The question was raised recently about the parentage of James Wesley Gaar, who was born 17 Aug 1810, in the Germanna Gaar family. The " Garr Genealogy " does not list this James Wesley Gaar. There are other mysteries in this family also. I recap the known evidence, as given by Shirley Venrick in vol. 12, the number 2 issue, of Beyond Germanna .
James Wesley Gaar was born 17 Aug 1810. He married Lourena Wilhoit on 23 Sep 1835. She was born 8 Dec 1817. All of these dates are taken from a family Bible. The Bible also states that Lourena's mother was Mary Wilhoit, who was born in 1776. It gives no father for Lourena. This is mystery number two in this family.
Mary (Blankenbaker) Wilhoit was the daughter of Michael Blankenbaker and Elizabeth Barbara Garr. She was probably born about 1754, even though the Garr Genealogy lists her birth year as 1747. However, the authors of the Garr Genealogy were in error on several birth years in this family, as can be shown by reference to the Hebron lists of people being confirmed. Mary married Daniel Wilhoit, a son of John Wilhoit and Walburga (Burga) Weaver.
A daughter of Daniel and Mary was another Mary, born 25 September 1776 and baptized 27 Oct 1776. The Garr Genealogy lists this Mary as unmarried. Apparently she never was, but she was the mother of Lourena, as stated in the family Bible. With an unknown father, and with the parentage of James Wesley Garr unknown, the descendants of James Wesley Garr and Lourena Wilhoit know only one quarter of their possible Germanna ancestors.
The family of James Wesley Garr and Lourena is found in the 1850 census of Madison County, Virginia. The youngest child then is Henry, age 3. The parents moved to Indiana, and are in the 1870 census in Delaware County. Nine of the twelve children are in the home, ranging in age from 34 down to 6. The names of the children, from the Bible record, are:
The facts given are supported by the marriage license for James Wesley Garr and Lourena Wilhoit, which is dated 22 Sep 1835. The death certificate for Lourena Garr (she died 16 Aug 1905) in Indiana confirms the information for her.
Perhaps, there might be
some
hope of find James Wesley Garr's parents. The hope would be
very slim
for finding the father of Lourena Wilhoit.
(16 Mar 02)
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.