General Notes

Also Known As:<_AKA> Johannes Wilhelm /Jager/
REFN: 15339
A GREAT AMOUNT OF GRATITUDE IS DUE BILL HUNTER. HE HAS SPENT 40 SOME YEARS RESEARCHING AND DOCUMENTING, WITH COST. ANYTHING ELSE IS PROBLEY A FABLE.

Johnand Barbara settled on Plum Run until 1773 on land that was part of Barbara's dower and additional land he purchased from Elizabeth Smith on April 26, 1766 (Frederick County Liber K:173).  On July 1, 1773 he sold his property on Plum Run to Jacob Tollor for £200, current money of Pennsylvania (Frederick County Liber T:69).  He had moved to Augusta County Virginia prior to that time, settling in that part of Augusta County that was in Rockingham County Virginia after creation of Rockingham County from part of Augusta County in 1778.

On March14, 1773, before he sold his Maryland property, he purchased 79 acres of land in Augusta County from John Jackson for £40, current money of Virginia (AugustaCounty Liber 20:176, 177).  He is called "of Augusta County, Colony of Virginia" when he made this purchase on March 14, 1773 so he had left Maryland before that date.

On November 15, 1773 he purchased an additional 279 acres, contiguous to his original purchase in Augusta County, from George Shoemaker for £160 current money of Virginia (Augusta County Liber 19:497, 498).  This latter tract was land that had been patented to Valentine Sevier, father of John Sevier, first Governor of Tennessee.  This property was about 1/2 mile west of the community of Broadway, Virginia on the east side of the north branch of the Shenandoah river.  The land had about three quarters of a mile of frontage on the river and included Cedar Creek, a very small tributary of the Shenendoah river,and Vals Spring, probably named for Valentine Sevier, another small tributary of the Shenandoah river.

Johannes Jäger and his father-in-law, Jacob Bowman,were naturalized as citizens of England at a court held in Philadelphia August8, 1767.  They were then residents of Frederick County Maryland, but living inwhat became Washington County in 1776 when that County was created from part of Frederick County.  They did not take the oath of allegiance when naturalized,but were affirmed, signifying they were of a pacifist religious persuasion, probably Church of the Brethren.

Because he affirmed his allegiance to England rather than take the oath of allegiance we know he was a member of a pacifist religious persuasion when he was naturalized, however, unlike his Bowman in-laws who were staunch Brethren, his commitment to the Brethren faith was not deepenough to prevent him from taking up arms in the creation of his new country.

During the Revolutionary War John Hunter served as a private in the Virginia Militia in the Company commanded by Captain Abraham Lincoln.  This is Abraham Lincoln, grandfather of the president.

His service in the militia indicates that like many of his contemporaries of the pacifist religious persuasion,he followed the example of Reverend Peter Muhlenberg, a famous Lutheran minister of the time in the Shenandoah valley of Virginia.  Reverend Muhlenberg, who was pastor of the Lutheran Church at Woodstock, Virginia was commissioned Colonel, later General, of the 8th Virginia Regiment on January 12, 1776, and at the conclusion of his next religious service declared ".... that there is a time to pray and a time to fight, and that time has now come!"   After completing his sermon he removed his clerical robe and invited those who were interested to join him in the Continental Army.  Most of those of German ancestry in the Shenandoah valley, including the militia when they were called up, served under General Muhlenberg.  This probably included John Hunter and certainly included his son, John, as we learn from his pension records.

By serving in the militia John was no longer welcome in the pacifist church, so he and Barbara became members of the Baptist church and were among the founding members of the Cherokee Cree