Johann Jost KLAPP

  General Notes:

IMMIGRATION: Germany to the American Colonies, arrived on the "James Goodwill" on September 12, 1727

NAME: Changed his last name to CLAPP upon arriving in Philadelphia, as did his sons George Valentine and Johannes Ludwig

DEATH: Many sources incorrectly list his date of death in 1716, which is impossible since he migrated his family to America in 1727

NOTES:
Johann landed at Philadelphia 27 September 1727 aboard the ship James Goodwill out of Rotterdam, with sons George Valentine and John Ludwig and 12 other members of his family. David Crockett was the ship's master. A total of 53 Palatine men, age 16 or over took the Oath and signed their names signifying their subscription to the Declaration of Freedom, to include Joseph Clap, Johan Adam Philpe, Jorg Valentin Clap, Johann Ludowigh Clap, Christian Miller and Jurg Coch. They were part of the emigration of Protestants from the Palatine area of Germany during the early 18th century. His heritage was the neighborhood of Bingen and the Klopp castle (Schloss Klapp). He apparently spent his early years in Istha and was confirmed in the German Reformed faith in Istha in 1682 at age 13. Sometime before the birth of his children he moved to Weisenheim am Berg in Pfalz, Bavaria. The area's name became Rheinland-Pfalz in 1948, at the close of WWII when Germany was reorganized.
He is also known by other variations of his name which include Johann Jost Klapp. He used an initial when he signed his name "Joseph K. Clap" in Philadelphia in 1727. This is a guess, but the use of the initial " k" could have been the result of some variation old style naming which would have been his given name, then the surname of his father,and then the name of the clan or neighborhood of his family heritage. In his case, his heritage was the neighborhood of Bingen and the Klopp castle (Schloss Klopp). He was confirmed in the German Reformed faith in Istha in 1682, at about age 13.
In 1704, in Weisenheim, the church recorded the birth of Jost's son Jurg (George Valentine) and the municipality noted Jost paid a new resident registration fee in the fiscal year 1704-1705. Until then it is possible he was a resident of the area without the rights of citizenship, but the facts are not known. In the fiscal year 1707-08, the municipality bought corn from Jost, reimbursed him for food and drink expenses when they had him dispatch a wagon to Kallstadt, and noted Jost's sale of barley to the schoolmaster. In 1708-09, Jost sold oats to the clergyman, and in 1710-11, he sold 200 liters of wine. Jost was charged for his share of the watchman fee in 1715-16, and in again in 1716-17 Jost paid the municipality for the value of fruit instead of delivering it. In 1721-22, Jost received compensation and reimbursement because the master baker died in his house.
Throughout Jost's life, the Thirty Years War was in progress. The country was devastated and over the years many, many thousands of Jost's fellow Palatinates left Germany. At the time when his oldest children began to marry and the next oldest were apparently betrothed, Jost transported them all to America, except Jost's younger son, Ludwig, who was in nearby Dackenheim, noted in the church entry, "for the first time to the Lord's table: 1, Johann Ludwig Klapp von Weisenheim am Berg", on June 5, 1726, persons of the name were in Weisenheim as late as April 6, 1727, when the last Klapp entry was placed in the church record.

  Research Notes:

-- The Bill Clapp Family Home Page (www.familyorigins.com/users/c/l/a/William--Clapp/index.html)
-- Find A Grave, Memorial # 39843190

Johann married Anne Margaretha STAUDER, daughter of Michael STAUDER and Anna APOLLONIA, in 1701 in Bingen am Rhein, Palatinate, Germany. (Anne Margaretha STAUDER was born in 1678 in Weisenheim am Berg, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany and died in Berks County, Pennsylvania.)