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        I want to specifically thank Pat Vaseska, Phyllis Veath, Michael J. Clover, Michael R. Clover, Gladys Clover,  and Kenneth Clover who have been long time supporters and have sent me evidence at various times. Without them, I would never have been able to really research this group. I also am indebted to Peggy Howard, whom I never knew because she died in the mid 1980s. I was dabbling in genealogy then but not in Monroe County.   My own family is from Virginia and I had enough problems there to keep me quite busy.
    When I first started genealogy back in the 1980s there was just so little available and people had to work extremely hard to get even a single tidbit.  When I first became interested in this family, there just was not a lot there.  Now, over 25 years later in 2011, there still is little known about the early years.  Gradually, members of the family have found additional items that were tucked away in their files and forwarded them to me.  And before I start this, I have to say that I still cannot absolutely prove that all these records for Jacob Clovers in various geographical locations are for the same family.  However, as I gathered together the records, it seemed to me that a pattern has emerged.  Gradually over the years, a little more evidence has shown up. Each piece, by itself, doesn't seem to mean much, but when you look at the pattern as a whole, it becomes more convincing.  What we have here is circumstantial evidence with no smoking gun.  See what you think.  You can be the jury.  
    If you find any further evidence on this family, especially Jacob Clover, prior to 1820, please share it.  You can see how the slightest bit of information  can help the pattern emerge.

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Time line:

1773 Jacob Clover Salem County, NJ tax list
1773 Jacob Klober, child of Klober and wife, baptized Salem County, NJ. Sponsor Adam Maurer and his daughter Maria Catherine Ford/Fort
1774 Jacob Clover Salem County, NJ tax list.  Last time on list in Salem Co.
1775 Adam Clover born before 1775, aged over 45 in 1820 census
1775 Jacob born before 1775, aged over 45 in 1820 census.

1777 Jacob Clover QM in Regiment formed near Westmoreland Co, PA. 
1783 Westmoreland County, PA Jacob Clover on tax list.  Appears only once.
1784 Washington County, PA Jacob Clover? land warrant. This one is questionable, but I am including it because it is a possibility.

1789 Jacob Clover Jefferson Co, KY tax list includes 1 male 16-21
1790 Jacob Clover Jefferson Co, KY tax list
1791 Jacob Clover Jefferson Co, KY tax list 2 males 16-21
1792 Jacob Clover Jefferson Co, KY tax list 1 male 16-21 
1793 Jacob Clover Jefferson Co, KY tax list 1 white male over 21, 1 over 16 under 21, 2 horses, 13 cattle

1795 Adam, William and Jacob in the St. Clair County, Illinois militia. John was NOT. Maybe he was the youngest brother?

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      Research prior to 1800 in New Jersey is limited by the loss of the many records which were burned by the British during the Revolutionary War and the loss of the 1790, 1800, 1810 and 1820 New Jersey censuses. Nevertheless, many records did survive and various indexes name many Clovers in New Jersey prior to 1800.  Most of these are for the John Peter Clover family.  However, there are a few who are not.
    I researched, wrote, and published a long article in 1998, Clovers of Salem County, New Jersey. A copy of that article is on this site.  It has a lot more details on the New Jersey records. The following is just a synopsis. There is much more on the subject of the tax lists and the church record problem.
   
    Jacob Clover was in Upper Alloways Township in Salem County, New Jersey in the September 1773 and September 1774 tax records. I looked at the microfilm of these tax lists and he is listed as a householder which meant he was married because single men were taxed separately.  He had little or nothing to tax because he was taxed at a low rate. The next surviving list for that township is 1779.  He is not there or in any later list for the township.  Since the name is clearly written as Clover by the same man in both tax lists, there is no question in my mind that he was a Clover. The question then arises of who this Jacob was and what happened to the family. Copies of these tax records are on the Clovers of Salem County, New Jersey page.

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    The only other record of possible interest in the township that I found is a church record.
    The town of Friesburg is in what was Upper Alloways Creek Township in 1773. The Friesburg Emanuel Lutheran Church was established there in 1748.  The people attending this church were all Germans and the records were kept in German for a hundred years.  Many of the people had come in order to work in the Wistar Glasshouse.  Luckily the records of this church have survived and have been translated and published. 

