President Trump declared October 6, 2017 to be German-American Day and mentioned that he had a German grandfather. Here is his genealogy tree showing his German and Scottish ancestors back to the early 1800s: Trump Genealogy (pdf) His German side:
In Memorium: William “Bill” 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 […]
Germanna’s new Membership Development Manager
The Germanna Foundation is pleased to announce its recent hire of Ashley Abruzzo, who joins the Foundation team as its Membership Development Manager. Within this role, Ashley will focus on fundraising and membership relations, community outreach, and event planning. “As a Germanna descendant, I am very excited to be working for the Germanna Foundation and […]
Willie Martin, 1928-2016
Willie 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 […]
Jump into our gene pool!
August is a great time to jump into our gene pool! FamilyTreeDNA is running a sale on their Family Finder test kit for $69.00 (regularly $99.00) “All of our DNA tests are designed to deliver superior results with the most advanced technology to tackle any genetic genealogy challenge. Plus, our new parental phasing tool allows […]
Trustee Jörg Becker, 1955-2016
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 […]
Thanks Virginia Commonwealth University
We treated Dr. Bernard Means and his VCU archaeology field school students to a pizza party picnic at the Fort Germanna/Enchanted Castle excavation site on Thursday, July 28th – the final day of VCU’s field work at Germanna this summer. Our seasonal staff, under the direction of Germanna’s archaeologist, Eric Larsen, Ph.D., and this season’s […]
I Dig Germanna Archaeology Workshop
Craig Wolford (center right) and Gil Kenner (center left) received their certificates of completion, trowels, and “I Dig Germanna” T-shirts for successfully completing our first I Dig Germanna Archaeology Workshop 18-20 July from Dr. Eric Larsen, Germanna staff archaeologist (l) and Germanna COO Steve Hein (r). Working under the supervision of Dr. Eric Larsen and […]
How I Came to Germanna
by Richard Roy Martin – I came to Germanna by adoption and by biology. You see, my adoptive father, Roy Martin, was a descendant of John Joseph Martin, and my biological father, Herman Meyer, was a descendant of Peter Hitt. If my story is not unusual enough, then it becomes more unusual. According to family […]
Meet our archaeology field season staff
We’re pleased to welcome aboard these seasonal archaeology staff members to help Germanna’s archaeologist, Eric Larsen, Ph.D., with new excavation work at the Fort Germanna and Enchanted Castle site, and to supervise the VCU field school students later in the summer. Thank you to all of our members and supporters for making this possible. […]
