Just prior to the Revolutionary War, the political situation in what is now southwest Pennsylvania was very confused. Both Virginia and Pennsylvania claimed jurisdiction. Virginia, at first, seems to have the lead in granting land there. A number of Germanna people found their way there in these early years. Some stayed and some went on to Kentucky. Those that went on to Kentucky generally built flatboats and floated down the Ohio River at no small danger to themselves from the Indians. The early pioneers included a heavy mixture of Germans including several families from the Germanna communities. In giving some of the names, I want to emphasize how incomplete the information is.
Many members of the Michael Thomas family apparently went to Kentucky. Michael was the son of John Thomas, Sr., who died shortly after coming to Virginia. The family of Michael is very imperfectly understood.
The Hupp, or Hoop, family from Culpeper went Kentucky also. Everhard Hupp was married to Margaret Thomas, hence there is a Thomas and Hupp connection. Margaret was the daughter of Michael Thomas, and the claim has been made that she was the first white woman west of the Monongahela River. The center of this activity was Redstone Fort, which, with about 20 families, rivaled Pittsburgh, which was a center for trappers. The year 1765 had been given as the date of arrival of George Hupp, one of several brothers.
Another Culpeper family was the Rowes who also intermarried with the Hupps.
In 1781, Abraham Teagarden was appointed guardian of Jesse Bumgarner's affairs in Washington Co., PA. The Bumgarners were a Culpeper family.
From Fauquier Co. in Virginia, members of the Hardin family, who were associated with the Holtzclaw family, went to Pennsylvania.
The genealogical situation in southwest Pennsylvania needs major work. It was attracting people from the Germanna communities. The total set of people is not that well known nor are the relationships clearly understood. Many of these people went on to Kentucky, using the Ohio River.
One person who left a record of his relocation from Culpeper Co. to Pennsylvania was Abraham Thomas, son of Michael Thomas. His comments have been preserved in the Draper manuscripts. His story is:
"The first of my recollections go back to the time when I was a chunk of a boy, sent out by my father, in company with an older brother, from Culpepper County, Virginia, to drive a flock of sheep to land purchased by my father at the mouth of Ten Mile Creek, above old Red Stone Fort, distant about 150 miles, we remained there along through the winter, living as best we could, principally from our own resources; some of our relations having before settled in the neighborhood. The Indians came often to our cabin, and behaved civilly enough, as we were then at peace; but I both feared and hated them, for my young mind had thus early been alarmed and irritated by tales of their thieving and bloody barbarities, with our frontier settlements."
(Abraham goes on to mention later events in 1774, so his trip must have been made before that year.)
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.