Germanna Foundation

Preserving the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Fort Germanna Colonies in Virginia

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In Memorium: William “Bill” Fishback Sr.

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William Edward Fishback Sr

Bill Fishback descends from the Germanna colonists Johannes and Agnes (Haeger) Fischbach [Fishback]; the Rev. Henrich & Anna Catharina (Friesenhagen) Haeger;  Johan Jost & Maria Cathrina (Otterbach) Mertin [Martin].

He is a descendant of the “Fleetwood” Fishbacks (a colonial home in Fauquier County visited by attendees of the annual Germanna Foundation conference and reunion).

No one in Bill’s line left Virginia in the 300 years since settling in at Germanna in 1714.

The family of Germanna extends its condolences to Bill’s family.

William “Bill” Fishback Sr.

William Edward Fishback Sr., 90, passed away on March 12, 2017 under the loving care of the staff at Culpeper Health and Rehabilitation Center and Heartland Hospice, with family by his side.

Mr. Fishback was born in Fauquier County on April 3, 1926 to the late Edward Jackson Fishback and Jessie Jacobs Fishback.

A World War II veteran, Mr. Fishback served in the U.S. Army Medical Corp.

He worked for Gill Implement Company for 27 years before spending many years at Napa Auto Parts where he retired. Always young at heart, and never one to sit still, he wasn’t retired for long. He worked for The Fauquier Bank for over a decade and operated his own cleaning business until the age of 88.

Mr. Fishback’s favorite pastime was spending time with the people he loved most.

He is survived by his sons, William Fishback Jr. (Roberta) of Ludington, MI and Richard Fishback of Bracey, VA. He is also survived by his brother, Carter Fishback of Midland, VA, sister, June Childress, of New Baltimore, VA, grandchildren, Jenifer (Jacob) Gozart of Aldie, VA, Amanda (Erick) Kling of Jeffersonton, VA, Jason Fishback of Salt Lake City, UT, Justin (Elizabeth) Fishback of Winchester, VA, Julie Roberts of West Jordan, UT, Jonathan Fishback of Prescott, AZ, Jared (Sara) Fishback of Winchester, VA, Jeffrey Fishback of Prescott, AZ, Richard (Monica) Fishback of Virginia Beach, VA and 16 great-grandchildren. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife, Emily Jane Ellinger, sisters, Pauline Fishback and Ann Carrico, and brother, Gordon Fishback.

Services will be held at Moser Funeral Home in Warrenton, VA. Visitation will be held on Friday, March 17, 2017 at 2 pm, followed by a memorial at 3 pm.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Orlean Volunteer Fire & Rescue Company, New Building Fund, P.O. Box 15, Orlean, VA 20128.

Online condolences may be made at www.moserfuneralhome.com

Willie Martin, 1928-2016

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WillieMartin2Willie Martin, past president of the Germanna Foundation, passed away on August 23rd. A direct descendant of John Joseph Martin through his maternal Clarke family of Stevensburg in Culpeper County, Willie was elected to the Board of Trustees of the Germanna Foundation on November 5, 1957 (Willie’s father, T.I. Martin, mayor of Culpeper, was elected to the board of our predecessor organization, the Society of Germanna Colonies, in 1954) and served as president from 1970 to 2001.  During his tenure, the Germanna Foundation built the Brawdus Martin Germanna Visitor Center and received the mid-18th Century manor house “Salubria” as a gift from the Grayson family.  Our condolences to his wife of 60 years, Rose Marie, and his son, Bill.

Trustee Jörg Becker, 1955-2016

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The Germanna Foundation announces with regret the death of trustee Jörg Becker of Siegen-Eisern, Germany on 25 July following a courageous battle with cancer. Hundreds of Germanna members knew Jörg from having enjoyed the walking tour he led each year of his ancestral village of Eisern on one of the Germany trips, or from his leadership of the group of 40 members of the German-American Association who came to Virginia in 2014 to share in the 300th Anniversary celebration at Reunion.
 

By profession, Jörg Becker was an attorney with a specialty in employment law. He was a co-founder of the firm Romuender & Associates in Siegen and for 25 years was active in the Siegener Anwaltverein, the local bar association, which had named him an honorary life member of its board. His fellow attorneys praised him for his qualities of integrity, optimism, inspiration, and for his great humanity.

Jörg was active in his community in many ways. From 2005 he had served as legal advisor for the board and oversight body of the Volksbank Siegerland, eG, one of the primary banking institutions in Siegen. He was active in the Heimatverein in Eisern, where he first became involved with the Germanna Foundation in 2003, and was active with the DAG / GAA (German American Association of Siegen-Wittgenstein), organizing the group’s visit to the United States in 2014. He also organized and led other group tours in Germany and abroad for the bar association, including one to Vietnam. He served as legal counsel to two hospice organizations, the Palliative Network of Siegen-Wittgenstein-Olpe e.V. and the Palliative-Medizinischer Konsiliardienst.
He was named to the Germanna Foundation Board of Trustees in 2014 following the retirement of fellow Siegener, Horst Schneider, and took an active role in promoting Germanna in Germany, and in collecting antiques from the Siegen area for the auction at Germanna’s annual Reunion.  The Foundation is placing an engraved paver in the Memorial Garden at the Germanna Visitor Center to honor Jörg’s memory and contributions to the Foundation.
In his student years, Jörg was an exchange student in the U.S. and maintained his ties with his host family and friends. For a hobby he was a serious collector of U.S. postage stamps, and for outdoor activities he was an avid hiker. His family suggested memorial contributions to the Deutscher Aplenverein, Sektion Siegerland, the local chapter of the German Alpine Club.
Jörg is survived by his wife, Birgit Egert-Becker and their two daughters, Corinna and Sonja.

