THE HISTORY OF THE KUSTER FAMILY FROM KALEDENKIRCHEN GERMANY

THE KUSTER FAMILY CAN BE TRACED TO REINER(REINHART) KUSTER, WHO WAS BORN ABOUT 1542 AND DIED ON JULY 3, 1616. THE NAME OF REINER'S WIFE IS UNKNOWN. REINER WAS THE FATHER OF JOHANNES KUSTER WHO WAS BORN IN 1576.JOHANNES MARRIED A LADY BY THE LAST NAME OF "walburgis" JOHANNES DIED ON APRIL 8, 1650.  ARNOLD KUSTER , THE SON JOHANNES WAS BORN IN 1606, HE MARRIED CATHARINE VON HAREN, (D/O CHRISTOPH VON HAREN).ON OCTOBER 13,1629. THEY WERE THE PARENTS OF PAULUS KUSTER, WHO WAS OUR FIRST KUSTER EMIGRANT TO AMERICA SETTLING IN  GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA.

PAULUS KUSTER BORN BET. 1640-1646, WAS REARED A ROMAN CATHOLIC, MARRIED GERTRUDE DOORS ON OCTOBER 16,1668, IN THE REFORMED CHURCH AT KALDENKIRCHEN. JAKOB FLODROP WAS PASTOR.

PAULUS AND GERTRUDE HAD SEVEN KNOWN CHILDREN ALL WHOM WERE BAPTIZED IN THIS CHURCH.

CHILDREN WERE:ARNOLD, JOHNNES, MATTHYS, REINER, ANNA, HERMANUS, CATRIN AND POSSIBLY AN 8TH CHILD, A DAUGHTER ELIZABETH..


PAULUS KUSTER AND GERTRUDE DOORS

THEY WERE AMONG THE EARLIEST MEMBERS OF THE MENNONITE CONGREGATION IN GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA. THEY ARRIVED IN GERMANTOWN ABOUT 1690. IN 1700 PAULUS WAS CHOSEN TO BE A COMMITEEMAN . ON DEC.4,1704 ,PAULUS BOUGHT 50 ACRES OF LAND FROM HENRY BUCHHOLTZ, AND ON JAN.5,1706, HE WAS APPOINTED AS AN OVERSEER OF FENCES IN GERMANTOWN. BY THE TIME THE COMMUNITY HAD BEEN GRANTED A CHARTER FOR SELF-GOVERNMENT IN 1691, IT WAS RECOGNIZED THAT SOME CITIZENS NEEDED TO BE PUNISHED FOR SUCH THINGS AS LETTING ANIMALS DESTROY FENCES , CALLING EACH OTHER NAMES BORROWING WITHOUT PERMISSION AND SELLING MORE LIQUER THAN THE LAW ALLOWED...

They were naturalized May 7, 1691. It is believed that most of the 13 original families to settle Germantown, are brothers and sisters of Gertrude Doors. Gertraudt Doors was baptized in the Reformed Church of Krefeld Germany in 1681. Paulus and Gertrude were sponsors for the baptisms of the children of Jan and Entgen (Doors)Strepers. In 1669, Jan Streipers sponsored a child of Paulus and Gertrude Kuster.In 1670, a child was sponsored by Agnes Doors. Paulus' first four children born in Germany were baptized in the Reformed Church of Kaldenkirchen. Two more children born in Germany, Elisabeth (Anna) and Hermann, were not baptized in Kaldenkirchen. Paulus' father, Arret, was probably Roman Catholic. Paulus who also was Catholic, later became a member of the Reformed Church of Kaldenkirchen Germany, and Mennonite in Germantown. Paulus' sons, Arnold and Hermanus, came to America with him. They were preceded by Johannes, another son of Paulus. Paulus was a stone mason and farmer. Paulus died in Jan. or Feb. 1708, and Gertrude
soon after.




IT IS SAID THAT PAULUS AND GERTRUDE WERE BURIED IN THE GERMANTOWN MENNONITE CEMETERY,BUT THERE IS NO REAL PROOF. THEY WERE AMONG THE FOUNDERS OF THE FIRST MENNONITE CONGREGATION OF AMERICA..