The Henry and Susanna Miller family, mentioned here in the last note, has an interesting set of baptismal recordings for their children at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley (often called Hebron). First, there are things recorded for them that no family in this time period has. For the first three children, the parents are the sponsors. This is in the 1750 decade and other families did not do this until about 1790. In fact, the church would not allow it in the 1750 decade. As to how this could come about is hinted at by the baptism of Sophia which took place in Lancaster County (PA). The children for whom the parents are sponsors were not baptized in the Hebron Church. However, four of the children definitely have sponsors from the Hebron Church. Two baptisms are indeterminate as to where they occurred.
For George and Margret, twins, the sponsors were Johannes Schwarbach (the pastor) and wife Margretha, Georg Utz and his wife Marg., and Adam Wayland. For the daughter Elizabeth it was Adam Wayland and his wife Elisabetha. The same sponsors were used for the son Adam. For Anna, the sponsors were Christoph Blankenb. and his wife Christina along with Adam Wayland. For two children, where the location of the baptism is less certain, the sponsor for one was Jacob Mayer and his wife Marg. Jacob possibly served also for another child (the records are indistinct).
The common thread among the sponsors is not obvious at first. But remember that George Utz, the immigrant, married a Mayer/Meyer. We do not know whom Balthasar Blankenbaker married but the circumstantial evidence is strongly in favor of her being a Mayer. How does Balthasar fit into the picture? Well, his daughter, Elisabeth, married Adam Wayland. It appears that the common thread is the Mayer name.
How does Christopher Blankenbaker fit in? He was a first cousin to Elisabeth Blankenbaker Wayland. So when Elisabeth couldn't serve with Adam, an almost-as-good-as-the-original substitution was made. Christopher took Elisabeth's place.
A secondary thread among the sponsors is Christina Blankenbaker who was born a Fink. By 1772 when Christina appeared at the church, one did not find many Finks at the church. That is another story in itself but it shows there was a powerful force urging Christina to act as a sponsor.
The reason that the Millers had been introduced into this picture is they were an example of someone who moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia. We weren't sure about the reason. I just want to suggest that family relationships, hidden to us now, may have played their part.
(02 Jul 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.