I will attempt to follow a chronological sequence in visiting the villages in Germany from whence the Germanna Colonists came. The next group, after the First Colony, was the Second Colony, where the constituent membership has its uncertainties. I have discussed the claims of many potential members of the Colony without resolving the questions.
One group with a very solid claim came from the small village of Neuenbürg in the Kraichtal, which is not to be confused with a nearby area called the Kraichgal. Because of the shifting political winds in the areas which became Germany, it is possible to have nearby villages with the same name. Neuenbürg exists as two locations, only about twenty miles apart. The one that we want is the smaller of the two. Some confusion has arisen because the smaller Neuenbürg has only a Catholic church in the village. The church records which Margaret James Squires found are for a Evangelical Church, i.e., a Lutheran church. Yet I feel confident that this is the correct location because of the statement made by Zacharias Blankenbaker in his naturalization. He said he came from land of the " Bishops of Speyer ". That is, he had been born on lands belonging to the Catholic Church. Looking at maps of the time (early eighteenth century), the smaller Neuenbürg was on just such lands, while the larger Neuenbürg was in Baden.
This Neuenbürg is very small. Even today it is hardly more than a wide spot in the road. So when the 1717 emigrants left, it was quite noticeable (assuming they actually did live in town). Two "families" left. One was headed by Anna Barbara Schöne who was now married to her third husband, Cyriacus Fleischmann . By her first husband, Johann Thomas Blanckenbühler , four children came. Hans Balthasar, Hans Matthias, Hans Nicholas, and Anna Maria. By her second husband, Johann Jacob Schluchter , a son, Heinrich Schluchter, came. By her third husband, there were two children, Maria Catharina and Hans Peter. To the best of our knowledge, these were all of her children.
Some of Anna Barbara's children were already parents themselves. Anna Maria had married Johannes Thoma[s] . They brought two children with them, Hans Wendel and Anna Magdalena. Hans Nicholas had married Apollonia Käfer and they brought Zacharias. Hans Matthias has married Anna Maria Mercklin and they were the parents in Germany (at Oberderdingen) of Hans Jerg (George). No marriage was found for Hans Balthasar in Germany but he entered Virginia with a wife. Apollonia Käfer's brother, Wolf Michael, apparently was a member of this subgroup also. He entered Virginia at the same time as the rest of the group. (Within a few years he became the husband of Anna Maria Blanckenbühler, after her husband, Johannes Thomas, died).
The decision to emigrate was very much a family decision, and the entire family, of two generations of descendants of Anna Barbara, came along.
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.