Members of the Hebron Lutheran Church, now in Madison Co., VA, wrote a Constitution in May of 1776, to which the names of the male members were attached. (This Constitution has now been published, thanks to a translation by Elke Hall, a contributor to the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List.) The members did not actually sign their names; one individual wrote the names for all. Later, as new members joined the church, their names were also added. As a consequence, there is no single date that can be assigned to the list, which reduces its effectiveness as a research document. Still, it has its value.
Among the names are Friedrich Julius Schad and Georg Philip Schad. I know nothing about them. The name Carl Vrede was a mystery to me until his family researchers solved the essence of the case. His descendants had known him as Charles Frady. In a deed, his neighbors seemed to be Germans, which made them wonder whether he might not be also. Finding the sound-alike name Vrede at the church confirmed the idea. He is to be found in the lists of "Hessian" soldiers who chose to live here, not fight here.
The name George Schlater is not entirely unknown. A man of this name had an early land patent among the Robinson River Germans. His case has been made more difficult because the name is often given as Slaughter, the English name that sounds like Schlater. As a consequence, he has been slighted because he has been taken as an Englishman.
Peter Benenger may be known for his origins in Germany. The family is associated with the Zieglers.
There are many individuals, or families, whose subsequent history is much better known than their earlier history. The origins of the Chelfs, Houses, Bungards, Lipps, Nunnemachers, Boehmes (Beemons), Delphs, Freys, Finks, and Rouses are questions to be answered. One of my hopes in writing these notes is to evoke helpful responses from readers.
Tomorrow, I will be spending the day at the Pennsylvania Chapter of Palatines to America Fall Meeting in New Holland. These meetings are very well attended, often sell outs, and the speakers are noteworthy. Tomorrow, I especially want to hear Shirley Riemer who has done a lot for German research. In the past year, several of my "Short Notes" have been based on her book, The German Research Companion . New Holland is in the middle of the Pennsylvania Dutch country and the meeting draws from the full spectrum of German religions, including the long beards.
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.