Many Germans made a mark as colonizers, promoters, frontiersmen, or politicians. We know Christoph von Graffenried, Jost Hite, Johann Lederer, Franz Pastorius, the Weisers (father and son). I have mentioned Hans Herr, and perhaps Martin Kendig. I don't think that I have spoken of John Augustus Sutter, whose misfortune was to have gold discovered on his property.
In Governors, Pennsylvania leads with the most and Wisconsin comes behind that. Both of these states had a large German population, so this is no surprise; however, Arkansas did not have a large German element, yet they have had four German governors. Two of these we know well, William Meade Fishback and Henry Massey Rector (were there more than this from Germanna?). Two other German governors in Arkansas were James Eagle and Winthrop Rockefeller, though it must be admitted that the latter is the eighth generation from the immigrant. Another Germanna descendant who was in a governor's chair was James Lawson Kemper of Virginia.
A couple of famous jurists were Felix Frankfurter (the immigrant himself) and Louis Dembritz Brandeis (a second generation immigrant). A Wanamaker is in this group also. In the lawyers, we have Wendell Willkie (the Republican convention that nominated him was in 1940, which was my introduction to politics).
In this century we have had two Presidents of the United States of German descent, Dwight David Eisenhower and Herbert Clark Hoover.
In the category of Other, we have Bernard Baruch (second generation), Eugene Debs (2nd ), J. Edgar Hoover (6th), and two Henry Morgenthaus (1st and 2nd ). The names that I have given in this note come from eight pages of names so there has been no lack of names. I have chosen a few that people who listened to the Republican convention in 1940 might remember the best.
Many Germans had no particular desire to make a big mark in the world. They wanted their own corner of the land that they could call their own and where they could raise a family. Often they had little interest in government. More likely, if they turned to anything besides farming, it was to the ministry.
One of the names that I gave today was Hans Herr. His major motivation was to establish a community where he and his co-religionists could worship as they pleased without interference. At the same time, they could set their roots down on ground that they controlled.
Germans left their names on towns all across the country. Examples include Stuttgart, Brunswick, Germantown(s), Palatine, Schaumberg, Bern, New Bern, Frankfort, Frederick, Hagerstown, New Ulm, Hershey, Manheim, Berlin (and Berwin), usw. (und so weiter = et cetera) They even gave their name to some of the English royal families. (02 Aug 00)
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.