Recently on the Germanna Colonies List there were comments and questions about the Staehr (Stähr) family. From the evidence in the Culpeper Civil and Church Records, we know very little. The family seems to be typical of several families who moved into the area but left in a short time. This was not unusual. Some families started to migrate without knowing positively what their destination was. They might settle in one area for a short period and then move on.
The little that we know about the Staehr family is this:
Caspar Staehr and his wife Catherina brought Adam for baptism on 2 November 1777 in the German Lutheran Church. The sponsors, who are usually considered very significant, were Adam Wayland and his wife Maria Finks. In this case, the sponsors may not be significant, except in a negative sense. Adam Wayland was a lay leader in the Church and he may have responded just because the Staehrs had no relatives, which were the typical sponsors, in the area. This suggests that the Staehrs were not related to anyone in the Church. On the other hand, it is possible that the sponsors were related, so this should not be forgotten; but, most likely, Adam Wayland was responding because of his role in the Church.
Elizabeth Staehr, age 17, was confirmed on the 25th Sunday after Trinity in 1782. This was the first Confirmation Cervice in four years and there was a large number of people being confirmed.
There is a name in the Culpeper Classes which is intriguing. This is Jasper Starr. Since these lists were made up by English-speaking individuals, it would not be a severe stretch of the imagination to believe that Jasper Starr was Caspar Staehr. If this were true, the neighbors of Caspar Staehr were William Dickens, John Clore, Henry Lewis, Joseph Holtzclaw, Jacob Rouse, Henry Weyman (not to be confused with Wayland), Harmon Weyman, Daniel Railsback, Elijah Berry, John Stonesyfer, Henry Creamore, John Tanner and William Smith. On the whole there are a lot of German names in these neighbors. The Culpeper Classes were made up in 1781.
Vicki, who made the original comments, said the family was in Rowan County, North Carolina, by about 1783. There is nothing in the Culpeper evidence which says that this would not have been possible.
(12 Aug 05)
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.