Michael Stoker
5th Great-Grandfather
Birth Date: 24 Mar 1762
Birth Place: Frederick, Frederick, Maryland, United States
Parents: John Michael Stoker and Ana Barbara Romerin
Death Date: 27 Oct 1836
Death Place: Caldwell, Missouri, United States
Spouse: Catherine Martha Eller
Marriage Date: 1791
Marriage Place: Rowan, North Carolina
Geneology Line: Mary Leona Dalley>William Sylvanus Dalley>Catherine Melissa Hulet>Catherine Stoker>David Stoker>Michael Stoker
Michael Stoker was born in Frederick, Frederick County, Maryland to John Michael Stoker and Ana Barbara Romerin. John and Ana were of German descent and after their marriage had in the German speaking community of Frederick, Maryland. They belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church which had been officially established about 1746. Before this time it was known as the Monocacy Lutheran Congregation.
After the French and Indian War new territories were opened up to European settlers. Michael moved south locating just inside the North Carolina state line on or near the head waters of New River in Wilkes County. Country side events that were going on at the time shaped the settlement patterns and life styles. In the book German New River Settlement: Virginia by Rev. Ulysses S. A. Heavener, the author goes into detail about life for the German settlers in the New River territory. Rev. Heavener states that the Germans of this area were not used heavily in the Revolutionary War because of the language barriers. It is known from parish records of these early years that the people still spoke and wrote in their native language, although English influences can be noted. Reverend Heavener further states that the military titles found among the Germans were from their fight with the Indians. But that is not to say that the Revolutionary War was not around them. "In the movements and battles of Cornwallis and Tarrelton about Greensborough, North Carolina, in the Revolutionary War, menaced the people of the Northern part of the Colony of North Carolina as well as those of the southern part of Virginia. In fact they were seriously threatened" (Heavener 1976).
Michael (Stockerd) Stoker is listed on the 1790 census record for Morgan District, Wilkes County, North Carolina as being over 16 years of age and with no other family recorded. At that time Michael would have been a 28 year old bachelor. (At this time there is no evidence that any of Michael's immediate family went to North Carolina with him.)
In 1792 Michael married Catherine Martha Eller, daughter of Peter Eller and Elizabeth Dick. She was born on 6 March 1773 in Rowen County, North Carolina. In a few records found in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints genealogical database there is reference to a middle name of 'Martha': Catherine Martha Eller. The middle name of Martha has been verified by the Eller Family Organization. The ancestry of Catherine Eller has and is being very well documented by the descendants of the Eller families. Recently these researchers found the homestead of Peter Eller in Ashe County, North Carolina where Catherine Eller was born.
Michael Stoker had a farm on the North Fork of New River in Ashe County. Then on 29 December 1792 Michael (Strucker) purchased: "100 acres from John Dick of land on Naked Creek in Ashe (Wilkes) Co. which creek flows west into the South Fork of New River" (Hook). The Morgan district, in which this land was located, in 1799 became part of the new Ashe County, North Carolina and was the same district where Peter Eller, John Koons and Conrad Dick lived. All now related by Michael's marriage to Catherine. There are two other reasons why Michael may have traveled south:
Living in North Carolina at this time was Jacob Fah born 1765. He was the son of Jacob Faw (Pfau) and his second wife. Jacob Faw (Pfau) was Elizabeth Faw's father.
Michael grew up around a religious group called the Moravians. They migrated a very large colony into northwestern North Carolina.
Michael (Strucker) is listed on the 1800 Ashe Co. census records as 'head of family' with one male age 0-9 yrs (David), one male age 26-45 (Michael), two females age 0-9 (Mary [Polly] and Elizabeth), one female age 26 (Catherine). The Eller, Koonz, and Graybill families are also listed.
On the 13 March 1806 Michael applied for 150 acres of land on the North Fork of the New River adjoining his existing land. The land was then surveyed and on the 27 of November it was granted to Michael .
The first child of Michael and Catherine, Mary (Polly), was born on 24 Nov 1792 in Wilkes County, North Carolina. Next. David was born on 23 March 1795 under the same county title. After Ashe County was organized in 1799 the following children were born under the new county title. Elizabeth Stoker 20 or 23, February 1800, John W. Stoker on the 16 March 1802, Michael Stoker (Jr.) on 10 February 1805, Rebecca Stoker on the 19 March 1807, Catherine Stoker on the 19 March 1809, and Jacob Stoker on the 7 April 1812. The children were raised near their extended family members who also lived within the territory keeping the families close knit. Their oldest daughter, Mary, married Michael Graybill about 1811 in Ashe County, North Carolina. After this first marriage the Graybill families inter-twined with the Stoker line several times- many staying close to each other.
Westward Ho!
The area later to be known as Jackson County, Ohio was now opened for new settlers after the end of the Revolutionary war in 1783. The land had a large salt deposit on it which the United States government needed to further the country's expansions. in 1794 the Shawnee Indians were put on reservation land.