Herman G. L. Drews, translator, Records of Friesburg Emanuel Lutheran Church, Friesburg, Salem County, New Jersey 1749-1851, (Woodbury, New Jersey: Gloucester County Historical Society, 1984), 18.

On 31 October 1773, a child named Jacob, about a half year old, was baptized.  His parents are listed as Klober and his wife.  The Witnesses were Adam Maurer and Mar. Cath. Fort.
        The next entry is on the same date and lists a child, Maria Catharina, with parents Jas: Fort and his wife Maria Catharina Fort. I found no Klobers in the tax records or any other record.  Consequently, it has seemed very likely to me that the unknown father of Jacob Klober was Jacob Clover.
    There is no hint as to where the family came from or when they came to Salem County.  However, the tax list is alphabetized except for a few names stuck on at the end.  Jacob Clover is one of those names at the end.  It could mean that he was missed or it could be that he had just arrived in September of 1773. Since the child was about a half year old when he was baptized in October of 1773, it seems possible to me that they had recently arrived in the area. 

    This church record has been translated and published twice.  The first publication was the book above.  The second one differs and only published through the local genealogical society. I was sent a copy of this and it is grossly inaccurate.  See Clovers of Salem County, New Jersey Because I was very concerned about the differing translations, I acquired the microfilm of the original entries. It is not truly legible. However, some study shows that it is in fact a Klober record.

Family History Library film 441480: Title Kirchenbuch, 1744-1838
Emmanuel Lutheran Church (Alloway Township, New Jersey) (Main Author)
Notes: Microreproduction of original at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
The church was formerly known as Cohansy Lutheran Church.
Contents: Baptisms, 1749-1821 -- Confirmations -- Marriages, 1751-1816  -- Burials, 1750-1837 -- Finances, minutes.
Includes a full index.

The format of the microfilm is unusual because it has the original on the right hand page with a translation of the German into English on the left hand page. Note that the Klober entry is the second one from the top just below the second horizontal line.




The first column is the name of the parents.  The second column is the name of the child, date of birth, date of baptism, the third column is the witnesses.
Note that there is no first name of the father.  It says ----- Klober & ux[on line below]  Ux means wife.  I can't really read what is in the second column but I can see the name Jacob and geb|, which was the date of baptism as 31 October 1773. I am assuming that the printed transcription is correct, that the child Jacob was about a half year old on this date.

The first letter of Klober looks more like an R to the modern eye. However, look at the examples of German Gothic Script on this page. http://www.mun.ca/rels/morav/pics/tutor/mscript2.html  I had to go study this German Script because I do not even pretend to be able to read Gothic Script which is terribly difficult to the American eye.  This is not written in actual Gothic Script.  But some of the capital letters look more like Gothic Script than English script. The letters are certainly different from the tax list which appears to have been writtten by an English scribe. You will see that there is very little difference between a script capital K and a script capital R. However, the following letters are obviously ~lober   You can't start a word with the two sounds, Rl~~ This is not a pronounceable sound in English or German. Therefore the first letter has to be a K.  

Normal practice among the German community in Colonial times was to use their German name in the German church books and an Anglicized version of the name in civil records.   One of the reasons for this is that the civil records were usually being kept by English civil servants who didn't necessarily speak German.  They took what they heard and wrote it down in English.  If you say Klober with a German accent, what do you think an Englishman is going to hear? The Germans were literate in German, not in English with its different looking alphabet.  

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Recommendations for future research:
1) This is something I plan to do.  I have a copy of the tax list from 1773.  I have wondered if a comparison between the names of those added on at the end and the church records could yield any information on the group. I thought it was just barely possible to me that this was a group which came in at the same time. If so, it might help in tracing the group back. I finally got my hands on the church record and there is no doubt what it says.  It is a Klober record.  However, the microfilm is extremely difficult to use as you can see above.  However, the printed translation is in a book at a library in Orlando which is only an hour from me.  I have the intention of taking the tax list to Orlando and sitting down and comparing some of the names to see if it suggests anything.  I don't know how soon I will be able to get there.  If you check a local library and find this book, let me know.  Maybe we can work together.

