The following information was assembled from numerous sources and cannot be used directly as proof of Qualifying Service or Lineage.
It is considered a research aid and is intended to assist in locating sources that can be used as proof.
State of Service: VA
Qualifying Service: Patriotic Service
Photo by permission: James Edward Mitchell, Texas Society SAR
no Find-a-Grave record found - Oct 2022 - record showed cemetery as "family cem, Beamers Head Rd."
GPS 38.43379500, -78.29162700 points to Beamers Head Rd
Directions to Cemetery / Gravesite:
Photo: 1 of 1
Author: James Edward Mitchell
Johann Adam (aka John and/or Adam) Gaar (1711-1790) was born in Frankenhofen and Baptized at the Lutheran Church at Illenschwang, five miles from Dinkelsbuehl, Bavaria. His father was Andreas Gar (1685-1747) a native of Frankenhofen. Johann Adam was recorded within the Lutheran Church register during a search of parish conducted on Mar 1, 1888 and published in The Garr Genealogy, by John Wesley Gaar & son, Copyright 1894, published by the author at Cincinnati, Ohio, pgs 531-4. A record search produced a public certificate by the Burgomaster & Council of Dinkelsbuehl in the Holy Roman Empire, whereas Andreas Gar, formerly a citizen in ‘good standing’ of Illenschwang, applied for emigration to Pennsylvania. The certificate was approved by the common chancery seal in Dinkelsbuehl on Apr 26, 1732.
On Sep 25, 1732, Andreas Gar’s name was listed, first –Palatines imported in the ship Loyal Judith of London, Rob’t. Turpin, Master, from Rotterdam, last from Cowes, see: pg 79 of the book entitled: Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants in Pennsylvania From 1727 to 1776 by Prof. I. Daniel Rupp, Copyright 1965, re-printed from a 2nd Edition (Philadelphia, 1876). Andreas Gaar’s name appears onboard the ship with Joh. Christian Shultz, Minister; and, Adam Gaar; Geo. Michael Schmidt; and Johann Georg Ruck, et al, ninety-eight males all, above age 16. Females including Andreas’ wife Eve Seidelmann and (eleven) dependent children were unrecorded for the record.
Following a brief stay hosted by a Reformed Lutheran church congregation at Germantown, PA, Adam Gaar’s parents and brothers and sisters re-settled to the Robinson River valley after successfully finding a minister, John Casper Stoever (1685-1738) to establish the Hebron Dutch Lutheran church. At age 27, Adam Gaar was accustomed to increased church responsibility after the congregation could only pay their minister 3,000 pounds of tobacco per year. The congregation approved Pastor Stover and two other adult members of the congregation (Michael Schmidt and Michael Holt) to travel to Europe for the purpose of fundraising. Reverend Stover died before returning to Virginia.
Adam Gaar during 1768 continued operating a grist mill, farming and raising livestock at his farm tract patented on Oct 3, 1734, at Gaar Mountain. His track is five miles from present Hebron Lutheran Church mapped at White Oak Run, Madison, VA. A son, Michael Adam Gaar (1740-97) married Elizabeth Wilhoit (aka Wilhite) a daughter of Adam Wilhoit who died at Culpeper Co., VA, in 1783. Elizabeth’s sister, Mary, is recorded in her marriage to Reverend William Carpenter, Sr., pg. 520, The Garr Genealogy, by John Wesley Garr & son, Copyright 1894, publ. by author at, Cincinnati, O.
