Craver Family Page
Welcome to The Craver Family Page, which furnishes historical detail beyond the site index, exploring four generations of Cravers in the line of Johannes Craver of Rensselaer County, New York.
6. Mary Madgalene Craver (Mënck) --According to family records, Magdalene Craver (1832-after 1880), wife of Johann Mënck, was the daughter of Zachariah Craver and Anne Weatherwax. Magdalene (also called Magdalena in some records) came from a large family of more than a dozen children, eight of whose names have come down to us including Anna, Angelina, Julia, Jefferson, Lawrence and Catherine Craver. The U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970 lists the birthdate of Magdalene Craver as June 9, 1830, and her baptism date as Sept. 2, 1832 in the Jermain Memorial Presbyterian Church in Watervliet, New York. (In the 1880 census Magdalene gave her and her parents' place of birth as Virginia, which is where they later settled, but they were all undoubtedly born in New York, as documented in church records.) According to New York Marriages, 1686-1980, Zachariah Craver (b.1800) married Anne Weatherwax (b. March 1, 1801 in New York) on Aug.22, 1818 in the First Lutheran Church in Albany, New York. Their first daughter, Christina Catherine Craver, was born on June 2, 1819 and christened in the Dutch Protestant Reformed Church in Niskayuna, Schenectady Co., NY. (Catherine married Johann Mënck, but died not long afterwards and Johann remarried her younger sister Magdalene in Washington DC in 1849.) Magdalene's other siblings are listed as: Julia Marie (b.1823, NY), Jefferson Lawrence Craver (b.1825, NY), Zachariah (Jr.--b.1827) in Blooming Grove, Rens. Co. NY), David G. Craver (Jr.--b.1833, NY), Angelina (b.1835, NY), subsequent children being born in Elizabeth City, Virginia during the period when, according to Anna Blann, the father, Zachariah, was appointed to a post in Fortress Monroe, a Union military fort.
The Virginia children were: Moses Monroe (b.1837-other records indicate NY), John Tyler Craver (b.1837), Virginia (b.1839), James Madison (b.1843), Thomas Jefferson (b.1841). (Magdalene was born in NY in 1832.) The 1850 census shows their address as Old Point Comfort, Elizabeth City, Virginia. Anna and Magdalene settled on the Eastern shore of Maryland; Dave and Jefferson also settled in Maryland, Monroe & Jefferson in Baltimore. (Monroe Craver was riding with Stonewall Jackson when Jackson was mortally wounded.) The rest of the family remained in Virginia. Zachariah Craver appears in Watervliet, Albany, New York in the 1830 census, then in the Virginia census records in 1840-1860. Moses Monroe Craver appears in the 1870 Virginia census and is listed in the roster of Confederate soldiers as belonging to the !st Artillery, Company A (Also listed is "M. M. Craver" of the Light Artillery; W. P. Carter’s Co.)
Granddaughter Anna Blann's genealogical notes say of Magdalene's parents:
Apparently it was a real love marriage, and through the influence of the bride's family, [Zacharia] Craver was appointed to a post in Fortress Monroe [mid 1830's]. There was a large family ... [and the children were] educated with those of the officers stationed at the fort. When the great struggle between North and South took place, the Cravers should have been Northern sympathizers. It was not to be. Every son enlisted in the Southern Army. Two sisters, Anna and Magdalene, had settled in Maryland on the Eastern Shore. On the strength of their father's position, the younger girls obtained passes to visit their sisters in Maryland and always returned with smuggled medical supplies for the Southern Army. The supplies were tied around their waists, hidden by the voluminous hoop skirts of the times.
Anna later told the story which had been recounted by her mother, Annie Mënck Matthews, about how, as a little girl, during the War between the States, she (Annie) and her mother (Magdalene Craver Mënck) used to travel from Trappe, Maryland to Virginia to visit relatives and smuggle medical supplies to the Confederate side in Virginia. While Maryland was neutral, the Southern sympathizers in Virginia encouraged young Annie to root for General Beauregard and Jefferson Davis. At the checkpoint as they left Maryland, a union officer who was a friend of the family went through the formality of making them swear union allegiance, when suddenly little Annie piped up and exclaimed: "I root for Boneygard (sic) and Jeff Davis!" Fortunately, the officer overlooked the indiscretion and sent them on through, content with the wry observation that children tend to repeat what the grown-ups around them have been saying. According to Linda (Blann) Insley, her mother, Anna Blann, had a bone button which had been passed down from her grandmother Magdalene Craver, which had been carved with an inscription or initials (one for each of his sisters) by Jefferson Craver while he was in a union prison during the Civil War. He also gave his sister Magdalene a book of Polish History in which she wrote two original poems during the year before her marriage. The book, which still survives, is inscribed "the property of Mary Magdalene Craver, given to her by her brother, J’son Lawrence Craver, July the 2nd 1848." (Note: census records all cite her brother's name as Thomas Jefferson Craver) The poems are as follows:
REFLECTION
See how beneath the moon beam’s smile /Yon little billow heaves its breast
And foams and sparkles for a while/ And morning then subsides to rest
Thus man the sport of bliss and care/ Rises on time’s eventful sea
And having swelled a moment there/ Then melts into eternity.
