Germanna Blog Archives | Germanna Foundation

Participate in the Germanna Foundation’s first Time Capsule, to be opened in July 2068

July 11, 2018 By Germanna Leave a Comment

How many people can proudly say that they have personally contributed a very personal and meaningful item into a time capsule to eventually be discovered by yet unborn descendants? WELL, YOU CAN!!

The Board of Trustees of the Germanna Foundation has announced a unique opportunity for members and other interested parties to be included in the Germanna Foundation’s first Time Capsule, “Memories and Reflections From the People of Germanna.”

This time capsule will be placed behind a wall within the lobby of the new Hitt Archaeology Center, which will be built adjacent to the Fort Germanna Visitor Center this year.

The capsule will be opened in 50 years, in July of 2068, during the Foundation’s 111th annual reunion.

Share this information with your siblings, cousins, children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

You can create a special legacy for your family by submitting a personally-written document to be placed within the time capsule. The document, the front and back of a full sheet of 8½”x11” paper, can contain whatever text and/or photos you wish.

Here’s what to start with:

Your full name (including nicknames)
The date and place of your birth
The city/state you call home
The Germanna names you descend from
Info on your family members
Give interesting personal insights for your ancestors
Your connections with the Germanna Foundation
A message to your descendants present at the opening of the time capsule

Here are some more ideas of what you can add to your submission:

Help your descendants learn about you … as if you were talking to them in person … mention what you like to do, what is important to you, what you are good at, your special skills or interests
Mention some family-related tidbits that your current family members might not even know about
Do a bulleted list of the accomplishments you are proud of achieving during your life
Describe any especially noteworthy WOW! moments/happenings in your life
Touch on the ethos you try to follow living your life
Explain why Germanna is important to you, name the Germanna Colony names you descend from
Encourage your descendants to become active members of the Foundation.

For more ideas, contact Skip Poole to see what he has done for his submission.

When done, just email your completed 8½”x11” document to Skip Poole (poole123189@comcast.net). We will print or copy your submission onto Permalife paper and enclose it within an acid-free sheet protector to help protect it for its 50-year storage life.

We will establish a 2068 Time Capsule Opening Committee to ensure that your family, including your future descendants, will be advised of the opening of the capsule so they can be present. We envision that this time capsule opening will be a momentous well-publicized milestone Germanna event!

The cost per submission of a double-sided single sheet of paper is $50. Proceeds of money received for document submissions will go into the Germanna Foundation’s Endowment Fund to bolster our financial solvency for future years.

Mail your check, payable to the Germanna Foundation, to: PO Box 279, Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279

Email your time capsule submission document to Skip Poole: poole123189@comcast.net

The deadline to participate in this opportunity is September 1, 2018, as the interior walls of the structure are scheduled to be sealed later that month.

Watch for the exciting dedication of our new building. Also, look for a list of all time capsule contributors in a future Germanna newsletter.

Questions?

Contact Skip Poole, Germanna Foundation Trustee and Clore descendant:
703-505-7593 (cell) or poole123189@comcast.net

Make your check payable to the Germanna Foundation and mail to:
Germanna Foundation, PO Box 279, Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279

Hilary Duff discovers she is a Spotswood descendant

June 13, 2018 By Germanna Leave a Comment

On a recent episode of the TLC TV series, “Who Do You Think You Are?”, actress/singer Hilary Duff found out that her 7x great-grandfather was early colonial Virginia Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood!

Here at Germanna, we knew about this early on but were unable to say anything as we did not know what material they’d be using.

It was great to see Spotsylvania County (“Spotswood” in Latin) mentioned in the show, and, if you thought the story the TV series told of Spotswood defeating the famed pirate, Blackbeard, was fascinating, join us at our conference on Saturday, July 14 in Culpeper, VA, as Kevin Duffus will be doing a presentation on Blackbeard’s Last Battle, which took place 300 years ago this year.

• Kevin Duffus, Blackbeard’s Last Battle
The notorious pirate Blackbeard stands among the best-known figures of early colonial American history, yet no one still knows who he really was. To this day, his identity, his origins, and his motivations for committing acts of piracy remain in contention. Did he hail from England, Jamaica, or the Carolinas? Was his surname Teach, or Thatch, or something else entirely? Was he an undistinguished common sailor suddenly thrust into command of a pirate ship? Was he a former Royal Navy sailor and an aristocratic, Anglican slave-owning planter who inexplicably turned Jacobite and pirate? Or was he a mariner on a salvage mission lured to piracy by a mob of looters, and who later became a pawn in an attempted political coup in proprietary North Carolina? These conflicting interpretations have provoked hostile debate. At stake are the credibilities of monolithic institutions and museums, the reputations of researchers and authors, the financial stakes of publishers, and the future of a popular historical narrative. History carved in stone is never easily disconfirmed, especially when history’s icons have been sculpted and burnished by centuries of myth and folklore. For more than 45 years, award-winning research historian Kevin Duffus has followed the wake of the notorious pirate’s journey through history. Along the way he has discovered significant clues and pivotal waypoints in the Blackbeard records that point to a startling conclusion—one that many scholars do not want the public to know.

