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 (Jäger), 1751 (Krickler), (1775, 1763, 1773), 1762, 1757, 1769, (1769, 1773), 1751, 1774, 1761, 1767, 1769, 1774, 1762, (1750 (Blanckenbücher), 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.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the [email protected] email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.