Catherine. Arrived in Philadelphia September 11, 1728, accompanied by his son. After one signature to the required oaths, there is the abbreviation "Miss.," while after the other there is "S.S. Theol. Stud." Accepting a call to be minister at the Germanna Colony of Virginia, Stoever arrived in Philadelphia on Sept. 11, 1728, on the ship James Goodwill. Soon after arriving in Pennsylvania, the Rev. Christian Schultz ordained both John Casper and his son, John Casper Stoever, Jr., on April 8, 1733. The elder Stoever became the first pastor of the Hebron Lutheran Church, founded by the first Germanna colonists in 1717 and the first permanent Lutheran Church in the United States. His son became one of the most prominent Lutheran ministers in Pennsylvania during the 18th century. [JOHNSON, MRS. ARTA F., editor. "Immigrant Ancestors." In The Palatine Immigrant. Vol. 9:1 (Summer 1983), pp. 28-33; vol. 9:2 (Autumn 1983), pp. 90-95; vol. 9:3 (Winter 1984), pp. 137-142; vol. 9:4 (Spring 1984), pp. 169-174: Wife Gertraud; Child Johann Caspar] [BOYER, CARL, 3RD, editor Ship Passenger Lists, Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825). Newhall, Calif.: the editor, 1980. 289p. 4th pr. 1986. Reprint. Family Line Publications, Westminster, MD, 1992. P.117] [BOYER, CARL, 3RD, editor Ship Passenger Lists, Pennsylvania and Delaware (1641-1825). Newhall, Calif.: the editor, 1980. 289p. 4th pr. 1986. Reprint. Family Line Publications, Westminster, MD, 1992. P.33] [JOHNSON, MRS. ARTA F., editor. "Immigrant Ancestors." In The Palatine Immigrant. Vol. 4:1 (Summer 1978), pp. 25-26; vol. 4:2 (Fall 1978), pp. 65-67; vol. 4:3 (Winter 1979), pp. 102-105; vol. 4:4 (Spring 1979), pp. 152-155. P153] [HALL, CHARLES M. "Pal-Index": A Surname Index of Eighteenth-Century Immigrants. Salt Lake City: Global Research Systems, 1979. P 112] [REMBE, HEINRICH. "Emigration Materials from Lambsheim in the Palatinate." Translated and edited by Don Yoder. In Pennsylvania Folklife, vol. 23:2 (Winter 1973-74), pp. 40-48.] [ROBERTS, CHARLES R. "Germanic Immigrants Named in Early Pennsylvania Ship Lists." In The Pennsylvania German Society Proceedings and Addresses, vol. 39 (1928), p.8] [TEPPER, MICHAEL, editor. New World Immigrants: A Consolidation of Ship Passenger Lists and Associated Data from Periodical Literature. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979. 568p. and 602p. Repr. 1980. Vol. 2. P.4] ["NATURALIZATIONS 1740-1773, LANCASTER COUNTY [Pennsylvania]." In Lancaster Legacy (Southwest Pennsylvania Genealogical Services). Vol. 3:4 (Mar. 1986), pp. 23-32]
1730 married (2) Maria Magdalena POOLE at New Bern, Craven County, North Carolina [The elder JCS married the second time to woman named Maria Magdalena who had lived in North Carolina. In 1733 received a call from the Hebron Lutheran Church in Madison, VA. In 1734 made agreement with his estranged wife that she should move from North Carolina with their son and come to live in Virginia. Later in 1734 he led a delegation from the Hebron Church to seek funds in Europe. Successfully collected money, books, and communion vessels in England and in Germany. Also persuaded a theological student in Germany named George Samuel Klug to come to VA as Stoever's assistant pastor. The elder JCS remained in Germany studying theology until 1739, at which date he began a return trip but died at sea. His will was probated at Philadelphia on 20 March 1739 and later also in Orange Co. VA. His will named his namesake, John Caspar Stoever, as executor, which adds credence to the idea that JCS the younger, who ministered in PA, was his son.
