John B Acker

• Name	John B Acker  [1, 2]
  Gender	Male
  Person ID	I20095	Ancestry of PNH, TNH, and others
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2026

  
  

  Family	Ester Crank,   b. Bef 24 Apr 1759
  Children	+ 1. Stephen Acker,   b. Nov 1784   d. Nov 1865, Birchtown, Shelburne, Nova Scotia (Age ~ 81 years) + 2. John Acker,   b. Abt 1788   d. 18 Mar 1867, Shelburne, Shelburne, Nova Scotia (Age ~ 79 years)
  Family ID	F12091	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	2 Mar 2026

  
  

• Notes

  He is widely said to have been born in Philipsburgh Manor, Westchester County, New York and to have emigrated to Nova Scotia with his wife Ester Crank around the time of the Revolution. A good stack of evidence suggests that this is in fact the case. Peter Wilson Coldham's American Migrations 1765-1799 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 2000) records that John Acker, cordwainer of Shelburne, deposed on 25 Nov 1783 that he knew Samuel Davenport, a merchant of Philipsburgh who, in 1777, had fled to New York City, then under royal control, thus losing most or all of his property left behind in Philipsburgh. The absence of earlier Ackers in Nova Scotia, along with the fact that John B. Acker of Shelburne was acquainted with Samuel Davenport of faraway Philipsburgh, certainly suggests that Acker himself came from Philipsburgh, possibly fleeing to New York around the same time. A John Acker, yeoman, took the oath of fidelity to George III on a date between 13 Jan 1777 and 26 Feb 1777, in the presence of New York royal governor William Tryon and New York City mayor David Mathews. This could be John B. Acker. Multiple record of Ester (Crank) Acker, some from after her lifetime, describe her as born in the United States. The 8 Nov 1869 death record for Henry Acker of Shelburne, son of John B. Acker, gives Henry's age at death as 90 and his birthplace as New York. Cath. Schulz, widow, daughter of John and Esther Acker, died 10 May 1867 at age 84 in Birchtown, Shelburne, Nova Scotia. Her death record gives her place of birth (in, we can infer, about 1783) as "U. States." She had married John Shoultz in Shelburne on 18 Mar 1806. The 1881 census of Canada describes the nationality and "race" of John B. Acker and Ester Crank's granddaughter Rachel Rowland Acker as "German", which seems like further evidence that the Acker family was known to be of Dutch New York descent. We have read that multiple other descendants of John B. Acker and Ester Crank were desceibed as "German" in various official documents. John B. Acker is said to have died in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, 30 Nov 1838, but we are unaware of evidence for this. His parents are unknown. The blog Grandma's Granny's Family Album, by Anne Wendel, contains quite a lot of information about John B. Acker and Ester Crank, including the interesting data point that the author has a DNA match with descendants of Jan Crankheyt, well-documented as a son of Hendrick Crankheyt and Esther Daniels.

  
  

• Sources

  [S8892] Canada, Nova Scotia, Deaths, 1864-1877, on familysearch.org. [S2637] Nova Scotia Births and Baptisms, 1702-1896, on familysearch.org.