"The first settlers (white)... did not care to settled at the licks. They could not get good title to the land, so a "squatter sovereignty" prevailed, and a small village called Poplar Row grew between what is now Main Street and Salt Creek. Poplar Row was under the control of the national government until 1802; and between 1802-16, it was under the jurisdiction of the State of Ohio." (Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Co. 1957)
Three counties emerged from within this area of Ohio: Athens, Gallia and Ross. It was Ross County that included the Jackson City, Ohio area itself. By 1850 the area supported over 111,000 people with nearly 51% of the population speaking German.
The Stoker family with some of their extended relations joined the migration of pioneers moving west into the new state of Ohio. The party of Graybills and Stokers, ranging in age from infants to elderly, crossed the border into Ohio on Christmas day of 1815 (Lewis 1975). There is a copy of a newspaper article, with the unconfirmed date of 1896, which is an interview with Catherine Stoker Lackey. It states that the Stoker family came to Ohio in February 1815 (Stoker 1993). In the history book written for Jackson, Vinton and Scioto Counties in 1916 it states that Michael and David Stoker came from Stokes County, North Carolina in 1806. Catherine Stoker (David's sister) married Alexander Lackey. Some of their descendants still live in the area. (Willard 1916) The date of Michael and Catherine's family arriving in 1806 is in error as they were still in North Carolina.
Of the Stokers upon their arrival to Ohio the newspaper article further states that: "There was quite a large family of them, consisting of father and mother, five brothers, three sisters, and a brother in-law by the name of Craybill (Graybill). They came in wagons, bringing all their good with them, as far as the salt works on the Kanawah river, and there on account of bad roads, they loaded their goods on pack horses. They crossed the Ohio river some time in February. Coming to this county in 1815, before its organization, they were directed by a gentle man by the name of Arthur to a sugar camp near the old Hensen place, and there they stayed till a log cabin could be erected for a home..." (Stoker 1993).
Michael and Catherine's youngest child, Eller Stoker, was born on the 28 July 1816 in Bloomfield or Madison Township, Jackson, Ohio. It is also at this place that their daughter Rebecca, at the age of nine, died and was buried in a small cemetery on what was then the farm of Mr. Daniel Williams along side his own daughter. Catherine Stoker Lackey stated that this was the beginning of the cemetery for the area.
While in Ohio the children went to school in a rude log structure with a chimney in the corner. The school boys would take turns chopping wood for the fire place.
Alexander Lackey's family moved into the Ohio area from Virginia in 1806. Settling first in Gillia County then moving to help settle Bloomfield Township in Jackson County. It was here they became friends with the Stoker family. Alexander later married Catherine.
"When the Lackeys and Stokers first came here, the country was all woods. Wolves were so numerous, it was next to impossible to keep sheep, and their howling would make the night hideous. Bear, too, were plentiful, and it was no uncommon thing to hear the pigs squealing and to rush out and find that a bear had devoured a pig, or had eaten a shoulder off of one of the larger hogs" (Stoker 1994).
The town of Jackson was first laid out in 1817. By the 1820's other school houses were built but with no iron or glass in them. In Bloomfield Township the school was started by a lame man named Stephenson. The teachers were boarded by the patrons and given very few wages. In an article written by Charles P. Harkins and printed in the Jackson Herald on Feb. 17, 1959 he recounts that: "From our location six school bells could be heard calling boys and girls to school during the school season. They were Lackey and Vegas in Bloomfield Township... Each of these bells had a distinct tone of its own and as they rang it was easy to tell which school was giving you an invitation to come."
Within the records of the Ohio River Valley Survey are land transactions of Michael Stoker. Under the Cash Land Entry Act and with a signature date of July 1, 1829: Michael purchased 80 acres of land, Alexander purchased 80 acres of land, both in Jackson County near each other. On Michael's land record he has added Sen. to his title.
According to land records illustrating the layout of the early town of Vega: Michael's home was located where the church is currently standing. A newspaper article interview with Catherine Stoker (Lackey) stated that they lived "a few rods above the present site of the Vega school house" (Stoker 1993). Detailing of the survey measurements with the township and range figures would verify the exact location. The land record for Alexander Lackey can also be found within the Ohio River Valley Survey. Michael's father, Joh Michael Stocker, had land recorded in Perry County, Ohio, located north of Jackson County. Michael's brother, Jacob, also had land recorded within the same county of Ohio as their father.
At this time there was a zealous conflict between the Baptists led by Levi McDaniel and the Methodists led by Gabriel McNeal. This conflict would be the catalysts that would have a strong impact and change the lives of the Stoker family.
Religious Life.
Michael and Catherine's family were always active in religion from their earliest beginnings. They were part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North Carolina, and after they had moved to the German colony/town in Jackson County, Ohio, they joined the Vega Methodist Church. It was into this religious fervor that missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints arrived.
"A colony of families of German ancestry settled in the Vega area about 1816, having come from Ashe County, North Carolina and Frederick County, Maryland. Shortly after the Mormon Church was founded in New York state, migrants and missionaries came to this county. Many converts were obtained in this German colony, as well as a few in the town of Jackson. Most of the meetings were held in the Michael Stoker (Stucker) home, where Vega Church is now located. Historical records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tell of these meetings at the Stoker home and in the Jackson settlement in 1832 and 1833... All of the orthodox denominations in Jackson county were following the same persecution methods (as) was being done all over the Ohio, the Mormon group of this area were finally forced to sell their lands for whatever price they could obtain and move on..." (Perry 1959).