     There is one interesting small tidbit.  There is a copy of the original title page of the manuscript in German Script. Written in English is the statement that Rev. Henry Melchior Muhlenberg spoke at the church in Friesburg, in 1742. This was long before Jacob Clover was involved with Rev Peter Muhlenberg in the army in North Carolina, but as it happens, Rev Henry Muhlenberg was Rev. Peter's father.  I don't suppose that this means anything but I thought it was interesting.  I read elsewhere that the Rev. Henry Muhlenberg encouraged emigration to the colonies and was very famous in Germany.  

Title Page to German Manuscript


2) As this pattern becomes more solid, I have wondered if the church records could lead us to European records. I have felt suspicious that Adam Maurer might have some kind of family connection to Jacob Clover. Relatives were often sponsors at baptism and Jacob appears to have had a son named Adam. Adam Maurer's obituary is in the back of the church records and it says he was a native of the Margraviate Anspach & the village Doeckingen at Heidenheim by Hanekamm (died and was buried May 1785).  All of the people whose place of birth is mentioned in the church records were born in Southwest Germany.  Ansbach is Southwest of Nuremberg in Bavaria. Consequently, I would look for records from that area. These also will require a professional who reads German Script.  The LDS Library in Salt Lake City has many professionals who could do this.  I can help someone find a competent researcher.  I reiterate here that I would only recommend this step after we have done everything that can be done in the US. The LDS is currently transcribing records from all over. It might be that they will eventually help us out.   As it happens, the LDS church is currently doing massive translations from that area and posting them on their site.  I have been watching for a Klober from this area.  As it happens, this Ansbach area is the same area that we think John Peter Clover was from even though there is no DNA connection. It is also the area which Mathias Ambrose may have been from.  His daughter married Henry Clover of Franklin County. I suggest that you watch these records as they appear on the https://www.familysearch.org website. You can specifically search the German birth, marriage and death records.  We now know that there is no DNA connection between the various families so this only shows how many people emigrated from the area.

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    So when they disappeared from the Salem County records, what happened to them?  To find out we might ask about the normal migration routes out of New Jersey.  Look at this map noting that they were living only a few miles from Trenton and that timber from the township was being sold in Philadelphia just across the water.  This map suggests that we ought to look next for them somewhere on or near the Lancaster Road in Pennsylvania or Virginia. The main method of travel was established roads and the river system.  Remember that no one set out across country with their family cutting down trees to make a road.  And it was not like they had four wheel drives.  They had kids, a wife, household possessions, possibly a wagon, etc.  They also tended to travel in groups.

        Dollarhide wrote an interesting book on Pre 1815 Migration Routes.  This page is from that book. Note the Lancaster Road starts near Trenton and goes westward across Pennsylvania, down to the Potomac River where someone might have gotten a ride on a boat even farther westward.   Salem County, New Jersey was just east of Philadelphia across the water.  Lumber was ferried from Salem County to Philadelphia.
        Look at the Ohio River on the left of the map. See where one of the branches dips south across the Pennsylvania/Virginia border. That is where Spring Hill township was.  It was originally in Westmoreland County, and then in Fayette County, Pennsylvania when the boundaries changed. It was in Pennsylvania on on the east side of the river. 

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        If someone were to have followed the Lancaster Road to the Potomac River and taken the river a bit further westward, they might have reached the area from which General Muhlenberg's Troops were recruited.

ORDERLY BOOK OF GEN. JOHN PETER GABRIEL
MUHLENBERG, MARCH 26-DECEMBER 20, 1777.
Page 182:  Found July 18th an Officers Gun at the Clove Camp, the owner may have it by applying to Jacob Clover Q. M. Serjeant to the North Carolina Reg*.

http://128.118.88.67/DPubS?service=Repository&version=1.0&verb=Disseminate&handle=psu.pmhb/1171649452&view=body&content-type=pdf_1

        I have had this note about Jacob Clover for a long time, but I really did not’t think he was a Clover because I don’t have any Clovers in North Carolina that early so I let the information just sit there.  However, Phyllis Veath contacted me about this.  She found the information and researched General Muhlenberg. She tells me that he was a Lutheran Minister who was originally from Pennsylvania.  There is a good article about him at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Muhlenberg
Charles Glatfelter, Pastors and People, Volume 2 (PA German Society, 1982)
        According to this book, He was preaching in Woodstock, Shenandoah County, Virginia at the start of the war. The story is that he went into his church and flung open his cloak to show his military uniform and announced that he was going to fight. Muhlenberg formed the 8th Virginia Regiment.  
        Same book, volume 1, page 502, under heading of Shenandoah County: [In 1771] several Anglican leaders in the Shenandoah valley took the responsibility for issuing an invitation to Peter Muhlenberg to serve Anglican and Lutheran congregations in the valley. In 1772 he traveled to England for episcopal ordination and took up residence in Woodstock. Until he went on active duty as an officer in the Continental Army in 1776, he was pastor of eight or more congregations. Upon leaving the army, he did not return to the parish.

