John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 230

I found the quotation, which I could not quote yesterday, pertaining to Rev. Häger's move to Germantown.  Backing up though, Willis Kemper used the notes of Rev. James Kemper, a grandson of the immigrant, John Kemper.  These notes were never published as an entity by themselves.  Willis Kemper used them in his book.

James Kemper was born at Cedar Grove, in Fauquier County, Virginia, in 1753.  When he was thirty years old, he migrated with his family to East Tennessee and within a couple of years went on to Kentucky.  In Kentucky he studied theology and was licensed in the Presbyterian church in 1791.  He remained active in the work of the church until his death in 1834.

James Kemper wrote,

". . . My grandfather, John Kemper, was born in the County of Nassau Siegen, on the river Sieg. . . owned a small landed property there and also carried on the blacksmith's business.

"My grandfather in his reflections on the severity of the government of his country, and the vast differences between that and the liberties enjoyed in America, . . . resolved to embark for the New World.

"Their minister in Germany, who, though he did not come with them, [the reference seems to be to the move to Germantown] soon followed; his name was Häger.  They were Presbyterians, and soon raised a house for public worship...."

James Kemper also wrote,

"My great-grandfather by my mother [Rev. Häger] came in after them, and was their minister several years. . . He was of the Reformed Calvinistic Presbyterian church.

"I spoke a dialect of the German language as used in my father's house fluently, till I was ten or twelve years old, but have now almost entirely lost it."

There is some uncertainty as to whether James Kemper was referring to the emigration to Virginia and/or to the move to Germantown when he says Rev. Häger came later.  But it seems that the inclusion of Rev. Häger in the group's move to Virginia is certain.  Most likely the reference is to the Germantown move.  For the reasons that I gave in the last note, it is probably correct that Rev. Häger did not move with the group.