John (aka Adam) Gaar (aka Garr) and a nephew, by the same name, are recorded at Culpeper County within the Virginia ‘Publick’ Claims for furnishing beef to the Continental Army in June and Nov., 1781; also, with William Carpenter for 250 pounds of beef. His nephew, John Gaar (1744-1808) a son of his brother, Lorenz (dec’d.) served as a Private, with a Culpeper (VA) militia company during the Revolutionary War.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Johann Adam Gaar was recorded born on 25 Dec 1711 at Illenschwang, Bayern, Kingdom of Bavaria (Germany) to parents Andreas Gaar, age 26, and Eve Seidelmann, whose names are recorded upon the Church Register at Aufkirchen Village Church, Frankenhofen, Ansbach, Bayern, Bavaria. The couple married in Frankenhofen on 23 Feb 1711; source -U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900. Immigration: on 25 Sep 1732 Andreas Gaar and his son, Johann Adam Gaar, age 19, names appear signed on the ship manifest aboard the Loyal Judith of London to Philadelphia accompanying Johann Christian Shultz*, Minister, age 30; source, A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants in Pennsylvania…, Prof. I. Daniel Rupp, 2nd Reprint from 2nd Edition (Philadelphia, 1876), pg 79-81. Andreas Gaar’s family re-settled to a 250 acre tract dated 3 Oct 1734, mapped as Garr Mountain, First Patents of Land in Madison Co., Virginia compiled in 1940 by D. R. Carpenter, Cert. Engr. VA346. Andrew (aka Andreas) Garr, John (Johann) Adam Garr; Lawrence (Lorenz) Garr, John Zimmerman (aka Carpenter) Duvald Christle (sic, Christler, Chrisler) et al, German protestants were naturalized at Orange County Court on 28 Jan 1742 having produced a certificate signed by George Samuel Klugg, Minister of the German congregation in Orange Co., (Culpeper Co., formed 1749 from Orange); see, Virginia Historical Magazine, Vol II, (1903-04) pgs 230-231, Moravian Diaries Through Virginia. Andreas Gaar died during 1747at his family farm home and well-spring mapped still along Rt 651 at the headwaters of Mulatto Run, Madison, Virginia. John Adam Gaar’s younger brother, Lorenz (1716-1753) and his wife, Dorothea Blankenbaker died during an epidemic leaving 2 young sons [John Gaar (P-163337) Andrew Gaar (P-333931)]. John Adam Gaar, Elder with Adam Wayland were recorded writing during Sep 1768 from “Hebron” German Lutheran Church in Culpeper to the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania; source, The Virginia Germans, Klaus Wust, The University Press of Virginia , Charlottesville, Copyright 1969, Chapter 6, Revolutionary War, pgs 74-77. John Gaar/Garr and his nephews, John and Andrew appear recorded within Virginia ‘Publick’ Claims at Culpeper Co., VA compiled by Janice L. Abercrombie and Richard Slatten pgs 43 and 46. John Adam Gaar’s sons, [Lewis Gaar (P-330778) and Michael Gaar (P-163339)]; see, Michael, pg 26, also appears credited for ‘Publick” Claims made Jun 1781 for a gun and Oct for waggonage & gear -75 days. Virginia supplies were encouraged (Aug 27, 1781) after Gen’l. Washington wrote to Governor Thomas Nelson of Virginia (VA) who had succeeded Thos. Jefferson in June. Gov. Nelson issued a broadside announcing the arrival of a French fleet and calling for “Vigorous exertions” to ensure the conquest of the British. He urged all militiamen to turn out “with a gun of any sort,” and everyone was asked to supply flour and spirits in particular, plus cattle, wagons and horses; source, Victory At Yorktown, Richard M. Ketchum publ. by Henry Holt Co., LLC, New York, NY, Copyright 2004 pgs 160-161. John Adam Gaar’s will appears written and recorded at Madison County Courthouse, Madison, VA on 11 Jan 1790, with a son, Benjamin and John Hume designated as Administrators. John Adam died before Oct 1793 and he was logically interred, now unmarked, among perhaps a dozen graves for the Gibbs, Blankenbaker and Garr families, at Mt. Pisgah (Evangelist) Protestant Church cemetery mapped off Gaar Mountain Road or Rt 652, Madison, VA at Latitude: 38.392871 and Longitude: -78.306078. On snowy days, at this thickly wooded site easily reached along a paved Rt. 652 called Ruth Rd. from Madison County Library, 402 N. Main St.; one might park at the seemingly ancient, small, unpainted, wooden church structure raised with mountain stone pier foundation supplied by our allied families. Various unmarked graves may be observed sunken and capped with snow, after the day’s melt in winter months. Nexus: *Johann Christian Schultz, Minister and a professor at Tübingen University, who briefly served the Lutheran Congregations at Lancaster, Pennsylvania (PA) ordained Johann Casper Stoever and his father by the same name, prior to Schultz’s return to Germany in the spring of 1733. Until the arrival of Johann Valentin Kraft and Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg in 1742, Mark Häberlein wrote in The Practice of Pluralism Growth and Disruption: Lutherans and Moravians, Chapter Two, pg 54; Reverend Stoever was the only ordained Lutheran clergyman in Pennsylvania performing marriages and Baptisms at Lebanon and Lancaster Counties. Rev. Stoever demonstrated his attachment to Lancaster by presenting the congregation with a pewter host box and plate left behind by Johann Christian Schultz* in 1735.