Watch the “Who Do You Think You Are?” episode here: https://www.tlc.com/tv-shows/who-do-you-think-you-are/

According to Wikipedia, Hilary Duff is an American actress, singer, songwriter, businesswoman, and author. She began her acting career at a young age and quickly became labeled a teen idol as the title character of the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. Duff has appeared in numerous films, with leading roles. As a singer, she has received platinum and gold certifications for her albums and has sold an estimated 15 million records since her debut in 2002. Duff’s success in both acting and music has led to her becoming a household name and as such as created merchandise such as dolls, clothing, and fragrances.

Lt. Gov. Spotswood has a very close connection to the Germanna story as he was instrumental in bringing the Germanna colonists to Virginia and had the first group of colonists build Fort Germanna. These colonists now have descendants all across America.

Reunion 2018 Beckons You

June 1, 2018 By Germanna Leave a Comment

The deadline is approaching to sign up for the 61st annual Germanna Reunion, but it is not yet too late for you to join in this stimulating, exciting, and fun weekend gathering July 12-15, 2018.

You are a part of this wonderful nationwide and international “family of families.” Reunion is the ideal opportunity to meet cousins, learn more about our shared heritage, visit sites familiar to your ancestors, eat traditional foods, and have a grand time.

The program this year offers many familiar activities and some new ones. Friday bus tours will visit the First and Second Colony settlement areas in Fauquier and Madison Counties, but for the first time will include a tour to the Frontier Culture Museum of Virginia at Staunton, in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Here you will visit actual farm houses of German, Scotch-Irish, English, and African settlers of the Virginia frontier in the 1700s, including one typical of those left behind by the 1714 and 1717 Germanna colonists.

The Rector-Fishback descendants will gather for the first time at an afternoon reception similar to that which the Clore descendants have held for several years.

The “Oktoberfest in July” at Salubria one evening features German music and a German buffet supper prepared by the famous Bavarian Chef restaurant.

The Saturday Conference at the Daniel Center in Culpeper offers a fine selection of speakers, including one about the pirate Blackbeard, who terrified coastal settlements, and whose capture Lt. Gov. Spotswood brought about.

Full details and registration information and opportunity may be found HERE.

The last day to register is Sunday, June 8, 2018. To receive discounted rates at the hotels, you must make your hotel reservations by Tuesday, June 12, 2018.

Germanna Record 20 Available Again and Now on Kindle

May 17, 2018 By Germanna Leave a Comment

Our book, Germanna Record 20: “Germanna Studies: Essays Honoring John V. Blankenbaker” had been sold out but we have reissued it. The design of the cover and interior pages of the print book have been updated and all photos and graphics in the book enhanced.

The book is also now available on Kindle. You can read the book on any device — your smart phone, tablet, Kindle e-reader or on a browser on your computer. For more information on how to download this free Kindle Reader app to your device, click here. Or download the Kindle Reader App on iTunes or Google Play.

Buy Print Book Buy Kindle Book

About

Germanna Record 20 is a collection of essays by a range of contemporary scholars with a strong interest in Germanna.

Each essay draws on the years of scholarship in Germanna-related topics on the part of each of the contributors to the volume, as their way of honoring John Blankenbaker for his many years of research, publication, and speaking on Germanna topics.

The contents include:

- Transcriptions and translations of the emigration permissions of four of the 1714 immigrant families, Holtzclaw, Fishback-Rector, and Cuntz by Barbara Price, Gerhard Moisel, Katharine & Madison Brown
- A study of early Germanna area roads and the settlers’ participation in their construction by Ann L. Miller
- An overview essay of the emigration of German-speakers through London to British North American colonies from Nova Scotia to Georgia from 1680-1750, as a broad context for the Germanna groups by Madison Brown
- An updated and expanded genealogy of the descendants of Michael “Big Mike” Clore by Cathi Clore Frost
- An architectural history and analysis of Hebron Lutheran Church, with special emphasis on the German timber-framing techniques employed by Nancy Kraus and Douglas Harnsberger
- A study of Christopher Zimmerman and his family’s tavern in the village of Stevensburg, Virginia by Cathi Clore Frost
- A mapping essay of the Germanna family landholdings in the Little Fork community of Culpeper County by O.H. Perry Cabot
- A study of the Germanna area in the difficult, destructive Civil War years with a survey of surviving buildings and earthworks, including those on Germanna Foundation property by Bob Johnson, Paul Alderman, Frank Walker

Many of the essays are illustrated with documents, maps, period photographs, and contemporary photographs.

