The first child of John Hoffman and Maria Sabina Volck was Nicholas, born (apparently) and baptized 11 Jul 1731. His witnesses were Nichlaus Jaeger, Baltz Blankenbuechler and "the mother of my wife".
For each child of the first wife, Anna Catherina Häger, only one witness was present or named. This witness was always a relative, counting a brother-in-law of the mother, John Fishback, as a relative. Why was the switch made to multiple witnesses, usually three? Possibly, it was the desire of Maria Sabina, who was baptized in the Lutheran church. We have seen that the Lutherans tended to three or four witnesses. Many of the baptisms that B. C. Holtzclaw quotes from the Reformed churches in the Siegen area seem to have only one. So the three witnesses when Maria Sabina was the mother may reflect her desire for that number.
In general, one of the witnesses was always a relative, namely, "the mother of my wife", who, in this case, was now Mrs. George Utz. But, what about Nicholas Jaeger and Balthasar Blankenbaker? With respect to Balthasar, his wife is unknown, but the patterns of many events in his life would indicate that she was related to Mrs. Utz, or to the Volcks. Probably John and Maria Sabina Hoffman were choosing a relative, but we just don’t know how Baltz was related.
Notice that the first child of Maria Sabina was named for Nicholas Jäger. If Balthasar were a relative, it is even more likely that Nicholas was a relative, since he was the one who was honored by having the first child named after him. We think that we know who Nicholas’ wives were, but the suggestion from these baptisms is that we may not know as much as we should.
For the next seven children (all sons), the pattern of witnesses does not change. The fourth son is named for Baltz. For the ninth child, another son, Tilman, there is a change in the witnesses. The "mother of my wife" is replaced by the wife of Baltz Blankenbaker. This strongly suggests that Baltz was related to the parents through his wife.
For the tenth child, Elizabeth, the witnesses are Nicholas, his wife Susanna, and Anna Margaretha, the wife of Baltz. Susanna’s family is known; she was born a Clore, married a Weaver and then a Crigler, before marrying Nicholas Jäger. Her inclusion here is "obviously" on the basis of her husband’s connection.
For the eleventh child, Anna Margaretha, the witnesses were Baltz, his wife Anna Margaretha, and the wife of Nicholas Jäger. For the twelfth child, Maria, the witnesses were Nichlaus Jäger, hid wife, Georgia, and the wife of Baltz Blankenbuechler. The name Georgia seems to be a mistake, since we were expecting Nicholas’ wife to be Susanna; but, again, we may not know all there is to know. When the daughter Maria was just shy of twenty-one years of age, her father John Hoffman died.
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.