Author: James Edward Mitchell
John (1744-1808) and Andrew Gaar (1750-1811), brothers, were native born Virginians with proven Military Service in the War of the Revolution and separate, Virginia ‘Publick’ Claims (John) recorded Aug. 1781 for 375# beef and Nov. for 365# beef. Andrew’s claim appeared recorded during Dec. 1781 for 210 # beef; source, Virginia ‘Publick’ Claims Culpeper County printed by the Iberian Publ. Co., Athens, Georgia 30605-3408 compiled by Janice L. Abercrombie & Richard Slatten copied from original Revolutionary Claims in the Library of Virginia (VA) at Richmond.
They were born at their family cabin style home and orchard mapped at (Beamers Head Road) Route 650 on Gaar Mountain, Madison, VA, to a union between their father, Lorenz (Larance) Gaar/Garr, b. 29 Nov 1716 [d. 1753, during an epidemic] and Dorothea (Dorothy) Blankenbaker (1729-1753), a dau. of Hans Nicholas Blankenbaker/Blankenbuehler, a 1717 Germanna, Second Colony Settler; see: Germanna News, Fall 2007, Vol. 13, No. 3, pg. 9, reference –John Blankenbaker, 50th Annual Reunion 2007 by Katherine L. Brown @ Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc., P O Box 279, Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279.
John, age 9, and his brother, Andrew, age 3, were adored over after their parents’ death, following an area smallpox epidemic among Piedmont Germans, according to family accounts. [Virginia’s George Washington and his brother, Lawrence, during Nov 1751 departed Virginia colony to live temporarily in Barbados to avoid contacting “pox”. His journal recorded that he contracted the disease but recovered. The disease left him immune for life, Geo. Washington believed. During 1777, when the disease struck his Continental Army, Washington ordered his troops be inoculated; see, Colonial American History Stories – 1665-1753: Forgotten and Famous by Paul R. Wonning, Copyright 2017.]
John Adam Gaar (1711-1793), Lorenz’s older brother, physically resided at the family’s main home and well-spring situated off, Pass Run on the 250 acre tract [now mapped headwaters of Mulatto Run] initially patented on 3 Oct 1734 as 1st Patent of Land in Madison County for Andreas (Andrew) Gaar (1685-1747), their father. John Adam and Lorenz’s sister, Elizabeth Barbara (b. 11 Feb 1730; see, The Garr Genealogy, 1894, publ. by John Calhoun Garr at Cincinnati, O.) had married Dorothy’s brother, Michael Blankenbaker prior to the epidemic. John and Andrew, were logically raised to early adulthood at Lorenz’s orchard and farm cabin within a direct line of sight from the main house and well-spring, 900 yards S/W of Lorenz’s orchard tract found down the hillside from present day Route 650, Madison, VA. When John and Andrew reached the ages of inheritance, they settled permanently at their parents Robinson River tract adjacent to their uncle, John Adam Gaar and his children: Michael Adam (1740-97), m. Elizabeth Wilhoit; Elizabeth (1740-1812) m. Adam Fischer, a son of Ludwig (Lewis) Fischer; Maria Magdalena, m. Stephen Albert Fischer; Ludwig (Lewis) Gaar (1744-1824) m. Catherine Weaver, a dau. of Hans Dieterich “Peter” Weaver; Benj. Gaar (1754-1821) m. Margaret Crigler (8 Mar 1759- _) a dau. of Nicholas Crigler/Krickler & w. Margaretha Kaifer/Kaffer/ Caffer; and, Rosannah (aka Rosina b. Culpeper, VA, 1755 d. 1798) m. Benj. Dicken/Dikons.
The entire Hebron Church congregation and its Robinson River valley neighbors opposed British efforts in the prelude to the War of Independence. John and Andrew’s uncle, John Adam Gaar in Sep 1768, a Hebron Lutheran Church (est. 1740) elder from Culpeper (formed 1792 as Madison County) and Adam Wayland were recorded to write to the Lutheran Ministerium of Pennsylvania, [Pastor Henry M. Muhlenberg (b. Einbeck, GR., 1711 d. Trappe, PA., 1787)], our means prevent us (Hebron Lutheran Church) from giving this upright [parson, Johannes Schwarbach (1719-1800) a Pennsylvania catechist] commensurate pay because we contribute to the keep of English parish preacher…; source, The Virginia Germans by Klaus Wust, 1969, The University Press of VA, Charlottesville, Chapter Six, Revolutionary War, pgs 74-83, for rolls of “Culpeper (draft) Classes” yield 182 German surnames.
After the Yorktown Campaign John and Andrew operated a horse drawn grist mill along the Run opposite their home site with Pear trees planted between the farm home and Run. During winter months, an old wagon path might be observed that parallels the west side of today’s Run directly to John Adam Gaar’s 1740 home with livestock pins and water pond. Although the brother’s uncle’s private family burial ground disappeared from plain sight following 1945-6, John and Andrew Gaar’s private burial ground remained very much visible adjacent to (Beamers Head Road) along Route 650 to Camp Varsity.
