I return now to John Rector who died in 1742, in Prince William County, VA. He was the documented father of two children, John and Nathaniel. He was probably the same as Johannes Richter who arrived in Philadelphia on 23 Sep 1734 (on the ship "Hope") along with 19 other Nassau-Siegen colonists. Having the name Richter and being from Nassau-Siegen, B.C. Holtzclaw reached the conclusion that, "He was almost certainly a nephew of John Jacob Rector, the 1714 immigrant, but his exact parentage has not yet been determined from the Nassau-Siegen records."
James F. McJohn examined Nassau-Siegen records with a view toward determining the truth or falsity of Holtzclaw's statement. In short, McJohn concluded that it is impossible, and even improbable, to reach the conclusion of an uncle-nephew relationship. In fact, he could find no relationship between the two John Rectors. The birth certificate for the younger John Rector was found without difficulty because of the known age of the man. He was born 31 Mar 1707 at Siegen, and baptized at the Evangelical Church in Siegen, on 10 Apr 1707. His father was Jörge Heinrich Richter and his mother was Anna Maria. The godfather was Johann Jacob Drüpler, single.
A marriage record for Jörge Richter and Anna Maria Drüpler was found. They were married on 20 July 1706. The groom's father was Christoff Richter, formerly a citizen of Magdeburg, foot soldier in the royal palace guard at Siegen. The bride's father was Daniel Drüpler, citizen of Siegen. The maiden name of Anna Maria and the godfather for Johann Jacob Richter are the same, so the marriage record is most likely for John Rector's parents.
Jörge Richter, married 20 July 1706, has not been identified as related to the 1714 Richter, Johann Jacob. Since Jörge Richter's father was born in Magdeburg, and Jörge Richter himself may have been born there, very positive evidence would be needed to assert that the two Rector branches were related. Holtzclaw's conclusion was based on the similarity of names, but the dates and occupations do not agree. Until more evidence is found, the two Rector branches should be regarded as independent. The name Richter is a common name in Germany and might be likened to "Smith". We should be hesitant to say two Smith men were related until we had positive evidence of a relationship.
Anna Maria Dripler was born in 1685, an exact date not recorded, at Siegen and was baptized at the Evangelical Church in Siegen on 13 Dec 1685. Her father was Daniel Dripler and her mother was Anna Barba. The godmother was Anna Maria, daughter of Herman Drüpler.
Mr. McJohn gives credit to William H. Rector for assistance in this research.
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.