The FamilySearch family tree, always an excellent source to check for CLUES (that means verify the data yourself)does have some parents and earlier generations entered for Caspar Stoehr.

I don’t usually work from earliest to later in addition to later to earliest, but like my (unsuccessful) attempt to tie in the Jarvis generations, I am going to try to do the same for Caspar Stoehr’s reputed origins.

NOTE: This is speculation for the moment with dates either minimally sourced or not sourced at all!

REPEAT: SOME of this might be factual information, but there is currently no primary evidence connecting Caspar Starr of Rowan County, North Carolina to these people. This is being shared in the hope that perhaps future Y-DNA connections might be made.

One of the few sources for information is said to be a census housed at: Deutschland, Bayern, Mittelfranken, Brenner-Archiv 1550-1900.

The following POTENTIAL UNPROVEN generations are posted online for Caspar Stoehr:

Hans Stoehr, born c1593; died before 1661, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; married Anna Hunger, about March 1623, Droeda, Zwickau, Saxony, Germany. She was born c1597, the daughter of Peter and Catharina (MNU) Hunger; died c1665.

Children:

1. Catharina, baptized 17 November 1623, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany
2. Adam, baptized 16 July 1625, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany
3. Johannes, baptized 17 September 1627, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany
4. Christine, baptized 27 December 1629, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany
5. Andreas, baptized 20 December 1631, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; died 27 September 1709 [location not noted]; married Catharina Luft, 23 October 1661, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany

Andreas Stoehr, baptized 20 December 1631, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; died 29 September 1709 [location not noted]; married Catharina Luft, 23 October 1661, Dröda, Ölsnitz, Zwickau, Saxony, Germany. Catharina was born c1640.

Children:

1. Johann Adam, born 20 November 1661, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany married Unknown Wife.
2. Adam, born May 1663, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; no further record
3. Eva Margaretha, born 14 October 1664, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; died 10 November 1718 [location not noted]; married Hans Balthasar Höfer, 8 November 1684, in Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany
4. Johann Paul, born 28 September 1668, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; no further record
5. Julius Heinrich, born 28 April 1671, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; died 26 July 1739, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany; married Anna Margaretha Ditterich, 25 October 1702, Oelsnitz, Plauen, Sachsen, Germany.

Johan Adam Stoehr, born 20 November 1661, Dröda, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany married Unknown Wife.

Children:

1. Johann Andreas, born 7 March 1695, Forndorf, Wieseth, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany; died 5 February 1719, Forndorf, Wieseth, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany
2. Adam, born 1 November 1698, Forndorf, Wieseth, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany; died 29 April 1699
3. Johann Caspar, born 7 September 1700, Forndorf, Wieseth, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany
4. Johann Adam, born 1701; died 7 September 1787, Flachslanden, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany; married Regina Barbara Frick, 8 March 1740 [location not noted]
5. Margaret Barbara, born 18 June 1705, Forndorf, Wieseth, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany; died 9 May 1782, Wieseth, Ansbach, Bavaria, Germany; married G[eorge?] Thom[as?] Schell, 6 March 1736, Wieseth, Germany

Johan Caspar Stoehr married Unknown Wife, c1727.

Children:

1. Johan Adam, born 1728
2. Caspar, born 1731, Macungie, Northampton, Pennsylvania; died about January 1814, Rowan County, North Carolina; married Catharine (MNU), c1763. [NOTE: Problem with this birth date since Macungie didn’t exist in 1731, the land was part of Northampton County and no Starr land records or probate have been found there.]

Can any of this be properly documented???

Well, I managed to get my hot little hands on The German Starr, Stoehr, Stöhr Family published by Donald Claypool in 2006. Let’s see what it might be able to add to our knowledge of Caspar Stoehr and his family.

Generally, Mr. Claypool’s book is well done, complete with source citations.

The first oddity I find is on page 9 of the Starr book where a short strange discussion is held about the Starr name perhaps deriving from the German name “Gewecht,” which is claimed to translate to Bright or Sharp. An online translation tool gives “weaved” as the meaning of “gewecht.” The German word “hell” is the equivalent of “bright” and “sharp” is “Scharf.”

The example used is the inventory of Martin Thrush, 1762, Baltimore County, Maryland, which I’ve accessed.

I can’t read old German script, but the clerk translated the names of the greatest creditors as Casper Starr and Vandol (Wendel) Bright. Claypool gives the German equivalents on the left the spellings of Gewecht Alper (or Casper Geweet) and Dan Gewecht or Daniel Bright.

I’m working on finding someone who can read this old script, but I don’t see those being accurate translations.

I question a couple of conclusions, e.g. one Margaretha Elizabeth Stohr baptized in Frederick County, Maryland in 1760, which seems too early for Caspar’s daughter, Elizabeth, and ignores the fact that he had another daughter named Elizabeth who lived to adulthood and married. I don’t think the baby baptized in 1760 was Caspar’s daughter.

Yes, Caspar lived in Frederick County, Maryland in 1760, but there were other Starr families in the area at the same time who have no apparent connection to Caspar, John and Adam.

I also believe, at this point, that Caspar married c1763 in Baltimore County. Census records place his birth in the 1730s, but I think c1735 is more on target than 1731.

Johannes Starr, who arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from the Palatinate on 16 September 1738 on the Ship Queen Elizabeth, is generally thought to be the father of Caspar Starr, which means Caspar was born in the Palatinate and has nothing to do with Macungie, Pennsylvania and related to Adam Starr as the names of men who arrived with him in 1738 – e.g. Weitzel, Strader, Koch and Frye – later appear in the North Carolina records, with Adam Starr marrying Anna margaret Weitzel in 1773 in Guilford County, North Carolina.

Further as Don Claypool notes, little is known about the life of this Johannes Starr. No land records or probate has been found in Pennsylvania or Maryland that pertain to this man. The name of his wife is unknown and it is assumed that the John Starr who patented Starr’s Meadows i n1758 in Baltimore County, Maryland was the son of Johannes and an older brother of Caspar.

That seems reasonable and I can accept that relationship. However, Claypool argues that the fact that Caspar sold John’s land in 1771 is definite proof that John was dead.

I don’t agree for a couple of reasons. First, if Starr’s Meadows belonged to Caspar’s father and Caspar had a brother, John, why weren’t both men selling their inheritance?

Similarly, if Starr’s Meadows was owned by Caspar’s presumed brother John, who was married and had children, why weren’t his widow and heirs selling the land? And, if the land belonged to Caspar’s brother, who had minor children in 1771, why is there no probate or guardianship or any other record for the family?

The fact that Caspar sold the property definitely means there was a relationship between John and Caspar, but I think it also means that some kind of sale and agreement – unrecorded or lost – was made within the family and Caspar then held title to the land.

It might only indicate that John Starr who owned Starr’s Meadow had left Maryland and headed to North Carolina by 1771.

In my mind, there is still a question of which John Starr patented the land in 1758.

So, to conclude, it is possible that Johannes Starr was the father of Caspar Starr and that Caspar had a brother, also named John Starr. However, NO primary records have been found to connect this family to the fanciful pedigree chart found in online trees.