KESTER Family History, Part III
- Part I - 1st Generation: Paul Küster1 (1644-~1707)
• and 2nd Generation: Johannes Küster2 (1670-1708) - Part II - 3rd Generation: Hermanus Kester (Sr.)3 (1703-) and Paul Kester3 (1706-1740s)
- Part III - 4th Generation: William Kester4 (~1733-~1820) and Elizabeth Kester4 (1735-<1762)
- Part IV - 5th Generation: Paul Kester5 (1760-1814)
- Part V - 6th Generation: John Bonham Kester, Sr.6 (1791-1840)
- Part VI - 7th Generation: Sarah Ann (Kester) Miller7 (1819-1902)
- Outline Descandants Report (PDF)
Great Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 when September 2 was decreed as September 14 to account for 12 days of accumulated errors under the Julian caldendar. Additionally the legal new year was moved up to January 1 from March 25 ("Lady Day"), when the new year was marked on that day. Prior to 1752, March 24, 1750 was followed by March 25, 1751. After 1752, Julian dates were noted as Old Style ("O.S.").
Furthermore, prior to 1752, when months were referred to numerically, rather than by their pagan-derived names, they generally denoted March as the "1st month".
Susanna (KESTER) WEBSTER (1733-1832)
124A. Susanna Kester was born on the 10th day of the 9th month [November], 1733. She married Samuel Webster on July 10, 1755, and died on February 24, 1832, in Hunterdon County, New Jersey.[White 140] She was allegedly 98 years old.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
Elizabeth KESTER4 (1735-~1762)
124B. Elizabeth Kester4 was born on the 25th day of 6th month [August], 1735. After her uncle, Paul Kester3, died at an early age, her father took in three of Paul's four children. Elizabeth married the eldest, her first cousin, William Kester4 on October 14, 1756, and were believed to have been "cut off" from the Quaker church. Elizabeth and William had one son before Elizabeth's untimely death:[Hunt 306-307]
| 124B1. | Paul KESTER5 | (1760) | 10 Apr 1814 | (54) |
Elizabeth Kester died in her early 20s, before 1762. William went on to remarry, have more children, and eventually migrate west to Maryland and Kentucky.
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
Samuel KESTER (1737-1804)
124C. Samuel Kester was born on the 26th day of the 9th month [November], 1737. He married Susanna Webster on September 14, 1758, at Buckingham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. He died on March 8, 1804.[White 140] He was 66 years old.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
John KESTER (1740-1806)
124D. John Kester was born on the the 21st day of the 11th month, 1739 [January 21, 1740]. He married Sarah Lundy on June 14, 1770, at the Kingwood Monthly Meeting in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. He died in 1806[White 140] at about the age of 66 years.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
Rebecca (KESTER) KING (1742-)
124E. Rebecca Kester was born on the 16th day of the 2nd month [April], 1742. She married Thomas King on October 14, 1771, at the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting, Burlington County, New Jersey.[White 140]
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
Hermanus KESTER (Jr.) (1744-)
124F. Hermanus Kester (Jr.) was born on the 17th day of the 5th month [July], 1744. He married Rachel Webster on October 14, 1762.[White 140]
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
Peter KESTER (1747-1813)
124G. Peter Kester was born on the 4th day of the 11th month, 1746 [January 4, 1747]. He married Eleanor Lawrence on February 22, 1792, at the Concord Monthly Meeting in Concordville, Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He died in 1813 in Mifflin County, Pennsylvania.[White 140] He was about 66 years old.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
Paul KESTER (1749-1811)
124H. Paul Kester was born on the 26th day of the 3rd month [May], 1749. He married Ann Webster about November 1772. Paul died on January 25, 1811, and was buried at the Millville Friends Cemetery in Millvillle, Columbia County, Pennsylvania.[White 140, Grave]
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
- Grave: Millville Friends Cemetery, Millville, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, Find A Grave <http://www.findagrave.com>
Thomas KESTER (1752-1787)
124I. Thomas Kester was born on November 24, 1752. He married Elizabeth Gray in 1784 at the Bradford Monthly Meeting in Marshallton, West Bradford Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. He died on May 18, 1787[White 140], at the age of 34.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