All essays are carefully documented, and the 300-page volume is indexed. The editor, Katharine L. Brown, and the Germanna President, J. Marc Wheat, both provide brief introductory essays.

Buy Print Book

Buy Kindle Book

Anna Jarvis, the Germanna Descendant who Founded Mother’s Day

May 7, 2018 By Germanna Leave a Comment

Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, devoted years to gaining national recognition for a day to honor mothers, as a fulfillment of a dream held by her own mother—Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis.

Ann Marie was born in Culpeper in 1832, the daughter of Josiah Washington Reeves and Nancy Kemper Reeves, whose Kemper ancestor Johannes had come to Virginia in 1714 as one of the original Germanna colonists whom Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood settled at Fort Germanna along the Rapidan River frontier.

Ann Marie’s father was a Methodist minister who was transferred in 1843 from Culpeper to Philippi, now in West Virginia, when she was a girl.

Ann Marie married Granville Jarvis, a successful merchant, and was mother to eleven children, but only four reached adulthood.

She organized Mother’s Day Work Clubs to improve health and sanitary conditions for families in several towns.

When war broke out and the western part of Virginia broke away and formed the new state of West Virginia, Ann Marie Jarvis urged her Mother’s Day Clubs to declare neutrality and provide aid to both Confederate and Union troops. For many years after the war, she spoke of her dream to have a day in which Americans would honor mothers.

After her husband died, she moved to Philadelphia, where she died in 1907.

Her daughter Anna Jarvis (1864-1948) began her campaign for the creation of a national Mother’s Day on the first anniversary of her mother’s death. She gained the support of the Philadelphia philanthropist John Wanamaker, and by 1909 there were unofficial Mother’s Day observations in 45 states.

Official recognition began to follow, and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson approved a resolution adopted by both houses of Congress recognizing Mother’s Day.

To read the full story on the founding of Mother’s Day, read this article by Germanna Foundation Trustee, Katharine Brown, Ph.D.

This Mother’s Day, we not only honor our mothers and grandmothers, but remember the legacy our female immigrant ancestors left behind.

Elsbeth (Elisabeth) Heimbach Fischbach was the daughter of Johannes Heimbach of Trupbach, and his wife Clara. Elsbeth is a real grandmother to First Colony descendants as several First Colony
families descend through her children:

Anna Elizabeth, who married John Jacob Rector
John Fishback
Harmon Fishback
Maria Els, who married Melchoir Brumback
Maria Elisabeth, who married John Spilman

Anna Barbara Schon is one of the matriarchs of the Second Colony. Married three times, she immigrated to Virginia with her third husband and children from all three marriages.

Anna Barbara first married Hans Thomas Blanckenbuhler in 1680; married second to Johan Jacob Schluchter in 1691; married third Cyriacus Fleischmann in 1697. Other families that descend from Anna Barbara through the marriage of her children include Merklin, Thoma, Kaifer, Broyles, and Weaver.

Today we pay tribute and remember the legacy and sacrifice our mothers and foremothers made.

Click here to donate to our Mother’s Day Tribute Campaign and make the donation in honor or memory of a mother who is special to you.

We’ll add their names to the Germanna Honor Roll of Mothers.

You can honor their memory and leave your legacy this Mother’s Day by making a donation to the Germanna Foundation in their name, and remember the Germanna Foundation in your estate plans and will as well.

By including the Germanna Foundation as a beneficiary in your will, you will help us preserve Germanna’s history and heritage for future generations.

You can also name the Germanna Foundation as a beneficiary of your life insurance policy or your retirement plan (such as a 401(k), 403(b), IRA, or other pension plan). By naming the Germanna Foundation as a beneficiary, you maintain complete control over the plan while living, but at your passing the plan passes to the Germanna Foundation free of both income and estate taxes.

The Germanna Foundation can be named as a primary beneficiary for part or all of the assets in the plan, or as a contingent beneficiary, or as a beneficiary at the death of your surviving spouse. Please ask your insurance agent, your employer, or the financial institution managing your retirement plan for the proper forms.

Please consult with your attorney or personal financial advisor regarding the legal and tax benefits of all estate and planned gifts!

By making a planned gift in the form of cash, securities, real estate, or other assets, you will be investing in the continuation of the Germanna Foundation’s vital work to preserve Germanna history for years to come. If you choose to make this kind of gift, you will become a member of our Germanna Legacy Society.

And, by including the Germanna Foundation in your estate plans, you will honor and protect Germanna’s history for the next generation, and generations to come!

For more information on planned giving with the Germanna Foundation, call us at 540-423-1700.

Thank you for honoring Mother’s Day with your gift and for consideration of including the Germanna Foundation in your estate plans. Together we not only honor our mothers and grandmothers, but also remember the legacy our female immigrant ancestors left behind!