#631 Wilhelmus Knepper ( Hans Peter KnepperTilmann Knepper )

Wilhelmus was born 27 Oct 1691 in Unnersberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was christened in Solingen Reformed Church, Solingen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He died Abt 1767 in Ephrata Cloister, Lancaster Co., Pennsylvania. He was buried in Adams Co., Pennsylvania.

In August 1708 five men and three women, among them Alexander Mack, gathered at the Eder River in Schwarzenau for baptism. The Lutheran, Reformed and Catholic churches were the state religions of Germany, and the act of adult baptism was illegal. This new group simply called themselves “brethren” and this act was the start of the Church of the Brethren.

In 1714, Wilhelm left the Reformed Church and became a member of the Church of the Brethren at Krefeld through baptism in the Wupper River. On 1 Feb 1717, he and five other men who had done the same were imprisoned at Julich, near Dusseldorf, to await trial for espousing adult baptism and beginning a new sect. After refusing to renounce this doctrine, Wilhelm Knepper and his friends were condemned to hard labour for life. They spent nearly four years in prison at Julich, and Wilhelm's health was broken. They were allowed visitors and his brother, Clemens, brought him clothes. During this period, Wilhelm, a weaver by trade, is supposed to have composed nearly four hundred hymns which were published in 1720 in the volume Spiritual Hymnal for All Lovers of Truth. He also learned to make buttons and sold them to buy necessities for the prisoners.

A Dutch theologian secured the release of the prisoners 20 Nov 1720. They were required to leave the country. These six prisoners and about thirty families migrated to a Mennonite Settlement at Surhuisterven, Friesland, Netherlands. On 7 Jul 1929 Wilhelm and Veronica and fifty-nine other Brethren families led by Alexander Mack left Rotterdam on the ship Allen. They arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on 11 Sep 1729. They took the Oath of Allegiance on 15 Sep 1729 and then went to Germantown.

About 1737 Wilhelm went to Chester Co. where he obtained a warrant for 150 acres in Coventry Twp. In 1765 three warrants of 100 acres each were issued to William, Veronica and Abraham Knepper in what is now Quincy Twp., Franklin Co., Pennsylvania.

[Terrill] has a daughter, Mary Martha, born in 1725 who is distinct from Mary. [Wig] collapses these into a single person.

Wilhelmus married #632 Veronica Bloom.

Marriage notes

They married 22 Feb 1723 in Surhuisterven, Friesland, Netherlands.

 

Veronica was born Abt 1700 in Friesland, Netherlands. She died 17 Apr 1769 in Quincy Twp., Franklin Co., Pennsylvania.

She is the daughter of Ludwig Bloom.

[Wig] notes: "Veronica's death is listed in Ephrata Cloister, Lancaster Co., PA but she probably died in Quincy Twp., Franklin Co. where she owned 341 acres."

Children of this relationship:

#665MiJosua Knepper(Bef 1732–Bef 15 Oct 1791)
#633MiiPeter Knepper(Abt 1732–15 Oct 1791)
#634MiiiAbraham Knepper(12 Aug 1734–8 Dec 1823)
#635FivMary "Martha" Knepper(Abt 1736–10 Mar 1770)
#636FvCatherine Knepper(Abt 1738–)
#637FviElizabeth "Betty" Knepper(Abt 1740–Abt 1807)

"The Knepper Family", transcribed by Cheryll Reed, Apr 2003, Antietam Ancestors, volume II, no. 4 (Fall 1982).

Bill Terrill, Descendants of Tilman Knepper and Christina Boegel, (unpublished, 30 Jun 2009). Ref. as [Terrill].

Clifford T. Wig & Dorothy H. Wig, The Knepper Family Tree, (unpublished, Apr 1997). Ref. as [Wig].


Line Generation: 3

Relationship: Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grand-Uncle