What is a Germanna settler? It is not easy to write a definition.
Usually the Germanna settler is given as a married German, who is the head of a household, but let's look at some examples. The Fishback family in 1714 was headed by Philip Fishback and his wife, Elizabeth Heimbach. The children consisted of John, Harman, Mary Elizabeth I, and Mary Elizabeth II. Philip died soon after arrival and the children married before long. When the move to Germantown was made, John and Harman each had a division of the land. Technically, it would appear that the Germanna settler was Philip Fishback and that John and Harman were members of the family and not to be counted separately. (If the sons are counted, do we say that three Fishback families came?)
Another similar example occurs with the case of Joseph Weaver, who came with his wife, Susanna (Clore), and small children, Peter (as he was later known), Maria Sophia, and Walburga. Joseph died before many years had gone by. Because Joseph had not been recognized in the Germanna history, the Germanna settler has customarily been said to be Peter, but it would be more appropriate to say the settler was Joseph. But, if we say that Joseph is the settler, without giving the name of Peter Weaver, then for consistency we should say Philip Fishback is the settler, without saying that John and Harmon are settlers.
On the other hand, the three Blankenbaker brothers and their sister, married to John Thomas, were all married and, with one exception, parents. Their mother and stepfather also came with their Fleshman children, who were still minors. We usually count all of these people as five families because they were independent when they came; but, what about Henry Schlucter, 20, who was Mrs. Fleshman's son by her second marriage. Is he to be considered a bachelor head of family, or a member of the Fleshman family?
Michael Kaifer was a single male, 22, who was the brother of Apollonia Blankenbaker, the wife of Nicholas. Was Michael an independent person or was he a member of the Nicholas Blankenbaker family by virtue of his relationship to Apollonia?
Perhaps we should not be emphasizing the settlers as individuals but as families. Should we just list the Fishback name, the Weaver name, the Blankenbaker name, the Fleshman name, and so on as the settlers? But we would need to distinguish the John Henry Weaver of the 1714 immigrants from the Joseph Weaver of the 1717 immigrants. These two Weaver families were independent.
If we were to adopt the strategy of listing family names instead of the individuals, should we also list the maiden names of the women?
Your comments are invited; this is your list for you to express your opinions.
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.