    The following history of this regiment is from http://www.myrevolutionarywar.com/states/va/va-08.htm

• Authorized on January 11, 1776 in the Virginia State Troops as the 8th Virginia Regiment.
• Organized between February 9- April 4, 1776 at Suffolk Court House to consist of 10 companies from Frederick, Dunmore, Berkley, Augusta, Hampshire, Fincastle, and Culpepper Counties.
• Adopted on May 25, 1776 into the Continental Army and assigned to the Southern Department.
• Relieved on January 21, 1777 from the Southern Department and assigned to the Main Army.
• Assigned on May 11, 1777 to the 4th Virginia Brigade, an element of the Main Army.
• 4th Virginia Brigade redesignated on July 22, 1778 as the 3rd Virginia Brigade.
• Reorganized on November 1, 1777 to consist of 8 companies.
• Consolidated on May 12, 1779 with the 4th Virginia Regiment.

Recommendation for further research: We really need to find out if this is an error or if he was actually in the Army.  Phyllis Veath has been trying to gather more information on this unit.  Unfortunately, this was a Virginia State Troop.  Virginia, unlike Pennsylvania and most other states, did not bother to keep the records of the members of the militia units so finding out more about him is probably going to be impossible. Nevertheless, Jacob Clover appears to have been active in this unit.  He might have been living in Virginia or just across the border in Pennsylvania at the time he was recruited.  I am not sure where to look for more information.  It is possible that the Richmond Archives might have something on this troop.

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Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania: 1783 Census (Westminster, Maryland: Willow Bend Books, 2001), 41.  The information says that this is reprinted from the Pennsylvania Archives, 3rd Series without changes of the name.  It is, in fact, a set of tax records.
Page 41, Springhill Township: Jacob Clover no acres 2 horses 1 cow no sheep 

    This area of Spring Hill was actually in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania in the southwest corner of the county.  It sat on the eastern bank of the Ohio River and on the southern border of Pennsylvania and the northern border of what is now West Virginia.  At one time, the land was actually part of Virginia. The boundary changes are extremely confusing.  It is contiguous with Monongalia County in Virginia where General Muhlenberg's troops were from.  
    Interestingly enough, there is another family from Westmoreland County who later became involved with the Clovers.  Dorcas Brownfield married John Clover in Monroe County, Illinois in 1826.  He was the son of Jacob Clover [junior?]. Dorcas is supposed to have descended from Charles Brownfield who was also living in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in 1783. Her father moved on to Kentucky, before coming to Illinois.  I mention this because it tends to prove that some other people did follow this migration route.  For more on the Brownfield family, see Brownfield.  

• Westmoreland in 1773:  This is a transcription of the 1773 tax list.  There is no Clover.  There was a Jacob Cleam in Springhill Township who does not appear in 1783.  Our Jacob Clover was in Salem County, New Jersey 1773 and 1774 so I am glad not to have found a Clover here in 1773.  
• Tax Lists in Westmoreland County, 1786 to 1810 I found no Clover which was disappointing.  I also found no Springhill Township which was confusing.  A search of some reference books told me that in September of 1783, Fayette County, Pennsylvania was formed from Westmoreland County and included Spring Hill Township.  [This would have been just after the 1783 tax list upon which Jacob Clover appears.] 
• PAGenWeb County Map Springhill Township ended up in Fayette County in the far SW corner next to Greene County, Pennsylvania and Monongalia County, Virginia. It is right on the Ohio river.
• Boundary Change History This page has a good explanation of the history of the boundary changes. Note that this area actually started out in Virginia and became part of Pennsylvania at a later date. This site gives the following information. 

