The last note commented on Hans Jorg Dieter who became George Teter in Orange Co., VA. The changes in spelling are a problem in understanding names. Several rules help us, such as "P" and "B" are often interchanged and "D" and "T" interchange. But still, finding a name can be difficult, to say the least. Recently, one case in which I have been interested for years has been solved.
The will of John Garrett, the will of Michael Myers and the will of Mary Myers in Rowan Co., NC plus other information helps establish several things. Though the will of John uses the spelling Garrett in the body of the text and the will itself is filed under the name, Garrett, the signature at the end is clearly Johannes Gerhard. John had a daughter, Mary, who married, first, George "Blankenbaker" in Orange Co., VA. George died after siring a son, John, and the mother Mary married Michael Myer/Mier/Moyer of the Germanna community. The will of Mary makes it clear that the first marriage to George Blankenbaker was very probably in Orange Co., VA.
Therefore, there should have been a Gerhard family in Orange Co. But through the years that I have had my eyes open for such a possibility, none showed up. Garths and Garretts were there. And later there was a family of Garriotts which might have been derived from Gerhard. The name Garriott drew the most attention because there were several marriages later with the Germanna families. Still, though Ambrose Garriott had a child baptized in the Hebron Lutheran Church, he was not himself a member.
Recently, the Gerhard family was found by Nancy Dodge. Actually the family had been uncovered for several years, since the family is in the Orange County, VA, Order Books. Barbara Vines Little had abstracted these books in the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy, v.26, 1988, n.1-4, p.177. The problem was that the spelling of the name made the task of identification harder.
In the Order Book 2, p.160, for 22 May 1740, an entry reads:
John Carehaut a German . . . imported himself, Mary, Elizabeth, and Daniel and Catherine Carehaut, immediately from Great Britain into this Colony at his own Charges.
When one pronounces Carehaut aloud, the resemblance to Gerhard is heard. The lesson for us is that one must be very open minded about the possible spelling of a name.
The names of the children with John Gerhard correspond to the later known history of the family. Apparently he was a widower when he came. He probably came just before the 1740 date since he had paid his own transportation and so could obtain head rights at the first opportunity. He probably lived in the Robinson River community which was a part of Orange Co. at the time and was heavy populated with Germans. It remains to be seen whether he had land in Virginia or not. After a few years, he moved with the members of his family, some of whom were now married to Germanna residents.
In North Carolina, another spelling change took place of a different type. John, son of George Blanckenbuehler (the way the name was spelled in some records in Germany just prior to emigration) and Mary Gerhard, had four sons. These were the only ones of the family name in North Carolina and they agreed to simply the spelling. Harking about to the spelling in Austria (before Germany), they kept only the latter part of the name, Pickler. None of the Blanckenbuehler names in America are any more correct than any other. Branches have chosen to spell the name differently. So we have the Picklers, Blankenbakers, Blankenbekers, Blankenbecklers, Blankenbeclers, Blankens, Blanks and, of course, Bakers besides the "who knows".
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com 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.