(I am starting a new mini-series of notes in which I will attempt to list the places in "Germany" associated with the Germanna immigrants. I will start with the First Colony, i.e., those that came to Virginia in 1714. One of the points of difficulty is a lack of information, i.e., we could wish there were more. But let's have a go and see how it comes out.)
Hans Jacob Holzklau , the immigrant, was born in 1683, at Trupbach, and was christened at Siegen. This is a typical pattern, in that more than one geographical locality may be associated with one person. In this case, the village of Trupbach is about three miles west of the center of the old city of Siegen. With growth through the centuries, the area between these two is almost filled in, which obscures the separate identity of the geographical locations. Still yet another village to be associated with Jacob Holtzclaw is Oberfischbach (about three miles west of Trupbach), where he succeeded his brother, Johannes, as schoolmaster, in 1708. This same year, he married Anna Margaret Otterbach, of Trupbach. Two children, Johannes and Johann Henrich, were born at Oberfischbach, in 1709 and 1711. Hans Jacob lived at Oberfischbach up to the time he left for America. So, for the Holtzclaw family, we could list Trupbach, Siegen, and Oberfischbach as three locations of immediate interest.
Hans Jacob Richter , the immigrant, was born in 1674. His parents were living in Trupbach, where the father, Christopher, was a clockmaker. Hans Jacob married Elisabeth Fischbach at Trupbach. She was the daughter of Philipp Fischbach. They continued to live at Trupbach, for he sold his house (under the name of Hans Jacob Fischbach) in 1713 to his brother, Johannes Richter. Hans Jacob was admitted to the Guild of Steelsmiths and Toolmakers of the Freudenberg District as a toolmaker. Apparently, he specialized in clocks and did some work with locks, for members of Guild of Locksmiths complained, i.e., sued, to have him forbidden from making locks. For the Rectors, a visit to Trupbach is essential. (I believe that their home was identifiable but that it has been destroyed within the last sixty years.)
The Philipp Fischbach family was also from Trupbach. Though they came to Virginia as one family, the two sons were each the head of a family within a few years in Virginia (before the move to Germantown), while the father, Philipp, died (and is not represented at Germantown). Philipp Fischbach himself was born at Seelbach, in 1661, and he married Elsbeth, daughter of Johannes Heimbach of Trupbach. Of seven children born to the parents at Trupbach, five of them were immigrants to Virginia. The other two children are believed to have died young, for no later records of them have been found. The village of Seelbach is very close to the villages that have been mentioned. It is a few miles south of Trupbach, and about halfway between Siegen and Oberfischbach.
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.