• Listing of Inhabitants in 1785, Fayette County, Pennsylvania  This book includes Springhill Township.  Unfortunately, it does not include any Clovers, Glovers, Cleavers, etc.  

 

In the above two maps of Pennsylvania, note that the left one has Washington County marked in red. The right map has Fayette County in red, where Spring hill Township ended up. So you can see that they are basically next door to each other.

1784 Washington County, Pennsylvania
Kenneth Clover recently sent me a copy of a 1784 land warrant for Jacob Clever for 400 acres in Washington County, Pennsylvania. If you check the boundary change problem above, you will find that Washington County was formed from Westmoreland County in 1781.  This is exciting because it suggests that our Jacob Clover actually was in that area. Having only one mention of him on a tax list always worried me because I have seen too many Glover/Cleaver errors. Note that this is a Clever so it may or may not be our Jacob. Washington County was just across the river from Spring Hill Township.  I am also curious about the meaning of this warrant. Pennsylvania was selling land by lottery in 1784 so I don't if this was by lottery or not.   We also need to know more about this warrant.  There is a lot more about these land warrants on the Pennsylvania State Archives. See http://www.phmc.state.pa.us/bah/dam/rg/di/r17-88WarrantRegisters/r17-88AllCountiesInterface.htm#NorthLottery
If you look on the page for Washington County (Surnames are listed alphabetically and by date, see page 14 under "C"), you will see that Jacob is listed as Jacob Clever. Apparently the warrant was sold to a Thomas Leiper. If anyone has time, I would love to have someone search all the counties for something that looks like it might be a Clover. It might be for a different first name.  You need to have an open mind here about spelling.  


   
Since we have no records for him after this, we must assume he moved on.  The most common method of travel at that time was on the river. Bear in mind that Spring Hill Township and Washington County were bordered by the Ohio River.  If they had followed the river westward, they might have ended up somewhere west of there on or near the river, such as Jefferson County, Kentucky.

        The question now arises: Do we have any evidence at all linking these Pennsylvania sightings of a Jacob Clover to the Monroe County Clovers? We have the Brownfield family who followed the same migration path, but that is a very vague connection. However, there is a small piece of evidence.  It is tenuous because it is one of those he said, she said things.  However, there is one more item of interest.
        Peggy Howard who did an amazing quantity of research in the 1980s, had a bit of information. Gladys Clover sent me a copy of a confusing paper from Peggy Howard. Peggy had a note that "Uncle Jimmy" had said that the family was at one time in Westmoreland County, Virginia.  Uncle Jimmy was James Monroe Clover, jr. This tidbit appears to have been confusing to Peggy who researched what is now Westmoreland County, Virginia before realizing that Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania was formed from a Virginia County.   It seems to have parts of three letters on the same page.  The letters are not clear but it is clear that Uncle Jimmy said the Clovers were in Westmoreland County.  Now this is not proof we can take into court, but it solidifies the theory that the Clovers in Monroe County were in fact, descended from this Jacob Clover who left all these records.  Please note that there are some known errors in these letters.  Uncle Jimmy also mentions Kentucky.
        I don't know about the Henry Clover. And I know nothing about Potsdam.  That may or may not be correct.


Recommendations for further research:
 1) You will note that the boundaries of various political divisions moved around Spring Hill Township.  I honestly have not diligently searched all of those county records in Pennsylvania.  I think this should be done.  It seems to me that the more records we can find, the more solid the pattern becomes.  As to the letter above, look at the small note on the bottom right.  I don't know who wrote this but think that I would like to know what she means by "he was there in 1785, and Northumberland County is mentioned later on.  I don't think we can afford to bypass any possible piece of evidence. We really need to  check this out.

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    The northern border of Kentucky is the Ohio River which means it was easily accessible from Spring Hill Township which was also on the Ohio River. The northern border of Jefferson County was the Ohio River.  Kentucky was a part of Fincastle County, Virginia until Kentucky County, Virginia was formed in 1760.  Jefferson County was one of three original counties formed in 1780.  The state of Kentucky was not formed until 1792.  The following map is from 1794 by which time the three original counties had been divided into seven.  Research in Kentucky is complicated by the lack of a 1790 census.  A recreated one is available, but that is from tax records.
 


