George Valentine CLAPP

   Another name for George was George Valentine KLAP.

  General Notes:

IMMIGRATION: Germany to the American Colonies, arrived on the "James Goodwill" at Philadelphia on September 12, 1727, along with his father, brothers and 12 other family members

NAME: Changed his last name to CLAPP upon arriving in Philadelphia, as did his brother John and their father

NOTES:
George Valentine Clapp was also known as Valentine. He was the first child of Jost and Anna Margaretha and he was born on May 24, 1702 in Weisenheim, Pfalz, Germany. He married Anna Barbara Stiess, daughter of Philip Stiess, on August 24, 1723 in Weisenheim. Anna Barbara was born in 1706 in Weisenheim. Their first born child was stillborn and the birth was recorded in the Weisenheim church book. Their second child, Maria Elizabeth, was also born in Weisenheim and lived to emigrate to America.
The last entry for Clapp in the church book of Weisenheim was in April of 1727. The family made their way to Rotterdam where they boarded the ship James Goodwill, with David Crockett as ship's master. The ship made a stop in England and then continued to the Colonies. On September 27, 1727, in Philadelphia, Valentine was one of six in his family group who was a male aged 16 and up who took the oath of fidelity and he signed his name Jorg Valentin Clap. The signature looks as though Valentine almost wrote his last name as "K"lap, and then changed the first letter to "C" as he wrote to do it the "English" way as his father had done. The source for this record was the Minutes of the Provincial Council, printed in Colonial Records Vol. III, p. 284
The family settled in the Oley Valley, north of Philadelphia, in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania. The rest of their children were born there.
In 1745, Valentine and others moved to North Carolina where land was available for purchase from either the current Lord Granville, or Henry McColloch. What they found was favorable and they sent word for Valentines brother Ludwig and others to join them. Tradition says they first settled in the Beaver Creek section of Guilford County. This area is in the southern one third of the current Guilford County, southwest of Burlington and south of Interstate 40. Between 1745 and 1771, numerous counties were formed and the boundaries changed with each formation. Valentine became a naturalized citizen on September 22, 1763 in the Salisbury District. Rowan County, North Carolina.
Valentine and his family were members of the German Reformed religion. They worshipped at Low's Evangelical Lutheran Church, where beliefs were similar, until 1770, when political differences reportedly prompted the Lutherans to lock out the Reformed members. At this point George and Ludwig were instrumental in establishing a church for their own faith at Beaver Creek.
Valentine purchased land a few miles further north near the Great Alamance Creek with a deed dated 1763. This land was located about two miles north of where the Brick Church is now located. On May 19, 1773,about five months before his death, for 250 pounds George Valentine deeded 320 acres of land to his son George Tobias. Valentine may have owned more land and transferred those lands to his other sons who remained in Guilford County.

  Research Notes:

-- American Civil War Soldiers
-- History of Brick Church of Guilford County, North Carolina (www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ncalaman/brick.html)
-- The Bill Clapp Family Genealogy Home Page (http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/c/l/a/Bill-Clapp)
-- Saul/Summers Family Tree (Whitsett, NC) (http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/12281191/family?cfpid=-297100843)
-- Find A Grave, Memorial # 39842912

George married Anna Barbara STIESS, daughter of Philip STIESS and Unknown, on 24 Aug 1723 in Weisenheim am Berg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. (Anna Barbara STIESS was born in 1706 in Weisenheim am Berg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, died on 12 Oct 1775 in Guilford County, North Carolina and was buried in Brick Church, Guilford County, North Carolina.)