John Hoffman, of the First Colony, in his Bible recorded the fact that he married his second wife, Maria Sabina Folg, on July 13, 1729. The first child of this marriage was Nicholas, named after one of the sponsors, Nicholas Jaeger (Jäger or Yager). A second sponsor was Baltz Blankenbuechler. A third sponsor was "the mother of my wife". Since there were no Folg family in the Germanna community, the question was unanswered of who the "mother of my wife" was. For the first seven children, ending with Frederick in 1740, the "mother of my wife" was a sponsor. She presumably died between the eighth child in 1742 and Frederick in 1740. Her name was never mentioned, only the relationship is given.
Her actual identity remained a mystery until Margaret James Squires found the story in the Hüffenhardt Church Registers. The story has its complications. I start with the marriage of Johann Michael Volck to Anna Maria Unknown, about 1685. They were the parents of at least seven children, from 1687 to 1704. The death of Anna Maria Volck is not recorded in the church records, but there was much turmoil in the region and there are gaps in the church books.
Next, Johann Michael Volck (who lived on the Wagonbach farm) married Anna Barbara Majer (or Maier, or Mayer, as the "i", "j", and "y" were used interchangeably; also, a final "s" was sometimes added). This was in 1709 at Hüffenhardt. Three children were born to this marriage:
Johann Michael Volck died 7 April 1714, at the age of 51 years.
The widow, Anna Barbara (Majer) Volck married Johann Georg Utz on 10 Jul 1714. Two children were born in Germany:
The Utz family is in the head rights used by Alexander Spotswood to pay for some of his land. The Utz name is given there as Otes, but a mistake was made in describing the members of the family. There are Hans Jerich Otes (Johann Georg Utz), Parvara Otes (Anna Barbara Majer Utz), Ferdinandis Sylvania Otes (this combines the son Ferdinand with his half-sister, Maria Sabina Charlotta Barbara Volck), and Anna Louisa Otes (presumably Louisa Elisabetha Volck). The fate of the other two Volck daughters and the son Johannes Utz is unknown.
So, the mysterious "mother of my wife" was Anna Barbara Majer Volck Utz/Otes , or, as she would have been known in the First Colony, Anna Barbara Utz/Otes . That's why it was difficult to identify "the mother of my wife", the wife being Maria Sabina Folg ; there was no Folg/Volck family in the First Colony, but there was an Utz/Otes family!
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.