I want to return to the Thomas families, but let me take one Note to report on the Fleshman Reunion in Lewisburg, which is in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
I took about an hour while there to scan the local telephone book for what could be Germanna names. I knew a few that I was expecting, but I was surprised at how many of the names could potentially be Germanna names. The names are:
| Arbaugh | Ballenger | Barlow | Bender | Berry | Broyles |
| Bunger | Deahl/Diehl | Fleshman | Gabbert | Gearhart | Kemper |
| Koontz | Lipp/Lipps | Manspile | Marr | Niswander | Painter |
| Riner | Rookstool | Souther | Vaught | Vaughan | Wilhite |
| Yeager/Yaeger | Wolfenbarger | Ziegler |
Not all of these names have a German origin but some of the families have become so involved with the Germans that they have acquired the patina of being Germanna names. I skipped over the Carpenters, Smiths, Cooks, Thomases, Fishers, Longs, Huffmans, Tanners, Weavers, and Zimmermans, even though the latter are German names. They have so many origins that it would not be possible to quickly say whether they have a Germanna basis.
It is rather interesting to me that I have pointed out recently that Lipps, Diehls, and Longs have a presence in the neighborhood of Neuenbuerg, where the Fleischmanns last lived in Germany.
I thought the talks after the Saturday night dinner were good. (You don't think that I would do things like that unless I truly enjoyed it, do you?)
I had never been in Lewisburg before. I have read about Greenbrier County so many times that I wanted to see it. Driving into town, but especially in driving out to the grave site of Robert Fleshman, gave me a better view. Robert Fleshman was one of the six children of Peter Fleshman and Maria Sophia Weaver. Robert married Dorothea Baumgartner. Most of the Fleshmans who live in Greenbrier County are descended from this Robert so they tend to think of it as a Robert Fleshman Reunion. However, both Thom Faircloth, who gave a lecture, and myself tried to emphasize the larger setting of which Robert Fleshman was a part.
The grave of Robert Fleshman had been lost. One story is that, thanks to a coon hunter, there was a recollection of the general location atop a knoll; however, the grave stone proved elusive to find until two corners of it were spotted poking out of a tree. An R and an F could be detected. The residue of the stone was cut out of the tree. Then descendants erected a new monument which incorporated the pieces from the original stone. The site is rather inaccessible, but we got a ride in a four-wheel drive vehicle up the knoll.
A very special pleasure for me was meeting Larry Shuck for the first time.
(06 Aug 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.