The last note discussed the baptisms of the children of Christopher Crigler where the names of the sponsors showed there was a strong connection between the Clore, Weaver, and Crigler families. The simplest explanation, consistent with other facts, was that Susanna Clore married first Joseph Weave, and then Jacob Crigler.
In discussing the baptisms, I divided the eleven children into two categories, of the first ten plus, the eleventh child, William. The recording for the first ten was on a page that had been reserved for the family. So the name of the parents was only necessary once. The parents were given as Christopher Crigler and no mention was made of Catherine (Finks). Furthermore, there were no sponsors who were related to Catherine among the first ten children.
The original recording for the eleventh child, Wilhelm, was made on another page in the chronological section where each child is entered at the end of the list of all children. For these entries, the parents are given. In the case of Wilhelm, the parents are Christopher Crigler and wife Catherine; the birth date was 28 June 1778, the baptism was 6 July 1778, and the sponsors were Nicholas Crigler (the father's brother), Michael Utz, Jr. (the son-in-law of the parents), and Elizabeth Christopher (the stepdaughter of Catherine's sister, Mary). Michael and Elizabeth have unusual relationships to the parents, though Nicholas is very conventional. The unusual thing though about Nicholas is that he did not appear as a sponsor for the first ten children.
This is a very strange set of data, yet there is a simple explanation. The reason that Catherine did not appear as the wife of Christopher for the first ten children is that she was not present. Christopher alone brought the children for baptism, and the sponsors are relatives of Christopher.
The reason that Nicholas Crigler was not a sponsor for the first ten children is that he wouldn't be a sponsor if the mother was not present. For the last child, Wilhelm or William, when the mother was present, he appeared as a sponsor.
Why didn't Catherine attend the baptisms of her first ten children? She is obviously opposed to infant baptisms at the Lutheran church. The opposition arises from within the Finks family because, before 1775 or thereabouts, the members of the Finks family are not active at the church. Opposition to infant baptism at the Lutheran church could arise from at least two sources. First, the Finks might be members of an Anabaptist sect such as the Mennonites who baptize members when they are adults. Second, the Finks might have been opposed strongly to Lutheran principles. The religious group that comes to mind here is the Catholic church.
I used to think the Finks were Mennonites, but Mark Finks, Jr., was a captain in the militia during the Revolutionary War. Mennonites are rather strongly opposed to war so it seems untenable to think the Finks were Mennonites or Anabaptists in general. I am now inclined to the view that they were Catholic.
Starting about 1776, many members of the Finks family made an appearance at the Lutheran church. On Easter Sunday, 1776, Elizabeth Finks, the widow of Mark Finks, Sr., attended church, the only recorded appearance of her at Hebron. This may have been a sign of acceptance of the Lutheran church by the remaining senior member. Or it may be that Elizabeth died about this time and the next generation was willing to participate at the Hebron church.
Among the sponsors for William, note that the parents had to stretch to find a relative of Elizabeth to serve. There are no brothers and sisters of Elizabeth there. The opposition of the family to the Lutheran church is still showing.
I follow the Finks family with some interest because it is an ancestral family of mine. The family needs a lot of work on finding the origins of the originator of the family, Mark Finks, Sr. And, because the church records are so scarce, the third generation families are most uncertain.
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.