The two Smith brothers, Hans Michael and Matthias, were members of the Colony of 1717. Michael was more prominent than his brother Matthias and his family is better known. Both brothers came from the village of Gemmingen in Baden, but due to the loss of the church books there, probably due to war in the last decade of the seventeenth century, their ancestry cannot be traced back. From their marriage records we know their father's name was Michael.
Matthias married Regina Catharina [per "Before Germanna" by Zimmerman and Cerny]. Matthias was not sued by Spotswood. Matthias and Christopher Bellar [Barlow] had a joint patent for 400 acres. The connection, if any, between the two families is unknown. That there might be a connection is strengthened by the fact that Michael Barlow was a tithe in the house of Nicholas Smith, Sr. [son of Matthias] in the 1787 Culpeper Co., VA tax list.
Apparently Matthias had two sons, Matthias, Jr., and Nicholas. Matthias, Jr., was born in Germany, while Nicholas was born in Virginia. That these were the only two sons seems probable by the division of Matthias's two hundred acre share of the original patent. One hundred acres went to each son.
Nicholas married Mary Magdalena Reiner [born 21 Sep 1720, in Schwaigern, Württemberg], as is indicated in part by the names of the children in the Reiner family, plus the sponsorship patterns in the baptisms at Hebron Lutheran Church. Nicholas and Mary Magdalena were sponsors in 1751, 1753, 1756, 1758, and 1768, for George and Mary Sarah (Reiner) Cook. The two women were sisters. The Reiner family arrived in 1750, so the marriage of Nicholas and Mary Magdalena was probably ca 1751. In his will [p. 1797], Nicholas left his property to his sons, John, Nicholas, Michael, and Godfrey.
Matthew Smith, Jr. married Mary ____. He deeded the 100 acres on which he lived to Michael Smith and Matthias Smith, Jr., [i.e., the III] in 1765. His wife, Mary, outlived him and she is shown in later years with three tithables. In addition to the two sons who received land, there is also a Samuel.
Thus, the immigrant Matthias Smith left seven grandsons and an unspecified number of granddaughters. Since the family of the immigrant Michael Smith is better known down through the third generation, other Smith girls born about 1750 to 1775 are candidates for granddaughters of Matthias. [There was also an English Smith family in the neighborhood.] Among the unidentified women are Barbara, Leah, Christina, and Susannah. All of the lines from Matthias Smith, the immigrant, need work.
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.