SABBATH
Sweetly blow the gentle breezes/ On the Sabbath morn
Religious pleasure calmly seizes/ On the sinner, poor, forlorn.
Tis now while barefoot mid the flowers/ Humming hymns of praise
Earth refreshed by gentle showers/ Tis the happiest of all days.
Raise your thought to God above/ Frankly to Him pray.
Full of faith and full of love/ How blest the Sabbath day.
M.Craver
On September 1, 1868, "Magdalena Mënck" appeared in the Talbot County creditors docket with an account dated June 1, 1868, showing a debt of $42.47. (Creditors Docket C2297-1: Talbot. Court Debt Records 1854–1887 on FamilySearch) This suggests she was personally engaged in some form of financial or commercial activity — likely related to the family’s store or household needs. Given Johann’s advancing age (in his late 70s), Magdalena may have assumed a more prominent role in managing their affairs during this period leading up to their retirement. Magdalena and Johann appear in the 1880 census in Talbot Co. MD. Magdalena Mënck last appears in Talbot Co. post office records dated 1883 with no mention of Johann, which implies that he died before her and she died sometime after 1883. As she was 26 years younger than Johann she might have lived for a number of years more, but there is no 1890 census to check and she is absent from further records, including the 1900 census.
7. Zacharia Craver --The father of Magdalene Craver, Zachariah (or Zacharias) was born in Rensselaer Co., New York, on Feb. 21, 1800. His birth is listed in the records of Trinity Lutheran Church in West Sand Lake, Rensselaer Co., NY., with Zacharias Feller & Catharine [Feller]--probably his maternal grandfather and his aunt--listed as sponsors. Zachariah's christening took place on Feb. 23, 1800 in the Lutheran Church, West Sand Lake, Rensselaer, New York. Records list his parents as David and Grace Graver [Craver] (New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962). His name is engraved on the front of the Craver family Bible, with the spelling "Zacharia Craver." He is thought to have had a brother named Johannes Craver, born March 5, 1797 in Renssaelaer Co., NY, who married Margaret Feller in 1823. He also had a sister named Francis Ann who was born in 1796 in Wynantskill, Rensselaer, NY and married Sebastian Weatherwax in 1814, and died in Albany, NY in 1837.
Zacharia Craver married Ann Weatherwax on Aug.22, 1818 in the First Lutheran Church in Albany, NY. Records from Albany Co. show that the couple joined the Dutch Reformed Church in Niskayuna, (Schenectady Co.) NY. on Jan. 10, 1819 and were dismissed to the Reformed Dutch Church of Wynantskill, NY. on Aug.23, 1823 (with Zacharia’s father presenting the request for dismissal). Land assessment records place Zacharia in New York in 1832 and in April 22, 1835.
In the mid-1830s, through the influence of Anna’s family, Zachariah reportedly received an appointment to a post at Fortress Monroe in Hampton, Virginia, a critical coastal defense installation operated by the U.S. Army. While there is no surviving military record to show that he was enlisted, it is likely that Zachariah held a civilian position—possibly as a cooper or a clerk—attached to the Ordnance or Quartermaster Department. At this time, military posts often had attached civilians working in skilled trades -- common, particularly for literate Northerners with skills. A position there would have given Zachariah and his family access to education, housing, and medical care typically extended to officers’ families. Anna's father, Lawrence Weatherwax, appears relatively well-connected. He owned land and was respected enough that his influence could plausibly help secure a federal or semi-military appointment for his son-in-law.
Fortress Monroe itself never fell to the Confederacy. It remained a Union stronghold throughout the war. So, if Zachariah had maintained any formal employment there during the war, the family likely could not have openly supported the Confederacy. The smuggling which Anna relates suggests they were living off-site and no longer employed directly by the Union by the 1860s. By the 1860 census, Zachariah is listed in Hampton as a cooper, not as a military or federal employee, suggesting his government role had ended before the war, possibly retired or reassigned in the 1850s. Zachariah's employment as a cooper (barrel-maker) was a common trade in coastal towns.
