Nr.109:

In recent notes there has been an attempt to group people by the approximate time of their appearance in the Germanna community.  The name of Christian Clements may have been overlooked.  He was an earlier immigrant as he purchased 600 acres on Deep Run in the Robinson River community adjacent to John Hoffman.  He was also a neighbor to John Paul Vogt, who was his father-in-law, since Christian married Catherine Margaret Vogt (Vaught).  The Clements and the Vogts moved to the Shenandoah Valley ca 1744 and were in the first wave of emigrants out of the Robinson River Valley.  About the same time, others were moving to North Carolina.

The given name Christian was a stumbling block for the English clerks who seemed to regard Christian as an improper given name.  They usually converted it into Christopher.

Rudolph Crecelius and his wife Maria Elisabeth had Johannes, born 14 Oct 1777, baptized at the Hebron Church.  The name Crecelius hardly looks German and, in fact, it is not a proper German spelling.  In the 1600's, it became a fad to "Latinize" the spelling of one's name, especially among the lawyers and doctors, i.e., university trained people.  There were a couple of mentions of the family at church, but the records were sparse for this family.  It was found that Rudolph Cretselious and his wife Elizabeth were buried in Washington County, TN in the Old Dutch Meeting House cemetery.  Continued advertising for information on the family turned up more, a rather complete family history starting in the colonies in Pennsylvania, moving through Virginia and on to Tennessee.  The people who supplied this information had not been aware of the birth of John in Virginia.

The Crecelius family illustrates that a move often took several years.  A family might leave Pennsylvania, perhaps were not sure what the final destination was.  But they tried one locality, perhaps staying only for a winter and a growing season, perhaps a little longer, but moving on to still other localities where the prospect appeared brighter in terms of the climate or opportunity for land was better or the attitude toward slavery was permissive or against.  These migration paths were both north and south and people on the move probably encountered others moving in the opposite direction.

Genealogists though pull their hair out at the thought of this transient behavior which is very hard to follow.

Sometimes we are left wondering what name was intended in a record.  For example, John Dearet and his wife Maria were sponsors for Jacob, son of Ambrose Garriott and his wife Elizabeth Blankenbaker.  There were Dear families in the community so Dearet might be a variation.  Or handwriting being what it was at the church (and in German), maybe Dearet was a misreading of Garriott.  A third possibility, and perhaps the most likely, is John Derret who was adjacent to Philip Clayton on Muddy Run Mountain.  He was adjacent to Bryan and William Fairfax, who are below Devil's Run, Mountain Run, and Muddy Run Mountain (using information from Peggy Joiner on the early grants).  Ambrose Garriott was not a member of the Lutheran church.  He might be considered a Germanna family because of his marriage to a Germanna descendant.  However, John Dearet is probably not a Germanna family.

It does not suffice to study only the Germanna families because there were intermarriages between the English and German communities.  But also, there were English and German families of the same name.  Two that come to mind immediately are the Smith and Thomas families.  And to make the sorting harder, there were English-German marriages in these families.

Nr.110:

Conrad Delph (Delp, Telph, Telp) was probably born about 1720-25 in an unknown location.  His mother was perhaps a Mary Delp ( who was ordered to be paid as a witness in Orange Co., in 1745, in a suit of George Moyer, Jr., and Sarah his wife, against Conrad Broyle).  Conrad married, about 1744-45, Anna Magdalena Castler, daughter of Mathias Castler, Germanna pioneer.  The Hebron Church records show there were eleven children of Conrad and Anna Magdalena.

Daniel Diehl (Deal, Deals), with his wife Elizabeth brought their daughter Mary for baptism on 28 Jul 1776.  Besides Daniel, there was also a John Deal in 1787 in Culpeper Co. John and Daniel were probably brothers as they seem to be of about the same age.  The origins of the Diehl family are unknown.

The Dikons (Dickens) family was probably English but intermarried with the Germanna people.  Benjamin Dikons and Rosina his wife had a daughter, Rhode, baptized 22 Jun 1777, at the Hebron Church, with Adam Fisher, Elisabeth Fisher, and Eva Yager as sponsors.  Often the sponsors were relatives but no relationship is known at the present.  An Elizabeth Dickens married John Burdyne, son of Richard and Catherine (Tanner) Burdyne.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Christopher Dickens, Sr. and Sarah Pallium of Culpeper Co.  Christopher was a witness to the will of Anne Mary Gabbard (1762) and an appraiser of her estate (same year).  Elizabeth has a brother William and sister Winifred.

Dosser, Doser, Dozer are the names of Daniel and his wife, who were sponsors of the child Anna Barbara Urbach (Arbaugh) on 22 Sep 1776.  A Friedrich Dosser was confirmed in 1777, and Henrick Dosser was confirmed in 1782 at age 14.  Leonard Dozier received cash of the estate of Philemon Kavanaugh (1752), as did Christopher Zimmerman.  The family appears to have moved to Greenbrier Co., now WV, and some information is available in Larry Shuck's "Shuck, Fleshman, Sydenstricker & Other Families".

Elizabeth Eberhart was a communicant at Hebron Church in 1775.

Caspar Faehr and his wife Catherina had Adam baptized on 2 Nov 1777, with Adam Wayland and his wife Mary (Finks) as sponsors.

Michael Finder died intestate in Culpeper Co. in 1760.  The appraisers of the estate were James Barbour, Jr., Adam Garr and Adam Wayland.

