We know a little bit about Rev. Klug’s ministry which started about 1739 at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley. One source is the diaries of the Moravian missionaries who visited in the area in the 1740's. When Bro. Gottsschalk visited in the spring of 1748, he wrote, "I arrived at his house late in the evening when it was already dark. He received me with much love and courtesy."
After first telling Bro. Gottschalk that the Moravians had no permission to travel or preach in the country, they moved on to other topics. Rev. Klug was said to be very courteous and conversed very intelligently. Gottschalk noted that Klug’s supply of original sermons was exhausted and he was using sermons from other sources. Gottschalk went to a Sunday service by Klug and stayed with him that day. The next day, Klug went a half mile with Gottschalk and encouraged the missionary to visit again.
Gottschalk noted that eighty families in the neighborhood "At the Mountains". They were mostly Lutherans from Wuerttemberg who had a beautiful church and a school, a parsonage, a glebe of several hundred acres with seven slaves to cultivate the minister’s land. Gottschalk noted that some of the people in the congregation were not satisfied with Klug, especially because he drinks too much.
The Moravians Spangenberg and Reutz also visited in 1748. They noted the district was called the "Great Fork of the Rappahannock". The pastor is Klug and his predecessor was the father of the well-known Stoever. Klug was not home but had gone to Williamsburg to take his tobacco, which was part of his salary, to market.
The Moravians once noted that they could make no headway in Virginia, especially in the Shenandoah Valley, because Klug had preached there against them.
He served his English neighbors in the area of Hebron. His services in this capacity were recognized by the Council of Virginia on 16 April 1752 when they voted to award him the sum of Twenty-five Pounds for "his Services for Many years past to the Neighbouring English inhabitants of (Culpeper) County . . . and for his Good Character and on Consideration of his small Allowance and indigent circumstances."
In 1749, Klug attended a meeting of Ministerium of Pennsylvania. This was his only visit to the Ministerium, which was a difficult and tedious trip for him to make.
(15 Mar 06)
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.