|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Spouses: | ||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| Notes for Johann Caspar ("Augustine") Stoever | ||||||||||||||||||
| See also Stoever WPD From "German Lutheran and Reformed Churches in the Pennsylvania Field 1717-1793," Vol. 1, by Charles Glatfelter: JOHN CASPER STOEVER the elder. Lutheran. Born 1685 at Frankenberg, Hesse. Was a schoolmaster. Was married and had at least two children: 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." They came just thirty days after the death of Anthony Jacob Henkel. Where the elder Stoever spent the next four years is still a mystery. He may not have stayed in Pennsylvania for very long. Probably spent some time in the German settlement at New Bern, North Carolina. It is certain that his second wife, Maria Magdalena, had lived in North Carolina. Early in 1733 received a call from the Hebron church, in Madison county, Virginia. Was ordained on April 8, 1733, together with his son, at Providence, Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, by John Christian Schulz. 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. 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 September 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) Stoever 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, Virginia. 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. Information found on-line 11/17/1998 indicates that Johann (John Caspar) had five children by his first wife, Gertraudt, and two children by his second wife, Maria Magdalena Poole. Located online 12/28/98: Hebron Lutheran Church. Located just north of Madison, VA, the Hebron Lutheran Church is the oldest continuously operating Lutheran Church in the U.S. and one of a handful of wooden Virginia churches that pre-date the Revolutionary War. It was built in 1740 by the Germanna immigrants of 1717 (the second Germanna Colony). They had moved down to the Madison area from the Germanna settlement (located where Virginia Route 3 crosses the Rapidan River) in about 1726 and took out land patents. They had finally won their freedom from their indenture to Gov. Spotswood, and it was in this area that they began building their lives for themselves and their children. The settlers first built a log chapel on the current site of the church, then set about attracting a minister. Initially they were not successful, and made do with Michael Cook as lay reader. In 1733 they were able to attract Johann Caspar Stoever to be their pastor. They then commenced a fund-raising drive to finance the construction of a real church. Rev. Stoever and two of the immigrants, Michael Smith and Michael Holt, went to Europe to raise money and find an assistant pastor. On both counts they were successful, securing the needed funds and hiring George Samuel Klug. Rev. Stoever died on the return trip, however, leaving the task of building and consecrating the church to Rev. Klug. The church is located on a small rise that affords it a pretty view of the Robinson River and surrounding area. The building had an annex put on around 1800 and it was fitted with a Tannenburg organ from Pennsylvania. The organ, largely unmodified, is still in use today. The church was substantially renovated in 1962. A cemetery dating from 1903 is located in the front of the building. --Germanna Settlers. Due to the prominence of Lt. Governor Alexander Spottswood in American history, much was known of his involvement with the establishment of the Germanna Settlement, but little of the German Settlers who were brought to this area with the First Colony of 1714, the Second Colony of 1717, and later Colonies During the past years, the Germanna Foundation has conducted continuing research regarding these families and their descendants. Through these efforts, significant historic data has been obtained regarding these families who bravely traveled to a new country leaving many of their friends and family behind. Their courage and determination to find a better life for themselves can be shown thorugh the large number of prominent families who have grown from this brave struggle. (The document continues with a map of the original settlement (no mention of John Caspar there) and a list of Germanna Settlers, which does include Rev. John Caspar Stoever of Hebron Church. --This page is the repository for John Blankenbaker's series of short notes on Germanna History, which he has been posting on the Germanna_Colonies Discussion List. --An old German custom of drinks all around was honored in 1734 at the raising of the house for the Rev. Stoever. Michael Clore supplied the brandy and he was reimbursed two shillings and six pence by the church for two quarts of brandy. (Brandy was less expensive than wine.) The custom being honored called for treats to the workmen when the frame of the building is finished. The custom continues unto today in the raising of a flag over the building. --The Rev. Caspar Stover (shown with an umlaut), the first dedicated minister to the Second Colony, wrote in 1738 that the group came from Alsace, Palatinate and neighboring areas. It now appears that Rev. Stover's knowledge of geography was weak, perhaps in part because this region was not his native area. --After one reads and studies the question of why did they come, the first comment is usually, "Why didn't they leave sooner?" and not "Why did they come?" Germany in the first half of the sixteen hundreds was a land torn by war, the Thirty Years War which lasted from 1618 to 1648. All