Holbrook line: Johan Caspar Strader, Immigrant

I've spent much of my genealogy time in the last few weeks in Lancaster and Berks Counties, Pennsylvania, researching, or trying to research, various ancestors in the Harshbarger line.  My head hurts from banging my head against those brick walls, so I thought I'd look for someone I could write a nice, easy blog post about in the Holbrook line.  And where do my eyes alight? Caspar Strader, born 1705 in Germany, died 1778 in Berks County.  Augghh!! 

Also, the information I've found on-line is confusing  So here is what I know, think I know, and don't quite believe about our German ancestor.  Johan Caspar was born sometime in the 1700-1705 time period, most likely in Hesse, in what is now Germany.  I have found no record of his parents, although I am quite sure he had two.  He was married about 1725 to either Anna Maria Spor (that marriage took place on March 2, 1725 in Hessen), or, as most trees say, to Margaret Catherine Uhrmeister but I've found quite a specific date of August 18, 1757 in Lancaster County, Pa for that marriage.  If this is the same Caspar Strader, then it must be a second marriage, or possibly the Caspar involved is his son Caspar.   

The first thing we find that seems to be our Caspar is his immigration on September 26, 1749 on the ship Ranier, with passengers from Hanau, Wirtemberg, Darmstadt, and Eisenberg.  The ship, as is typical of the time, sailed from Rotterdam with a stop in England.  What is somewhat unusual about this ship is that it is noted as having 277 passengers, which is significantly more than most ships carried.  The men, including a Johan Henrich Stroder and Johannes Stroder Jr also took the oath of allegiance. 

The next document I've found so far, is an abstract of the will for "Casper Stratter" of Alsace Township, Berks County, Pa.  He wrote the will on November 21, 1775 and it was proved May 23, 1778.  He left 5 shillings to his son Conrad, another 5 shillings to son Henry, and to his daughter Catharina, wife of Martin Koehlhoffer, he left all his moveable goods and his "little plantation".  His daughter and son in law were named as executors, which would seem to be contrary to law in most jurisdictions.  It seems that the other children were probably given their inheritance early.  For instance, daughter Anna Margaret, who had married John Ludwig Clapp and gone to North Carolina, was likely given a gift of money or goods when she left the area. 

Doubtless I need to get back into the Berks County books and look again for Strader, which of course is spelled several different ways.  I hope to find more information to flesh out this family, and of course it would be fun if I found a Holbrook connection to a Harshbarger connection, somewhere along the way.

The line of descent is:

Casper Strader-possibly Anna Maria Spor
Anna Margaret Strader-John Ludwig Clapp
Barbara Clapp-John Philip Clapp
Catherine Clapp-John Adam Brown
Adam Brown-Phoebe Myers
Phoebe Brown-Fremont Holbrook
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen