John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 201

In this, the first of the third "century" of these notes, I would like to review what these notes are all about.  Of course, they are about the Germanna Colonists, but I interpret the meaning of that phrase in a broad sense.  In part, that is because the Germanna Colonists have a lot in common with all of the Germans.  Secondly, many of the people that we call Germanna Colonists lived for a while, either before or after their Virginia Piedmont sojourn, in other colonies.  Some of these individuals are not well known.  To the extent that these notes interest others whose Germanna connections may be weak, we may learn more about our Germanna colonists.

To cite an example, the family of Mark Finks, is not well known.  I suspect he may have come to Virginia from Pennsylvania, as several of our people did.  If someone should have information on this family, I would like to hear it.  I know that Mark and his family were a little different from the usual Germanna family, but I am not sure why.

One of the disadvantages of this open-minded attitude is that people ask me questions about things or people for whom I know nothing.  So be it; if that is the price, then I pay it by at least trying to respond to their question.

I started in this Germanna business because I have a bunch of ancestors in it.  Perhaps you have heard me say that a grandfather was pure Germanna (some Austrian, some Swiss and a lot of different regions of Germany).  But, as I studied the families and the history, I found that the history was especially interesting.  Then I found that the history, as it is usually told, is incorrect.  Now, one of the hardest things to do is to correct a mistake in genealogy or history.  I am surprised that corrections to genealogy known now for several years are not known by everyone.  In part, that is due to the "power" of the written word.  For example, I still hear people saying that Michael Willheit's wife was Mary Blankenbaker.  And some of the things said about the Fisher family amaze me.  In the face of excellent evidence, people will persist in saying the opposite of what the evidence says.  One of my delights in publishing Beyond Germanna has been the correction of the early Rector family history (due to others, I may add).

I would wish that others would use this forum more for discussions and questions.  No one owns the content; it is an open list for all opinions presented in good taste.

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