Despite the move to Virginia, Zachariah retained connections to New York. On April 1, 1846, he and Anna sold a 50-acre parcel of land in Broadalbin, Fulton County, New York, to Chancey Norris for $770. The deed, recorded in Virginia and signed before the mayor of Norfolk, reveals that Zachariah and Anna had formally severed legal ties to their New York property while fully established in Virginia. Years later, in 1864, Anna M. Freligh filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of Albany County, New York, concerning the estate of Abraham Weatherwax, Anne's brother, who had died that April. The suit named numerous Weatherwax heirs, including Ann Weatherwax Craver—wife of Zachariah Craver—as defendants. The case focused on the division and rightful inheritance of Abraham’s real property, indicating the complexity of his estate and the need to resolve competing claims among his descendants. Due to the impracticality of physically dividing the property among the numerous heirs, the court was petitioned to authorize the sale of the property and distribute the proceeds according to each heir's legal entitlement. Anna's close relation to the deceased made her a direct heir and the Craver's physical absence from New York did not negate their inheritance rights. This legal action confirms the Craver's ties to property interests in upstate New York, even as they resided in war-torn Virginia.
Zacharia died Sept. 9, 1868 and was buried in Saint John's Church Cemetery in Hampton City, Virginia (per Find-a-grave). The 1860 census shows him at age 60 and his wife, Ann, at age 59 in Fox Hill, Elizabeth City, VA. Virginia, U.S., Death Registers, 1853-1911 shows the death of "Mrs. Ann Craver" from typhoid fever in 1869 and states that she was the widow of Zacharia, who died in 1868. Zacharia’s parents were David Craver and Grace Feller of New York. Zacharia and Ann had thirteen children, about half of them well documented. Below is a list of their children.
Christina Catherine (1819-before 1849) married Johann Mënck.
Anna Maria (1822-after 1850) married a Pastorfield, then John Hill and died childless
Julia Marie (b.1823-after 1845) married a Perkins
John Lawrence (ca.1825-after 1870) married Isabel
Zachariah (Jr.--b.1827) inferred in 1840 census--may have died before 1850
Magdalene (1830-after 1883) married Johann Mënck in 1849
David Z. (1833-1904) married Mary Ellen Paul
Angelina (1835-before 1891) married Fowler Russell Smith, then George Keen
Moses Monroe (1837-1909) married Mary
Virginia (1839-after 1860)
John Tyler (June 1844-Aug.1844)
Thomas Jefferson (1841-after 1880) married Mary Ann Phillips (1843-1872), then Ann
James Madison (1843-1850)
8. David Craver --The father of Zacharia, David Craver (Sr.) was born in Albany on Oct.9, 1771 (First Dutch Reformed Church, Albany; U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989 on Ancestry.com) and died on March 15, 1842 in Fulton Co. NY (per Find-a-grave). Around 1794, he married Grace Feller (b. ca. 1775 in Renssaelaer, NY.; d. ca.1800), the mother of Zacharia. Grace's maiden name appears in the 1796 christening records of her daughter, Francis (Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, Wynantskill, Rensselaer, NY). Grace's parents were Zacharias Feller and Francisca de Foy of Albany, NY. Grace died sometime before 1804 after which David was married a second time to Christina Feller (1772-1845; daughter of John Feller and Maria Ostrum?). Christina gave birth to two further children with David: Catherine (b.ca. 1804) and Moses Craver (1811-1882). Land records from 1840 confirm that Christina was David's wife and the couple shared land with Moses Craver.
David's early life was likely shaped by his father’s farm in Rensselaer County, then under the shadow of the Van Rensselaer patroonship. With land scarce and family holdings divided among multiple sons, David moved northward by the early 1800s, part of a broader migration into the Fulton County area as new lands were surveyed and opened. Settlers like the Cravers did not own their land outright but were tenent farmers who leased their land from the Van Rensselaer family. David Craver, born in 1771 in Albany County, would have grown up in this quasi-feudal environment. Even his landholding and inheritance (as seen in the will of his father Johannes) were likely shaped by these restrictions. Many such families were drawn into later anti-rent protests in the 1830s–50s.
