Family genealogists concur that this is the grave of John Nossaman, Sr., honored by his family and friends with old style Roman lettering of his headstone. He was christened Johannes Konrad Nasemann, 25 Jan 1751 in Mainz, Germany, the son of Heinrich and Anna Marie (Gretzin) Nasemann. At the age of 22 he struck out alone and emigrated from Germany to America, arriving in Philadelphia on the ship "Sally" on August 23, 1773. Soon after arriving, he Americanized his name to John Nosseman. He indentured himself for six years to Jacob Cos of West Jersey to pay for the passage, shortening his indenture to four years by enlisting in the Philadelphia Militia as Howe was marching on Philly in September of 1777. He soon deserted in the face of 10,000 professional British 5,000 professional German soldiers at the Battle of Germantown. He ended up in Lancaster County, PA, where he won his wife, Cathrina, and re-enlisted in the Lancaster County Pennsylvania Militia. He served in that unit during the remainder of the Revolutionary War, from 1781 through 1784. He mustered out of the 7th battalion, 5th Company of the Lancaster County Militia in 1784, just a few months after the Treaty Paris was signed. By 1785, he had purchased 10 acres in Manheim, PA. Along with many other German immigrants, he then moved with his wife Cathrina and growing family down the Wilderness Trail to the Virginia frontier, arriving in Greenbrier County prior to the springtime of 1789. It was less than a decade after the last of the Indian Wars, although periodic troubles continued through at least 1781. He acquired land on Indian Creek in Greenbrier County, VA a few miles west of Union (now in WV) in April of 1789, where he continued to farm. By this time, he had dropped "Conrad" from his name. He bought, farmed and sold various plots on Indian Creek, Rich Creek, and Brush Creek in newly formed Monroe County, and later in life purchased land across the New River in Giles County, Virginia. At his homesteads in Monroe County, just north of Peterstown (now WV) he raised a family of four daughters and a son, nurturing them to maturity with his spouse Cathrina, and saw them marry well. He furnished homesteads for at least three of his children, as well.

Catherine, b. 1779 PA, m. Bennett Willis in VA 1800, d. 1843, VA (~10 children)

Elizabeth, b. 1782 PA, m. David Paine in VA 1801 VA, d. 1815, VA (~ 12 children)

John, Jr. b. 1786 PA, m. Abigail Wylie in VA 1809 VA, m. Luresa Meadows, 1821, KY, d. 1849, IN (13 children)

Susannah, b. abt 1790, VA, m. William Pennington, Jr. 1808 in VA, d. 1834, KY (11 children)

Sidney, b. 1796 VA, m. John Belcher in VA 1816, VA, d. 1850, IN (11 children)

The record indicates that while living on the frontier of Virginia he was a yoeman farmer, shrewd deal maker and family man: he and Cathrina celebrated more than 40 years of marriage together, and they became grandparents of at about 58 grandchildren.

There are consistent indications in the record that he was literate, enterprising, entrepreneurial, individualistic, industrious, vigorous in acquiring and defending his property, sometimes respected and many times hated by his neighbors, the founding settlers of Peterstown. He was extremely active in the courts of the day, and sued and got sued many times by his neighbors and associates. At least twice he was severely beaten by a deputy sheriff who was trying to enforce a court-ordered debt collection. The sheriffs always left empty-handed. Today (2017) his descendants number more than 20,000 across eight generations, with 8,000 or more living today, including many with surnames of Pennington, Willis, Paine, Belcher, Sytsma, and many others. He is the patriarch of the Nossaman family name in the United States.