John Railsback and his brother, Henry, were from the village of Eisern, the home of John Huffman of 1714 fame. It is no wonder that John Railsback settled in the Robinson River Valley, where the Huffmans and Steinseifers lived. They were fellow emigrants from Eisern. John Railsback arrived on the ship Nancy in 1750 as Johannes Reesbach. Fellow passengers on this ship included Creutz, Brumbach, Weissgerber, and Jung. These are all Germanna names. After arriving in America at Philadelphia, and going down to Virginia, John Railsback moved to Kentucky and thence to Ohio. I cite this to show that some people do get around.
Another 1750 family was the Reiner family. They had relatives in the Robinson River area. Probably they had "friends" also, for the Reiners were from Schwaigern. The first Reiner to Virginia was Frau Koch, the wife of Michael Cook, who came in 1717. She, Mary Barbara, was the sister of Hans Dieterich Reiner, the 1750 immigrant with his family.
Maria Rossel was a communicant at the German Lutheran Church. Michael Russel was a witness to the 1750 will of George Clore. Though named as executor in George Clore's will, he renounced the job. A Mary Kassel was a sponsor at the church in 1771. Probably this is a misreading of Rossel. We know little about the family, but it might be well to remember that Michael R. was prominent in the will of George Clore, whose family came from Gemmingen.
A George Slaughter had a 300-acre patent in 1733 next to Germans. At the German Lutheran Church, the name Schlatter appears several times. If the latter name were pronounced in German, an Englishman living in Virginia would probably think of Slaughter. Like many other German names, this was probably the process whereby the name slipped into a more familiar English name. Little is known about the history of the man.
John Snyder first appears in Virginia when he witnessed the will of Michael Willheit, the Germanna pioneer. Possibly John Snyder was also from Schwaigern. There was also a Philip Snyder, and both of these were probably unrelated to the 1717 Henry Snyder.
Two or three of the families that have been discussed have a Sauder in their ancestry. The name Sauder could easily become Souther or Sowder. Whether the Souther family is related to other Germanna families is unknown.
As I write these recent notes it is discouraging to realize that we know so little about so many of the Germanna families. A disproportionate share of the research has gone into the earliest families. Also, it is sad to note that the later the family came the less is known about them. There continue to be major finds but time is so short. Many of the families that we are talking about lived in areas other than the Virginia Piedmont, which is one reason that I favor a lenient attitude toward defining the boundaries of this list.
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.