countries of Europe were involved in that they sent armies but Germany was the battlefield. And Germany suffered most of the losses. It is said that areas or regions of Germany were reduced to one-third of their previous populations. Disease was the major reason but this arose from several causes--lack of food, crowded living conditions as civilians moved ahead of the armies, and the level of movement which spread the diseases. Late in the sixteen hundreds and in the early seventeen hundreds, the armies of France ranged over the Palatinate and Baden. Though the area was more restricted than for the Thirty Years War, its intensity was bad. The town of Heidelburg was burned to the ground with only a handful of buildings left standing. (One of the effects of these campaigns was the destruction to the church books and gaps of information in the books.) So "Germany" was not a very peaceful place to live, and a person might well have wished that he were somewhere else. As a consequence of war, there were many migrations of people. Sometimes people moved to get out of the way of the armies. More importantly, after the war, there was vast, underpopulated regions with vacant farms and vacant houses and barns. The call went out, by the rulers, of the favorable conditions that could be had if one moved into their principality. Vast numbers of people did move, across the Germanic regions and from one country to another. Many Swiss Anabaptists moved into Baden and Wuerttemberg (also to Alsace and the Palatinate). Some people moved from the eastern regions such as Austria to the lands along the Rhine. One of the Germanna families who moved from Austria to Germany was the Blankenbrakers (the move may have been motivated by religion as much as anything else since Austria became a Catholic country after the Thirty Years War). All of this movement had an important repercussion in that families were, perhaps unknowingly, being trained to relocate as a means of settling problems. --In the last note, war was mentioned as a contributing factor to the causes of emigration but perhaps more in an indirect way than in a direct way. Today I discuss another unusual factor in the early 1700's which was to have an influence on the early Germanna colonists. The several decade period in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries has been called a little ice age. Temperatures were below the average for many years in a row. The lowest temperatures were reached late in the year of 1708 and continued in the ensuing winter season. The cold weather was in force by the beginning of October, and by November 1 it was said that firewood would not burn in the open air. In January the alcoholic beverages were freezing. Birds on the wing fell dead; saliva congealed before it hit the ground. The rivers were all ice bound. But most surprising, the oceans froze along the coast to the extent that a heavy wagon could travel on the ice. The cold was not just intense, it lasted for several months. Consequences of this cold were many. The grape vines were killed. The trees in the orchards were also killed. The recovery from these adverse affects took years. During the recovery, economic times were hard because incomes were sharply reduced. There was no wine to sell, there was no fruit to sell. Even such industries as iron smelting in the Nassau-Siegen area were hit because they needed trees to make charcoal to run the furnaces and forges. Growing enough trees was always a problem. So even industry felt the multi-year depression which resulted from the cold snap. Briefly, it was hard to make a living in the years following the winter of 1708-1709. This is one of the reasons that the emigration in the spring and summer of 1709 reached epidemic proportions. There were other reasons for the 1709 emigration fever but certainly the weather played a role. Though our Germanna colonists did not leave in 1709, this cold wave had a strong influence on them. The depression-like years of the economy were a factor. There was another factor, perhaps almost as important. Few Germans had been leaving Germany and one reason was that the path had not laid out. No one was familiar with what was required. How much money would it take/ How long would it take? What were the dangers? What would the reception be in America? This all changed in 1709 when lots of Germans did get to America. It could be done, apparently. One just had to take the first steps. John Caspar Stover became pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church (Hebron) in 1733. He did not live long in the community but he had a big impact as he headed the three person team which solicited funds in Europe. Stover came to the colonies through Philadelphia with his son of the same name. Later the senior Stover went to North Carolina and was living there when he joined forces with the Lutheran congregation in the Robinson River community. In the Robinson River Valley, probably in 1732 but perhaps in 1733, a school teacher by the name of Johann Caspar Stover passed through, going from North Carolina where he was teaching, to Pennsylvania, where a son of the same name was a pastor. Whether this was the preferred route for travel or whether he wanted to visit the German community there is unknown. He was probably aware of the community. Any outside stranger who brought news was welcome; this was the principal means by which news was disseminated. The leaders of the Lutheran church, such as it was, made an offer to Stover. Come and be our minister, they