The first tax records I have found from Jefferson County, Kentucky were from 1789 and Jacob Clover is there.
        The following records were on LDS Film # 0008050 Jefferson County, Kentucky Tax Lists 1789-1801.  
There is no Jacob Clover in later tax lists. Jacob is not shown as owning land in any year.   
        It is highly probable that the white males 16-21 in his household are his sons.  Since he did not own land, it is not likely he had farm hands living with him.  The young men seem to come and go, but they may be working for other people in the area. It appears that he has one son born 1768-1773 in 1789, 2 sons born 1771-1776 in 1792, and 1 son born 1772-1777 in 1793. It is not clear how many sons he actually had from the tax lists.  However, a Jacob Clover, son of Jacob Clover, born early 1773 from Salem County, New Jersey would seem to fit nicely into these tax records.
        We can suspect that the family moved on after the 1793 tax list. These Clovers in Kentucky left behind few records.  They did not leave marriage records and again did not own land or leave probate records.  In fact, the only records of their sojourn in Kentucky found so far are the tax lists.  It is not known when they arrived in Kentucky because Jefferson County, Kentucky tax lists don’t start until 1789.
        It happens that George Rogers Clark lived with his father, John Clark, in the same tax district as Jacob Clover.  Lt. Col. George Rogers Clark and his frontiersmen captured Fort Sackville from British Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton and his soldiers on 25 February 1779. The heroic march of Clark's men from Kaskaskia [later the county seat of Randolph County, Illinois from which Monroe County was formed] on the Mississippi in mid-winter and the subsequent victory over the British remains one of the great feats of the American Revolution. Fort Sackville was a British outpost located in the frontier settlement of Vincennes.  More information on this event is available at:     http://www.nps.gov/gero/    
        Large numbers of settlers were induced to immigrate to Illinois by the glowing descriptions of the country given by these soldiers. A typical settlement of these settlers was located in 1786 in what is now Monroe County, Illinois. The settlement acquired new emigrants in 1793. The land in the East was much more expensive than the same quality land out west. In 1806, $3 per acre was the maximum price in even the settled parts of the Indiana Territory, while $50 per acre had been paid for choice Kentucky land. (8) The Indiana Territory would have included what is now Illinois in 1803. For those without land, as Jacob Clover was, the call of cheap land must have been strong.  
        Kenneth Clover sent me a letter from Virginia Wilder to Peggy Howard in 1978.  She quoted her father, Clark Clover.  [Note: Clark⁴ Clover, Isaac Newton³, John², Jacob¹ Clover and Catherine Harness.] He told her that the family had started a settlement in Cloversport, Kentucky which was supposed to be still there and that they had been in the Cumberland Gap District with Daniel Boone.  
        There is no Cloversport according to the US Geographic site.   However, a search of the internet came up with a Cloversport. http://www.perrycountyindiana.org/activities/fishing.cfm It is in Perry County and is apparently a fishing community on Tar Creek along Kentucky State Road 105.  There is another Cloversport in what is now Hancock County.  There have been dozens of boundary changes but as far as I can tell, neither of these areas was in Jefferson County around the time we have Jacob Clover in the tax list in Jefferson County.  

        As to the Daniel Boone story, the situation is much the same.  Daniel Boone did in fact purchase or receive by military warrant, about 2500 acres in Jefferson County in 1780.  However, he is NOT in any Kentucky tax list that I have found in Jefferson County. By 1790, the original Jefferson County had been subdivided into more counties.  He founded Boonesborough on the Kentucky River in what is now Madison County.  But he appears to have left there in 1779. The few books I have don't list Daniel Boone in Jefferson County at the same time that the Clovers were there. He was however, all over the state before he moved to Defiance, St. Charles, Missouri in 1799. This area is across the  river and north one county from Monroe County. The key element in the story is that the Clover family was in Kentucky before it came to Illinois.  So this further strengthens the probability that the Monroe County Clovers came to Illinois via Kentucky.  I have so often found that these family stories have a germ of truth to which have been added some other items that are slightly distorted.

