John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 223

( Continuing with the Razor family, )

  1. George (Racer) Rasor, b. ca 1766 in Sussex Co., NJ. He first married Frances Major on 8 Feb 1789 in Culpeper Co., VA. Second, he married Mary Brookings 7 Nov 1805 in Madison Co., VA. He died ca 1842 in Madison Co.

    Issue of George and his first wife, Franky:

    1. Lucy Racer, m. John Byers 5 Mar 1810 Madison Co.
    2. Laban Racer, m. Harriet Sims 15 Jan 1818 Madison Co.
    3. John Racer, m. Martha Sims 10 Sep 1818 Madison Co.
    4. George M. Racer, m. Lucy Brookings 28 Feb 1826 Madison Co.

    Issue of George (#7) and his second wife, Mary:

    1. William B. Racer. No further information.
    2. Frances M. A. H. Racer, m. John B. Thompson, 21 Mar 1842 in Madison Co.

Beyond Germanna

Since the time that Gene wrote the article (1991), some information on the Swindle family has come to my attention.  This is courtesy of the Sutherlands, Thora and William, who wrote about the Timothy Swindle Family in Beyond Germanna , vol. 7, no. 4.  There were two George Swindles in the Robinson River community, one being a nephew of the other.  On 30 Jan 1786, George Swindle married Catherine Rasor and, on 21 Jan 1790, George Swindle married Hannah Cornelius.  It is believed that the marriage to Catherine was by the nephew, the son of Michael Swindle.  Thus the family of Catherine (#6) here should be examined carefully.

The geographical distribution of the family in the first few generations is interesting and typical of many early families.  The founder, George Razor, was born in Germany, came to America via Philadelphia where he married, settled first in New Jersey, moved to Virginia, and finally was in the process of moving to South Carolina when he died.  It is impossible to know all of his motivations for the moves.  I speculated earlier that the Raiser family may have known or been connected to the Gaar/Garr family.

The children of George moved about in several directions.  Jacob seems to have stayed in Virginia.  Peter moved to Indiana and his children were to be found in South Carolina, Indiana, and Missouri.  Christian moved to South Carolina and one of his sons died in Florida.  Susanna took the initiative and moved to Boone Co., Kentucky at an early date.  Until Catherine's husband is clarified, it is not clear where she lived.  George and his children seem to have remained in Virginia.

Based on the similar names among immigrants, there may be related branches of the family to the Germanna branch.

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.