John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 1251
We are at the half century mark again, which calls for a survey of what the notes are all about. Of course, they are about Germanna. Recently we had some discussion of whether some names are Germanna names. Not all German names are Germanna names. Nor are all Germanna names German.
Schäfer is a probably a German name but to the best of my knowledge it is not a Germanna name. The Burdyne family members are Germanna descendants, even though the name Burdyne name is probably not German. But I believe it is probable that all of the Burdyne family have an ancestor with a full claim to Germanna membership, namely Catherine Tanner. (Some researchers do not accept this as a proven fact.) And, of course, the name Tanner demonstrates that not all Germanna members spell their name in the German fashion.
A Germanna descendant should have at least one ancestor from Germany who lived in the Germanna area. This area is, for all practical purposes, the modern Virginia counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, and Culpeper. Some bonifide Germanna people lived in the area that is now encompassed by the four preceding counties, but these present-day counties had other names at the time. For example, John Gerhard lived in Orange County, but not in the counties above, as he moved away before they were formed. Some of them may have lived in Essex County, or in Spotsylvania County, but never in the later counties.
This is the narrow definition; however, it is not profitable to confine our attention that strictly. We know that several of our Germanna members lived in other areas before they were qualified to be called Germanna members. And certainly some of our people moved to other areas, say East Tennessee. Some of the material discussed here may be of interest to other people. If it is, they are welcome to participate.
I wish that I could write more about the individual families. But, essentially, I have to leave that task to the other subscribers of the Germanna Colonies Mailing List at Rootsweb. And such contributions are welcomed. It does not have to be a statement; it can be a question. The List is meant to be the means of exchanging information. Unless you take the lead and let people know what you are interested in, how will they know?
Sometimes I do touch on families, but mostly I must confine myself to general statements that apply to many families. Please do not let that cause you to think that family information is not welcome. Or if you like to express yourself in broader statements, beyond individual families, please do not think that I claim any preemption rights.
And if your area of interest is in the counties above, do not feel that you must have a Germanna family to participate. We are studying the community. Certainly for the present we do not know all of the interactions.
(05 Sep 01)