Author: David Edward Cook
John/Johannes Conrad Stautzenberger was born at York County, Pennsylvania, a son of Conrad Stautzenberger and Catherine Firestone, 2 April 1762.1
At the age of 15 years, Stautzenberger enlisted for a period of three years as a drummer in Captain Nathaniel Irish’s Artillery Artificers Company.2 His service record indicates Captain Irish’s company was a part of Colonel Procter’s Regiment. Captain Irish’s company was subordinate to Commissary General of Military Stores, Benjamin Fowler. Fowler was given the rank of Colonel of Artillery Artificers.3 In 1777, General Washington directed the Commissary General of Military Stores to establish operations at York, although this was eventually transferred to the vicinity of Carlisle, Pennsylvania.4 John Stautzenberger’s service record as it appears in his wife’s widow’s pension file indicates Captain Irish’s Company was subordinate to Colonel Procter’s Regiment.5
In the summer 1780, the Department of the Commissary General of Military Stores directed Captain Nathaniel Irish and “his hands” (who were serving in the Regiment of Artillery Artificers at Carlisle) to establish a workshop at Wesham, near Richmond, Virginia. The company “…began furnishing fixed ammunition, portfires, and tubes to two companies of Artillery.”6 This clarifies Stautzenberger’s service record as to the reason “Penna” is crossed out and he appears with service in the Virginia Line,7 however; this fails to explain the reason the service record indicates John served under Colonel Procter.
Thomas Procter (also spelt Proctor) was the first and only individual to raise a regular unit for Pennsylvania. He was commissioned Captain of Artillery, 27 October 1775. By 31 July 1776, Procter’s company doubled in size. He was promoted to the rank of major, commanding two companies. By 6 February 1777, Procter’s Regiment joined the Continental Line with Thomas Procter, now a colonel, in command.8 By this time, the Regiment had been at the Battles of Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown and Monmouth.9 In the spring of 1779, Colonel Procter was directed to support General Sullivan’s campaign against the Six Nations of Indians. In April 1781, Colonel Procter resigned his commission over a dispute with Pennsylvania’s President, Joseph Reed. The dispute concerned the issue of clothing and state interference in the appointment of officers.10 Procter’s Continental Artillery Regiment, now named the Fourth Continental Artillery Regiment, joined General Anthony Wayne’s move into Virginia. The unit participated in the Battle of Green Spring and the Siege of Yorktown.11 This service may explain Colonel Procter’s name on Stautzenberger’s service record. No evidence was found suggesting John Conrad Stautzenberger participated in any of the latter campaigns.
Following his military service, Stautzenberger spent most of his life residing at Loudoun County, Virginia. John Stautzenberger married Maria Margareta Kitchen (also reported as Ritchen), 30 March 1784.12 They were the parents of the following children:
Catherine Ann, born 22 August 1787, married 3 March 1812 to Solomon Crumbaker, died 9 October 1866.15
Ann Amelia “Milly,” born, 29 April 1790, married Israel Williams 4 March 1874, died 25 April 1811.16
Salome “Sarah” christened 29 September 1793, married George Stiffler, died 8 November 1850.17
Elizabeth, born 8 October 1795, married Frederick Huffner, 9 October 1814, died 24 January 1874.18
Barbara married Peter Sauder.19
Jacob, born 2 May 1798, married Marie Kern 2 November 1820, died 25 August 1854.20
Samuel, born 13 December 1801, married Mary Schlotzer, Mary Catherine Tooley, died 13 March 1847.21
Birth and death records suggest Stautzenberger and Maria were long-serving members of the New Jerusalem Evangelical Lutheran Church at Lovettsville. Stautzenberger received a military pension of $104 per year, beginning September 1831, that lasted until his death, 31 March 1837.13 Maria received a widow’s pension, S*W6207, based under the Act of 7 June 1832, that lasted until her death, 9 October 1847.14
1. Lineages, Inc. York County, Pennsylvania, 1733-1800: Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church [database on-line]. Provo, UT from Hertzog, F.J.C. Records, Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church, City of York, York County, Pennsylvania, 1733-1800. 1919.
