John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 1351
At the half-century points in this series, it is customary to comment on the purpose and aims of these notes. The purpose is
not
to give me an outlet for my opinions, but to enhance interest in the Germanna Colonies Mailing List. The higher the readership, the better the chances are that someone will answer questions, send an interesting tidbit of information, or prove to be a cousin.
The Germanna Colonies are blessed by having so much information available which pertains to them. Our history is rich and full of significant events and facts. Many of you are mostly interested in your family history. While our information in that area is not perfect, it is extensive, and new information, and means of interpretation, constantly arise.
In the last few notes we were talking about the fifty or so ancestors of Andreas Gaar, and his wife Eva Seidelmann. This is fantastic. Whether it can be matched by others is not known, but it gives us a vision of what might be possible.
How we might pursue these objectives among all of the families is not clear. We could do more and perhaps organize ourselves better. In the meantime we have this communication means to help us organize. Recently, it appears that a Mini-Reunion of descendants is being planned for Texas. That is an excellent purpose of this list.
We need to set some bounds for our hopes, as pertains to just which individuals we are talking about. I have defined the Germanna Colonists as people living on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountain in Virginia, who had at least one ancestor, either male or female, from a German-speaking country (Germany, Switzerland, or Austria). We now know that many of these people did not come directly to Virginia. Some lived in other Colonies before they arrived in Virginia. And, some of them did not stay in Virginia for long. So, time of arrival, first settlement, or length of stay are not critical.
One consequence of this broadness is that we have subscribers whose interest in the Virginia counties of Madison, Rappahannock, Culpeper, and Fauquier is minimal. But, if they find something here, they are welcome. As we say, "We will leave the light burning." Sometimes we will have questions posed to the list which seem far afield, but this is just a part of a good neighbor policy. A neighbor may be a cousin, and probably is. We just need to find out
how
we are cousins.
The Germanna Foundation provides a meeting place for all of us cousins to meet each other face to face. Don't forget the Reunion this July.
(05 Feb 02)