GERMANNA_COLONIES-L Archives

From: John Blankenbaker <>
Subject: (94)Germanna Colonies, History of
Date: Tue, 06 May 1997 15:53:31 -0400

Ninety-fourth in a series of notes on the Germanna Colonies

In the last note, I mentioned the reluctance with which the European
churches passed control to the churches in the colonies. This was brought
home by a comment in the book, "Understanding and Using Baptismal Records"
by John T. Humphrey which I was reading last night.
The Church of England kept the centuries-old tradition that the bishops
should perform the rite of confirmation. This position had significant
implications for the Anglican Church in the American Colonies prior to 1787.
Simply stated, before 1787 there were no Anglican bishops in the Colonies
who could confirm church members. Any member of the Church of England who
desired confirmation had to journey to England for its administration.
Thus, no pre-1787 confirmation records exist for members of the Church of
England in American record depositories.

While we are interested in the German churches, this was a typical behavior
pattern. To overcome such limitations, our laymen ancestors proved
imaginative in finding solutions on their own.

In the Robinson River Valley, probably in 1732 but perhaps in 1733, a school
teacher by the name of Johann Caspar Stoever 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 Stoever.
Come and be our minister, they told him. Though Stoever 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 Luther pastor who was willing to ordain Stoever. 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 Stoever, 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.

to be continued
John Blankenbaker
Beyond Germanna
PO Box 120
Chadds Ford, PA 19317
http://www.wp.com/germanna/
http://www.concentric.net/~sgtgeorg/germhist.shtml

This thread:

• (94)Germanna Colonies, History of by John Blankenbaker <>