Recently, there was a mention of the Rev. Daniel Huffman. He seems to be the son of John, who was the son of the immigrant John Huffman and his first wife, Anna Catherina Häger. The Culpeper Classes of 1781 list no Daniel. This is possibly evidence that he was on duty at that time with the American forces, but it cannot be taken as evidence of that. It is possible that he had a physical disability that excused him from militia service.
There is one Daniel Hufmann in the Culpeper tax list of 1787. He appears to be living on the tract which his grandfather patented, as there were twenty-two Huffmans that the roll-taker visited on the one day, April 19.
Besides the civil records, there is one record of Daniel Huffman at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley. This is a record of the baptism of Dina, who was born October 13, and baptized November 14, 1784. The father was Daniel, and the mother was Magdalena. The sponsors were Joseph Hofman and Anna Margaretha Bongert (Bunger). Daniel Huffman had a brother, Joseph, and Magdalena had a sister, Anne Margaret. It seems fairly certain that Daniel had married Magdalena Bunger. The sponsors would be very classical. That the year of birth was 1784, is problematic. In this section of the baptismal register, space had grown very scarce and entries were made where space could be found, not necessarily where the year was correct. Nothing in the record gives a year, only a year date is written on the page. One reason for being slightly nervous about the year being 1784 is that marriage licenses started in Culpeper County in 1781 (I think) and there is no record of Daniel and Magdalena.
There is a later marriage record for the same, or another, Daniel who married Marg. Bingard in 1790. I would be inclined to interpret this as the same Daniel who is now marrying the sister of his deceased wife, Magdalena, except there is excellent evidence of another Daniel who was the son of George (the son of the immigrant John and his second wife, Maria Sabina Volck). This Daniel was born in 1764, and would have been 16 or 17 at the time of the enumeration of the Culpeper Classes. He might have escaped from the enumeration. Only one Daniel is in the 1787 tax list, and it may be this Daniel.
B. C. Holtzclaw (Germanna Record 3, p.46) equates the names Baumgardner and Bungard, which is an error, as these are two separate families. Also, when he discussed the baptismal record quoted above, he said that Anne Margaret was a wife of Joseph Huffman, even though Anne Margaret’s name was given as Bunger. These things have led to some confusion.
Some people have claimed that Henry Huffman (Robinson River) had a son Daniel. If he did, it seems that this Daniel might have turned up in the Culpeper Classes, and certainly in the tax list of 1787, but he does not. Therefore, it is unlikely that Henry had a son Daniel.
(27 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.