Do you have a Valentine in your family tree?  Both my husband and I have ancestors named Valentine. One of my genealogy goals  for 2018 is to tell more stories about my husband’s family so this post focuses on Valentine Creager (aka Valentin Cregar/ Kruger) , my husband’s 6x great-grandfather. The story of Valentine and his descendants extends from Pennsylvania to Maryland and Kentucky then, eventually, Texas.

Disclaimer:  Six years ago, when I began collecting information about the Creager family,  I was not diligent in saving digital and/or print copies of reference materials.  I remember reading some items but have no idea where I found them. Research notes? Virtually non-existent. Source citations? Incomplete.  Digital or paper copies available?  Sometimes. Results? Secondary sources in this particular blog.  Frustrated?  Yes!  Then, I remember — this is one reason for my Genealogy Do-Over!

The Creager surname is believed to be an Americanized version of the German surname,  Krieger.   Our American ancestors trace to Johan Casper/Caspar Krieger, who immigrated to America in the 1730s. [1]  Valentine Creager , third child of Casper Creager and  Maria Christiana Hofferth/ Hoffert  was born in 1734 in Oley Mountain, Berks County, Pennsylvania.  According to Scharf’s (1968) history of western Maryland,  “a company of German immigrants came down from Pennsylvania and established themselves in the valley of the Moncacy [River]. . . . “ (p. 360).[2]  Casper and his family followed sometime later.

Valentine was baptized by Rev. John Casper Stoever in Oley Hills, Pennsylvania on 2 March 1734 at St. Joseph Lutheran Church (aka Hill Church) [3]. Valentine is believed to be the only child whose birth and baptism can be validated from church records at this time. Irene (Creager) Lawson [4] stated, “At the time of Velte’s baptism, his father, Casper, was a resident of Oley Hills,  Pennsylvania, and was an official at St. Joseph’s Church or Hill Church and was one of the three designated to purchase 50 acres of land for a cemetery on August 12, 1747.” (page 10).

When he was 25 years old, Valentine Creager received a 21 year grant of land in the area known as Monocacy Manor, near Frederick Maryland, in 1759. [5]   A manor was land set aside by the original English lords, such as Cecilius Calvert, Second Lord Baltimore and the first Proprietor of Maryland, as a lease.   “Initially, the term of a lease was designated for a period equal to the natural lifetimes of three individuals selected by the leaseholder. They frequently were for his own life and the lives of perhaps two sons. . . . “ [6].  At the end of the lease, “land and improvements were to revert  to the Lord Proprietary” (Tracey & Dern, p. 305).  However, the Revolutionary War  probably disrupted these agreements  as evidenced by  the 1781 confiscation of the Monocacy Manor leases which were then  sold as Loyalist property [7].

 

 

Map of Monacy River area in Western Maryland.  Note how close it is to Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

 

 

 

 

When did Valentine Creager marry Maria Christina (maiden name unknown)? Reported dates vary from 1760 to 1768.  The only agreement seems to be that they were married in Maryland, probably Frederick County. Births of their children partially reflect Valentine’s absence from home during the Revolutionary War:

1. Daniel Creager born 1764                                     Spouse:  Anna Barbara Schmitt
2. Elizabetha Creager  born 17 Feb 1768
3. John George Creager  born 11 May 1771            Spouse: Margaret ‘Peggy’ Myers
4. Susanna Creager born 22 Feb 1773                     Spouse: Abraham Miller
5. Christian Creager born 22 Mar 1774
6. Thomas Creager born 6 Feb 1775                         Spouse: (1) Rebecca Robbins                                                                                                                       (2) Sarah Ann Hedges
7. Amelia Creager born 24 Nov 1780                         Spouse:  Nathan Crum
8. Maria Creager born after 1781

Researchers disagree about the number of children born to Valentine and Maria.  Baptismal records for Elizabetha, John George, Susanna, Thomas, and Amelia support relationships. [8]  A 1798 confirmation record for Maria Creager names Valentine and Maria Creager , which suggests a possible relationship to them.[9]  In the Lutheran Church, confirmation means that the young person accepts responsibility for the practice of their religion and adherence to church beliefs. I was raised as a Lutheran so am aware of the significance of this event.

