The Dallas North Carolina Clemmer family has searched almost 150 years for an elusive pioneer, Valentine "Felty" Clemmer whose children by his first wife married into pioneer Dallas, NC families around 1795. These children were Lewis, John, George, Lizzie, Ann, and Susanna by his first wife Elizabeth Dettero Clemmer. His second wife was a "Hancock" and she and "Felty" married, and moved to East Tennessee where they had two children, Elizabeth and Molly. This information is found on page 567 of OUR KIN by Mr. Miles Laban Hoffman, born 1846. However, the truth is the widow, Elizabeth Dettero Clemmer, married as her 2nd husband, in 1792,in Davie Co. North Carolina, a Mr. William Handcock. Valentine Felty Clemmer died in Littlestown, PA ca 1785, but his children and widow later, ca 1795, came to Lincoln-Gaston Co NC. These children were Lewis, John, George, Lizzie, Ann, and Susanna by his first wife Elizabeth Dettero Clemmer. OUR KIN is a treasure of information about several Dallas families, and was published in 1915. Since 1915, we have added to our knowledge base of the Klemmer family and their neighbors in Dallas, NC. For example, there is a Rhyne genealogy written by Dr. Howard Rhyne and Mr. Robert Carpenter published in the March 1993 issue of "Footprints in Time", the journal of the Gaston County Genealogical Society. They found the estate papers of Jacob Rhyne in the North Carolina State Archives in Raleigh. These papers proved that Eve Rhyne Best was a daughter of Jacob Rhyne and she is not listed in OUR KIN. Actually OUR KIN merges her with her sister, Magdalena, to make one person. Then they found church records in Blankenlock, Germany that proved the pioneer Jacob Rhyne was married to Elizabeth Gladfelter, and she was the sister of pioneer Garrett Wills! It has been eighty-one years since OUR KIN was published, and fortunately we have been able to add new data, sometimes by skill, sometimes by luck. We need to appreciate Mr. Hoffman's work on several families, but when you research individual families today with computer accessed data, you are going to see major changes in OUR KIN prior to 1800. After that date, oral tradition would have been accurate for data accumulated in 1860 and published in 1915 as was OUR KIN.Let us start our search for "Felty Clemmer" (Klemmer in Pennsylvania) with OUR KIN p.152, which reads "3. Adam Cloninger II married Susanna Clemmer, daughter of pioneer Felty Clemmer 1803, and Elizabeth Plonk". Many have read this to mean that Adam Cloninger II married Susanna Clemmer the daughter of Felty Clemmer and Felty's second wife Elizabeth Plonk. There are Cloninger genealogies in the Gaston County Library that say this. However the truth is that Adam Cloninger II married Susanna Clemmer the daughter of Felty Clemmer on Novemeber 11, 1803, and later on June 29, 1830, Adam Cloninger II married Elizabeth Plonk. Sometimes what really happened takes a little digging. Since this misconception occurred early in OUR KIN, long before the main section about the Clemmer family on p.567, this may be partly to blame for the second wife idea.

Mr. Hoffman says the Clemmer family did not get to Dallas until after the Revolutionary War, so this would be after 1781. It seems that most of the German pioneers to Dallas, NC (the Cloninger, Costner, Hoffman, Lineburger, Rhyne, and Rudisill families) came down on the Carolina Wagon Road from Pennsylvania. Almost all of them first landed in Philadelphia, and I believe that is how Philadelphia Lutheran Church in Dallas got its name. If the Felty Klemmer born 1747 in York, PA is the same as the Felty Clemmer who is the father of the children in Dallas, NC, this migration path is duplicated. Also note that the date of the Pennsylvania will is 1785. This shows that the Felty Klemmer in Pennsylvania could not have gotten to Dallas, NC before that date.

Now let us examine the York, PA will of Valentine Klemmer. The children are listed on the will as:1. John Ludwig (Ludwig was the father of York, PA Valentine)2. George (a brother of the PA Valentine)3. Elizabeth4. Susanna

These children were probably listed on the Pennsylvania will in the correct birth order as was the custom. All of the children on the Pennsylvania will are identical and in the same birth order as those listed in OUR KIN. We are missing Lewis and Ann from the OUR KIN list, but the chances of the birth order and names of four children being identical is very remote. Maybe this will help us through the confusion. We know that the youngest child in Pennsylvania was Susanna who was christened in 1784. From North Carolina records, we know that the Dallas, NC Susanna Clemmer married Adam Cloninger II in 1803. This was previously discussed. By subtracting 1784 (PA) from 1803 (Dallas, NC) you can see that if the two Susannas are the same person, she would have been 19 years old when she married Adam Cloninger II. That looks darn good to me. Here are the dates of birth for the Dallas children to compare to the birth order on the Pennsylvania will. 1. John Ludwig (b.12-27-1778, d.6-24-1827) 2. George (b.9-21-1779, d.9-24-1849) 3. Lizzie and 4. Susanna (b.6-22-1784, d.1825).

Now for more proof, let us return to the York County, Pennsylvania Orphan Court records that we previously discussed.