This note has mentioned several families or individuals about whom little is known.  Several of the citations have a date of 1777 plus or minus a year.  There is a known reason for this which will be the subject of future notes.  The fact remains that we know very little about these people and many others; however, in some cases the individual or family has been identified.  These names are put forth with a similar hope.  They are probably the ancestors of somebody.

Nr.111:

The Rev. Jacob Franck became the pastor of the Hebron Lutheran Church late in 1775.  During the fewer than three years that he was the pastor, the church was reactivated and the number of baptisms increased dramatically.  (This is one reason that so many people seem to be making a first time appearance in the years 1776, 77 and 78.)  Though Rev. Franck was very popular with the congregation, he left the ministry and returned to Philadelphia as a silversmith.  He and his wife Barbara had a son, Jacob, born 17 Sep 1776, baptized.  After the very successful period with Rev. Franck as pastor, the Hebron Church fell onto hard times for several years.

John Fray purchased land in Culpeper Co., VA in 1764.  He married Rebecca Swindell.  John Fray died in 1791 with a will that mentions his wife, Rebecca, and his sons Ephraim, Moses, and Adam, and his daughters, Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, and Margaret.  Virginia Fray Lewis' book, "A History and Genealogy of John Fray of Culpeper Co., Virginia", has much more information.  (Though there seem to be several errors in the book.)

A Barbara Gerhardt was a sponsor in 1787 when Henry Crisler and his wife Elizabeth brought Rosina for baptism to the Hebron church.  There appear to have been Gerhardts in the community in the period around 1740 and later years.  Whether there is a relationship is unknown.

Daniel Gut (Good) and his wife Elizabeth had Ludwig baptized on 24 Nov 1791.  Sponsors were Jacob Lip and his wife Margaret.

The origins of Matthias House prior to his purchase of land in 1771 in Culpeper Co. were in Augusta Co., VA, but prior to that, his source is unknown.  The Hebron church records are filled with House information after they arrived in Culpeper Co.

George Hume was a second cousin of Alexander Spotswood who was sent to the colonies as a sentence for an uprising against Queen Anne.  Descendants of George Hume married into the Germanna families.

Philip Hoop (Hupp) left a will in Culpeper Co. in 1761.  He had several sons who all appear to have moved, at least on a temporary basis, to southwestern Pennsylvania.  There were intermarriages to the older Germanna families.

Nr.112:

John Daniel Jacoby was probably a German who died in Culpeper Co., VA, in 1767.  His will mentions his wife, Anna Barbara, and five children, Francis, John, Daniel, Elizabeth, and Anna Barbara.

Henry Jones apparently had a German strain since Anna Mary Gabbard calls him her grandson in her will, in which she left her entire estate to him.  Henry Jones was a witness to the Michael Clore in 1762.  David Jones was a chain carrier for Nicholas Kabler.  He, David, had land on Stanton River.  The daughter of Henry Frederick Beyerback was Catherine Jones.  More research on the Jones family might help clarify these situations.

Michael Kaifer refers, in his 1762 will, to his son-in-law, Henry Coller.  This person has never been identified.  Spelling being what it was in many of the German wills, we are not sure just what the name was.  So far no individual has come forth as the logical candidate for Henry "Coller"

John Kaines (Kine) had 400 acres adjacent to John Huffman, Christian Clayman (Clements), and Edward Ballenger.  He proved his importation in 1741.  He was an appraiser of the estate of John Stinesyfer in 1761.  He died in 1767 and his will mentions Joseph Harriss and his wife and his grandson, John Harriss.  He appointed his friends Harman Spilman and John Stinesyfer, Jr. as executors.  From these latter names, it is most likely that John Kaines was from the Nassau-Siegen area.

Conrad Kepler was paid from the estate of Joseph Kelly in 1757.

John Jacob Kneissle and his wife Margaretha had Jacob baptized 24 Aug 1777.  Sponsors were Jacob Redman and Elisabeth Schmidt.

Conrad K�nzle's name appears in many forms and sometimes one is left wondering whether the same individual is intended.  Other spellings are Genzle, Kansler and Gansler.  The interchange of the "G" and the "K" is understandable.  The list of sponsors for the nine children (1773 to 1794) of Conrad and his wife Rachel suggests that Rachel was a Barlow, in particular, a daughter of Adam Barlow and Mary Smith.

George, Michael and John Lehman are mentioned in the Hebron Church register 1775 to 1784.

Henry Lipp's name was affixed to the Hebron Church constitution of 1776.  His wife was Elizabeth.  Other Lipps who appear at church include Daniel, Anna Maria, Elizabeth, and Jacob who married Margaret.  Though Germanna Record Six says that Jacob married Margaret Zimmerman, the right Margaret may not have been selected.

Nr.113:

When one starts scratching beneath the surface, there were many German families in the area that was pioneered by the original settlers in the Virginia Piedmont.  From the beginning I have taken the view that all of these were to be counted as Germanna people even though many of them did not come to the area until close to the time of the Revolution.  The enumeration of these people continues.

One family that should not be counted is John Langenbuehl and his wife Barbara.  The idea that there was such an individual was put forth by B.C. Holtzclaw in the Germanna Records, in Number Six to be exact.  This was a mistake resulting from the difficulty of reading the German script in the church records.  The name Langenbuehl is really, in the modern spelling, Blankenbaker.  The German script for the capital letter "B" looks much like our modern script letter "L".  This is a warning to us as we trace individuals; spelling and penmanship may confuse us.