William KESTER (Sr.)4 (~1733-~1820)
1251. William Kester (Sr.)4 was born about 1733, probably in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.[Hunt 306] After his father died when he was young, he went to live with a Quaker family in Chester County, Pennsylvania, west of Germantown, and attended the Sadsbury Monthly Meeting just across the county line to the west in Lancaster County. His younger siblings went to live with his uncle Hermanus Kester.[Hunt 306]
In March 1756, William transferred to the Kingwood Monthly Meeting, further up and across the Delaware River from Philadelphia in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, where his uncle Hermanus and his sibling had previously moved. Later that year he married his cousin, Hermanus' daughter, Elizabeth Kester4, on October 14, 1756. It is believed that they were "cut off" from the congregation because of the incestuous marriage.[Hunt 306-307]
William and Elizabeth had one son before Elizabeth's death. William soon after remarried to Elizabeth (Leacock/Lacock) Furgason (Ferguson•), the widow of Thomas Zilliah Furgason (Ferguson), about 1762, probably in New Jersey. Elizabeth had a three- or four-year old son[Hunt 586] and William's son was about two years old. They went on to have four more children:[Hunt 307]
| -- | Samuel Furgason | 9 Jun 1758 | 20 Feb 1814 | (55) |
| 12511. | Paul Kester5 |
(1760) | 10 Apr 1814 | (54) |
| 12512. | Elizabeth Kester | (1763) | (1840) | (77) |
| 12513. | William Kester (Jr.) | (1765) | 1815 | (50) |
| 12514. | Sarah Kester• | 4 Jan 1767 | 2 Feb 1848 | (80) |
| 12515. | John Kester | 23 Mar 1770 | 14 Sep 1839 | (69) |
The Kesters later moved west into Maryland and perhaps (West) Virginia by the 1780s. Their daughter married near Cumberland, Allegany County, Maryland in 1781 and "located under the Laurel Hills on George's Creek, southwest of Cumberland."[Hunt 307] This description likely points to the area around the town of Moscow, where Laurel Run drains into George's Creek before flowing into the Potomac River.
Ohio River Valley
The Kesters later continued west into Kentucky, then a county belonging to the Commonwealth of Virginia. They first headed north to Pittsburgh and then took a flatboat down the Ohio River and came under fire by Indians along the way. They landed at the Falls of Ohio at Louisville, arriving in April 1786, six years prior to Kentucky statehood. From there they were escorted southeast to Cox's Station (Cox's Creek), the first pioneer station in Nelson County, 4½ miles north of Bardstown.[Hunt 592]
The Kesters settled in Nelson County just as warfare with the Western Indian Confederacy was on the rise in Ohio. The Indians made frequent raids into Nelson County stealing horses and sometimes murdering settlers. Son John served in the "Legion of the United States" campaigns under Major General "Mad Anthony" Wayne, probably from about 1792 until 1795.[Hunt 543]
In 1795 the Kesters purchased a tract of land from Mr. Shepard for $100 and a horse. The tract, along Elk Creek, about 25 miles north toward Louisville, was said to be 500 acres but proved to survey out to 600 acres.[Hunt 593] Elk Creek was then in Shelby County but was later redrawn into Spencer County when it was formed in 1824.
After moving to Elk Creek, Elizabeth fell ill and was bedridden for about seven years before succumbing.[Hunt 593]
Elizabeth (Lacock Furgason) Kester died in Spencer County, Kentucky, between 1805 and 1810.[Hunt 307] She was likely in her late 60s.
Sarah Pound was born on March 4, 1738, in Piscataway, Middlesex County, New Jersey. She married the widower John Pound in 1764 in Piscataway. He had a 2 or 3-year-old daughter from his prior marriage to Rhoda Cox.
Sarah and John had six more children before John died about 1790 in Allegany County, Maryland. Three of Sarah's children, Eunice, Thomas, and Sarah, had married William's three younger children, William (Jr.), Sarah and John, between 1784 and 1791.[Hunt 307-308]
After John died after 1790, Sarah married Samuel Stigler, twice a widower, reportedly on April 11, 1787, in Nelson County, Kentucky. He died in Nelson County in May 1800.
William remarried to the widow Sarah (Martin Pound) Stigler on March 24, 1810, in Shelby County (now Spencer County), Kentucky.[Marr 1810] He was about 76 years old and she about 71.
