After Balthasar Blankenbaker and Lewis Fisher, in John Michell’s precinct, came the two brothers of Balthasar, Matthais and Nicholas. Next was George Scheible, and I believe the Scheible and Blankenbaker families had been traveling together, since they had been on adjoining farms in Gresten, Austria. They were still together after a series of moves.
The next tract should have been the Thomas tract, but John Thomas has his own land by this time. His brother Michael might have been about 19 years old, but apparently he was not an independent head of household yet. It appears that a Conrad Pater was living on the Thomas land, probably as a renter, because John Thomas sold his half of the land to his brother Michael a little later. The identity of Conrad Pater is unknown. Any ideas as to his true identity would be welcome.
After the Thomas tract, came the stepfather of the Blankenbakers, Cyriacus Fleshman. Apparently he had a son-in-law living on his tract, Jacob Broyle (Hans Jacob Broyles). Also, Peter Fleshman was on the tract. Then came Richard Burdyne, who had married Catherine Tanner. Robert Tanner sold his original 216 acre patent to Richard Burdyne, so the location of Burdyne is where Tanner was originally located. John Willheit was next on the list, and he was followed by Michael Clore. Then follow a series of names, Martin Dattuck, Michael O’Neal, George Taylor, William Martin, Zachary Martin, Fenly (?) McTolefter (?), Nicholas Coplin, and Nicholas Copin. (No, I did not stutter, the last name is duplicated, once with three tithes, and once with one tithe.)
Then comes David Yowell, John Kynes, Christopher Yowell, John Thomas, and Henry Sluter. The last name is probably Henry Schlucter who was the (half) uncle of John Thomas. Henry was the son of Anna Barbara Schöne by her second husband. Then came John Zimmerman, who married a cousin of John Thomas.
We have looked at two of the precincts (there would have been many more than this to account for all of Orange County). In these lists we have the following items to ponder: Two Lewis Fishers, two Theobald Crislers, Christley Broyles, Conrad Pater, George Tanner, and Henry Crowder. I invite comments from one and all concerning these questions.
One can see why I like the tithe lists. They serve to humble us, even if the problem was in the original list, and not in our knowledge. In addition to the extra names, there are some missing names.
Several names, John Dotson, John Sutton, Robert Hutchison, Joseph Bloodworth, and Thomas Canely follow in the list. I am inclined to believe that, except for Joseph Bloodworth, these were English names. Any information about them would be appreciated. Then follow three Germans, John Full (Vogt), Christian Clemon (Kleman), and Jacob Manspoil. That is the apparent end of John Mickell’s precinct.
If anyone can comment about the reasons that an individual was living at a particular location, please tell us. Note that geography and being related by blood or marriage were often coupled.
(06 Dec 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.