Activity records from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints church have been found for the family except two of Michael and Catherine's children. Rebecca who died in 1821 and Catherine, who married Alexander Lackey. These conversions took place between 1833 and 1836. Luke Johnson and others baptized many of Michael Stoker's family into the church. Luke states in his autobiography that he baptized several Stokers living in Jackson County, Ohio in January of 1833 (Johnson 1864).
Michael, 74 years of age, and Catherine, 63 years of age, lived in Bloomfield Township until the fall of 1836, when on October 27 they sold their farm and moved with their new church settling near the new town of Farr West, Missouri. Land records state that on 27 October 1836 Michael Stoker sold all his land, eighty acres, improvements and water rights to Wm. Wilmore. Sec 34, T. 8 R. 17 W 1/2 of the NW 1/4. When Michael sold their home in Jackson, Ohio they left their daughter Catherine, and her husband, Alexander Lackey, in the care of the Lackey families. Catherine and Alexander later joined them in Missouri for a brief period of time. During the church's "Missouri Conflict" Catherine and Alexander returned to the Lackey family in Ohio. The 1850 census records for Bloomfield Township list Catherine and Alexander Lackey along with Adam Lackey.
Far West, Missouri, or Shoal Creek/Boone as it was originally named, was mostly a wilderness area in 1836. By the spring of 1838 the population was more than 5,000 including 100 people who were not Mormons. There were 150 houses, four dry good stores, three family groceries, six blacksmith shops, one printing office and two hotels and one large school house which was also the church and courthouse. A Mormon temple was in its beginning stages and church members from Canada and Kirtland, Ohio migrated to Caldwell County, Missouri to settle in "Di-Ahaman"
After the Mormons settled in Jackson County, Missouri, they were driven by mobs from one county to another.
The church members were eventually given the land of Caldwell County, Missouri upon which to build their new community, all with agreement of its current citizens. The Mormon saints brought good commerce to Caldwell County and its neighboring towns. (In Jackson County the church members were still being hunted down.) Because of the rapid growth of the Mormon church over the next few years, Caldwell County experienced a population explosion. Mistrust and fear reared its head again, and finally the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were asked to leave the state of Missouri all together. A "Mormon Extermination" order was given by Governor Boggs that sent 1200 families into the winter weather to perish if they could not reach help in time. This exodus cost many church members their lives including Michael Stoker. His burial location and death date of 1836 has been recently found in Farr West by Devon Dahl, Vice President of the Eller Family Organization.
This time there were many poor among the church membership that could not afford to make another journey. It had taken all that the people had to start the homesteading process over again. The church leaders asked Caldwell County's political leaders for assistance and enough time necessary to help all the saints move. The community leaders did not want to go through another violent period as had happened in Jackson County therefore they granted the request. Members of the church helped each other find supplies and build transportation by spreading around what little they had as far as it would go.
The final Missouri exodus began in the fall of 1838, and by 20 April 1839 it was all but completed. It is recorded in the Church's history that between twelve and fifteen thousand people had left the state. Sadly due to hunger and extreme exposure once again many of the aged and sickly died while en route.
There is a small note in the 1950 Kingston's Messenger, reprinted by Caldwell County Historical Society in 1990 on the Mormon settlement: "A group of people called Mormons who believed and practiced a peculiar religion came to Caldwell County in great numbers in the year of 1836. At the close of the year 1835 the Governor of Missouri had set aside Caldwell County as a home for this religious sect, trouble arose which led to bloodshed so an order was issued expelling the Mormons from the county and also the state. This was in December of 1838, they were given until May the 10th to vacate. The population of Caldwell County was at that time 7,000, after the Mormons left only 1,00 people remained. Far West was the largest city North of the Missouri River and the largest ever in Caldwell County. Had these Mormons been allowed to remain, what Salt Lake City is today Far West might have been, with their ambition and our natural resources combined would far excelled that desert land that blossomed as a garden under their hands."
Exodus to Quincy, Adams County, Illinois.
The main body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints exited Missouri via Quincy, Illinois with some going north into the Iowa territory. Staying true to their new religion the Stoker families were again forced to leave their homes. Crossing the plain they settled in Adams County, Illinois. The families are listed on the 1840 census of Adams County.
"In the Spring of 1838 Catherine Eller Stoker, (now widowed) with three of her children's families, their goods cramped in one ancient wagon, wearily walked most of the way across Missouri. They brought with them three old horses. These exiles had their trials getting out of Missouri. John Welker, one of Catherine's grandsons described it as follows: "We traveled through snow and rain and mud and water, laying out in the storms to sleep during the nights. All this I have passed through... We made our way out of the state of Missouri to the Mississippi River through much suffering and privations"(Stoker 1994).
Michael Stoker died during the times of the persecution of the Saints. It is unknown how he died. He is buried at the Far West Burial Grounds.
