Timothy Swindle, who lived in the Robinson River Valley, was probably not a German. However, he married a German, Rebecca Crees (Crease, Crest, Criece, Greys), who was clearly a German. Her origins have been discovered in Germany by Cerni and Zimmerman. Rebecca's father was Lorentz or Lawrence.
The marriage of Timothy Swindell and Rebecca Crees is established by the deed of gift for 200 acres of land by Lawrence Crees to Rebecca Swindell and her husband, Timothy Swindell. This was in 1762. The Germanna Records have very little to say about the Swindell family, but see Germanna Record Six, page 70. There is more good information in the German Lutheran Church records. Whereas B. C. Holtzclaw could discern three sons, Michael, John, and George, the church records present clear evidence of five children, adding Sarah and Rebecca to the three sons just mentioned. This may not be an exhaustive count.
Recently there was a discussion as to whom John Fray married. Some researchers have said that he married Rebecca Yowell.
Let us review where this thought originated. Virginia Fray Lewis, in her book, " A History & Genealogy of John Fray of Culpeper Co., Virginia ", stated that it was a tradition within the Fray family that John Fray's wife was Rebecca Yowell, the daughter of Nicholas Yowell. No evidence beyond this assertion was given by her. There is at least one printed Yowell genealogy, and it does not even note there was a Rebecca Yowell.
Several times, Mrs. Lewis has been proven to be wrong. She was not the most reliable researcher. For example, she confused the Zimmerman and Carpenter families, and makes other mistakes. (The first party of Zimmerman emigrants kept the Zimmerman name; the second party of Zimmerman emigrants, to avoid confusion between the two unrelated families, adopted the name "Carpenter", which is what Zimmerman translates to in English. Many researchers, such as Mrs. Lewis, have mixed up these two distinct families, putting members of one family group in the other family group, and vice versa, and generally making a genealogical mess, which later researchers have had to straighten out.)
B.C. Holtzclaw doubted the statement by Mrs. Lewis, "...it was a tradition within the Fray family that John Fray's wife was Rebecca Yowell...".
In opposition to Mrs. Lewis' assertion, which lacks any support, there is excellent evidence, from the German Lutheran Church (Hebron) records, which says that Rebecca was a Swindle. We will take a look at this evidence in the next note.
(Mrs. Fray is buried in the Hebron cemetery, even though she was apparently not a resident of Virginia. She had been living in San Diego prior to her death. She may have been a member of the church at one time though, since membership in the church is a prerequisite to purchasing a lot as the original buyer.)
(20 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.