Fauquier County (as it exists today) was the first permanent home of the First Colony. Some of the later relatives and friends of the Colony settled in Fauquier but the development pattern forced many of them to go across the Rappahannock River (also called Hedgman's), to the Little Fork district of what is now Culpeper Co. Still others moved to more remote parts of Virginia or even to other colonies.
There were Germans in Fauquier other than the First Colony and their relatives. At least these other Germans have never been identified with the First Colony. But, since they were Germans living east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, they too would qualify, by my definition, as Germanna people.
The names to be given here were found in John P. Alcock's book, " Fauquier Families 1759-1799 ". This book is an ambitious attempt to list every reference to a name to be found in the Fauquier County records in the first forty years of the county. Some people, who have used the book more than I have, tell me that it is a wonderful resource. The effort to prepare it is staggering.
In giving the names of potential Germans here, the criterion has been to take those names whose spelling seems to be Germanic. Names such as Rouse, Slater, Snyder, or Smith, which could be German, but which could also be English, for instance, have been omitted. Those who are listed were not necessarily Fauquier residents, though they probably resided for at least a while in the county.
The first name shows some of the spelling variations which were typical of German names. The three variations are Brungard, Brunkhart, and Brankhart. The interchange of the " g " and the " k " is typical of German names. Also the interchange of the final " d " and " t " is typical when the English spell German names. The first name of this individual, Adam, is a typical German name. It seems very likely we have a German individual.
George Crisman or Criesman had a marriage bond, dated 22 Feb 1796, to Sally Rector, the daughter of Benjamin Rector. George had a retail license in 1798 and he bought two lots in Salem. Maybe readers here who are familiar with the Rector history will be able to comment on this individual more. The spelling of the name and the marriage to a " German " tend to place him as a German.
There was a group of names, Daniel Crider, David Crider/Cryder, and Frederick Crider, who were probably related. Probably, the name is German with the " C " being a " G " in the original spelling. This is a fairly common substitution.
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.