The Lotspeich family is truly an international family and I never cease to marvel that the pieces were ever put together.  Three children of Conrad Lotspeich and Catharina Elisabetha Ladenberger, born at Frankenthal in the Palatinate, were immigrants to America.  They were Johann Wilhelm, born 1740, Johanna Friederika, born 1744, and Johann Christoph, born 1750.  There were three other children but the named three came to Virginia where Friederika married John Francis Lucas Jacoby, and William Lotspeich married Magdalena Klug, the daughter of Rev. Klug.  J.C. Lotspeich's wife's given name was Rebecca Barbara according to Don McNeil.  Their mother's brother was a merchant in London who left his estate to his sister's children.  This will was the essential link in tying the family together.

John Marbes received land from John Michael Smith, Jr.  Apparently John Marbes had married Catherine Smith, the daughter of Michael Smith.  In the back of the Hebron Church Register it states that Sara was the daughter of Catharina Marbes but that the mother admitted her husband was not the father of the child.  The sponsors at the baptism of Sara include Jacob Holtzclaw (s/o the immigrant) and his wife Susanna Thomas, who was a cousin of Catharina.

Mathias Mauck (Mock, Mack, etc.) and his wife, Barbara, appear in Culpeper Co. deeds in 1772, 1774 and 1779.  George Clore, son of John, and grandson of the 1717 Michael Clore, married Barbara Mauck.  Daniel Mauck married Barbara Harnsberger, the daughter of Stephen and granddaughter of the 1717 immigrant John Harnsberger.  (There is a very active Mock research group on the Internet.)

Michael Meyerhoeffer became the pastor of the Lutheran Church in 1815. 

Francis Michael was granted 400 acres in the Great Fork of the Rappahannock River in 1728.  The spelling of the name in the Virginia records, Mycall, Mycill, Mickell and his appearance with some of the Germans suggests that the name may have been Michel, not Michael.  The early associate of Graffenried was Franz Ludwig Michel.  Michel is the one who though he found silver in Virginia (in the Shenandoah Valley) and who sparked the imagination of Graffenried leading to the recruitment of the members of the First Germanna Colony.  Possibly this early Francis Michael in Virginia was this one-time associate of Graffenried.

Nr.114:

Two brothers, George and Henry Miller, came down from Pennsylvania not long before the Revolution.  Henry is said to have been a tanner by occupation.  Though both brothers have children whose baptisms were recorded at the church, it appears that some of the baptisms occurred at other churches.  The recording at Hebron was probably for the purpose of making the records on the families more complete.  A book by Louise Keyser Cockey, "History of the Descendants of Charles Keyser and Henry Miller" has more information.  A short note on the family of Henry Miller was in Beyond Germanna, v.1, n.5. There were other Miller families to whom George and Henry do not seem to be related.

John Millbank married Mary Barlow on 10 Apr 1773 in, Culpeper Co., VA.  John may be identical to the John Millbank tried for robbery at Old Bailey in London in 1770 and sentenced to death.  Later the sentence was commuted to "transportation for life" and he was brought to America aboard the ship "Scarsdale".  He was probably auctioned as an indentured servant at the port.  The Millbanks moved to Scott Co., KY about 1806.  Research on the Millbanks has been performed by Ellie Caroland and a short note appeared in Beyond Germanna, v.3, n.1.  Transportation for life was not unusual; Alexander Spotswood had a second cousin, George Hume, who was "condemned" to spend his life in the colonies.  He, Hume, went on to become a noted surveyor and whose descendants moved several Germanna people.

Lewis Nunnamacher married Barbara Blankenbaker and they were sponsors at a baptism in 1776 at the Hebron church.  A John Neuenmacher was confirmed in 1777.  Probably Lewis and John were brothers.  George Ludwig Noonemacher arrived at Philadelphia on the ship "Mary and Sarah" with a known Germanna immigrant, George Ra�ser (Racer, Razor) on 26 Oct 1754.  Perhaps Lewis and John were sons of George Ludwig.  Later Nunnamachers were in Jeffersontown, KY, where many Germanna people were located.

Conrad Ohlscheitt, with Catharina Daher, had Henry baptized 3 Jul 1782.  Apparently they were the parents but not married.  Sponsors of the boy were Joseph Holtzclaw and his wife Elizabeth, and Daniel Daher and his wife Maria Elizabetha.  This is another one of those tantalizing tidbits which just tell us how imperfect our understanding is.  More to follow.

Johannes Eberhard Ohlschlager was deeded land in Culpeper Co. in 1768.

Aaron Paler and his wife Catharina had children baptized from 1802 to 1806.  Apparently the Germans kept coming after the war.

John Peck (Beck? or Veck?) had a daughter (Rosina) baptized in 1776 at the church.

The name Perry in the Hebron church records is probably a misspelling of the name Berry.  Though there were Perrys in Culpeper Co., the Berrys lived closer to the church and have proven records of marriage with the Germans.  Again, it shows that we can be misled by spelling problems or reading problems in the records.

Nr.115:

Peter Pinnegar purchased 275 acres from John Deer and his wife Catherine in 1778.  The land was located in the Goard Vine Fork of the Rappahannock River (in the area now Rappahannock Co.).  Peter moved to NC before 1793 in company with the Flinchums, Zimmermans, and Ziglars where they lived together and intermarried.  The German origins of Peter Benninger of Epfenbach (Kreis Sinsheim) are given in Don Yoder's book, "Rhineland Emigrants".  He was permitted to emigrate in 1751 with his wife and four children.  In the previous year Leonhardt Ziegler was denied permission to emigrate to Pennsylvania.  The association of the Ziegler and Benninger names in Germany and Virginia makes it clear that the families have likely been identified.  Why the families moved to Virginia is not clear except that Epfenbach is not very far from the German homes of many Germanna settlers.

