JOHN SPRINGER and REBECCA STEDHAM SPRINGER

By Peg Caccimata in cooperation with Dave Boling, Judy Card and Mary Roller, cousins whose common ancestors were born 1766 and 1769 respectively. Also see the biography of Cornelius Springer for more details.

John Springer, son of Joseph and Lydia Springer, was born September 16, 1766 in Delaware, probably New Castle County where his ancestors farmed before him. John married Rebecca Stedham on March 25, 1790 in Wilmington, Delaware. They had 12 children, the first three: Cornelius, Jacob Peter, and Lydia were born in Delaware. About 1795, John moved to Frederick Co., Maryland, where sons Joseph, Isaac, and probably Andrew were born.

John joined the westward flow of migration in 1800 relocating his family near Wheeling, in what is now West Virginia, in an area called either "Grove Creek Hill" or "Grave Creek Flats." There Rebecca gave birth to Eleanor and John, but they weren't to stay long. July 1805, John bought land through the Zanesville land office in the newly formed state of Ohio; and in 1806, he and his family moved to Springfield Twp., Muskingum County, Ohio purchasing a portion of the original section 16 from John McIntire. The family settled permanently on land they cleared and cultivated. Their homestead became known as Meadow Farm. (It was located about 5 miles west of Zanesville.) Rebecca gave birth to Jeremiah shortly after they arrived in April 1806, and subsequently to three others: Susan, Eliza, and Rebecca at Meadow Farm. Rebecca was 43 years old when her namesake daughter was born. Despite raising this large family, she lived to be 91 years of age.

The Springers were a religious family. John was a founder of the Springfield Chapel. He converted to the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1809, under the ministry of Robert Manley, and was an organizer of the McKendree M.E. church in 1815. John's eldest son, Cornelius, became a Methodist circuit preacher and then an advocate of the Methodist Protestant denomination when it split from the M.E. church in 1830. Muskingum Co., courthouse records indicate John Springer was also an early Justice of the Peace and a County Commissioner and served on juries in Springfield Two. in 1819, 1820, 1823 and 1827.

John died June 1, 1837, 70 years old, and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Zanesville. John's will was probated August 12, 1837, which names all his children. Rebecca outlived her husband by 24 years. She died June 23, 1861, and is also buried at Woodland Cemetery.

Woodlawn Cemetery Lists show the date as 1765. John Springer bought a tract of land in Ohio in July, 1805 while he was a resident of Ohio Co., Virginia. Within the year he moved to Muskingum Co., Ohio, purchasing more land in August, 1806. He made two further purchases in 1816. From Early Ohio Settlers, Purchasers of Land in East and East Central Ohio 1800-1840.