On 22 Jun 2007, the writer conducted a field survey with assistance of a cousin, John Marvin Garr, Dec’d., 515 Wayland Road, Culpeper, VA 22701 and Gordon L. Saunders, Dec’d., a resident of Aylor Community, Madison, VA. John and Andrew Gaar’s private cemetery mapped along Beamers Head Road was located before reaching Ollie W. Kitchen’s U.S. Mail Box to a Georgian brick home named Lone Oak Hill Farm found near the road crossing with Mulatto Run. Only, Andrew Gaar’s wife, Christina Wilhoit’s (1750-1837) upright, broken headstone, marked the family burial ground at Latitude: 38.43394 and Longitude: -78.28902.
We drove (Aylor Road) Route 651 one half mi. then, Gordon Saunders directed us to turn east off the paved road at U.S. Mail Box # 2325 crossing a cattle-guard. We proceeded up a winding, open, hilltop terrain reaching a white two-story, wood frame home once owned by Newton W. Gibbs. About 50 yards beyond the 2 story occupied house, just to the left of the gravel track, there appeared a telephone pole and post fence. In the level part of this ground (then 1940s) Gordon Saunders recalled that the larger of the two Gaar Graveyard(s) was situated at this site. Here Andreas (1685-1747) and w. Eve Seidelmann, Reformed Lutheran émigrés from Bavaria were buried at the family’s 1734, 250 acre Land Patent in Madison County. Plainly, visible a hundred yards down the hillside were several red painted, hand-hewn timbers, livestock pins. Some distance away, laid remains of the Gaar Family unattached kitchen and chimney near a huge, wellspring and/or spring-feed livestock pond, now at the headwaters of Mulatto Run. The original Gaar home had during the late 1960s, been sold privately by the Gibbs family for its twin, stone chimneys and valuable, axe hewn timbers for relocation to a wooded track near Charlottesville, VA at Free Union.
On 4 May 2008, the writer was joined by Gordon L. Saunders and a brother-in-law, Donald Judy, to set separate U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Burial Branch Military headstones for Christina Wilhoit’s spouse, Andrew Gaar (1750-1811) and John Gaar (1744-1808), who married her sister, Margaret Wilhoit. On 11 May, Alonzo (Lon) Lacey, Jr., James Edward Mitchell, both direct-line Wilhoit family descendants with Dominic Lay and his brother, Charles Francis Lay, 1st VP, Culpeper Minute Men (CMM) Chapter, Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) organized a Gaar Cemetery clean-up hosted by Scoutmaster Colt Puryear with assistance from members of Boy Scouts of America (BSA) Troop 116, Stonewall Jackson Council, Madison County. On 17 May 2008, the CMM Chapter, Madison, VA held a dual grave marking ceremony led by Chapter Pres., J. Paul Bess, Jr. who dedicated separate, SAR (grave marking) Bronze Lugs to commemorate John and Andrew’s military service during the War of Independence. Uniformed in the traditional Virginia militia hunting shirt, bitches & knee socks -Lon Lacey, Jr. and James Mitchell performed a several volley musket salute! Troop 116, BSA Scout, Alfred Corbin played TAPS on his trumpet with the Hebron Lutheran Church Pastor, scouts, adult leaders, Gaar family allied kin that totaled 37 in attendance on a beautifully sunny day in the foothills of the eastern Blue Ridge Mountain range, a few miles west of Madison, VA.
Send a biographical sketch of your patriot!
Patriot biographies must be the original work of the author, and work submitted must not belong to another person or group, in observance with copyright law. Patriot biographies are to be written in complete sentences, follow the established rules of grammar, syntax and punctuation, be free of typographical errors, and follow a narrative format. The narrative should unfold in a logical manner (e.g. the narrative does not jump from time period to time period) or have repeated digressions, or tell the history of the patriot's line from the patriot ancestor to the author. The thinking here is that this is a patriot biography, not a lineage report or a kinship determination project or other report published in a genealogy journal. The biography should discuss the qualifying service (military, patriotic, civil) of the patriot ancestor, where the service was rendered, whether this was a specific state or Continental service, as well as significant events (as determined by the author) of the patriot's life. This is the entire purpose of a patriot's biography.
Additional guidelines around the Biography writeup can be found here:
Send your submission1, in a Microsoft Word compatible format, to patriotbios@sar.org for inclusion in this space 1Upon submission of a patriot biography, the patriot biography becomes the property of the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and may be edited to conform to the patriot biography submission standards.