The name Preiss occurs at the Hebron church.  It is probably a German spelling of the name Price.  Still, the family does seem to be associated with the German community.

George Adam Ra�ser (Racer, Rasor, Razor) came to America from Germany on the ship "Mary and Sarah" in 1754.  The same ship carried George Ludwig Nonnenmacher.  George Razor married Margaret ____ in New Jersey, where he lived before Virginia.  In 1774, George bought 100 acres in the Robinson River community from the Baumgardners.  In the next 14 years, the family can be found in the Hebron records.  About 1794, George Razor, Sr., with his sons Peter and Christian, his son-in-law George Swindle, other members of the Swindle-Swindel family and perhaps Aaron Clore moved to the Abbeville district of SC.  George, Sr., is said to have died on the trip.  In SC, the family became known as Raso, while in VA the name was Racer.

Henry Railsback was a brother of John Railsback.

Jacob and Peter Redman attended the Hebron church on a few occasions about the time of the Revolution.  The name Redman is no doubt a corruption, but it is not clear what the original name was.

The Rinehart name is found in Culpeper Co. just before the Revolution.  It is also found in the Shenandoah Valley, perhaps there first.  It appears there were branches of the family on both sides of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Benjamin Rise and his wife Hanna brought Franke to the church for baptism in 1778.

John Rodeheifer is in the Culpeper 1787 tax list in the area of present day Madison Co.  His wife seems to be Mary and they brought David to church for baptism in 1776.  A deed in 1787 indicates his wife was Sarah (who married Ephraim Yager in 1791 after John died in 1790).

Maria Rossel was a communicant in 1778 at the Hebron Church.  Michael Russel was a witness to the 1750 will of George Clore.  Though he was named as executor in George Clore's will, Michael renounced the job.

Again, we are seeing many names that have a very limited presence in the community.  Still, they are no doubt important in some lines of ancestry.  We would like to learn as much as possible about them.

Nr.116:

On 27 Apr 1794, George R�ckstuhl had his natural son, Wilhelm, baptized.  The sponsors were Valentine Bungard and the child's mother who is not specified.  George Rookstool married Catherine House and moved to Preble Co., OH.

George Schlatter and his wife Margaretha attended the Hebron church in 1776.  John Shlatter and Elisabeth Schlatter were confirmed at Hebron in 1777.  A Margaretha Schlatter was confirmed in 1778.  A George Slaughter obtained a 300 acre patent on 28 Jan 1733 which was noted as adjacent to George Long and Matthew Castler which probably means that George "Slaughter" was German and perhaps related to the people above.  A Conrad Slater is in the 1739 Orange Co. tithables very much among the Germans.  A Conrad Slaughter is mentioned in deeds.  Conrad Slaughter's wife was Margaret according to the will of John Snider (Culpeper W.B. A, p.214).  This appears to be the case of a German family whose name was close to a known English name.  In cases like this, the tendency is for the German name to be spelled according to the known English name.  It then becomes harder to recognize that the family is German, not English.

Johannes Schwabach was the pastor at Hebron Lutheran Church from about 1764 to 1774.  After Rev. Klug's death, there was a gap of about a year before Schwarbach came to Hebron.  He was born in Europe and was a teacher in Pennsylvania.  He moved on to the Valley of Virginia where he was a catechist.  In 1768 he wrote, "I am overburdened with work . . . in six months, I have instructed and confirmed young people in seven different congregations at a considerable distance from each other."  Deacons Adam Garr and Adam Wayland wrote at the same time that "The efforts of Mr. Schwarbach . . . please us very much."  The deacons complained at the same time that Mr. Schwarbach could not officiate at their weddings and they had to use the English pastor.  Schwarbach's retirement seems to have been motivated by a desire to escape the heavy physical duties such as ministering to congregations up to one hundred miles away.  His wife was Margaretha.

The Selcer (Selzer, Seltzer) family is another family whose members seemed to straddle the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Matthew Selser owed money to the estate of Michael Clore in 1763.

Elizabeth St�r was confirmed in 1782 at the Hebron church at the age of 17.

Rosina Stature was confirmed in 1782 at the Hebron church at the age of 17.

In the comments about Johannes Schwarbach, it was noted that he traveled far in his duties of serving as a minister to different people.  It may also be the case that people would come to Hebron for special services, especially confirmation.  Thus there may be no records to be found for the St�r and Stature family in Culpeper Co.  Or if the records are sparse for a family, it may be that they were not permanent residents.

Nr.117:

There is one known record for George Trumpor in Culpeper Co., Virginia.  This was at the Hebron Church where he and his wife Margaretha had Andreas baptized 17 Nov 1776.  The sponsors for the boy were George Utz, Jr. and his wife.  George Utz, Jr., was the son of Michael Utz, the son of the 1717 immigrant George Utz.  The wife of George, Jr., was Margaret Weaver, the daughter of Peter Weaver, the young 1717 immigrant.  Margaret Utz is said to be the daughter of George, the son of the immigrant George Utz.  Therefore, George, Jr. was a cousin of Margaret and a logical choice as a sponsor.  But none of this furnishes any information about George Trumpor who remained a mystery.