An online message board [10] mentions one additional child, Henry, born in 1766, and another source[11] mentions Christian, born in 1774.  I make no attempt to prove or disprove either claim.   Some genealogists question whether Daniel is the son of Valentine and Maria or the son of one of Valentine’s brothers.

Valentine Creager served in both the French and Indian War of 1757-1758 and the American Revolution. In 1774, his name appears as a member of a Committee of Observation whose duties were to watch the British and Tories.  His allegiance to the American cause included an appointment to raise money for buying arms and ammunition. [12]   By October 1777 and possibly as early as November 1775, he received an appointment as Captain of the 4^th Company. [13]  Re-organization of George Washington’s Army found Valentine serving in multiple units throughout the campaign.  The Maryland Flying Camps saw little action during the war but served an important function as observers of the British and protectors of local populations.

Valentin and his family continued to live in Frederick County, Maryland, after the Revolution.  The 1790 United States Federal Census names Valentine Creager, Frederick County, Maryland and these members of his household: [14]

Number of Free White Males Under 16:   1  (1 son, probably Thomas)

Number of Free White Males 16 and over:  2 (Valentine + 1 son, John George?

Number of Free White Females:  2 (Maria + daughter or 2 daughters)

The reported death date and place for Maria Christina Creager, Valentin’ s wife, vary from ‘after 1780 in Maryland’  to ‘3 June 1797 in Washington County, Kentucky’ with no specific notes or sources recorded.

TIP:  If you are unsure about something, write a note to share what information you have.   Example (with some fictional data):  “March 1780, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Frederick County, Maryland,  Valentin and Maria Kruger as sponsors for Hans Hofferth, son of Johan Hofferth and wife, Anna. So, Maria died sometime after March 1780.  Since the ages of females were not recorded in 1790 census, uncertain if Maria was one of the 2 females listed with Valentine Creager.”

Several of Valentin’s sons, including John George, our direct ancestor, found their way to Kentucky by the early 1800s. [15]   In 1803, Valentine sold land in Frederick County, Maryland.  This transaction provides the last known record about him.  According to an online family tree [16], Valentine died about 1808 in Washington County, Kentucky.  The date and location of Valentine’s death and burial are not yet confirmed.

Records of Valentine Cregar’s Revolutionary War service formed the basis for his recognition as a Patriot by the National Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. (Valentin Cregar,  #A084178).  Descendants of his sons, John George Creager and Thomas Creager, proudly acknowledge themselves as Daughters of the American Revolution. Some of  John George’s descendants, specifically his daughter Sarah and her husband,  eventually settled in Texas.   John George and his wife, Margaret, are believed to have died in Boxelder County, Texas.

Our descendancy family tree (in a more traditional format)

Mable Venette Reed is my husband’s maternal grandmother.

 

Reflection

I was really frustrated when I could not resurrect print or digital copies of pages from Irene Creager Lawson’s  book, The Creager History.   AARGH!!!!  But, my frustration grew smaller as I found copies of some sources.  My research techniques have certainly improved and continue to improve.  I learned a little about the colonial period in Maryland.  Found online digital copies of multiple records cited in other sources.  A particularly exciting find was PDF copy of original records in German from Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, Woodboro, Maryland !  Difficult to read handwriting but I was able to pick out ‘Valentin’.  With birth dates of Valentin’s children in hand, I found entries for some of the children and copied the relevant pages.  Yes,  I wrote the complete URL to each document!  And the date accessed!

What helped:  basic information already gathered for mother-in-law’s DAR application.  Access to resources about Maryland at the Oklahoma Historical Society Library here in Oklahoma City.  Finding a website with digitized church records for Frederick County, Maryland and the digitized  Maryland State Archives Online.

Website with Maryland church records:    Bob Fout, Genealogist    http://bobfoutgenealogy.com/records/

What didn’t help:  not previously exploring discrepancies in reports by various researchers.  Accepting some reports on face value without checking their sources.  Only a few Genealogy Do-Over tasks have been completed for mother-in-law’s family tree:  paper files placed in color-coded files,  individual checklists and research logs started for a few people.  But, I now have more about Valentine Creager!

