John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 1551
We have reached another half-century mark in this series. It is customary to review and comment on the larger objectives of these notes. (It is not because of the pay that I do it!)
These are
not
research notes. Another endeavor of mine,
Beyond Germanna
, comes closer to fulfilling that function. (I am looking right now at one page for the upcoming issue which has nineteen references in it.) All too often in these notes, I do not give sources, whether from printed material, or from my memory. Sometimes I stray from a restricted view of the purposes, as in the last note on the Steiff bears. My hope is that you stay "tuned" to the list so that when a question comes through you might be able to respond. To get answers, takes a lot of people. To have a lot of people takes material that is of interest to them. I constantly have in mind, "Will someone be interested in this?" Foremost to me, is the question of whether the material that I am writing will keep you reading.
This is an open list. Anyone may write to the general audience. I am thinking here, in particular, of E. W. Wallace, who often writes a comment bringing source material to the attention of readers. Others may do the same thing. Have you found a book with good information? Tell us about it.
Just reading these notes is not sufficient. Responses are needed. Here, I might think of Craig, who is not bashful. Don't think of replies as critical; maybe an error has been committed which should be brought to the attention of the list.
Sometimes, a person has special knowledge about a subject. Here I might mention Elke Hall and Andreas Mielke, who have a better knowledge of the language and living conditions in Germany. Maybe you only lived there three years but perhaps you have knowledge of something.
What can you contribute? Remember that the only stupid question is the one that you did not ask. What does this Deed mean? Did you have to be of age to obtain land? Did a wife always have to sign a release on the sale of property? Did Herbert Hoover's ancestors live with the Germanna people? What is the connection of Herbert Hoover with Germanna? Why did he have a camp in the Blue Ridge Mountains? Who was Franke Blankenbaker who lived about the time of the Revolution? (I don't know the answer to this one.)
In short, use the list and the resources of the people who are readers.
Let me take this opportunity to apologize to those of you who ask me a question privately, or on the list. Sometimes my replies are short. Perhaps I could write more, but time is a factor. If my answer is too short to satisfy you, hit me again and ask for more.
(20 Dec 02)