Re: Adam Kerns Sr. (1766-1844) VA>KY>MO
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In reply to:
Re: Adam Kerns Sr. (1766-1844) VA>KY>MO
susan hayden 12/30/05
Hi Susan,
I've been working on Karnes/Kerns research for many years, and I'm pretty sure our paths have crossed before. Early passenger records were recorded in different ways by different Captains, and there are no records at some Ports. I've never been able to positively identify the ship name, year, or even the Port where Michael Karnes (or his unknown father) entered into America. I've searched all Pennsylvania records, and found nothing except proof that an old story about our Michael being a son of Nicholas Karnes is false. It appears that our Michael's real father died, and his mother (name unknown) re-married to a man named Matthew Shaup. There are records of Matthew Shaup being near McGaheysville, VA. by 1746. Most of Matthew's neighbors there were from Lancaster Co., PA. This would tend to indicate that Matthew migrated through that area, and then on down into the Shenandoah Valley. Matthew had apparently arrived in America at the port of Philadelphia in September 1732 aboard the "Pennsylvania Merchant" with a group of "Palatines" from Rotterdam. These were mostly Germans. A family named "Pence" was also on Matthew's ship. Another ship named the "Pink Plaisance" arrived in Philadelphia a few days later, and a family named "Mann" were on board. Both the "Mann" and "Pence" families were neighbors of Matthew Shaup near McGaheysville, VA. I haven't been able to track all of Matthew's migrations, but it appears that he settled near McGaheysville with German friends that he had met in Europe or Philadelphia. At some time and place prior to this, Matthew had evidently married to the widowed real-mother of Michael and George Karnes, and she gave birth to six of Matthew's children. A traveling Moravian missionary named Leonard Schnell recorded his travels near McGaheysville, and mentions staying with the Shaup family on December 3rd, 1749. Then Matthew recorded his Will on November 3rd, 1750 (Augusta Bk.1 - p.271), saying that he was "sick in body" and not mentioning his wife (she had evidently died before then). He did however mention his "two eldest sons-in-law Michael Carn and George Carn", and leaving them "the full estate their own father left them according to the dimensions of the bonds". That phrasing indicates that Matthew Shaup must have had to post a Guardian-bond somewhere to procure the estate of Michael and George's real-father. However, I've been unable to find that Guardian-bond record in Virginia or Pennsylvania. Unless that bond was filed in Maryland, I don't know where else to look for it. If it still exists anywhere, the name of Michael and George Karnes's real father and mother should be in that document. Michael and Elizabeth (Persinger) Karnes's first child was a daughter named Mary Magdelene (born about 1760). From old Draper's Manuscript records, Elizabeth's real mother was Mary Persinger. It appears that they named their first daughter after Elizabeth's mother (it was traditional). Michael and Elizabeth's first male children were twin-boys named Jacob and George Karnes (born about 1763). So it's possible that the real-father of Michael Karnes was named either Jacob or George Karnes (if Michael and Elizabeth stayed with tradition).
At any rate, there are numerous good indications (including Michael Karnes's own signature in German-script) that the Karnes family was of German derivation. I don't know about the Antle family, and I don't know the ship names or years. Mis-information has been a major research problem, and I don't want to guess at anything that might be wrong. I'm sorry, but "German" is all that I can say with any confidence!
Mr. Weaver
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Re: Adam Kerns Sr. (1766-1844) VA>KY>MO
Richard Garrett 8/20/09