told him. Though Stover was an educated man with university training, he was reluctant as he felt he needed more theological training. The community did succeed in getting him to accept their offer. In order that he might begin his duties as soon as possible, they sent him with one of the older members of the congregation, George Sheible, to Pennsylvania, where they found a Lutheran pastor who was willing to ordain Stover. Whether this ordination met all of the specifications normal to the situation is debatable. The congregation was willing to accept the fact that he was ordained. To support Stover, the congregation agreed to make a fund raising effort, to procure a farm for him and to supply him with a house. Andrew Kerker was elected as treasurer and he kept a set of books for this period which have been preserved for us. A few years later, Kerker died and he may have been holding some of the funds. To make a public accounting and to clear his estate of any obligation, this account was filed in the Orange Co. Court House and has been preserved for us. Genealogically, the document is a bust but it does say a lot about life in those times. We will look at some items in it in the following notes. --The church account starts with January 1, 1733. The Germans were used to the new style calendar so this date represents the beginning of the year for them. (The English would have been still calling the year 1732.) During the year of 1733, a total of 56 pounds, 7 shillings, 2-1/2 pence was received. Most of the money was obtained by the collectors who were members of the church and who were paid for this at the rate of 20%. That is, they were allowed to keep one pound for every five they collected. Two of the collectors were the respected members, Ziriachus Fleischmann and Michael Smith. Some of the money was collected at the church services. The first service mentioned is the Second Sunday after Trinity at the first Communion. Presumably by this time, Stover had been ordained. Other offerings were collected at church during the year including one at the Christmas day service. Christmas services were typical regardless of the day of the week that Christmas fell on. Not all of the money came in the form of gifts of cash. Some people donated wares which were sold to the Minister, to Shibley, to Fleischmann and to Kercher. To better understand the monitary sums to be mentioned, during 1734 the church paid John Hoffman one pound, two shillings, and six pence for nine days of carpentry in building the minister's house. Since a pound contains 20 shillings and a shilling contains 12 pence, John Hoffman was being paid two and one-half shillings per day for skilled work. Expenditures during 1733 included six shillings for a Minister in Pennsylvania (it is not clear how they advertised). After they found a minister who would ordain Stover, George Sheible and Stover went to Pennsylvania. Sheible was paid 17 shillings for his expenses. Sheible was also reimbursed one pound and three shillings which he had paid to the Rev. Schultz in Pennsylvania to ordain Stover. Stover's expenses on this trip were one pound and nine shillings. Urban (Robert) Tanner was paid 12 shillings for going to Williamsburg on church business. On the second Sunday after Trinity, when the first communion was held, they used two quarts of wine which cost 12 shillings (therefore one quart was six shillings, or more than two days labor for a skilled workman.) Communion was held three more times in 1733, including at Christmas, and the wine for these communions cost 1 & 8, 3 shillings, and 1 & 9, which probably represents one quart, two quarts and one quart. William Carpenter sold land to the church for the minister's farm. Apparently when the deal was closed, Mrs. Carpenter provided drinks all around and she was reimbursed 18 shillings and 6 pence for this. During 1733, they built a kitchen and a ehn house on the minister's plantation for which they paid 2 pounds and 15 shillings. An items reads, "By paid freight for our Minister moveables." Logically these were Stover's personal effects which were being moved from North Carolina to the community. Legal fees or court costs took 1 pound, 1 shilling and 3 pence to have the deed to the farm recorded. Twice Cook and Smith went to court, perhaps for the deed recording, and they were reimbursed a total of one pound. --Continuing our discussion of the Hebron Chruch account in 1733, one person gave the Minister a piece of linen which was valued at pence less than one pound. This was almost the wage of a carpenter for eight days. Seems expensive though we do not know the size of the linen. A purchase of 10 quire of paper for the use of the church was made for 12 shillings and 6 pence. My dictionary gives two definitions. Using the older definition, one quire was a sheet folded twice to generate eight writing surfaces. Thus, one surface cost about two pence. Or our carpenter friend could have purchased 15 writing surfaces, about eight pieces of paper, for his days' wages. One didn't want to make any mistakes. For unexplained reasons, Michael Willhite was paid one shilling as was John Raussen. A deed for the minister's land cost ten shillings. Michael Cook sold a table for the Minister's house for two shillings and six pence. The contributions fo a few individuals in the neighborhood were specifically noted. They seem not to have been members themselves but may have been married to a member or just wanted to support a church in the neighborhood. John Willers gave two and