Hans Herr came from a farm, a small village in itself, in Germany that was not too far from the homes of many members of the Second Germanna Colony. Since my map does not show the farm, I will use the nearby village of Eppingen as a proxy in the discussion here.
Eppingen was just about three miles from Gemmingen, the home of the Weaver, Clore, and the two Smith families, who came to Virginia in 1717. Or, Eppingen was about four miles from Sulzfeld, the home of the Zimmerman, Kabler, and Yowell families. To the south about five miles was Zaberfeld where the Kaifer family lived. The Willheits, Deers, Reiners, Baumgartners, Cooks, and Teters lived about six miles away in Schwaigern. At Oberderdingen, Matthias Blankenbaker was living about seven miles from the Herrs. Eight miles away, around Brackenheim, was the area where the Aylors and Snyders were to be found. About ten miles over, at Neuenbürg, the other Blankenbakers, the Fleshmans, the Scheibles, and the Thomases were living.
After the Herr party left in 1710, other Mennonites went to Pennsylvania in the next few years. This stream of emigrants, though not large, was showing or pointing the way for those who were still in Germany.
How much interaction was there between the Lutherans, which most of the Second Colony was, and the Mennonites? There was definitely some. When some of the Lutheran pastors were recording the departure of members of their congregations, they added the names of Mennonites from the village who were also going to America. Because the Mennonites were not allowed to have church buildings of their own, they used the Lutheran churches for their funerals. There were some restrictions, as, for example, the Lutheran Bishop had to give his permission for the bells to be rung at a Mennonite funeral. So funerals of the Mennonites might be recorded within the death register with the notation added " mit klangen ", or " with bells ".
When the Germans met together, they surely discussed what had happened to the emigrants. News, in the letters from America, would have talked about how the immigrants were faring. People became aware that there was an alternative to their plight in Germany. There had been an exodus in the year of 1709, but the results had not been entirely satisfactory. The movement of people in 1710 and the following years was smaller in scope and better organized. The Herr party members wrote good stories home about Pennsylvania: "I now own one thousand acres, though I have to work hard. If you are willing to work, you can become rich here."
All of this was food for thought. Others were making the trip. The first ones had "won the lottery" and anyone could do the same. Taxes were low. Freedom was high.
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.