Though the Church Register of the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley was primarily for baptisms, it does contain other material. One part, with the most genealogical information, is the list of communicants. Another part has the names of newly confirmed people, sometimes with their age. Both of the sections start about 1775, and continue into the 1800's. A list of communicants consists of the names of people who partook of communion on any given Sunday. Again, as with the baptisms, there is a tremendous amount of implicit information that goes far beyond the explicit list of names.
In conjunction with another document, it is possible, for example, to determine the wife of John Willheit, son of the immigrant Johann Michael Willheit and his wife Anna Maria Hengsteler. That there should be any question, arises from Germanna Record 13, which says that she was Margaret, or Peggy, the daughter of Peter and Mary (Huffman) Weaver, Jr. There is only one problem. This woman would have been much too young. In fact, she would have been younger than some of her children!
Looking at the names of the communicants, John Willheit, and wife Burga, attended the Lutheran Church on Easter Sunday in 1776. None of the grandsons of Michael Willheit had wives whose names suggest Burga. Therefore, this John Willheit is the son of the immigrant. It furthermore is confirmed by the age of the people who sat next to John and Burga on this Easter Sunday. They were of an age similar to John Willheit, who was born in 1713. On the Sunday after Easter in 1778, the name Burga Willheit was recorded again, though without John.
Two documents outside the Hebron Church have information about the Weber or Weaver family. One list, in Gemmingen, Germany, had the names, in part, of Joseph Weber, 30; Susanna, 25; Hans Dieterich, 7; and Sophia, 4. These people left in 1717.
Alexander Spotswood's list of forty-eight imported Germans gives the Weber family as Joseph Wever, Susanna Wever, Hans Frederick Wever, Maria Sophia Wever, and Wabburie Wever. The equivalence of the two families is obvious if we note that Wabburie was added during the trip, i.e., she was born "at sea".
Now, neither Burga or Wabburie is a proper German name. They both suggest a known German name of Walburga (or Waldburga). Therefore, John Willheit married Walburga Weaver, the daughter of Joseph Weaver and his wife Susanna Clore. Walburga had a surviving brother, Hans Dieterich, who became known as Peter. The fate of Sophia is unknown. The age of Walburga Weaver is correct, as she was four years younger than John Willheit.
The two extraneous documents told us there was a Burga. The church records told us she married John Willheit. A study of the community told us that there were no other Walburgas.
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.