John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1249

The September issue of Beyond Germanna was mailed to subscribers Thursday.  A few received it Friday, more Saturday, and some will receive it after Labor Day.  On the whole, I am rather proud of the issue, for two very important stories that it carries.

Johni Cerny and Gary Zimmerman had found the Blankenbakers in Neuenbürg, as had several other people.  They went on to say that the family originated in Gresten, Austria.  From the similarity of the names in these two locations, it was not hard to believe that Gresten was the origin; however, there was no solid proof of this.

In the Gresten Catholic Church records, which was the only game in town after 1630, Cerny and Zimmerman constructed the outline of two families who might have been brothers.  Since Matthias of Neuenbürg was born about 1621, the Catholic church records could not be used to assign him to one of these Gresten families, with any assurance that the assignment was correct.  In fact, it was not even certain that Matthias did come from Gresten.

Thanks to the efficient and productive help of Eva May, I was put into contact with Richard Plankenbühler of Nürnberg (don’t confuse this big town with the village above).  Richard and his wife Gisela had the information that was needed to clarify the situation.  The information had not been easy to obtain, and had depended in part on the work of Pastor Kruh, who had photographed records in Gresten.

It is now known what the relationship was between Matthias of Neuenbürg (the ancestor of the American "Blankenbakers") and the people in Gresten.  He did come from there.

Along the way, I was in contact with Karl Blankenbühler of Karlsruhe, who is probably a cousin of the America Blankenbakers, perhaps to a degree closer than to Richard above.  Richard and John were able to work out their relationship, which is that they are half-ninth cousins.  We know our common ancestor, and we know the house he was living in, in 1600 (which still stands, I am told).

Also another man, whom I was able to contact, was William Blankenbehler of California, who is a closer cousin of Richard.

The second important story is that the communion lists at Hebron Lutheran church have been used to find the wife of Peter Fleshman, Sr., who was a young boy when he came to Virginia.  The arguments are involved with a lot of detail, but I have no doubts about the conclusions.  She is named in the story, so subscribers will be learning her name.

If you want to talk about these events, I am going to the East Tennessee Germanna Descendants Reunion next weekend.  I do not anticipate that these topics will be the subjects of my formal talk, but I will be around most of Saturday for discussions.
(Note from SgtGeorge:  John, several local "Germannans", and I will be at the church early on Saturday, even though the official start time is 12:00 Noon.  This "early" get-together will be a good time to get acquainted, compare ancestors, etc.)
(01 Sep 01)