Nearly all of our Germanna people eventually married people whose nationalities were not German. Do we count these other people as Germanna settlers? To give an example, taken from the " Germanna Settlers " list published on the Internet by the Germanna Foundation , one of the families is "Aker". The only mention that I can find of the Aker family is that Elizabeth Holtzclaw married, on 22 Jan 1823, John Aker, Jr. If this is the history of the Aker family in so far as it interacts with our Germanna people, then I cannot conceive how the family is to be counted as a Germanna settler family.
There are a few families, of non-German origin, which might be considered as Germanna settlers with some justification. One that comes to mind is the Richard Birdine/Burdyne family where Richard married, it appears, one of the Tanner (Gerber) daughters. Richard's history is not that well known but some speculation says he may have been a Huguenot who came very late in the seventeenth century, or very early in the eighteenth century. It is possible that he is the ancestor of most of the Burdynes in America through his Germanna marriage which would mean that the Burdynes have a Germanna ancestor. If this were so, then it might be desirable to highlight the Burdyne involvement in the Germanna community.
What I have given are two extreme cases. The Aker family does not merit inclusion while the Burdyne family might merit inclusion. In between these two extremes there are many other cases. It would appear that there is only one clear answer to the inclusion of non-Germanic families which would cover all cases. Non-Germanic names, or families, should not be included. A family, or individual, who is to be included in the Germanna list should be born in a Germanic area, including all of the principalities of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland (or en route).
(People who are born in America would generally not qualify as settlers. Very strangely, the Germanna Foundation's list of settlers includes Jacob Holtzclaw and Joseph Holtzclaw who were born in Virginia. If these two are included, why aren't all of their brothers and sisters included?)
But this "birth in Germany" factor has to be modified because some of our Germanna settlers were born in another colony and then moved to the Germanna area. So now we would be looking for the first of a Germanic family to live in the Germanna area even if they were born in the colonies.
Any list of settlers is subject to revision and especially to additions. We are still finding people who qualify. Some have been omitted because not that much is known about them by the students of Germanna history. One such family is Wolfenberger. Another family about which we are learning something is the Frady family. At first, there seemed to be a lack of information on Charles Frady (using his English name) but in depth investigations are showing a rich history. Some of our settlers came after the Revolutionary War, showing the settler's list extends over the better part of a century.
I continue to invite comments on the general topic of whom should be included in a settler's list.
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.