In note 204, I mentioned the Garr Genealogy, probably the earliest major Germanna genealogy to be published. In the letters and statements written at the time of the Garr family's emigration, the pastor of Andreas Gar mentioned that three hundred people were leaving. The evidence generally shows that such groups tended to travel together. It would be usual for them, or a large part of them, to have used the same ship. Since we know the ship that the Garrs used, it would seem that we should read the passenger list with an eye to discovering whether other passengers turn up in the Germanna community as Andreas Gar did.
So this past weekend I scanned the passenger list for the ship Loyal Judith which arrived at Philadelphia on 25 Sep 1732. Several names certainly caused me to pause, but the most striking names on the list were Hans Georg Riser and Georg Adam Riser. This sent me to Beyond Germanna , vol. 3, no. 4, where Gene Dear has an article on the George Razor Family.
Gene identifies the originator of the family as George Adam Raüser who came to America from Germany on the ship Mary and Sarah, arriving in Philadelphia on 26 Oct 1754. Consulting Rupp's " Thirty Thousand Names of Immigrants ", one can confirm there was indeed a Georg Adam Käiser. That this is a misreading of Raüser is likely when one considers the similarities in the German script between the letters K and R. The K is written with a "knapsack" on its back which looks like the loop of the R. Incidentally, this same ship which brought Georg Adam Käiser also brought Georg Lud. Nonnenmacher, another Germanna name.
Georg Raüser did not move immediately to the Germanna region but lived for a while in Sussex Co., New Jersey. Twenty years after his arrival in America, he bought land in the Germanna community.
I would consider it extremely likely that the Hans Georg Riser and Georg Adam Riser who came on the same ship with the Gaars to be related to the later Georg Adam Käiser/Räiser of the later ship. If I were wanting to research the origins of the Razor/Racer family, I think I would start with the communities in the area where the Gaars originated. We know hundreds of people left with the Gaars and shipmates had often been neighbors. This also furnishes a motivation for the George Adam Raüser who bought land in Culpeper Co., VA, to have moved to Virginia from New Jersey. He probably had friends or relatives there. Also, if I were searching the German records, I would keep a second eye open for Nonnenmachers.
Both the Gaar and Garr spellings appear in America. If I have not used one or the other consistently, it is because I don't want anyone to think that I am showing favoritism. The Gaars/Garrs emphasized in their book that there was no correct spelling of a name. Any way that you choose to spell your name is right.
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.