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 Jun 1736. They stayed two months.
Some events occurred then which are not too clearly illuminated in the records. The net result was that Mr. George Samuel Klüg was engaged as an assistant pastor to Rev. Stöver. About this same time, Michael Holt started home to Virginia. From the comments of Stöver, 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 Klüg. Also, Stöver appears to have been unfavorably inclined toward Klüg.
Stöver 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 1727). 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 of the church and three hundred pounds of putty to hold the glass.
While they were still in Germany, Stöver studied theology for about six months to prepare himself for the task of preaching.
Early in 1739, Stöver and Smith started on their return voyage to Virginia. At sea, Stöver 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 Stöver 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 endowed and able to build a church building, to buy a farm to support the minister, and to buy slaves to work the farm.
Why Stöver was sometimes called Augustine is a mystery. On occasion he was called this but he signed his name as John Caspar.
The Rev. Klüg had already arrived in the community before Michael Smith arrived back home with the sad news of Stöver's death. Though there had been opposition to the hiring of Klüg, it is fortunate that he was taken on. The church was able to proceed forward with Klüg in the pulpit.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.