Fortunately, Marge Willhite provided information on George Trumpor whose family is more commonly known as Trumbo.  The family starts with Andrew Trumbore (Drumbore, Trombor, Trumbourger, Trombauer, etc.) who emigrated from the Rhenish Palatinate to Pennsylvania between 1724 and 1727.  Branches of the family moved to Virginia (by 1748 Jacob Trumbo was delinquent in his taxes in Augusta Co.) in an area which is now Pendleton Co., West Virginia.  This is an area to the west of the Shenandoah Valley and separated from it by the Shenandoah Mountains.  Fort Seybert was a prominent early feature which can still be located.

Jacob and Mary Trumbo were the parents of at least seven children: Elizabeth, who married Mathias Rheinhart; Andrew, who married Margaret Harness; John, who married Mary Custer; George, of this commentary; Dorothy; Margaret; and Jacob, Jr., who married Elizabeth Lair and Hannah Hawes Cowger.  The Trumbo family history gives the wife of George as Margaret Rockefeller Oats.  It is clear that Oats should be identified with Utz.

The name Rockefeller has a Germanna origin also.  Margaret Utz was the granddaughter of Anna Maria Blankenbaker and Thomas Kaifer.  Written in German script, the names Blankenbaker (as it may have been spelled then) and Rockefeller have a similarity.  In the face of uncertainty it is not unusual for a descendant to make the choice which seems to have the higher status.

As a consequence of this information, we now know that one branch of our Germanna families descends through the Trumbo family.  And in the Trumbo family, they have a better understanding of their heritage.

How did George Trumbo meet Margaret Utz?  Stories written about life in this region mention that the men went across the mountains on business.  Or, we have Rev. Schwarbach of the Hebron church who traveled a hundred miles reaching a very dispersed congregation.  Maybe he spread the information about Margaret.  Or church members from the Valley and environs came to Hebron.  The important point is that spouses did not always come from the farm next door, even a lot of them did.

Nr.118:

Adolph and his wife Anna Maria Urbach (Arbaugh, Orebaugh, Orebach) had Anna Barbara baptized 22 Sep 1776 at the Hebron Lutheran Church, with Daniel Doser and his wife as sponsors.  Five pages of information on the family are given by Ardys V. Hurt in Larry Shuck's book, "Shuck Fleshman Sydenstricker Families".  A later version of the book, "Our Families", has a chapter of twenty pages.  This family appears to be a Shenandoah Valley family, not a Culpeper Co. family.  The family may have made a trip east of the Blue Ridge and had Anna Barbara baptized while they were there.  It may also be the case that Rev. Franck was on a visit to the Valley and baptized Anna Barbara while he was there; however, there is little or no evidence that the Hebron baptismal register was used in this way.  The name "Adolph" is sometimes reported as "Adam," not only in this case but in general.

Johannes Weingart and his wife, Anna Maria, had Susanna baptized 4 Aug 1776.  There may have an earlier presence in the Robinson River community.  The early patent of Michael and John Clore was reported to be a neighbor to William Vinegunt, a spelling which almost suggests the name Weingart.  This patent of Vinegunt seems to have never been executed since there is no record of it.

The 1780 records of St. Mark's Parish (an Anglican church) refunded a parish levy to Woolfenbarger who had overpaid.  The name is obviously Germanic but the name itself was a surprise to me as I was unaware of his presence in the community; however, the name is known in Germanic genealogical research where it is typically spelled with only one "O".  The family was from Switzerland and came to Pennsylvania several years before 1780.

A scan of the last several notes shows that many of the people that are discussed seemed to have a presence in the records in the years 1776 and 1777, usually in the church records.  There is a good reason for this, and the reason is Rev. Jacob Franck.  He pursued his work in the church vigorously and with a good reception by the congregation.  As to how effective he was, one can count the baptisms in the period from 1750 to late 1775 and form a yearly average.  Doing the same for the years 1776 and 1777, one sees a striking difference.  The yearly averages differ by a factor of ten! One can also see it in church attendance where it increased sharply after he came.  On April 7, 1776, 176 people took communion, perhaps an all-time record for the church.  It appears Rev. Franck succeeded at getting many people who not been attending church to start coming.  It may have been that he worked too hard at the job, for not only did he preach and teach in the church, he conducted a school in which he was the teacher.  He was gifted musically.  Of his singing, it is said, "He allured both old and young, even the poor negro slaves, by his lovely singing."  But within three years, he resigned, much to the disappointment of the congregation.  He returned to Philadelphia, where he owned property, and left the ministry to become or return to silver smithing.  He had never been fully ordained as he was on trial within the Lutheran ministerium.

Nr.119:

In recent notes, many references have been made to the Hebron Church Register.  The original records are bound in a book and kept in a vault for safekeeping, but microfilm copies are available.  The records are in German script and many hands were responsible for the penmanship and not all of them are top quality.  The easiest way to proceed is to use the translation made by George M. Smith which is available through Shenandoah History, P.O. Box 98, Edinburg, VA 22824.

The principal content of the register is baptisms.  The date of birth of the child is often mentioned in connection with the baptism.  Confirmations are also included.  On a few occasions, the complete list of members partaking of communion is included.  No death or marriage records are included.  A few miscellaneous records are included.

Typically, the baptismal information includes the names of the parents (but never with the maiden name of the wife), the name of the child, when the child was born, and when the child was baptized and the sponsors.  Though this is a lot of valuable information for the family historian, the simple itemization of the data does not do justice to the amount of information that may be gleaned from the Register.  While some conclusions will be drawn from this particular set of information, it is not to be implied that the same information may be drawn from the records of other churches.

