John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 682

Starting with Christmas in 1775, there are lists of communicants at the German Lutheran Church (Hebron) in today's Madison County, Virginia.  One can look at these lists of names as boring reading, or as a gold mine .  I prefer the latter interpretation.  After a few readings, I was struck by the high probability, especially among the singles, that the Reiner and Cook names would be associated.

In 1775, the seating in the church building was divided into three sections (this was before the church was extended to the south).  On the main floor, the seating was used by married couples who came as a couple.  Above the main floor, there were two balconies, one at each end of the building.  (The pulpit was in the middle of one of the longer sides.)  When communion was held, the first group of people to go to the altar was the married people.  Then the single men went to the altar followed by the single women (the order of the single men and single women might be reversed).

The communicants were in the order of their seating and this was strongly influenced by family relationships.  For example, the members of the Weaver family might sit together.  During the communion, people went to the altar, pew by pew, in an orderly way.  Now look at these subgroups of communicants.

• Group 1 (Christmas 1775) :
  • Mary Reiner,
  • Susanna Perry,
  • Margaret Cook,
  • Eva Bohm,
  • Barbara Cook.

• Group 2 (also Christmas 1775) :
  • Magdalena Cook,
  • Barbara Cook,
  • Veronica Hirsch,
  • Elizabeth Reiner.

• Group 3 (Pentecost 1776) :
  • Magdalena Cook,
  • Elizabeth Reiner.

• Group 4 (Easter 1777) :
  • John Cook,
  • John Reiner,
  • Eberhard Reiner.

• Group 5 (also Easter 1777) :
  • Barbara Cook,
  • Magdalena Cook,
  • Mary Reiner,
  • Barbara Cook.

If you spot a Reiner, you are apt to find a Cook also.  Or if you find a Cook, the chances are good that you can find a Reiner nearby.  Without any information from Germany, one cannot define a relationship between the Reiners and the Cooks.  The occurrence of the names together at church certainly suggests there was a relationship.

In the German church records for Schwaigern, we find that Maria Barbara Reiner married Johann Michael Koch in 1716.  Michael Koch (Cook) was an immigrant to Virginia in 1717.  So, there was a Reiner presence in Virginia from the time of the Second Germanna Colony.  Then 33 years later, Mary Barbara Reiner's brother Johann Dieterich Reiner, with his family, immigrated to Virginia.  There must have been communication between the brother and sister.