Woodford B.Hackley prepared a map showing the lands of the twelve German families comprising the Little Fork German Church as of 1748. I can't repeat the map, but I thought I could run through the names.
There were two Fishbacks. Jacob Fishback, who was born in 1703 at Seelbach, a village next to Trupbach, from where the Philip Fishback family of the 1714 group came. Jacob married Anna Catharina Holdinghaus on 4 June, 1734, and, for a "honeymoon", sailed for America, arriving at Philadelphia later in the year. Apparently, Jacob and Anna had two sons, John and Frederick, and perhaps one or more daughters. The picture is confusing, for the genealogists because the Philip Fishback family had descendants, with the names John and Frederick, who lived not too far away. The two Fishback families, one from Trupbach and one from Seelbach, were probably related, but the connection is not proven. The son Frederick, of Jacob, had moved away from Culpeper by 1784, and nothing more is known of him. The son John, of Jacob, was born in 1743, and is called John, Sr. Apparently, John, Sr. had three sons, John, Jr.; James; and William.
Harmann Müller and his older brother, Johann Friedrich Mueller, emigrated to America on the ship Oliver, in 1738. This was an unfortunate choice, as about two out of three people on the ship did not live to land in Virginia. Apparently, a young son of John Frederick and his wife, Anna Maria Arnd, did not survive. It would be hard to say, with any certainty, whether Anna Maria survived or not, as John Frederick's wife had the name Anna Maria in Germany, and Mary in his will. Mary or Maria is too common a name to be sure. Harmon married a daughter of Jacob Holtzclaw, and was given land by Holtzclaw. Perhaps both John Friedrich and Harmon/Harmann lived on this land. Both men moved to the south of Virginia about 1760/64.
A third German family in the Little Fork area was James Spilman, but I am unable to give any reasonable story on him and his family. Perhaps others can do so.
Harman Bach, or Back, came also in 1738. He was born in 1708, so he was thirty at the time. He married Anna Margarethe Hausmann on 3 January, 1737, and a daughter was born in March. Very soon after arrival, he was living in the Little Fork area. In 1748 he was deeded 100 acres by Jacob Holtzclaw. He sold the land in the Little Fork area, in 1789, when he was 80 years old, and moved to Garrard County, Kentucky, where he died in 1799. Again, it is difficult to affirm that his wife from Germany survived the trip.
As I go through these names, my stories may be in error or incomplete. If anyone can add to what I have written, please step up to the plate.
(02 Dec 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.