Michael Thomas left few records in Virginia. He witnessed a few wills but never took up any more land beyond the patent made in his name when he was a small lad. His most ambitious plan was to join a group of men, including Pastor Klug, in a land speculation scheme in the Shenandoah Valley. Michael may have done the preliminary field work, as the description of the property includes some boundary markers with an MT on them.
Michael witnessed the will of John Harnsberger in 1750 (with George Samuel Klug and George Moyer); in 1761 he witnessed the will of Anne Mary Gabbard (with Christopher Dicken and John Clore); in 1763 he received a payment from the estate of Christopher Yowell for a debt; and he was named in 1762 as a child of Michael Käfer’s deceased wife [Anna Maria Blankenbühler]. At the church, the Thomas family is, to put it mildly, under-represented.
One son of Michael was Samuel Thomas who, according to a tombstone, was born 16 June 1740. Because Michael could hardly have been more than 20 at this time, Samuel Thomas may have one of the older children, if not the oldest. By the time of the outbreak of the Revolutionary War, the Michael Thomas family was living at Redstone Fort on Ten Mile Creek. Samuel was a friend and neighbor of William Harrod and James Harrod of Kentucky fame. Samuel was in Kentucky on several early occasions that were documented, but he did not move to Kentucky with the very first pioneers. Samuel married Rachel Perry (an aunt of Commodore Perry), with known children, Catherine; Samuel, Jr.; Rachel; Margaret; and George. About the year 1784, perhaps slightly later, he moved to Bracken Co., Kentucky, with several of his children. His daughter Catherine married Jeremiah Teagarden [I wonder how that is spelled in German], but they did not move to Kentucky with her family, even though they owned property there. One child of Jeremiah and Catherine was born on the flatboat they were using to float down the Ohio River. Rachel Thomas, the daughter of Michael, married Rev. Dr. Joseph Smith Tomlinson, a Methodist minister and president of Augusta College. A nephew of his had the name of Stephen Collins Foster.
In Kentucky, in Bracken County, William Harrod, Samuel Thomas, and Jeremiah Teagarden all had land close together.
Back in Pennsylvania, a major industry was the distillation of whiskey. Being isolated, it was difficult to ship grain to the markets. Instead, the grain was condensed to a smaller size in the form of whiskey which could be shipped more easily. At one time there were up 70 distilleries in the Ten Mile Creek area, and they developed an expertise in the making of whiskey. The whiskey rebellion, against the taxes which were placed on whiskey, centered in this area. President Washington had to send in the troops to put down the rebellion.
(27 Jul 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.