Johann Peter Klinger was born 3 November 1773 in Reading, Pennsylvania. His parents were Johann Philip Klinger (1723-1811) and Eva Elisabeth Beilstein (1730-ca. 1815). He married Catharina Steinbruch, daughter of Adam Steinbrecher and Anna Margaretha Hoffman, in about 1791 in Lykens Township, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. They had eleven children. Ancestors, descendants and relatives lived mainly in Germany, Pennsylvania and Indiana.