Johann Jost (Kuntz) Counts (bef. 1674 - 1731)

Born before 22 Mar 1674 in Niederndorf, Nassau-Siegen, Germany

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Gertrud (Reinschmidt) Cuntze — married 7 Feb 1704 in Siegen, Siegen-Wittgenstein, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany

Husband of Catherine (Weber) Cuntze — married about 1713 in England [uncertain]

Descendants

Died Jan 1731 after age 56 in Germantown, Stafford, Colony of Virginia

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Biography

This profile is part of the Germanna, Virginia One Place Study.

"Jost Kuntze, the 1714 emigrant, chr. Mar. 22, 1674; godfather, 'Jost Shuster, the wife's brother from Niederndorf' (i.e. his maternal uncle). Jost Kuntze m. Feb. 7, 1704 Anna Gertrude, daughter of Martin Reinschmidt of Lower Widen."^[1]

"In 1724 Joseph was married to his second wife, Catherine, who was probably Catherine Weaver, b. 1697, sister of the immigrant Tillman Weaver (see the chapter on the Weaver-Weber family)."^[2]

"Joseph Cuntze died in 1731. The will of Joseph “Cownts,” blacksmith, was dated October 18, 1730, and probated in Stafford County February 10, 1731. ... His eldest daughter, Ann Elizabeth, was married by 1730 to Tillman Weaver, the immigrant. Other children, mentioned in the will were sons, Henry and Tillman, and daughters, Mary, Anna Catherine, and Catherine. The son, Henry, was specifically stated to be under 16. The will mentions his “four youngest children” (probably Henry, Tillman, Mary and Anna Catherine). His wife seems to have predeceased him, for no mention is made of her in the will. Tillman Weaver was appointed executor, and the witnesses were Jacob Holtzclaw, John Kemper, Joseph Martin and Peter Hitt."^[3]

Children by first wife Anna Gertrud Reinschmidt^[4]

• Johann (John), b. 1706
• Ann Elisabeth (Analeise), b. 1708, m. Tillman Weaver, younger brother of her step-mother; she was co-heir of her brother Tillman.
• Elizabeth, born and died 1711.
• Christian, born and died 1712.
• Catharine, listed as part of the family in her father's 1724 testimony that he arrived in Virginia in 1714.^[5] Perhaps she was born in 1713 as the emigrating group wintered in England? Did her mother die there in childbirth? Catharine is mentioned (unmarried) in her father's 1730 will.

Children by second wife Catharine (who was presumably sister of Tillman Weber/Weaver who married Joseph Counts's eldest daughter by his first wife)^[6])

• Henry, underage in 1730 (per his father's will); perhaps the father of "Mary Coons, daughter of Henry Coons" who married Englehart Klein in 1789, and perhaps the Henry "Counce" who appears in the tax lists of Washington County 1787-96, and who as Henry "Kuntz" died there in 1798 with widow Dorothy.
• Tillman; died single and childless; in 1762 his co-heirs (being his sisters Mary Hitt, Ann Elizabeth Weaver and Katharine Kemper) sold the land they inherited from him.
• Mary, married Joseph Hitt; she was co-heir of her brother Tillman.
• Anna Catharine; mentioned in her father's 1730 will (separately from her sister Catharine); presumably she (and not her elder sister Catharine) was the one who married Harmann Kemper and was co-heir of her brother Tillman.

It would appear that Joseph Kuntz was the ancestor of all of the (legitimate) grandchildren of his fellow 1713 emigrant Henrich Weber, whose daughter Cathrin was Joseph's second wife, and whose son Tillman married Joseph's daughter Anna Elisabeth.

Research Notes

Spelling

...name is spelled “Kuntz” in the permission to immigrate in 1713,^[7] and it’s spelled “Cuntz” in the importation statement in 1724. But, in the will of Joseph Cuntze dated 10 Oct 1730 and probated on 10 Feb 1731, he spells his name “Counts or Couwnts.” ^[8]

"Kuntz" and "Cuntz" is the spelling used by some of Joseph Kuntz's descendants in America, notably the descendants of his grandson, Elder John Koontz. Descendants in other lines, after a period of multiple spellings, generally use "Counts." Descendants of Joseph's nephew (who was also named Jost/Joseph) spell the name "Coons."

Pronunciation

In German a final 'e' is never silent. In 'Cuntze' or 'Kuntze' it is pronounced like the final 'a' in English 'polka' or 'zebra' or 'sorta'. The first vowel 'u' is short/lax as in English 'put' or 'foot'.

Sources

1. ↑ B.C. Holtzclaw, Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia 1714-1750] (Harrisonburg, Virginia: The Germanna Foundation, 1964), p. 93.
2. ↑ B.C. Holtzclaw, Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia 1714-1750] (Harrisonburg, Virginia: The Germanna Foundation, 1964), pp. 93-95.
3. ↑ B.C. Holtzclaw, 'The Genealogy of the Holtzclaw Family 1540-1935' (Richmond, Virginia: Old Dominion Press, 1936), p. 36.
4. ↑ B.C. Holtzclaw, Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia 1714-1750] (Harrisonburg, Virginia: The Germanna Foundation, 1964), p. 93.
5. ↑ The Cuntze Family of Niederndorf and Oberfischbach, Germanna Foundation.
6. ↑ The Cuntze Family of Niederndorf and Oberfischbach, Germanna Foundation.
7. ↑ Specification of subjects wishing to emigrate from the Protestant part of Nassau-Siegen and their taxation No. 509: Jost Kuntz of Niederndorf, 31 July 1713
8. ↑ The Cuntze Family of Niederndorf and Oberfischbach, Germanna Foundation.

• Documents and images attached to FamilySearch personID G44F-SZL and connected profiles

• FindAGrave memorial #62404156 for Jost Cuntze, Burial Details Unknown.

Acknowledgements

• WikiTree profile Cuntze-3 created 24 Aug 2011 by Curtis Shields through the import of Heugatter_Shields_Bachman.ged.
• WikiTree profile Cuntze-7 created 2 Dec 2011 by Tracy Miller through the import of Tracy S. Miller.ged.