Johann (John) Holtzclaw was born in Oberfischbach, Nassau-Siegen, Germany in about 1709. He was the son of Hans Jacob Holtzclaw and his wife, Anna Margrethe Otterbach. John was christened July 17, 1709, the godfather being Johann Otterbach of Truppbach.In the summer or autumn of 1713, when he was only four years old, he accompanied his parents and two year old brother, Johann Henrich (Henry), when the little family started with a band of relatives and friends on their great adventure to the New World. He was with his family when they reached London in 1713, where the band of about forty people encountered difficulties, because the English were not yet prepared to receive them. Times were hard, but most set sail in early 1714 for Virginia.
John spent his youth in Germanna, Essex County, Virginia, and would have almost been in his teens when the family moved to Germantown, Stafford County, Virginia in 1720-1724. He, of course, would have attended the school taught by his grandfather, Jacob, and accompanied his family to church services.
John married Catherine (Russell) Thomas in about 1729-1730, in Stafford County, Virginia. (The Germantown area of Stafford County became a part of Prince William County in 1731). Catherine Thomas was a young widow, the daughter of Captain William Russell, the Ranger (1680-1756), of Stafford and Fauquier Counties, Virginia, and his wife, Grace. Catherine seems to have had at least one son, Jacob Thomas, by her first marriage. John and Catherine Holtzclaw had at least seven children.
Little is known of the life of John and Catherine Holtzclaw. They apparently lived in Prince William County, Virginia, and raised their family there. I believe we can assume he was a farmer. There is no mention that he was a teacher like his father.
John died in Prince William County, when he was only forty-one years old. His father, Jacob, was appointed executor of his will June 22, 1752. Henry, Joseph and Mary Holtzclaw were granted land in Culpeper County, Virginia in 1753, as children of John Holtzclaw (Northern Neck Grant Book H, p. 251). John Duncan and Elizabeth his wife in 1762 deeded land that had been left to Elizabeth by her father, John Holtzclaw (Fauquier Co. D. B. 1, p. 329).
Catherine Holtzclaw testified in 1763 that her son Henry was due 1/7 of the estate after her death, proving that she and John had seven children (Fauquier Co. Minute Book, 1759-1763, p 372).
John's wife, Catherine died in Fauquier County, Virginia, sometime after 1763. (The area of Prince William County where the Holtzclaw's lived became a part of Fauquier County when it was formed in 1759).
Johann Holtzclaw, Desc. HOLTZCLAW
Back to Hans Jacob Holtzclaw (1683) and Anna Margreth Otterbach HOLTZCLAW
Joseph Holtzclaw (1735) and Catherine James, Bio. HOLTZCLAW
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