I’m realizing that there is much more to say about the Nicholas Krieger family to fully explain where my facts originated.

Five days ago, I shared background bits and pieces that helped to explain information floating around in cyberspace, but which offers little to document Nicholas, his wife and children.

To recap my previous post, my husband’s ancestors, Nicholas Krieger (1709-1804) and Catharina Maria (possibly Borger, but no proof found) (1729-1810) are thought to have married in Germany, where their first known child was born.

About 1754, they emigrated to Berks County, Pennsylvania, but after an undetermined number of years, they moved on to Maryland.

By 1767, their final move to them to what was originally Rowan County, North Carolina, where they settled near the Moravians, who were also of German background.

To date, I’ve only come across a handful of records that document the existence of Nicholas Krieger:

1.1768 Taxables of Rowan County, North Carolina – “Nicholas Creger” on Gideon Wright’s list
2. 1772 tax list of Surry County, North Carolina, on which “Nicholus Creager” is taxed for 2 polls – white males over 16 years, which would be Nicholas and son Johann Heinrich (aka Henry), born in 1753.
3. Surry-Wilkes Taxables, 1771-1777, which may include the same list in #1 because “Nicholas Cregor” is taxed again for 2 polls.
4. Nicholas Krieger wrote his will in German, signed with his XX mark, on 28 November 1785, although he lived 19 more years and it wasn’t probated until the March 1804 term of Stokes County Court. In it, he named his wife and five children, although his daughter Elizabeth, named in the will, had already predeceased her father in 1781. This will, combined with the will of one of his sons, proves that his daughter Elizabeth married Frederick Alberty, which is my husband’s line.
5. The Bethania Diary entry for January 1804 in the Moravian Church records, which mentions Nicholas’s age and death.

There are also a few later tax lists documenting Nicholas living in Stokes County after it was set off from Surry County.

What is unusual about Nicholas Krieger is that no land records have been found for him buying or sellling land, although there are a couple of references to others’ property bordering the line of Nicholas’s land.

There are also no clues as to Nicholas’s occupation. He may have been a tradesman rather than a farmer. His son Jacob bought 400 acres of land in 1778. It is possible that Nicholas and his wife lived with Jacob’s family or on a portion of that land.

Nicholas and Catharina Maria Krieger were the parents of five known children:

Children:

1. Johan Henrich, born 24 June 1753, reportedly in Germany; died 3 June and before 4 June 1828, the day his funeral was held, Stokes County, North Carolina; married twice (1) possibly Elizabeth Schauss, but I find no documentation (2) Regina Elizabeth Zimmerman, 27 August 1805, Stokes County, North Carolina. It is believed that Henry had no surviving children by either wife.
2. Johan Jacob, born 19 April 1755, Berks County, Pennsylvania; died 30 September 1824 Stokes County, North Carolina; married Susanna Schauss, about November 1778, Surry County, North Carolina. They had five children.
3. Elizabeth, born c1757; died 3 May 1781, Surry County, North Carolina; married Frederick Alberty, c1773. They had three children.
4. Johan George, born 13 July 1759; died before September 1843, Stokes County, North Carolina; married Catherine Ludwig, about June 1783. George had nine children.
5. Rosina, born c1761; died 15 September 1831; married Abraham Stoltz, before 1792. They had two, and possibly three, children.

From this, we can see that four of Nicholas’s and Catharina Maria’s children have descendants. No children have been identified for their eldest child, Henrich (more often called Henry).

It’s actually been quite a bit of work compiling resources that document the Krieger family, given that many references to their lives are found i volumes of church records.

In January, there will be four posts documenting the grandchildren of Nicholas and Catharina Maria through sons Jacob and George and daughters Elizabeth and Rosina.

They have many descendants today!