Adam Kern (1742 - 1799)

Born 23 Mar 1742 in Rhinepfalg, Germany

Ancestors

Husband of Marie Moser — married 17 Jul 1766 in York Pa

Husband of Ruth (Snyder) Kern — married 18 Apr 1788 in Fredrick County Va

Husband of Christina (Andrews) Kern — married 25 Oct 1791 in Fredrick Va

Descendants

Died 1799 at about age 56 in Kernstown, Winchester, Virginia, Vereinigte Staaten von Amerika

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Biography

Copied from [1]

Biographical Sketch (1975):2255, p. 5-7. "In 1765 at the end of the French and Indian War, with the Indians settled West of the Ohio River, Adam Kern made his first trip to Virginia, probably hoping to settle near his brother Michael. There, a day’s journey from the Potomac crossing, and two miles beyond the small village of Winchester, the county seat of Frederick County, he found the location he watned – ‘3-1/2 acres astride the only road up the Valley of Virginia, the Pike.’

On the east side of the road, a stone house built in 1751 by James Wilson, known as Hoge’s Tavern or Ordinary, on a lawn sloping back to Opequon Creek; and on the west side of the road, on the larger portion of the land, the ideal location for his ‘smithy,’ a day’s journey for the constant stream of new settler’s now passing up the Valley, and room for their prairie schooners for an overnight stop, and repairs at the smith. The deed was filed 10/1/1766, ‘Adam and Maria Esther Kern.’

Mission accomplished, he returned to York and was married to Maria Esther Moser on July 17, 1766 in the First Reformed Church of York. They set out immediately for their new home in which they lived the rest of their lives. Esther died in late 1787 and with 7 small children, Adam was remarried soon thereafter to Ruth Snyder on April 18, 1788. Ruth died two years later.

Christiana Andrews, his third wife, he married on October 25, 1791. Adam died between December 1799 and 1801. Christiana raised the 4 younger children of Adam.

Adam Kern’s and Maria Esther’s 7 children were born in their home in Frederick County. The records are as follows: Nicholas – born 5/8/1788 [sic! 1768] John – no records, but died in a fall from a horse, leaving a widow and a small daughter Adam II – born 10/25/1773 Twins: Samuel and Henry – born 11/14/1775 Jacob – born 7/4/1779 Rebecca – no dates; their only daughter was a retarded child (said to be ‘bewitched’ by a gypsy woman who stopped at the home before the child’s birth)

Soon after the mother’s death, Nicholas, the eldest son, just married, took care of his sister until her death about age twenty.

Apparently Adam prospered in his new location. A continuous flow of new settlers traveled up this only road in the Shenandoah Valley, finding Adam’s smith and camping ground a convenient first night stop after crossing the Potomac.

When Nicholas Kern married in 1788, Adam sold him part of the land on the west side of the Pike where he built a home. He had learned the trade from his father, and probably, took over his father’s smithy.

In the next twelve years, Adam Kern was busy on a new project, the platting of his land into a town-site. Already settlers were located there. During the Revolutionary War period there is a mention of ‘Kernsville’ in regard to the opening of a road. On December 1, 1799 the Virginia Assembly approved his plot.

Adam Kern died between that date and 1801 when Christiana Kern’s name appears on a land purchase alone."

[2]

Sources

• Newspaper articles of Hampshire COunty WV and Fredrick Co, Va.

• Shenandoah valley pioneers and their descendants : a history of Frederick County, Virginia (illustrated) from its formation in 1738 to 1908. Author: Cartmell, T. K. (Thomas Kemp), 1838-1920; Pages 614, see p. 461, Language English; eng; en. Publisher: Winchester, Va., Printed by the Eddy Press Corp., Date1909. Location: Allen County Public Library; http://www.acpl.lib.in.us/.

• http://www.mattkgraphics.com/home/mk/Kern/gen2.htm.

• http://wvancestry.com/ReferenceMaterial/Files/Newspaper_Articles_on_Familes_from_Hampshire_County_WV.pdf.