2. Pennsylvania Archives, Series 2, Vol . 11, Continental Line, Artillery Artificers, 1777-1783, Pg. 247 at: https://www.fold3.com/image/3098123. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA, Series M804, National Archives #30033, Record Group 15, Roll: 2308, John Stouseberger, S*W6207, at: https://www.fold3.com/image/18349369?terms-war,us,revolutionary,stouseberger,united,america,states.
3. Risch, Erna, “Supplying Washington’s Army,” Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1981, Pg. 314-315.
4. Risch, Erna, “Supplying Washington’s Army,” Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1981, Pg. 316.
5. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA, Series M804, National Archives #30033, Record Group 15, Roll: 2308, John Stouseberger , S*W6207, at: https://www.fold3.com/image/18349369?terms-war,us,revolutionary,stouseberger,united,america,states.
6. Risch, Erna, “Supplying Washington’s Army,” Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington D.C., 1981, Pg. 326-327.
7. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA, Series M804, National Archives #30033, Record Group 15, Roll: 2308, John Stouseberger , S*W6207, at: https://www.fold3.com/image/18349369?terms-war,us,revolutionary,stouseberger,united,america,states.
8. Near, Benjamin M.; Washington, G; Procter, Thomas, “A Sketch of General Thomas Procter, with some Account of the First Pennsylvania Artillery in the Revolution,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1880, Pg. 454-458.
9. “Thomas Proctor (General),” Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:DownloadAsPdf&page=Thomas_Proctor_%28general%29&action=show-download-screen.
10. Near, Benjamin M.; Washington, G; Procter, Thomas, “A Sketch of General Thomas Procter, with some Account of the First Pennsylvania Artillery in the Revolution,” The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 1880, Pg. 462-465.
11. American Revolutionary War Continental Regiments, “4th Continental Artillery Regiment,” at https://revolutionarywar.us/continental-army/artillery-regiments/.
12. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA, Series M804, National Archives #30033, Record Group 15, Roll: 2308, John Stouseberger, S*W6207, at: https://www.fold3.com/image/18349369?terms-war,us,revolutionary,stouseberger,united,america,states.
13. United States Revolutionary War Pension Payment Ledgers, 1818-1872,” database with images, FamilySearch (https:familysearch.org/ark:61903/1:1:Q24Q-LX4D : accessed 6 May 2021), Pg. 326.
14. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, NARA, Series M804, National Archives #30033, Record Group 15, Roll: 2308, John Stouseberger, S*W6207, at: https://www.fold3.com/image/18349369?terms-war,us,revolutionary,stouseberger,united,america,states.
15. DAR RC #725130 – John Conrad Stautzenberger. “Virginia, Marriages, 1765-1940”, Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Find A Grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42883452/annie-catharine-crumbaker.
16. DAR RC #725130 – John Conrad Stautzenberger. “Virginia, Marriages, 1765-1940”, Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Find A Grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42947215/ann-amelia-williams.
17. “Virginia Births and Christenings, 1584-1917”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRR4-NP1 : 28 January 2020). “Virginia, Marriages, 1765-1940”, Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Find A Grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/97576669/salome-stiffler.
18. “Virginia, Marriages, 1765-1940”, Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. Find A Grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42916520/elizabeth-heffner.
19. DAR RC #725130 – John Conrad Stautzenberger. “Virginia Births and Christenings, 1584-1917,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRR4-NP1 : 28 January 2020).
20. “Virginia, Marriages, 1765-1940”, Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. “Virginia Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912.” Index, FamilySearch, Salt Lake City, Utah, 2010.
21. “Virginia Births and Christenings, 1584-1917”, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRR4-NP1 : 28 January 2020). Find A Grave at https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/42947141/samuel-stoutsenberger.