William Kester died about 1820 at the age of 87 and is buried at Elk Creek.[Hunt 308]
Sarah (Martin Pound Stigler) Kester died about 1825 or 1826 in Kentucky at the age of 86 or 87. She is also buried at Elk Creek.[Hunt 308]
Page 306-308: "William Kester, a son of Paul and Ruth (Kitchen) Kester, was born in the vicinity of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, about the year 1733. His first name was probably given him from his mother's family, as William was common name among the Kitchens of that period."
"It is said that William's "father died when he was quite young," and that "some kind-hearted Quakers took him away," presumably to live with them, and it probable that he was living during his minority with these Quaker people in Chester County, Pennsylvania, for it is known that his brothers, Samuel and John, and sister, Rebecca, were all residing in that county at a later date, and the he himself was identified, or at least acquainted with the members of the Sadsbury Monthly Meeting of Friends, which was located near the line between Chester and Lancaster Counties. his names does not appear on the records of the Sadsbury meeting as a member, but the minutes of the Kingwood, New Jersey, Monthly Meeting show that he came there on the 11th day, the 3rd month, 1756, by a letter of recommendation from the Sadsbury Meeting. His reasons for thus moving from the vicinity of Sadsbury, Pennsylvania, to Kingwood, New Jersey, are indicated by the fact that he had shortly before that time become of age and that his uncle, Hermanus KESTER, and family, and his brother John and sister Rebecca (both minors who had evidently taken up their abode with their uncle Hermanus after the death of their father) were all members of the Kingwood Monthly Meeting."
"William's uncle, Hermanus Kester, named above, had a daughter, Elizabeth, born the 25th day, the 6th month, 1735, and to her William was doubtless married, as the Kingwood records show that on the 14th day of the 10th month, 1756, "William Kester and Elizabeth Kester, first cousins," were brought before the meeting for marrying, and as no further mention is made of them in the minutes of that meeting it is supposed they were "cut off" and dropped from the membership, as it was against the rules of the Friends for first cousins to marry."
"Some years later William Kester moved to Virginia or Maryland. It is not known for certain in which state he located, but probably he first settled in Virginia and afterwards moved to Maryland. The boundary line between these two States in those times was in dispute, and this may account for the fact that some of his descendants say he resided in Virginia, and others that he lived in Maryland. However this may be, it is known that between 1781 and 1786 he was living near Cumberland, Maryland, as the family of his daughter Elizabeth have preserved the history that she married Edmund Liston there in 1781 and located under the Laurel Hills on George's Creek, southwest of Cumberland, and that William and his whole family immigrated from that vicinity to Kentucky in the year 1786. The account of that trip given on another page (see appendix III) of this volume shows that they went from Maryland overland to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and thence by the Ohio river on a flat boat, landing where Louisville, Kentucky, now stands, in teh month of April, 1786. From that date he and his children lived in Nelson County until 1795, when they moved to near Elk Creek in Shelby, now Spencer County, Kentucky, where he remained until his death."
"William was married a second time, probably in New Jersey, about 1762, to a widow, Ferguson, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Lacock (see Appendix I and L), who died in Spencer County, Kentucky, about 1805-10, and he was married again about 1813 (see Appendix IV), to a widow Stigler, who maiden name was Sarah MARTIN, and who had been twice married before, her first husband being John Pound, the common ancestor of the Pound Family found in this volumne. At the time of this last marriage, William was eighty and his wife seventy-five years of age, and they were then living with their children, John and Sarah (Pound) Kester, and remained there until they died. He and his third wife both died at the age of eighty-seven years and are buried at Elk Creek, Spencer County, Kentucky. His five children, one by his first wife and four by the second, are as as follows:..."
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
- Marr 1810: 24 Mar 1810, Shelby County, Kentucky
Samuel KESTER
1252. Samuel Kester was probably born in the mid-1730s. He married Leah Vickers in 1759, probably in Buckingham, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, about 21 miles north of Germantown.
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
Rebecca (KESTER) WEBSTER (1783-)
1253. Rebecca Kester was born December 12, 1738. She married Joseph Webster in 1768.[Hunt 305]
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
John KESTER (1744-)
1254. John Kester was born July 31, 1744. He married Hannah Webster in 1766.[Hunt 305]
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.