1) In 1765, George Ludwig Klemmer got Casper Cline as a guardian.2) In 1768, Lawrence and George Ludwig Klemmer got one Thomas Fisher as a guardian. Then on the same day, one Henry Cline, as the administrator for the estate of Valentine Bockle deceased, gave money to the four brothers: Jacob, Valentine, lawrence, and George Klemmer. Notice the adults, Thomas Fisher and Henry Cline (we have no other information on Casper Cline, but note his last name Cline), both are still with the Klemmer boys eleven years later. On the 1779 York County, Pennsylvania tax list, living close to Valentine, Lawrence, and George Klemmer are Henry Cline and Thomas Fisher. We don't know the actual relationship, but if Henry Cline was the administrator of the estate of Valentine Bockle, you would assume said Henry was married to a Bockle. However, the important thing to remember is that Henry Cline and Thomas Fisher have been "family" to the Klemmer orphans for at least 15 years by 1780.

Now let us move ahead ten years to the Lincoln County (Gaston County formed 1847) North Carolina federal census of 1790. On page 112 you will find one Henry Kline, who is still fighting to keep the German "K" instead of the English Cline. On page 111 you will find Thomas Fisher, Valentine Kline (wonder if he was named for Valentine Bockle or Valentine Klemmer?), Michael Kline, and Johnathon Kline. None of these people were on the 1785 State census of North Carolina, so I assume they all got to Lincoln County about the same time as OUR KIN says the Klemmer children got there, between 1785 and 1790. We realize Thomas Fisher is a fairly common name, but Henry Kline, and Valentine Kline are not common, and all the names together in York, Pennsylvania and in Dallas, North Carolina are substantial proof that these are the same people.

On the 1800 federal census for North Carolina page 45 is listed one Margaret "Climore" as head of the household indicating that she is a widow. This is Lincoln Co. and house #841 with the previously mentioned Cline families fairly close in houses #867 and #876. These are the census figures for the family of Margaret Climore- 01010-20010-01. Curiously there is one male 10-16 years, one male 26-45 years, two females 0-10 years, one female 26-45 years, and one slave. The household was listed in the name of the widow Margaret so it had to be her property, but who was the oldest male? There is no positive proof, but I believe this is Margaret Clemmer the widow of Valentine Felty Clemmer, who died in Pennsylvania in 1785.

There was a Lewis Clemmer in Dallas, NC who was born in 1777, and he was not on the Pennsylvania list of the will of Valentine Klemmer. However he is the oldest of the children so the birth order is still the same. There is a possibility that Lewis Clemmer was a son of Valentine and Margaretha in Pennsylvania and he came to Dallas, NC with Henry Cline before the other Klemmer children, but this is only a guess. In the 1770's it was not unusual for a child not to be listed on a will if he had moved far away from the homeplace. This allowed the estate to be legally settled without trying to track down the missing child and return him for the settlement. Since the widow Margaret was planning to move to Lincoln County, NC anyway, this could by why Lewis was not listed on the Pennsylvania will.

Now, about the idea that Valentine Clemmer remarried a Mrs. Hancock and moved to Tennessee. The Clemmers in Tennessee are descended from John Ludwig Clemmer (born 1778 in PA, died 1827), son of George Valentine "Felty" Clemmer. John Ludwig married Hanna Hoffman in Dallas, NC and they led a family exodus to Brakehill, Tennessee (Monroe County, Eastern TN) about 1827. This is reported in OUR KIN p.35. We have not been able to find a deed, tax list, or any other children of any Valentine Clemmer in Tennessee.

Here is a summary of the data that makes us think Valentine "Felty" Clemmer in York County, PA in 1785 was the father of the children in Dallas, NC.1. primary source, written records from York, PA confirming dates and ages2. a father Valentine Clemmer who has at least four children with the same name and birth order, and the youngest being 19 years old by Pennsylvania records when she married in Dallas, NC.3. Two other families (Kline and Fisher) who are "kin" in Pennsylvania and arrived in Dallas, NC about the same time, 1785.

The OUR KIN version begins with "I am told..". This means Mr. Miles Hoffman was getting his information orally and almost 100 years after Valentine Clemmer was supposed to have come to North Carolina and moved to Tennessee. Also the Clemmer family only got eight pages at the back of a 578 page book. We know Mr. Hoffman started with his family and main interest the Hoffmans' and Rhynes'. Now given the magnitude of the Rhyne family errors before 1800 in OUR KIN, our conclusion is that the OUR KIN version of the Clemmer family must be modified so that the Valentine Clemmer in York County, Pennsylvania in 1785 is the father of the Dallas, NC Clemmer children. We haven't found a grave site for the Pennsylvania Valentine, so the possibility exists that he made a miraculous recovery, but then why would his will have been probated in Pennsylvania? Could he be buried in Maryland where Jacob Klemmer the brother of Valentine may have lived? Somebody will have the answers to these nagging questions in the next few years. Thanks to the Mormons and the book "Roots", we are getting new data constantly, and we encourage everyone to research and prove your ancestors. The more researchers, the more knowledge.