six, i.e., two shillings and six pence, a day's wages. John Hoffman gave five shillings, two days' wages. His wife was a Lutheran though their children seem to have been raised in the Reformed religion. Richard Bordine also gave two and six (some believe he had married a Tanner girl.) Someone made a contribution of 55 pounds of tobacco which was legal tender in Virginia. Fleischmann bought money scales (for four and six) for use by Smith. This would have been useful in evaluating gold and silver coins, probably from Mexico. Michael Claur made a "present" valued at 18 and one and a half. On the 24th of September in 1734 the books were examined by Michael Cook, Michael Glore, Michael Smith, Andrew Kercher, Hans Zeuche and John Caspar Stover, Minister. Probably the books were balanced at this time because Stover and two members of the congregation were going to Europe on a fund raising trip. If so, then Stover actively ministered to the congregation for about a year and a half. Disbursements during 1734 included Andrew Kercher, Michael Claire, George Utz visiting Fredericksburg for settling accounts and visiting the Court. Their expenses were 12 and nine. Throughout the period, there were purchases of wine for communion services. Blanchenbuchler was repaid for sending a letter on Church business in the amount of 3 and 4. That is, his cost in sending a letter was more than a day's wages. A moajor expenditure throughout this period was the payment to William Carpenter for the land purchased of him. The total was twenty pounds for the farm. The next largest expense was to have planks sawed for the minister's house. This cost six pounds and five shillings. Taxes (quitrents0 had to be paid on the minister's house of four and eleven. At the raising of the minister's house, Michael Clore was paid for two quarts of brandy in the amount of two and six. Apparently wine was more expensive than brandy but the item following the note on the brandy purchase says, "By paid for the same for the use of the same," for seven and six. (Maybe two quarts were not enough and they had to purchase six quarts more?) Interestingly, the accounts were kept on a accrual basis, not a cash basis. To get the books to balance, it was necessary to note that Christopher Uhl and Frederick Cappeller had not paid their subscription. The account was translated into English by James Porteus and upon motion of John Carpenter, administrator of Andrew Kercher, dec'd, was recorded at the Orange County Court on the 24th day of August 1738. --Tobacco was the crop of Virginia. To facilitate trade, tobacco, or tobacco receipts, were acceptable and legal mediums of exchange. To translate this into the equivalent currency amount requires a knowledge of the world price in tobacco. The price fluctuated depending on the size of the crop and the size of the market. The market size could change drastically since a large fraction of the tobacco shipped to England was re-exported to other countries. If England was at war, this reduced the market. Like nearly all agricultural markets, an abundant crop was often accompanied by lower prices. Rev. Stover wrote once that his salary was 3000 pounds of tobacco (I assume this was an annual salary). In 1738, the average price of Rappahannock tobacco was 14 shillings per hundred weight. The church account (of the last few notes) valued 55 pounds of tobacco as just slightly more than 15 shillings per hundred weight, but his was in 1734. Thus, Stover's salary was approximately 22 pounds in Virginia currency. We saw that a carpenter, John Huffman, earned two and one-half shillings per day. Working six days a week, this would be 15 shillings per week or about 39 pounds per year. Stover had other fringe benefits. He probably could keep his wedding, baptismal and funeral fees. These would have been significant. Also, he had the benefit of a farm supplied by the church. In the previous paragraph, I used the phrase "Virginia currency." This was distinct from the sterling currency of England. Thought the Virginia currency was meant to reflect the English sterling money, it sold at a discount. A pound in Virginia currency was not worth as much as a pound sterling. The Church of England was the official church of the colony. It received the support of the colonial government. In return, it was to perform certain services for the State. Births were recorded by the church. The church was responsible for the poor and those unable to care for themselves. Each parish was administered by the vestrymen. They met and set the budget for the next year. If there were large expenditures, such as a church building, the cost could be spread among three years. These tithes had to be paid by each eligible tithe in the parish. The Lutheran people had to pay the same tithe to the Church of England as the Anglicans did. Then if they wanted their own church, they had to pay for that in addition. In the Robinson River community, they felt they could not support both churches. So they decided to try to raise money in Europe. --The Lutheran Church members in the Robinson River decided to send Rev. Stover, Michael Smith, an elder, and Michael Holt, a member of the congregation to Europe to solicit funds. The trip was not expected to be short. This must have been a hard decision, especially for Smith and Holt who were leaving their family and farm behind. To finance the trip, it was agreed that the solicitors would be allowed to keep one-third of the funds they raised. It is always better to travel with letters of recommendation. The