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 Kester3 (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)
John KOSTER (1693-)
121. John Koster was born on June 3, 1693, in Bristol, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, north along the Delaware River from Philadelphia. He married Elizabeth Hood on August 25, 1717, in Philadelphia.[Hunt 305]
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]
- Hunt, John Eddy. The Pound and Kester Families. Chicago: Regan Printing House, 1904.
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 (1703-)3
124. Hermanus Kester3 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, probably at the Chesterfield Monthly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends ("Quakers") in Burlington County, New Jersey.[Hunt 305] They had at least one daughter:
| 1241. | Susanna Kester | (1733) | (1796) | (63) |
| 1242. | Elizabeth Kester4 | 25 Jun 1735 | <1762 | (<24) |
| 1243. | Samuel Kester | -- | -- | -- |
| 1244. | John Kester | -- | -- | -- |
| 1245. | Rebecca Kester | -- | -- | -- |
| 1246. | Hermanus Kester | 17 (Jul/Aug) 1744 | -- | -- |
| 1247. | Peter Kester | -- | -- | -- |
| 1248. | Thomas Kester | -- | -- | -- |
| 1249. | Margaret Kester | -- | -- | -- |
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.
- 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, Hermanus.
| 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.
