Not many copies of the Journal of the Society of Germanna Colonies were ever issued, and the distribution lists that were printed indicate that the issues went to individuals and not libraries. I know of only one library that has a copy of the Journal, and that is the Fauquier Heritage Society in Marshall, Virginia. As a research tool for information, the Journal is worse than worthless. (The late Elizabeth McNamara recommended that the copies be burned because there were so many errors.) It does have some value for a researcher who is doing a study of Germanna thought as I have been doing in recent notes.
I have published some of the erroneous thoughts which are contained in the Journal, but I had not mentioned the table of kinship among cousins. In it, we learn that the children of first cousins are third cousins. What the rest of the world calls a first cousin once removed is called a second cousin in this table in the Journal.
The poor organization and presentation of thoughts, as shown in a recent quotation from the Journal, may have bothered Dr. Charles Huffman, who was a professor of English at James Madison. But, overlooking the details of the presentation, the basic ideas were erroneous. While some variation in interpretation is possible, the unforgivable offense was the deliberate presentation of "facts" which had been made up out of thin air.
After the demise of the Society, Dr. Huffman was instrumental in the formation of the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc . There is no record that Brawdus Martin had any role in this group. More recently, a descendant of Brawdus Martin gave the Memorial Foundation money and they have agreed to name a new Visitor's Center after Martin. This is an ironic event as Brawdus Martin had insisted that Germanna was thirteen miles away from where the Center is to be built. It is also a slap in the face to Dr. Huffman who was for many years the President of the Memorial Foundation.
What we have is an example of how egos and money attempt to shape intellectual thought.
[I expect not to issue any more notes until next Monday at the earliest.]
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.