As the pages are bound into a book, the first page is number 4, followed by 3, then by 1 and 2.  After that, pagination appears to be normal.  In the first twenty-four pages, generally one family is reported per page.  For example, Nicolaus Breil (Broyles) and his wife Dorothea have page 6 and Daniel, Elisabetha, Abraham, Sara, Maria, Rosina, Phebe, and Lea are all reported on this page.  This first 24 pages constitute the family oriented section.  Then on page 25, starting with a baptism on 5 Nov 1775 of Aron born to Peter Breil and wife Elis., baptisms are recorded in chronological sequence.  On page 4, two families are reported, first that of George Miller and wife Maria Margaretha, and below, that of Johannes Zimmerman and wife Susanna.  (This particular Johannes Zimmerman was of the family known in the civil records as Carpenter and should not be confused with the family of John Zimmerman who always went by the name of Zimmerman, never Carpenter.)

Some baptisms appear in both the chronological section and in the family section.  The first recording was in the chronological section and then the data, or parts of it, were copied back into the family oriented section.

A number of problems which need an explanation can be listed.

Problem 1. The birth dates of the first child in the family section, starting with page 1 and continuing up to page 24, are:

1750, 1752, 1754, (1754, 1771), 1757, 1757, 1756, 1750 (J�ger), 1751 (Krickler), (1775, 1763, 1773), 1762, 1757, 1769, (1769, 1773), 1751, 1774, 1761, 1767, 1769, 1774, 1762, (1750 (Blanckenb�cher), 1770), 1768, (1767, 1772).

Dates enclosed in parentheses are multiple families on one page.  What would seem logical is that each higher numbered page would have a later date.  How could Blanckenbucher with a first child in 1750 be put on page 22?  One would expect this record to be on page 1, 2 or 3 but not on page 22.

Nr.120:

The last note closed with a remark that the page numbers in the Hebron Church Register were not used in sequence according to when the first child was born.  Also some pages had more than one family which raised the question as to how the writers knew that the first or top family wouldn't grow to require the space which was being used by the second family, lower on the page.  Another point that was mentioned was that the page numbers were not in sequence.

Another major question (call it number 2 on the list of problems) occurs because, almost universally in the first 24 pages, no dates of baptisms are given.  Remembering that the major reason the church register was kept was to record baptisms, it seems strange that the dates are not recorded.  The few dates that are given are almost always after November of 1775.  The one date of baptism before 1775 is for 1772 when the Miller twins were six years old before they were baptized.  In a church where an attempt is made to baptize the babies at the earliest possible moment, being six years old is unusual and perhaps this is the reason the date was entered.

Another problem, major enough to warrant being called problem 3, is that the children are sometimes out of sequence.  In the Nicholas and Margaret Crigler family, Anna, who was born in 1768, is listed before Susanna, who was born in 1764.  In this same family, a note is made at the bottom that Jacob and Ludwig are dead.  The implication is that Jacob and Ludwig lived for a while.  Why weren't they listed as baptized at the time?  A similar situation occurs for Zacharias Blankenbaker and his wife Els.  A note says, "Four are dead whose names are not mentioned here."  Nancy and George in the family of John and Susanna Carpenter (given as Zimmerman) are reversed in the sequence.

Problem number 4 occurs when a sponsor is called Barbara Chelf in 1759.  Barbara Chelf did not come into existence, by marriage, until after this date when she married Philip Chelf.  Born as a Yager, Barbara married Peter Clore who did not die until 1763.

As long as there are unexplained problems of this type, the data in the Register is called into question.  A document that calls someone Barbara Chelf in 1759 when Barbara Chelf did not come into existence until about 1764 is not to be trusted unless an explanation can be offered for these problems.

It might be useful to review who the pastors were.  From about 1739, until about the beginning of 1764, Rev. Klug was the pastor.  Then came John Schwarbach from about 1765 to the spring of 1774.  There was a gap of about one and half years before Jacob Franck came in the fall of 1775.  He left in 1778 and it is not clear that there was a pastor for a few years.  The church may have been under lay leadership until William Carpenter assumed his duties at the start of 26 years as a pastor in 1787.

[There is not enough space in this note to give the resolution of these problems.  Besides, you may wish to use the time until the next note to resolve the problems yourself.  Maybe you want to send your solutions to me.]

Nr. 121:

The Hebron Church Register is not quite what it would appear to be on a first glance; however, when it is understood, it is an extremely valuable tool.  Several problems have been enumerated and the present note seeks to explain how the problems arose and what they mean.  The first clue in solving the mysteries is to note that the character of the Register changed late in the fall of 1775 when Rev. Franck came to Hebron.  At this time, the presentation changed from a family orientation to a chronological recording.  His preference must have been for chronological recording.

Assume now that the trustees of the church wanted to give Rev. Franck the best possible view of the members of the church and their families.  They decided to reorganize the data into pages of family information.  Using notes, they resorted the information they had, using basically one page per family.  Though they made some attempt to put the families in the order of the first child of each family, this was not important.  This explains why the pages were not used in the sequence of the first child's birth.

In the sorting process, they occasionally temporarily overlooked a child who was then listed out of sequence.  Thus, children are out of sequence.

There was a lot of writing to do, so they saved some on this by omitting the baptismal date.  Rev. Franck could assume that every child was baptized; the actual date was not that significant.  The date of birth was important to understanding the family and to knowing when to expect the child would be ready for confirmation classes.

In some cases two families could be put on one page.  For example, the George Miller family is on the top of page 4 and the John Carpenter's family is below that.  When the Register was rewritten in 1775, they had good reasons to believe there would be no more children in the Miller family (it was now 21 years past the first child).  There were only three Miller children and paper was expensive.

