There is plenty of confusion when talking about the Huffmans just because there are so many of them in separate branches, perhaps branches that are not even related. Whenever one visits the cemeteries around Siegen, one certainly sees Hofmann stones which show the widespread distribution. The modern spelling is varied there also, as some of the names have two f ’s. The first vowel though is always an o , never a u .
Two of the easiest Huffmans in America to confuse are Henry Huffman, of the Robinson River Valley, and Henry Huffman, of the Little Fork. The last note discussed the former. The Little Fork Henry came to America, via Philadelphia, in 1734. No relationship to other Germanna families is known, but the ship brought a group from Nassau-Siegen, many of whom settled in the Little Fork.
A brother of the Little Fork Henry, Matthias, came in 1737, also through Philadelphia. Matthias became a Moravian and lived in Pennsylvania, apparently at Bethlehem. How this came about is unknown. It would appear that Mathias had been here a while before he became a Moravian, as the Moravians were not that active in America in 1737. When the Moravian Brothers visited Germantown or the Little Fork in Virginia, they always brought greetings from Matthias to Henry.
Henry and Matthias were from Bockseifen, not many miles northwest of Siegen, and just north of Freudenberg.
Apparently, the children of Henry and his wife, Margaretha Hüttenhen, were born in Virginia, which means there is no church record where we can find their baptisms. B. C. Holtzclaw gave the children as Tillman, John, Mary, Elizabeth, Joseph, Alice, James, a 2nd Elizabeth, Susannah, Catherine, Eve, Harman, and Henry.
The Little Fork was popularized among the Nassau-Siegen people as a result of the early grants to Jacob Holtzclaw (in 1729) and John Fishback (in 1730), of the 1714 group. Holtzclaw was an active agent in recruiting new additions to Virginia, and many of these settled in the Little Fork and gave it a German flavor. The Little Fork is in Culpeper County today, but in 1734 it was in the newly formed county of Orange.
These two Henry Huffmans are easy to confuse; I know because I have done so. The two never lived in the same area, and were probably not related. They are usually distinguished by their geographical location.
(26 Jan 01)
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.