Future plans:  Continue file clean-up.  Confirm sources cited by others.  Keep looking for copies of original sources.  Write notes about consistencies and discrepancies in records as well as reports made by others.    Keep paper and/or digital copies of all online resources, including complete URLs!

[1] “Descendants of Hans Ernst Krieger and Other Krieger families of Frederick Co., MD (aka Creager, Kruger, Creeger, etc.”  Updated; 2007-06-12.  Rootsweb ( https://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=grannyapple1130&id=I0051    : accessed 12 Feb 2018).  Cites various sources; acknowledges duplications and missing sources and that the information “is not without errors.”

[2] J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland being a history of Frederick, Montgomery, Carroll, Washington, Alleghany, and Garrett Counties from the earliest period to the present day; including Biographical Sketches of their Reprsentative Men. Vol. 1 (Baltimore: Regional Publishing Company, 1968), p. 360.

[3] “Records of Rev. John Casper Stoever, Baptismal and Marriage 1730-1779,” Harrisburg Publishing Co: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 1896, archived at WayBackMachine (https://archive.org/details/recordsof revjohno1stoe.pdf   : accessed 13 Feb 2018), p. 7, entry for Krueger-George Valentine.

[4] Pages from Irene Creager Lawson, The Creager History (Austin, Texas: Privately published, 1985) in documentation file supporting Membership Application of L.A. Golding (National no. 751615) on Valentine Cregar (1734, Pennsylvania – aft. 1803, Maryland ), approved 1 Feb 1993;  National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C

[5] Grace L. Tracey & John P. Dern, Pioneers of Old Monocacy: The Early Settlement of Frederick County, Maryland 1721-1743 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1987),  p. 323.

[6] Tracey & Dern, Pioneers of Old Monocacy, p. 305.

[7] Tracey & Dern, Pioneers of Old Monocacy, p. 305.

[8] Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church (formerly St. Peter’s), Rocky Hill, near Woodsboro, Frederick County, Maryland, Parish Registers, 1767-1889: Birth/Baptism Records 1767-1854, digitized by Bob Fout 2016; Bob Fout Genealogy (http://bobfoutgenealogy.com/records/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GRHC_Baptisms_1767-1854.pdf   accessed 13 Feb 2018).  Entries found for Elizabetha (entry 14),  John George (entry 84),  Susanna (entry 114)  , Thomas (entry 150)  and Amelia (entry 251).

[9] Membership Application of L.A. Golding (National no. 751615) on Valentine Cregar (1734, Pennsylvania – aft. 1803, Maryland ), approved 1 Feb 1993;  National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, Office of the Registrar General, Washington, D.C.

[10]  Audrey Shields Hancock, “George Valentine “Velte” Creager,” Rootsweb, website/discussion board  8 February 2002 (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~grannyapple/CREAGER-KRIEGER/B . . .accessed & printed  10 July 2011;   site currently offline).

[11] A letter to Mrs. Avonne Golding, dated 21 May 1987, from Wm. C. Willman, Research Correspondent, The Historical Society of Frederick County, Inc., Frederick, Maryland, names Christian and gives a birth date but my review of those digitized records did not reveal an entry for Christian. [Source: DAR documentation file, L.A. Golding (National no. 751615)].

[12] Scharf, History of Western Maryland, Vol. 1, pp. 128-129.

[13] “Journal & Correspondence of the Council of Safety, July 7-December 31, 1776”,  Archives of Maryland, Vol. 12, p. 317.  Image copy, Maryland State Archives Online (http://msa.maryland.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000012/html/am12–317.html  : accessed 13 Feb 2018).

[14] 1790 U. S. Census,  Frederick County, Maryland, p. 201 (penned), col. 1, line 22,  Valentine Cregar; image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com  : accessed 13 Feb 2018); citing National Archives & Records Administration microfilm M637, roll ____.

[15] 1810 U.S. Census, Washington County, Kentucky, p. 337 (stamped), col. 1, line 6, John Creager; image, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com  : accessed 13 Feb 2018); citing National Archives & Records Administration microfilm M252, roll 8.

[16]  Randmisc, “Creager Family Tree,” Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/163769/person/-2087063383/facts   : accessed 13 Feb 2018), “George Valentine Creager,” death data undocumented.