Memorial Day

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Over this Memorial Day 2016 weekend, please take time to remember those who have fallen while serving our nation in uniform.  Say a silent prayer for their families.  Participate in a community remembrance service.  Share their stories so that others will understand what freedom, patriotism and service really mean.

Remembering Pearl Harbor and Germanna’s Own

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Pearl Harbor Day is a time of remembrance for Americans.  At 7:55 and 42 seconds, on the morning of December 7th, 1941, thousands of unsuspecting Americans were killed in a surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.  It was the bloodiest foreign attack on U.S. soil in the modern war era, until the September 11th attacks in 2001.  Perhaps you have made a pilgrimage to Pearl Harbor to pay your respects at the USS Arizona Memorial, to the many men who died that day.
For Germanna people, on Pearl Harbor Day, we remember two of our own.  As war clouds gathered over America in early 1941, Richard Walter Weaver was a 17-year-old Nevada boy and the sixth great-grandson of the 1717 Germanna colonists Phillip Joseph Weaver and his wife Susanna Klaar (the sister of colonist Hans Michael Klaar, ancestor of the Clores in America).   Congress had just enacted a law allowing Americans as young as Richard to enlist in the armed forces.
His parents, Ray and Marguerite McCuiston Weaver, said they would sign for him if that is what he wanted.  On February 20, 1941, his parents drove him to Reno where he boarded the train for San Francisco. The next day, he was assigned to his permanent ship: the USS Arizona.
Also serving on the USS Arizona was another young man, a Kentuckian named Clay Cooper Rector, the son of Wendell Wesley and Lela Florence Cooper Rector.
We don’t know for certain if they knew each other, but Richard and Clay were Germanna cousins.
Their families were related through the Germanna Broyles, Majer and Volck families. Richard also was a member of the Broyles, Finks, Fleischmann, Schön, Wayland families, while his cousin Clay also descended from the Germanna Bach, Fishback, Heimbach, Hitt, Hofmann, Otterbach, Rector, Rouse, and Ruop families.
Clay Cooper Rector was in charge of the storeroom on the USS Arizona, and the last family member to see him may have been his cousin Harrison Clay Rector, who left Pearl Harbor on the USS Anderson just two days before the attack.
Richard Walter Weaver had duty that fateful morning of December 7, 1941.
He was seen sprinting to his station Number 6 on topside when the alarm sounded summoning all men to battle stations. It was there that the first and most lethal enemy projectile struck.
The USS Arizona sank within nine minutes.
It is for men like these that the Germanna Foundation exists, that we remind each other in gratitude of the shared sacrifice of our ancestors and kinsmen who built America.
Today, their sacrifice is remembered in the Germanna Foundation Memorial Garden, where their memorial stones rest next to each other as a testament to the rising generation.

Our Memorial Garden is a fitting tribute to those Germanna descendants who have gone on before us, whether in war or in peace.  You may want to honor or remember a loved one in our Memorial Garden with an engraved paver stone.  For each paver, the Germanna Foundation will arrange for stone writer Bob Clore to engrave three lines of text (25 characters per line, including spaces) for $150, four lines for $200.
Years ago, I engraved the names of my relatives on the Germanna pavers as a Christmas gift. Today, my children always look for their stones, and then hop from generation to generation back to Germany!
If you would like to honor and remember one of your loved ones while supporting the Foundation in this way, please call Barbara Bounds or John Howard at the Germanna Visitor Center at 540-423-1700 or use our online order form.
I wish you all the best in this Advent season,
J. Marc Wheat
President 
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Become a member of the Germanna Foundation and get access to Germanna’s exclusive genealogy database, GermannaFamily.org, with thousands of names. Research your Germanna roots!

Germanna Foundation

GERMANNA FOUNDATION
The Germanna Foundation
MAILING: P.O. Box 279
LOCATION: 2062 Germanna Highway
Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279
Phone: 540-423-1700
Fax: 540-423-1747
Contact Us

Hike Siegen Forest!

Behind the Fort Germanna Visitor Center is our 170-acre Siegen Forest nature and hiking trails along the Rapidan river.

Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)
Office hours are 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm Tuesday through Saturday.
Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.
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About

The Germanna Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the Colonial Virginia frontier via the historic 1714 Fort Germanna and its German colonists and their descendants.

It conducts archaeological exploration and conservation, genealogical research and publishing, and historic preservation and interpretation.

The Foundation owns and maintains several historic sites and properties, such as Salubria Manor, that were part of or closely connected to the Germanna colonies, the town of Germanna, and the other early colonial Virginia settlements and towns in the Piedmont area of Virginia.