Back Creek Valley, Virginia Pioneers

RINKER & ROGERS: Although the Rinker and Rogers families had far different origins, they came together in the settlement of Frederick Co., Virginia.

Hans Casper Rinker was a native of  Nuerensdorf, Zurich, Switzerland. Casper arrived in Philadelphia in 1743 with his step-mother and siblings. They settled in Germantown and Casper married Maria Schultz there in 1757. The Rinkers settled in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in 1762. Casper acquired nearly 2000 acres of land in the region. He served as a Lieutenant and later Captain in the Frederick Co. Militia during the Revolutionary War.

In 1770, George Washington was returning from a trip to the Great Kanawha [now WV and Ohio], he spent the night at the Rinkers' in Back Creek Valley. Washington commented, according to family tradition, "first clean sheets in three weeks."

Casper died in 1804 at the age of 76. He was buried in the Back Creek Quaker Cemetery near Gainsboro.

Evan Rogers was the son of Welsh Quakers. He was born in Montgomery Co., Pennsylvania to John Rogers and Ellen Pugh. Evan's parents settled in Back Creek about 1742. He married Sarah Ballinger at the Hopewell Monthly Meeting in 1749.

Evan helped establish the Bear Garden and Back Creek Meetings in Frederick Co., Virginia. The Rogers family, like most Quakers, maintained neutrality during the Revolutionary War. Evan Rogers acquired considerable holdings in the Back Creek Valley. He and Casper Rinker were two of the largest landholders in the region. Sarah died after giving birth to twin girls in 1770. Evan died in 1805. Both are believed to be buried in unmarked graves in the Back Creek Quaker Cemetery.

John Rogers was born in the Back Creek Valley in 1750, eldest child of Evan and Sarah. Maria Magdalene Rinker was born in 1759 to Casper and Maria. She married Danel Allemong in 1779. Allemong died before 1786. On 30 October 1787, John and Maria were married by Christian Steit, the first Lutheran minister born in the colonies. John was reported to the Hopewell Meeting in December for "marrying out of unity" and was disowned by the Quakers.

The Rogers family eventually allied themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

Maria died in 1823 and was buried next to her father. John died in 1826 and is believed to be buried in the same cemetery. There is a marker for a John Rogers, died 6 October 1826. The age on the fieldstone used for the marker appears to be 11. Is this Maria's husband? Was the 11 a poorly etched 76? Another family mystery!