1730 dau Elizabetha STOEVER born
1734 son Philip STOEVER born
8 Apr 1733 Both Sr and Jr ordained as Lutheran ministers on April 8,1733, in Trapp, PA; this was also the marriage date for Jr. [between 1733 and 1779, John Stoever Sr and Jr officated at over 1,429 marriages and recorded over 1,600 baptisms in Lebanon, Earltown, Cocalico, Swatara, Hanover, Paxtang, Leacock, Donegal, Lancaster, Bern, Bethel, Moden Creek, areas] Was ordained on April 8, 1733, together with his son, at Providence, Montgomery county, PA, by John Christian Schulz. Pastor and people soon concluded that they needed outside help if they were to build a church and a school, and if they were to be able to support their own pastor while still paying taxes to help maintain the established Anglican church. They decided that Stoever and two laymen should go to Europe seeking funds. Obtained a letter of recommendation from Governor William Gooch on Sept. 18, 1734, and soon thereafter departed. In England and on the Continent secured contributions in the form of money, books, and communion vessels, all possibly worth as much as 3000 pounds. Also persuaded George Samuel Klug, a theological student, to accept a call as Stoever's assistant. This was the most successful of the three efforts undertaken about this time by German church people in the Pennsylvania field to solicit help from European sources (the others being those led by the Reformed George Michael Weiss and the Lutheran Christian Schulz). One of the laymen returned to Virginia, but the other remained in Europe while Stoever studied theology with a distant relative, John Philip Fresenius. "After finishing his collection trip," the latter wrote some years later, "he came to my house at Darmstadt, said that he keenly felt his want of better information in doctrinal and practical theology, and requested me to keep him during the winter and instruct him in those branches in which he was deficient. I gladly acceded to his request. He was a close student, and learned a good deal." (Quoted in Lutheran Church Review 12, 1893: 187-188)
Mar 1734 Returned to Virginia and began to prepare for life in a parish. In March 1734 made an agreement with his estranged wife by which she promised to leave North Carolina and come, with their infant son, to live in Virginia. In turn, he promised to support her adequately and, after making some provision for the children of his first wife, to make her and her children sole heirs of his estate.
1735 He went to Germany in 1735 to raise money for the church and died on the return voyage in 1738. [In the original publication of his baptisms and marriages published in 1896, it says "Rev. Johann Casper Stoever died at his residence, west of Lebanon, Pa, May 13th, 1779, and was buried at Hill Church, north of west of Lebanon, Pa.]
1738 Johann Sr died, at sea returning from Germany. John Caspar Stoever (III) was actively involved in the local community.
20 Mar 1739 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania [Will Probated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Orange County, Virginia] Stoever Sr began the return voyage early in 1739, but died at sea. His will was probated at Philadelphia March 20, 1739 and later also in Orange county, VA. He named his son and namesake executor, giving him detailed instructions for fair disposition of the gifts collected in Europe. He also expressed the hope that if the Hebron congregation called his son to be its pastor, he would accept.
May 1739 Pages 238-38. John Gasper Stover Sr. Estate Account, with Col. Henry Willis. May 1739. Balance divided between Mary Magdalene Stover widow, John Gaspar Stover, exr., Eliza. Catherine Countz, Phillip Stover and [____] Stover. £158-13-8¾. Signed by John Grymes, exr. of Henry Willis, John Casper Stover, execr. to my father. Wit: Jonath. Gibson, James Porteus. 25 Nov. 1742. Returned to Court. [Orange County Virginia Will Book 1, Dorman, pg. 46].
27 Aug 1741 Page 170. John Gasper Stover Sr. Estate account. To proving the will in Philadelphia £1.11.6 To translating the will from German to English £1.0.0 John Gaspar Stover, admr. 27 Aug. 1741. Account allowed. [Orange County, Virginia Will Book 1, Dorman, pg. 34].
20 Sep 1741 John Casper Stoever Jr naturalized in Lancaster, PA [GIUSEPPI, MONTAGUE SPENCER, editor. Naturalizations of Foreign Protestants in the American and West Indian Colonies (Pursuant to Statute 13 George II, c.7). (Publications of the Huguenot Society of London, 1921, vol. 24.) Manchester [England]: The Huguenot Society of London, 1921. 196p. Reprinted by Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, 1964. Repr. 1979. P.17]
31 Oct 1763 John Caspar Stoever Jr was a Lutheran pioneer. He once owned part of Lebanon and acted as the controlling member of the Lebanon Land Company, which was purchased with 6 other members on October 31, 1763. The Stoevers, who were active figures in colonial Pennsylvania missionary enterprise, were natives of the Rhine Valley, Germany. On September 11,1728 they traveled on the "James Goodwill" and arrived in Philadelphia. As early as 1737, he was warranted 300 acres of land situated between the present Borough of Cleona and the City of Lebanon. On this immense tract he selected a spot along the Quittapahilla (meaning "Snake-hole") Creek, where he built his house. Being of commodious dimensions, forty by sixty feet with stone walls three feet thick, served three purposes: first, as a domicile; second, as an asylum of refuge from the surprising incursions of the Indians; and thirdly, as a mill where for forty years he ground the neighbors' grain.