Information from Phyllis Veath:
        She may have more information about the Boone/ Clover story. Jemima Brownfield (sister of Darcus Brownfield wife of John Clover) married Abram Darst of St. Charles Co. Missouri. The story is that Abram Darst was the son in law of Daniel Boone. Abram had small children and his wife died. The story states that he left his children with the Boones to go search for a wife. So he came to Monroe Co. Illinois and married Jemima. They married had more children and moved to San Antonio, Texas around 1820. Abram's brother fought in the Alamo. Jemima and Abram had a son Richard Brownfield Darst. St. Charles County, Missouri was up the Mississippi River not all that far away from Monroe County. Darst was from St. Charles County.  Daniel Boone had settled in Defiance, St. Charles County, Missouri by that time. Phyllis says she couldn't figure out why this man would head for Monroe County to marry. If there was a friendship connection that would make sense. She found the story on the internet. It's a long shot but it does make sense. The Brownfields seemed to move along the same path as the Clovers and the Brownfields may have been friends with Daniel Boone.   There is a Brownfield page on this site.  It is interesting to me that the Brownfields followed the same migration path as this Jacob Clover. One of the Brownfield boys was supposed to have been with George Rogers Clark. And they have at least some connection to Daniel Boone, it becomes just vaguely possible that all of these people had at least met before they all converged in Monroe County.  
        The family group who had the legend about Daniel Boone may have switched the legend from the Brownfields to the Clovers.  That often happens.  People often tell me that their great aunt swore to something about her grandfather and I later discover it was true on the grandmother's side, not the grandfather's side. This is pretty common in genealogy.  

Recommendation for further research:
1) I have looked at a lot of extracted Jefferson County records in various books. I am told that the marriage, probate, and court records of Jefferson County are quite complete.  I don't know about the deed records.  Someone needs to find out exactly what survived from Jefferson  County and make sure all of the records have been searched.  Many of the books I searched had deed records only up to 1787.  We have to search a little before 1789 when he appears in the tax records because they don't start until then and he might have been there earlier.  Also we don't know exactly when he got to Illinois so we don't know when he left Kentucky.  The tax collectors were pretty diligent but might occasionally have missed someone.   
2) George Rogers Clark was with his father, John Clark, in a tax list for the same district. The list is alphabetical so you can't tell how close the Clarks were to Jacob Clover, but both lived in the Jenkins Phillips tax district. The county was divided into several tax districts and I wonder where this one was.  Surely one could find out where John Clark lived.  I am very curious as to the exact location where our Clovers lived. If we know that, we might find records for the area in another county because of boundary changes.  Also people sometimes left records in a neighboring county because it was actually closer to their farm.
        I just have an intense interest in where Jacob Clover actually lived.  The Clarks owned so much land, they may well have hired people to work for them.

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        When the Jacob Clover records end in Kentucky, it is probably the last time we see the older generation.  The records in Illinois appear to be for the next generation of Clovers.

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   The fact that this family left Kentucky, probably by river, and moved westward, makes it reasonable that they might have ended up in what is now southern Illinois.  They might have been influenced by local gossip from George Rogers Clark.
        As is usual with this family group the boundary changes in this southern Illinois area are extremely confusing.  The area was originally French, fell to the British in 1765, came into the hands of the United States in 1783.  It became part of the Northwest Territory in 1787.  At one point it was part of the Indiana Territory.  St. Clair County was the first county formed in this area in 1790 along the Mississippi River. It extended along the Kaskaskia River.  In 1795, Randolph County was formed in an area situated farther south along the Mississippi and the Kaskaskia Rivers.  In 1816, Monroe County was formed from parts of both of these counties.  Illinois because a state in 1818.  Consequently, I have had to search diligently in all these places for Clover records.  The earliest federal census which survived is 1820.
        The first record in this area of a person who could be from this family is in 1795 in St. Clair County. It is my opinion that these are sons of the earlier Jacob Clover.  We have not seen any records of another older Clover so it is less likely that they are nephews. We know that they are connected because of DNA records.

Edward G. Mason, Early Illinois, (Chicago: Fergus Print. Co., 1890)
        This is an odd little book which lists the early militia in what was St. Clair County before 1800.  This is important because it is the first proof that I have seen that the Clovers were in Illinois by 1795.  Note that John is not on the list.  Perhaps he was the youngest of the set.  

