KESTER (KÜSTER) Family History, Part I
- Part I - 1st Generation: Paul Küster1 (1644-~1707)
• and 2nd Generation: Johannes Küster2 (1670-1708) - Part II - 3rd Generation: Hermanus Kester (Sr.)3 (1703-) and Paul Kester3 (1706-1740s)
- Part III - 4th Generation: William Kester4 (~1733-~1820) and Elizabeth Kester4 (1735-<1762)
- Part IV - 5th Generation: Paul Kester5 (1760-1814)
- Part V - 6th Generation: John Bonham Kester, Sr.6 (1791-1840)
- Part VI - 7th Generation: Sarah Ann (Kester) Miller7 (1819-1902)
- Outline Descandants Report (PDF)
Great Britain and its colonies adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1752 when September 2 was decreed as September 14 to account for 12 days of accumulated errors under the Julian caldendar. Additionally the legal new year was moved up to January 1 from March 25 ("Lady Day"), when the new year was marked on that day. Prior to 1752, March 24, 1750 was followed by March 25, 1751. After 1752, Julian dates were noted as Old Style ("O.S.").
Furthermore, prior to 1752, when months were referred to numerically, rather than by their pagan-derived names, they generally denoted March as the "1st month".
John KOSTER (1693-1760)
121. John Koster was born on the 9th day of the 6th month [August 9] of 1693, in Bristol Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, north along the Delaware River from Philadelphia. He married Elizabeth Hood between the 25th day of the 25th day of the 8th month [October 25], when they declared their intention to marry for the second time, and the announcement at the Philadelphia Monthly Meeting on the 29th day of the 9th month [November 29], 1717.[Hunt 305, White 132] They had as many as 10 children:
| 121A. | Rachel Koster | -- | -- | -- |
| 121B. | Benjamin Koster | (1723) | 10 Sep 1766 | (43) |
| 121C. | John Koster | (1724) | -- | -- |
| 121D. | Joseph Koster | (1725) | -- | -- |
| 121E. | Samuel Koster | (1726) | -- | -- |
| 121F. | Abigail Koster | -- | -- | -- |
| 121G. | Hannah Koster | -- | -- | -- |
| 121H. | Elizabeth Koster | -- | -- | -- |
| 121I. | Rebecca Koster | (1729) | -- | -- |
| 121J. | Sarah Koster | -- | -- | -- |
John may have been the "Johannes Kosters" who apparently inherited his father's property in Springfield, Delaware County, about 12 miles southwest of Germantown. "Johannes" and his mother conveyed the property to Daniel Falkner on August 3, 1709. John would have been 16 years old at the time.[Hunt 304]
"John Koster was a mason and a carpenter. He moved from Germantown to Philadelphia where before 1719 he purchased a lot situated on Mulberry (now Arch) Street. He dealt considerably in real estate. On 6 November 1723 John and his wife, Elizabeth, sold 100 acres of land in Whippen (sic) Township, Philadelphia County to Isaac Williams of Bristol Township, Philadelphia County."[White 132]John Koster is believed to have died on March 24, 1760, in Philadelphia, and is probably buried at the Friend's Burial Ground in Philadelphia.[Henshaw 387] He was 66 years old.
Elizabeth (Hood) Koster died on June 7, 1769, at the age of 73.[Henshaw 387] She is probably buried at the Friend's Burial Ground in Philadelphia.
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
- Henshaw, William Wade: Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy, Volume 2. Baltimore: Baltimore Genealogical Publishing Company, Inc., 1969.
Rynier KUSTER (1696-~1762)
123. Rynier Kuster (or Riner Custer) was born on May 26, 1696, in Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He married Anne Hewitt on January 31, 1718, probably in Abington, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. They had at least four daughters who outlived their father.[Hunt 305]
Rynier Kuster after May 20, 1762, the signing of his will.[Hunt 305]
Hermanus KESTER (Sr.) (1703-)3
124. Hermanus Kester (Sr.)3 was born on November 2, 1703, likely in or around Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He was apparently named for his uncle Hermanus Küster. He married Anne Large in 1733, at the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers") in Burlington County, New Jersey.[White 139, Hunt 305] They had ten children and raised two nephews and a niece after his younger brother Paul3 died.[White 140]
| 124A. | Susanna Kester | 10 Nov 1733 (O.S.) | 24 Feb 1832 1796 |
(98) (63) |
| 124B. | Elizabeth Kester4 | 25 Jun 1735 | (1762) | (26) |
| 124C. | Samuel Kester• | 26 Nov 1737 | 8 Mar 1804 | (66) |
| 124D. | John Kester | 21 Jan 1739/40 | 1806 | (66) |
| 124E. | Rebecca Kester | 16 Apr 1742 | -- | -- |
| 124F. | Hermanus Kester (Jr.) | 17 Jul 1744 | -- | -- |
| 124G. | Peter Kester | 4 Jan 1746/47 | 1813 | (66) |
| 124H. | Paul Kester | 26 May 1749 | 25 Jan 1811 | (61) |
| 124I. | Thomas Kester | 24 Nov 1752 | 18 May 1787 | (34) |
| 124J. | Margaret Kester | 10 Jun 1755 | -- | -- |
Hermanus was the brother of Paul Kester3. After Paul died at an early age in the late 1740s, Hermanus took in three of Paul's four children. The fourth, William4, was raised by another Quaker family in Chester County. Hermanus and his family may have lived in Chester County around that time as well.[Hunt 306]
The Kester family later moved further up and across the Delaware River from Philadelphia to the Kingwood Monthly Meeting in Hunterdon County, New Jersey,[Hunt 306], perhaps as early as 1733.[Chambers 429]
Hermanus' daughter Elizabeth4 married his nephew William4 in 1756 at the Kingwood Monthly Meeting.[Hunt 306]
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
- White, Jean M. The Descendants of Paulus and Gertrude Kusters of Kaldenkirchen, Germany and Germantown, Pennsylvania, the first four generations. Castor Association of America, 1991.
- Chambers, Theodore F. The Early Germans of New Jersey, Their History, Churches and Genealogies. Dover: Dover Printing Company, 1895.
Paul KESTER3
125. Paul Kester3 was born about 1706 in Germantown, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. He married Ruth Kitchen on September 17, 1730, probably in Philadelphia, and had four children. He died when their children were quite young, perhaps in the late 1740s.[Hunt 305] His eldest son, William, was raised by a Quaker family in the Sadsbury congregation of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and the three younger children were raised by Paul's brother, Hermanus3.
| 1251. | William Kester4 | (1733) | (1820) | (87) |
| 1252. | Samuel Kester | -- | -- | -- |
| 1253. | Rebecca Kester | 12 Dec 1738 | -- | -- |
| 1254. | John Kester | 31 Jul 1744 | -- | -- |
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
