The Spotsylvania Court [Order Book 1730 to 1738, page 337] notes that Michael Holt, Michael Smith, and Michael Clore, on behalf of themselves and the rest of the Germans, seated by the great Mountains on the Robinson River . . . have set forth that they have a minister (the Rev. Augustine Stover) who(m) they accommodate . . .
The court order goes on to state that the Germans want a letter of recommendation to the Gov. in order to obtain a recommendation from him for the planned trip to Germany. They did get both the court recommendation and the recommendation from the (Lt.) Gov. The mystery for us, is why Rev. Stöver is referred to as Augustine. Explanations have been put forth but I was never satisfied with the reason offered. Recently I heard another explanation, from Andreas Mielke, which to me is the best explanation that I have heard.
Our Germanna Lutheran people usually did not refer to themselves as Lutherans. That term was strange to them. They used instead the word "Evangelical". This spelling is the English word, but the German word would be recognized immediately as it is quite similar. This distinction was applied to all of the Protestant branches. If one wished to distinguish the Reformed Church, one would add "Reformed" after Evangelical. The Lutherans usually added nothing to Evangelical.
The "Lutherans" in the Robinson River Valley made reference to their adherence to the "unaltered Augsburg confession". This was how they distinguished themselves. They were followers of the original Augsburg confession. The suggestion was made, and I believe that it merits honest consideration, that Stöver probably had referred to himself as an adherent of the Augsburg confession. Down at the courthouse, they were confused (there are other instances where the English clerks were confused by the statements of the Germans) and mistook the allegiance for his name. Since Augsburg was not a name they knew, they changed it into something that sounded more probable, namely Augustine.
Take or leave it. It is the best explanation that I have heard and, with a high probability, is the correct explanation.
Talking of ministers, I was reading bits of the day book, or diary, of Rev. Kocherthal, who ministered to the Germans along the Hudson River. He came the year before the influx of Germans in 1710, in which Johann Friedrich Häger, son of Rev. Johann Henrich Häger of the First Germanna Colony, came. Because Frederick Häger had been ordained by the Church of England, there is a question as to whether he should be called a Reformed minister (his original ordination). Rev. Kocherthal is quite clear about how he viewed the situation. He calls Rev. Häger "Reformed".
There was a term which is confusing. Rev. Kocherthal refers to people as being "Episcopalian" which meant Catholics.
(22 Feb 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.