group wanted to secure the Governor's blessing but he did not know them. So they went first to the Spotsylvania Court with a petition which they asked the judges to affirm. On page 337 of the Order Book for 1730 to 1738, it reads: "On the petition of Michael Holt, Michael Smith & Michael Clore in behalf of themselves and ye rest of the Germans, seated by the great Mountains on the Robinson River, in this County, setting forth that they have a Minister, (Ye Rev. Augustine Stover) who they accommodate, pay and satisfy his salary at y'r own charge, and have already purchased a Glebe and built a house for the use of Y'e S'd Minister. And also that they are building a Church for Y'e congregation, but being of low circumstances (& obliged to pay levies in the Parish where they live) and not being able to go through the charge, are sending home to Germany y'e Rev. Augustine Stover, Michael Holt & Michael Smith in order to get some relief & assistance toward Y'e building of said Church & maintenance of y'e s'd Minister. "Humbly desiring this Court to recommend the same to his Hon. the Governor in order that they might get a certificate of him to testife the truth thereof, is granted and ordered that ye same by certified according to petition. "At a Court held in Spotsylvania County on Tuesday September 3rd 1734. Teste: T.A. Harris, clerk." With this certificate from the court they applied to Governor Gooch, who certified to the truth of what they had already done, their need of help, and also that his written testimonial was given, that full credence might be given the commissioners in Germany in all their endeavors and undertakings. The seal of the colony was affixed. Signed by William Gooch, September 18, 1734. The collectors went first to England where they were kindly received by the German Lutheran ministers in London, Rev. Frederick Michael Ziegenhagen, court chaplain; Rev. Henry Alard Butjenter, court preacher at the German court chapel of St. James; Rev. D. Henry Walther Gerdes and Rev. Henry Werner Palm, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Savoy. Here they received not a good contribution, but also a letter of recommendation from them to Holland and Germany. From England they proceeded to Holland where they began their collections in Amsterdam about the first of August, 1735. (The quotation of the petition above is from "History of Hebron Lutheran Church, Madison County, Virginia" by Rev. W.P. Huddle, with an epilogue by Margaret Grim Davis. For more information contact the church at P.O. Boxb 100, Madison, VA 22727.) --From Holland, the trio of collectors passed into Germany. In general, they headed for the northern tier of Germany where the Lutheran religion was the strongest. Towns they visited included Oldenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Lubec, Kolberg, Koslin, Stolp, Lauenburg, and Danzig. They had reached here by 11 June 1736. They stayed two months. Some events occured then which are not too clearly illuminated in the records. The net result was that Mr. George Samuel Klug (with umlaut) was engaged as an assistant pastor to Rev. Stover. About this same time, Michael Holt started home to Virginia. From the comments of Stover, it appears that he had come to regard Michael Holt unfavorably. There is a suggestion that Holt had been the one who was responsible for hiring Klug. Also, Stover appears to have been unfavorably inclined toward Klug. Stover and Smith continued on visiting Elbing, Marienberg, Thorn, Konigsberg, Neu-Brandenburg (31 Jan 1737), Luneburg, Hanover, Leipsic (24 July), Altenburg, Weimar, Eisenach, Eisfeld, Coburg, Strassburg, and Frankford-on-the-Main (25 Nov 1772). Periodically, the money collected was forwarded by draft to London. As collections were made, a record was made in a book of 179 pages. This book is now kept in the bank vault in Madison, Virginia (ibid. Huddle, p. 27). This record is not exhaustive. There were other records, now lost. It has been said that the equivalent in English currency of the money collected was nearly three thousand pounds, a very princely sum. A number of books were given or purchased. In Plymouth, England, on the way home, they bought one hundred pieces of cut-glass for the windows fo the church and three hundred pounds of putty to hold the glass. While they were still in Germany, Stover studied theology for about six months to prepare himself for the task of preaching. Early in 1739, Stover and Smith started on their return voyage to Virginia. At sea, Stover became critically ill, and, realizing the end was near, he wrote his will. The will was proven in Philadelphia on 20 Mar 1739 (NS) and recorded there. A translation exists in the Orange Co., VA court house. Though Stover labored six years on behalf of the congregation, his time with them amounted to only about a year and a half. But as a result of his work, the church was richly endowned and able to build a church building, to buy a farm to support the mininster, and to buy slaves to work the farm. Why Stover was sometimes called Augustine is a mystery. On occasion he was called this but he signed his name John Caspar. The Rev. Klug had already arrived in the community before Michael Smith arrived back home with the sad news of Stover's death. Though there had been opposition to the hiring of Klug, it is fortunate that he was taken on. The church was able to proceed forward with Klug in the pulpit. | ||||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified New | Created 30 Apr 2001 by Alan J. Kimmerling |