The last two notes have been talking about Martin Deer, though we have learned more about Joseph Carpenter and Benjamin Hoffman than about Martin Deer. We did learn that there was no one living more honest than Martin Deer.
Martin was born in 1755 to Martin Deer (Hirsch) and his wife _____. We have three first names associated with the elder Martin: Frances (in 1756), Veronica, and Anna Maria. There are no surnames for any of the three. Martin, Jr., married Susannah _____, and he died in 1853. He had six children, Sarah (no m.), Margaret (m. Felix Yager), Frances (m. William Zachary, and then ___ Skinner), Nancy (m. John Loyd, Jr.), Absalom (m. Elizabeth Wilson), and Fielding (who is said to have been born in 1809, with no marriage known. Since the first child, Sarah, was born in 1791 (Hebron Church Register), it appears that Martin, Jr., married rather late in life, perhaps when he was about 35 years of age. His wife Susanna must have been somewhat younger. This is about all that I know pertaining to Martin Deer, Jr.
Returning to the family of Benjamin Hoffman in the previous note, it does not agree with what B. C. Holtzclaw reports in Germanna Record 5 , see page 350. The names that Holtzclaw gives agree for Dinah, John Godfrey, Elizabeth, and a Mary. He does not mention Henry, but he does give a Sally and a Susannah. It seems strange that two children would be missing from a Bible record. Holtzclaw says that Mary Huffman married Jonas Good on 22 Oct 1827. Perhaps this is an illusion to the James Good in the Benjamin Huffman Bible record.
Two names in the Hoffman Bible record are unaccounted for. The twins, Polly and B. Mary, seem to have a father with the surname Early. But no marriage of any of the daughters of Benjamin to an Early is known. Thus, there are several points of difference between the Holtzclaw account and Bible record. On one point, Holtzclaw is clearly in error, for he surmised that Benjamin Hoffman died about 1825/26, the last year that he appeared in the Tithables.
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Of the three men we have been talking about recently, Martin Deer, Jr., and Benjamin Hoffman are in the Culpeper Classes. Joseph Carpenter is not, but we saw that he was only sixteen when the Classes were drawn up. Neither Martin nor Benjamin was selected, but both volunteered to serve later.
(07 Mar 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.