Stanger Family Papers 1784-1895

Access and use

Location of collection:
Wytheville Community College
F.B. Kegley Library
Wytheville Community College
Smyth Hall, Room 103
1000 East Main Street
Wytheville, VA 24382
Contact for questions and access:
POC: William A. “Bill” Veselik
Phone: (276) 223-4876
POC: George Mattis
Phone: (276) 223-4744
Fax: (276) 223-4745

Summary

Language:
English

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of six folders. Folder 1 contains a journal kept by John Stanger documenting his pastoral services, including marriages, between 1789 and 1827. Items in the following folders may either have a direct or indirect tie with the John Stanger family but were found together with the journal and are included in this collection. Folder 2 contains letters from James E. Yonce to David M. Sharitz (1860), letter from R. F. Repass to J. P. Sheffey (1862), letter from John A. Hay to Stephen Kegley (1882), letter from Williams Cassell to unknown friend (1882), letter from R. G. Crowgey and T. James to Stephen Kegley (1884), and two letters from William Cassell to unknown friends (1885, 1889).

Folder 3 contains financial records of Samuel Umbarger, David Catron, and a list of slaves owned by R. Repass, L. Repass, D. Brown, and Z. Brown. Folder 4 contains land records including deeds and surveys for John Doak, William Doak, Eli Davis, Daniel Brown, Daniel Miller, Theresa Stanger Brown, Granville Brown, and John Brown.

Folder 5 contains legal records including a will of Martin Miller, agreement of Isaac N. Swecker and Granville Brown, agreement of John F. Straw and Daniel Brown, list of property of John Musser, and copy of act taxing dog owners. Folder 6 contains biographical sketch of John Stanger, copies of songs, and tuition records for children taught by J. M. Miller.

Biographical / historical:

Born on 10 June 1765 at Kircheim on the Tech, in the Dukedom of Wurtemberg, Germany, John Stanger was the son of innkeeper Johannes Stanger and Eva Catharina Kunckelen Stanger. He attended Tubingen University, studying theology. He immigrated to America in 1787, arriving in October in Charleston, South Carolina. He pastored a congregation in Rowan County, North Carolina from December 1787 to the spring of 1790. Stanger was ordained in North Carolina in October 1791 at the first semi-annual Assembly of Lutherans in the region. From Rowan County he moved to Wythe County in 1790 and founded Zion Lutheran Church on Cripple Creek.

Zion Lutheran Church was dedicated in 1794 and shared by the Lutheran congregation of John Stanger and the German Reformed congregation of Rev. Daniel Repass. Stanger served Zion Lutheran Church from 1791 to 1824; he also occasionally conducted services for churches for Lutherans on Back Creek, Price's Fork, Sinking Creek, and Peak Creek in Montgomery County and Pulaski COunty as well as Elk Creek in Grayson County.

Aside from his spiritual duties, Stanger served his adopted county of Wythe and state of Virginia as a justice of the peace, school commissioner, commissioner of the revenue, and delegate to the General Assembly (1832-1840). He also taught school in the early 1790s and was a trustee for Wythe Academy.

Stanger married Magdalena Wampler (1772-1846) on 25 December 1791. The couple had nine children including Salome (Sally) Stanger Spangler (b. 1792)(married Jacob Spangler); Magdalena (Polly) Stanger Earhart (b. 1794) (married John Earhart); Theresia Stanger Brown Miller (1797-1879) (married 1) Daniel Brown 2) Michael Miller); John Stanger Jr. (1799-1884)(married Caty Brownlow); Henry (1802-1802); Sophia Stanger Nye (1805-1866) (married John Price Nye); Sylvester Stanger (1807-1854) (married 1) Polly Miller 2) Mary Cowden); Jacob Stanger (b. 1810)(married Hannah Boyd); and Catherine (1813-1814). John Stanger died on 14 October and is buried in the Zion Church Cemetery in Wythe County, Virginia.

Acquisition information:
Donated by the estate of Frederick B. Kegley in 1968.
Physical description:
6 folders.