Ted Walker has made the point that the wills and estates of our early ancestors did not indicate a lot of possessions. It is inconceivable to us, with our variety of tools, many of which are powered, that they could have done anything with what the estate inventory shows. Still, one of the points I make when taking people through the Hans Herr House is that it was a case of making it yourself or doing without.
I believe some items were not in the inventory because no value was placed on them, even though the end product was useful. For example, consider a garden rake. It can be made from wood, all parts of it, from the handle and cross bar to the teeth. No nails or metal reinforcements are required. Generally this was made by the owner and he paid nothing for the wood and he paid nothing for the labor. Therefore the appraisers said it had no value.
Ted has also made the point that travel was not the easiest thing. The destination was often Church, and, in many cases, it was several miles away. Going to Church was a major effort. Most of the time people probably walked. And they would often take their shoes off to save them from wear and dirt. (One had only to look around today in the Pennsylvania Dutch country to see that the normal mode on the farm is without shoes.) The first wagons were only two wheeled and they were primarily farm implements. Wheels were expensive and generally beyond the means of the typical individual to make. Many people probably considered that walking was more comfortable than jarring rides in a wagon. As to the number of horses our early Germans had, even in 1787, the most typical number of horses per household was only one.
The old Lorenz Gaar, or Garr, home in the Vee Dove book, "Madison County Homes," no longer stands on the original site. In fact, it no longer stands in Madison County. About ten years ago, armed with Vee's book, I was preparing to visit some of the homes illustrated in the book. By chance, I happened to meet her and I asked about some of homes I wanted to see. When I told her about the Gaar home, she told me I was out of luck. Someone had purchased the house and moved it to another county, where it was incorporated into a modern home.
As one leaves the Hebron church and drives along the road which is on the "end" of the Utz, various Blankenbaker, and Thomas land patents, the land on the east, except for Michael Willheit's patent, belonged to John Hoffman. (Eventually he was to acquire about 3500 acres.) It was on this land along the road that the Hoffman Chapel was built. I believe that no minister was ever called on a permanent basis, but that occasional visiting ministers held services. (A map of the final Hoffman grant is shown in the last issue of Beyond Germanna, the May issue.)
John Hoffman and his younger brother Henry also had another brother, William, who came to Pennsylvania. William left an account and diary book from a time before his marriage to the later years in Pennsylvania, though the entries are sporadic. One of the recurring themes is the oppression of the Reformed church members by the Catholics in his hometown in Germany. But they never seemed to waiver in their belief in the Reformed Church. This and the burdens imposed by the recurring wars were his motivations for emigrating.
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.