The last note might have been more meaningful with a cast of the players, especially with those two Henrys who played leading roles. The immigrant was Hans Jacob Richter who came in 1714, with his wife Elizabeth Fischbach and very young son John. Three more sons were born in Virginia, Harmon, Henry, and Jacob. This Henry is the one who married Anne Robinson.
In the third generation, John Rector married Anna Catherina Fishback. Anna Catherina died, and John, as we see from the lawsuit, married Catherine (Taylor) Robinson, who was the mother of five children, including the Anne just mentioned. Catherine was the widow of William Robinson.
Altogether, John Rector was the father of nine children, and their sequence is usually given as: John, Henry, Daniel, Jacob, Charles, Catherine, Elizabeth, Benjamin, and Frederick. (The eldest son, John, is considered to be a son of Anna Catherine Fishback.) Since Charles was Catherine Taylor Robinson Rector's father's name, Charles and the younger children are usually considered to be her children. But what about Henry, Daniel, and Jacob who come between John and Charles in the sequence above? They are less certain and the court case sheds a little light, but not much.
If we assume that Catherine was the mother of five Robinson children, and then eight Rector children, she would be the mother of thirteen children. This is definitely a possibility. We will return later to consider when Catherine might have married John Rector.
The Henry who married Anne Robinson was the brother of John Rector and the son of Hans Jacob, the immigrant. (Editors Note: This would mean that Henry married his brother's step-daughter.) The Henry who was an executor was probably the son of John Rector. If Catherine had any influence with John Rector, she would probably have liked to have one of her children serving with her in administering the estate. But then, John Rector may have included someone from his first family to balance things out.
The lawsuit was initiated in 1774, and the eldest son John (of John) was certainly experienced in the business world and assumed responsibilities readily. Why was he not chosen as an executor? Was he not on the best of terms with his stepmother?
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.