Saying that a woman in 1759 was Barbara Chelf was permissible because people were being described in terms of their names in 1775.  In fact, one should conclude that the situation in the local church in 1775 is being described, not past history.  From this one could conclude that families who had moved away were not included.  Why describe someone who was no longer present?

It appears that one rule they adopted was that no family who had children born earlier than 1750 would be included.  All of the families who are included appear to us to be complete; older children are not missing.  This rule may have come about because the data from which the rewritten register was made was no older than 1750.  A family was included only if the record was complete.

The family of Zachariah Blankenbaker presented a problem.  Zach married a widow who had two daughters before 1750 by her first marriage.  But Zach and Els had only children after 1750.  As the rewriting of the Register was taking place, Zach's family was omitted at first because of the step-children born before 1750.  Finally, near the end of the rewrite, they decided that since the first child of Zach and Els was born in 1750 the family would be included.  So the family is listed on page 22 even though the first child's birth would indicate that one of the first pages would be appropriate.

The assumption that the Register was rewritten in 1775 can explain all of the problems.  It is necessary to come to the conclusion that the Register was actually rewritten then.  No other explanation serves nearly as well.

Nr.  122:

To review the past notes briefly, in 1775 the officers of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church (Hebron) decided to take the existing notes on baptisms and reorganize them into families.  Thus the new pastor, Rev. Franck, could see the church community at a glance.  Apparently they bought a new book for the purpose.  In describing the families, the emphasis was on the community in 1775.  They even described people at an earlier date by the name they were known by in 1775.  Families who had moved away were omitted.  So far as is known, the older sheets of information were thrown away.

Were there major errors in the copying process?  Actually none are known aside from the case of Barbara Chelf.  Apparently they did a good job and the data is to be trusted.  There may have been baptisms before 1750 and during the period 1750 to 1775 which were not reported.

When Rev. Franck arrived, he showed his preference for chronological recordings by starting on page 25 by entering the parents' names, the child's name, date of birth and date of baptism and the sponsors.  The first of these is 5 Nov 1775 so it is reasonable to say that he arrived just before this time.  By the end of the year, he had baptized nine babies.  This pace continued throughout his stay.  Not only were there more baptisms, the record keeping was better.

Some lay member of the church, perhaps one had been responsible for the preparation of the family section of the Register, did decide to put some of these chronological entries back into the family section.  Thus, we have duplicate entries.  Where there are approximately duplicate entries, the chronological entry is the one to be trusted.  Sometimes in the copying process, the person doing the copying made assumptions.  In one case, a sponsor was listed only by name.  In the copying process, she was made to be the wife of someone which the original entry did not claim.

Entries appear quite regularly up to October of 1778.  This probably marks the end of Rev. Franck's stay, which would be three years on the job.  There is then a period in which the data is very suspect.  Probably there was no regular pastor and data was entered on a hit or miss basis.  The number of baptisms falls off sharply.  The pages become very crowded suggesting that the end of the book was being approached at about 50 pages.  Entries were made a space available basis rather than in sequence.

Much of the recording was done by lay members.  In fact, it appears that one of the people doing the recording, perhaps on a regular basis, was Samuel (son of Jacob) Blankenb�hler.  He used page 44 to establish a family record for himself.  He did share the page with Joseph Carpenter.  In the year 1786, only seven baptisms are recorded.  Rev. Franck recorded this many in his first two months.

Nr.123:

In 1787, after about nine years without a regular pastor, William Carpenter, Jr., assumed the duties of the pastor.  At first, he was restricted to administering baptism and to preaching.  He could not serve communion; outside people had to be called in for this.  In time, this restriction was lifted and he went on to serve the most years of any pastor at Hebron Church.  In 1813 or 1814 he moved to Boone Co., Kentucky where he served many more years with a congregation of people who had moved from the Robinson River community.  When he left Hebron, services were still being conducted in the German language.  During his pastorate, the church was physically enlarged and the organ was procured.

On assuming his duties, Rev. Carpenter found that the Register of baptisms was full and no more space was available.  Probably by then the data had overflowed to temporary records.  At some time after the start of his ministry, the church purchased another book of eighty odd pages in which to keep the records.  This book was setup using a family orientation.  One page was assigned to each family even though some families had only one entry.  In setting this book up, older data that had been in the first book or on temporary pages was organized anew.  Apparently an attempt was made to have the story for each family as complete as possible.

At some point, it not certain when, book one of about 50 pages was bound together with book two of about 80 pages into one volume.  During this binding a couple of unusual things took place.  In the original book one, pages 1 and 2 which are one sheet, were reversed with pages 3 and 4 which were another sheet.  This may have been deliberate as the first page of a reference book often gets the heaviest wear.  It may have been an accident.

In the original book one, a few pages at the back of the book were used for special purposes.  Two natural births (unwed parents) and baptisms are recorded here.  In one, Susanna was the daughter of Ephraim Klug and the mother (Maria?) Rossel.  Sara was the daughter of Catharina Marbes who was not living with her husband.  The pastor, Jacob Franck, added the note, "As she herself admitted her husband was not the father.  Nevertheless, the child's birth is recorded."  From the dates, we know this would have been recorded in book one.

Another page was used for the baptism of slave children.  Five were performed by Rev. Franck and one is by Rev. Carpenter.  These records give the child's mother and owner.  Very often the owner was the sponsor of the child.