He appears as "David Craven" in New York military records of 1812 as a private in the company of Capt. Burdett Stryker and the regiment of Col. Beekman M. Van Buren. (Beekman Minthorne Van Buren, a lawyer and militia officer in New York during the early 1800s, was a cousin of President Martin Van Buren.) David Craver appears in the 1830 Albany, NY census with his name in between Lawrence Widerwax (Zacharia's father-in-law) and Leonard Widerwax (Lawrence's brother) above and Sebastian Widerwax (Lawrence's brother) below. On May 29, 1840, David Craver and Christina Craver (his second wife), together with Moses Craver and Catharine Craver (Moses' wife), sold a 25-acre parcel of land located in Broadalbin, Fulton County, New York to Garret Wynkoop for the sum of $1,375. The land was part of Lot 6, originally in the Kayadrosseras Patent, a large colonial-era land grant in upstate New York. (Fulton. Deeds 1840–1842 on FamilySearch) David died less than two years later on March 15, 1842 in Fulton Co. NY
David had at least nine brothers and one sister (listed below). David's parents were Johannes Craver and Marytje (Maria) Kilmer. The old records show several spellings of the name of David's mother. In the Dutch Reformed Church records referenced above her name is given as: Marytje Nelme. In the marriage records she is listed as Mariyze Kilmer while in the Church records of the birth of David's brother, Heinrich, his parents are listed as Joh. Grover and Maritie Kulmer. Marytje (Maria) Kilmer is thought to be a distant cousin of Anna Milius Weatherwax, whose daughter, Ann Weatherwax, married David’s son, Zacharia Craver.
9. Johannes ("John") Craver --The father of David Craver, Johannes Craver (Kreber, Graver) was a German-American farmer and Revolutionary War-era patriot who lived in the Hudson Valley of New York during the second half of the 18th century. The DAR Patriot Index (Vol.2) states that he was born in New York in 1735, but Johannes was probably born in Baden, Germany, or very soon after his family's arrival in colonial New York. German vital records on Ancestry.com suggest that Johannes may have been the son of Johannes Graber and Anna Hanser of Wolfenweiler, Baden. This couple married on March 1, 1735, just before their likely immigration to New York. (Germany, Select Marriages, 1558-1929) German parish records from Bickenholtz, Baden, identify them and confirm a child named Johannes born soon after the marriage. (Baden and Hesse Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1502-1985) Within months, the couple appear in New York church records. A man named "John Grave" served as a sponsor for Wilhelm Kohl’s baptism at the Loonenburg Lutheran Church in 1735, supporting the hypothesis that this Johannes Graber was present in the Hudson Valley by late that year. (The Palatine Families of New York 1710 by Hank Jones, Vol. I–II).)
The timing of their migration corresponds with a secondary wave of Palatine German emigration. Though most Palatine families arrived in 1710 as part of a British-organized resettlement following the devastation of the War of Spanish Succession and the harsh winter of 1709, smaller family units continued to arrive through the 1730s. The Graber/Craver family likely landed in New York via the usual routes through Rotterdam, Cowes, and then New York City or the Hudson River settlements. Unlike the earlier Palatines who were settled en masse in camps like West Camp and East Camp, later arrivals found their own land or joined extended family networks already established in places like Germantown, Rhinebeck, and Claverack.
Johannes is first securely documented in New York on Sept. 26, 1756, when he joined the Red Hook Lutheran Church in Dutchess County and married Marytje Kilmer, a daughter of German Palatine settlers, Johannes Kilmer (ca.1705-1751) and Anna Veronica Becker (1711-1751). (U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900). He appears in Rensselaerwyck as an enlisted man in the Albany County Militia 6th Regiment (Land Bounty Rights) during the Revolutionary War. His son, John Craver Jr. (1759-1847) was a private under Henry Van Rensselaer in the Albany County Militia, enlisting on July 21, 1777. (U.S., Revolutionary War Rolls, 1775-1783 on Ancestry.com) These militia rolls and land bounty rights suggest a family committed to the Patriot cause, despite their German heritage. After the war, Johannes continued to farm in Rensselaer County, then part of the extensive Van Rensselaer Manor.
Johannes Craver grew to adulthood in a cultural milieu defined by Dutch Reformed and German Lutheran traditions. The name Craver is also spelled "Kreber", "Graver" and "Croever" in some of the New York records. Johannes wrote his will on Nov. 1, 1799, at which time he was a resident of Greenbush, Rensselaer Co. It was probated on Aug. 30, 1819. (Rensselaer. Guardianship Records 1814–1822, Probate Records 1814–1822 on FamilySearch) At that time, he was survived by his wife, Maritie (Maria) and the following children: Jacob (b.1769), Nicolas, John, Jr.(Johannes; b.1759), Hendrich (b.1764), Andries (b.1762), Petrus (b.1766), David (b.1771), William (Wilhelmus; b.1774), Jeremiah Craver and his daughter, Elisabeth (b.1757), wife of John Shaver. The will confirms him as the patriarch of a large and enduring Craver family line in upstate New York.