1768 John Caspar Stoever Jr was elected as overseer of the poor for Bethel Township in 1768.
1772 John Caspar Stoever Jr was elected as constable
25 Aug 1777 John Caspar Stoever Jr received his official military commission on the 25th of August 1777.
1782 John Caspar Stoever Jr elected overseer of the roads. When war with England became imminent, militia units were formed in Lebanon County. John Caspar Stoever was elected as the Captain of the First Company of Colonel Philip Greenawalt's Battalion.
19 Nov 1777 John Caspar Stoever Jr took the oath of allegiance to the state of Pennsylvania
1779 Will of John Caspar Stoever Jr: In the name of God. Amen. I, John Caspar Stoever of Lebanon Township, Lancaster County, State of Pennsylvania, minister of the gospel being at the present time very sick and weak in body, but of perfect mind, memory and understanding, thanks be given to God. Calling unto mind the mortality of my body, do make and ordain this last will and testament in manner and form following, that is to say, I recommend my soul into the hands of the Almighty God, that gave it, and my body I recommend to the earth to be buried in decent Christian burial, and as touching such worldly estate where with it has pleased God to bless me in this life, I give devise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form. First: I give and bequeath to Catherine, my dearly beloved wife, two-eighths part of the quit rents due me from the town of Lebanon yearly, and every year during her natural life after my decease provided she paying the taxes and quit rents accruing thereon. Secondly: I will and order that my said wife Catherine may live and possess the two locked rooms in the upper left, and the kitchen, and sufficient room in the cellar in the same house where I now live quietly and unmolested during her natural life, as also the use of the stable for one or two sows, and likewise the use of the garden next to the house, and the sole and whole use of the linen and wool now in her possession, and the sole and whole use of the kitchen ware; Also I bequeath unto my beloved wife Catherine two cows and one wedder, two beds, bedsteads and curtains, two locked chests, two tables, two looking glasses, one desk, six chairs, one spinning wheel, all the pewter in the kitchen, and a dresser and two pipe stoves, during her natural life besides all her clothes of which she shall have her full liberty to dispose and give to whom she pleases before her decease. Item: I give and bequeath part of the plantation whereon I now live containing one hundred and ninety-one acres and allowances to my loving son Adam, to his heirs and assigns forever for the consideration of fifteen hundred pounds, old money as mentioned in the Almanac, viz: one half soe for three pounds and a dollar at seven and six pence, and so likewise with the Spanish and French Gold on condition that he, my son Adam, his heirs and assigns, can pay yearly, on the first day of May unto Caspar Stoever, his certain Attorney, heirs and assigns, or in case of his dying to his after named Executors, in the first five years yearly fifty pounds and in the other five years yearly seventy five pounds and the remainder of the fifteen hundred pounds after that yearly, one hundred pounds until the whole is paid, and that all in Silver or Gold according to the old rate, besides to his mother ten pounds hard money at the signing of the deed as a reward. Item: I give and bequeath to my beloved son John, his heirs and assigns, forever a plantation joining to my son Adam's land, containing one hundred and eighty six acres land and allowances for the consideration of thirteen hundred pounds, old money, as mentioned in the Almanac, viz: one half soe for three pounds, and a dollar for seven shillings and six pence and so likewise the French and Spanish Gold, on condition that he my son John his heirs and assigns can pay yearly on the first day of May unto Caspar Stoever, his certain Attorney, heirs and assigns, or in case of his dying, to his after named Executors in the first five years, yearly fifty pounds and in the other five years, yearly seventy five pounds and the remainder of the thirteen hundred pounds after that yearly one hundred pounds till the whole is paid, and that all in Silver and Gold according to the old rate besides to his mother ten pounds hard money at the signing as a reward. Item: I give to my living son Tobias his heirs and assigns forever a plantation adjoining to the both aforesaid plantations containing about two hundred and sixteen acres, for the consideration of eleven hundred pounds old money, as mentioned in the Almanac, viz: one half soe for three pounds, and a dollar at seven shillings six pence and so likewise with the Spanish and French Gold, on condition that he my son Tobias, his heirs and assigns can pay yearly on the first of May unto Caspar Stoever, his certain Attorney, assigns or in case of his dying, to his after named Executors, in the first five years, yearly fifty pounds, and in the