When book one and book two were bound into one volume, the two sheets at the back of book one were removed from their location there and placed at the back of the combined volume.  Thus, the information was still relegated to the back of the book.

Another volume contains lists of communicants, confirmations, minutes of meetings, financial records, etc.  Before discussing this volume two, the value of the volume one to genealogists will be discussed.

Nr.124:

The following observations pertain to the Register of Baptisms at the Hebron Lutheran Church and may not apply in other churches.  The "rules" which I am going to describe are not written down anywhere.  Instead, I took known families and studied the relationship between the sponsors and the parents.  That there were some relationships seems obvious from the duplication of the surnames of the father and the sponsors.

Using known families, I found that the sponsors were usually of the same generation and most likely were either siblings of the parents, spouses of the siblings, first cousins, or spouses of the first cousins.  In baptisms involving the Fisher family, where a Fisher was either the parent or a sponsor, I found that more than 95 percent of the sponsors fit one of the categories above.  It is extremely rare to see the parents of the parents as sponsors, or to see older children of the parents acting as the sponsors for the younger children, though examples of both of the cases are known.  Still very rare, but slightly more common, are aunts and uncles of the parents.  Second cousins or first cousins, once removed, are also unusual.

One of the more common deviations from the cases above is the use of nieces and nephews and most likely this occurs when the ages are about the same.  Because child bearing went on for twenty-five years in some cases, the older children were already having children before the parents of the older children stopped having children.  Thus, many people were older than their aunts and uncles.  As a result, some people were closer in friendship to the next generation than they were to members of the same generation.

Friendship seems never to qualify an individual to serve as a sponsor.  Rather, sponsors were taken from relatives, either by blood or by marriage, who were of a similar age.

After working out these "rules" using known cases, I have applied them to analyze cases where there is an uncertainty.  Some of the successes include identifying the maiden name of a woman.  When several people appear as sponsors who are not related to the husband, and when these individuals are from one family, it is reasonable to place the mother in this family.

One can confirm the brothers and sisters of a given individual.  An example occurred where there were two John Blankenbakers and the question arises as to whether John #1 has been confused with John #2.  By looking at the sponsors for the children of John #1, one can form an opinion as to his family.

In one case, I was able to conclude that a man, Henry Wayman, had two wives.  Later, I found supporting evidence for this view from a Wayman biography.

The rules are so strong that when there appears to be a deviation, one is tempted to search for an explanation.  In some cases there are reasonable answers.  A good example in this category is in the July 1997 issue of Beyond Germanna (volume 9, number 4).

Many of the exceptions to the rules involve people who have no relatives in the community, or who are the oldest child in the family and have no brothers or sisters who are old enough to serve.  In these cases, non-relatives had to be used.

Nr.125:

Volume two of the Hebron Register includes lists of communicants, confirmations, minutes of meetings and some financial records.  Confirmation was the process whereby young persons who had been baptized as infants were educated and trained in the meaning of the church and in their duties.  The culmination of this process was the confirmation ceremony at church.  The names of the individuals, and sometimes their age, were recorded at this ceremony.

In 1782 these were some of the ages:

For the boys, 19, 16, 16, 18, 18, 21, 17, 22.
For the girls, 17, 17, 17, 16, 16, 17, 16, 17.

On the average, the girls were younger.  Since confirmation involved training and classes, there may have a problem in the men finding the time.  It was probably desirable to be confirmed and a member of the church before marriage, so this may have influenced the timing of confirmation.  On rare occasions, marriage seems to have preceded confirmation but it was probably the result of an unusual situation.

Lists of communicants are the names of people who partook of communion.  Others may have been present in church, but only confirmed members partook of the communion and are in the lists.  At the time, the church was a rectangular structure with the pulpit in the middle of one of the longer walls.  On the floor below or around the pulpit, the married couples sat.  At the ends of the room there were two balconies.  One of these appears to have been used for women and the other for men.  A person whose marriage partner had died, or was there without their spouse, sat with the singles of the same sex.

Individuals filed from their pews to the front to take the communion.  There is every appearance that this was done in a very orderly fashion by having the people in the front pew come up first, then the people in the second row, and so.  Thus, the list of communicants is the approximate order of seating in the church.  Not very surprisingly, people most likely sat with their relatives, especially in the front pews.  Toward the rear, attachments become weaker.  Very often there is the appearance that a family agreed to come on a particular Sunday.  Thus there may be a Sunday with a high representation of Carpenters, usually all sitting close together.  Another Sunday, there may not be any members of a family.  Of course, there was always the problem that a man and his wife usually represented two different families and being in two places at the same time was not easy.

Let's look at the communicants on the first Sunday after Easter in 1778.  The first couple is Adam Wayland and Mary.  Adam had married Elizabeth Blankenbaker who died, whereupon he married Mary Finks.  Next Christopher Blankenbaker and Christina (Finks).  Thus, the first two couples have Blankenbaker and Finks ties.  The third couple was Adam Fisher and his wife Elizabeth (Garr).  Adam's mother was Anna Barbara Blankenbaker, and Adam Wayland was the uncle by marriage of Adam Fisher.  The fourth couple was Michael Blankenbaker and his wife Elisabetha (Garr).  The fifth couple was John Fleshman and Elizabeth (Blankenbaker).  John and Elizabeth were also related as they shared a common ancestor in Anna Barbara Sch�ne.

Sorting through and identifying the people in the communicant list is fun.  The process raises good questions, though the answers may not always be obvious.  What one can accomplish is a confirmation of family relationships.  One gains confidence in the genealogies to see people doing what one would expect.