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Synopsis:
       Jacob Clover sr, place and date of birth and death unknown, probably born sometime before 1750.  He probably lived in New Jersey in 1773 and 1774.  He may have followed the Lancaster Road and the river system to an area in/near Monongalia County, Virginia by 1777. He was in Spring Hill Township, in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania in 1783.  This area could have been part of Monongalia County previously. He might not have moved. The boundaries may have moved around him. By 1789 he had followed the Ohio River to Jefferson County, Kentucky where he appeared in the tax records from 1789 to 1793.  He had at least two young men with him, possibly more, who may have been his sons.  He disappeared out of Kentucky after 1793 and members of this family appear in St. Clair County, Illinois in 1795.  I have found no record of a Jacob Clover in Illinois that I think is for Jacob Sr.  Consequently, I suspect he might died about the time they moved. As to a wife, she left zero records in any of the places I can find Jacoh Sr.

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      One of the traditional genealogical research techniques is to take an unusual name from an area and trace it.  Then if that family follows a particular immigration path, this strengthens your argument that your family followed the same path.  I suspect that no Clovers out there are interested in the Guise/Guice family except me.  However, I am interested because I trace ALL Clovers. So just bear with me, it will help us prove what we want to prove.
    Wilem Guice was naturalized in New Jersey in 1730.  When I first saw the name in Illinois, I assumed it was a French name because there were a lot of French in the area. But later Guice census records indicate this is a German name.  The Guice/Guise family lived in Monmouth County, New Jersey during the late 1700s.  Monmouth is not next to Salem County. It is on the ocean side of New Jersey.  Nevertheless New Jersey is a small state.  A few years later, there is a David Guice in that part of Illinois in which we are interested.  David Guice, father of the Solomon Guice who married Susannah Clover, was in that area by 1788.  He died ca. 1798-1800.
        Shortly after the Clovers appear to have moved to Arkansas, a Guise appears there also.  For more information on the Guise group, see Susannah Clover below.  She is the one who married Solomon Guise. Also see Adam Clover who married the widow of David Guice.  I have not checked the other areas for Guise/Guice/Guyuce names.  It would be interesting to see if they followed the same pattern as our Clovers in Pennsylvania and Kentucky.

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        I really can't prove the connections of all of these people.  However DNA evidence has proved a connection between Jacob Clover Jr and William Clover, and Henry Clover.  I am still waiting for DNA evidence that the Arkansas Clovers are connected to these Monroe County, Illinois Clovers!
One interesting thing to me is that all of the men seem to have died fairly young by our standards.  Jacob was probably about 48, the rest about the same. Life was hard on the frontier.  In other Clover families, I have at least one person living to a later age.  That is not true in this family.

Probable children of Jacob Clover senior:

(1) Jacob Clover jr, born early 1773 according to the baptismal record, and prior to 1775 in the 1820 census.  Died 1821, Monroe County, Illinois. 
(2) Adam Clover, born prior to 1775 according to the 1820 census, probably died shortly after 1820 in Arkansas.
(3) William Clover , died in 1817 and left a will at that time.  No proof of age.  Son from will born ca. 1800 so possibly born between 1770 and 1778.
(4) John Clover no birth date, probably moved to Arkansas before 1820, died in Arkansas. He may have been the youngest son because he is not in the 1795 militia.
(5) Susannah Clover, married 1805.  No birth or death dates.  She married in 1805 so was probably born somewhere around 1785-7.

Note that any Clover records left in Illinois after Jacob's death in 1821, seem to be for the next generation, ie, what appears to be the third generation of Clovers.  The Arkansas records are confusing and I can't always tell what generation they are from.

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Suggestions for further research:
        Various researchers, including Peggy Howard, Pat Vaseska, Phyllis Veath, Kenneth Arnold, have really been all over the records of Monroe County, Illinois, looking for Clovers. I would be very surprised if they missed any early records. Since Monroe County was not formed until 1816, we need to be sure that we have thoroughly checked the records of Randolph and St. Clair Counties. The only thing I know of that maybe has not been completely searched is the Hammes Papers. More about them is on the Illinois pages on this site. Phyllis Veath sent me copies of what I have.  She sent me everything in the index. However, at one time, I saw a notice that all of the Hammes papers were not included in the index. I don't know if this is true or not.  Someone who has them available really needs to check this out because they contain most of what we have on the early records of St. Clair and Randolph Counties.  It might also be productive to check the actual records of St. Clair County, instead of relying completely on the Hammes papers.

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