other five years, yearly seventy five pounds, and the remainder of the eleven hundred pounds after that yearly one hundred pounds till the whole is paid and that all in Silver or Gold, according to the old rate, besides to his mother ten pounds hard money at the signing of the deed as a reward. As also that he my said son Tobias shall give a good and lawful writing to me and my son Adam's heirs forever a right of the creek running thru his land for watering my meadow and hereafter my son Adam's meadow and his assigns. Item: It is my will that my three beloved sons, viz: Adam John and Tobias retain in their own hands each of them the sum of six hundred pounds for their portions or shares of the said premises they may reduce each of them six hundred pounds of the whole, one hundred pounds there from conditioned by each, to give yearly to his mother certain sums of necessaries during the course of her life as mentioned in another piece of writings. And whereas my eldest son John Caspar Stoever hath some time ago some land of his father and agreed for certain good causes, by certain writings to give up his right to prerogative as the first born having no further demand to make than two hundred pounds hard money which are to be paid from the first gains coming in. Peter Elser my son-in-law is to have likewise five hundred pounds in hard money of which he has received already three hundred pounds, has also no further demand upon my estate except two hundred pounds which are to be paid so soon as possible, in good lawful bonds signed by the owners of my real estate. Philip Fernsler, my son-in-law is to likewise have five hundred pounds in hard money of which he has received some years ago two hundred pounds, his demand also does not exceed three hundred pounds which is to be paid unto him in lawful bonds as before directed. Peter Yeter my son-in-law shall also be entitled to five hundred pounds hard money of which he has received fifty pounds, remainder also to be paid unto four hundred and fifty pounds which also must be paid in good lawful bonds as before directed. Furthermore, I do give and bequeath unto my youngest son Frederick the corner lot with the house upon it in Lebanon with the benefit of the two eighth parts ground rents belonging to Lebanon as his own property. The organ I bought of Stiegel standing in Wegman's house, one of our horses with the saddle, his bedding table and chairs, the silver spoons we have, and a silver cup, one desk and one looking glass and one bedstead, all the money now in possession, both Congress and hard money, of which mentioned particulars he shall not be master of till he has his full age, which will be in September of the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty and under obligation that from the mentioned money he shall pay the funeral note for his father and mother whenever they are called hence. And if anything remains of household goods and can after my wife's decease the said shall then be sold and be equally divided among all my children or to their representatives, After my decease my oldest son may take the best suit of clothes, the rest of my sons may divide the remainder as equally as they can. All my school books of different tongues I give to the seminary at Philadelphia, the German books shall be equally divided among the children. And there will remain nine hundred and fifty pounds in lawful bonds. It is my will that my beloved wife Catherine, in case the bequeathed ground rents should come to nothing, or the said town of Lebanon should be destroyed by some accident, shall get her living and maintenance out of the aforesaid nine hundred and fifty pounds, but the remainder thereof shall be equally divided among my children after her decease. Also, I will that my hereafter named executor, or two of the survivors of them shall have full power and authority to sign and give lawful deeds for my Estate after my decease, and lastly, I do hereby constitute, name and ordain my beloved wife Catherine executrix and my oldest son John Caspar Stoever and my son-in-law Philip Firnsler Executors of this my last will and testament, and I do hereby utterly disallow and revoke all former wills, testaments, legacies and executors, ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament. In witness here of I have hereunto set my hand and seal this twelfth day of May in the year of our Lord one thousand and seven hundred and seventy nine. Signed, sealed pronounced and declared by the said John Caspar Stoever as his last will and testament in the presence of us. Wit: Samuel Meyley Christopher Ulrich Martin Uhler
1780, 1781, 1782 John Caspar Stoever Jr served as Captain of the Third Company, Second Battalion, Lancaster County Militia, under the command of Col. Thomas Edwards.
1805 John Caspar Stoever Jr and family moved to Montgomery County, Ohio. He and his wife lived on his son's, John Caspar Stoever, (IV), land in a separate house. The family name was starting to make changes in the spelling in this generation.