We have been looking at the Baptismal and Communion Records for the children of Adam Yager, Sen. The two youngest, Adam and Godfrey, have only a few records at the Lutheran Church in spite of their father's very active participation there. The youngest, Godfrey, did appear once as a sponsor for his brother Michael's child. Godfrey had a child, Maria, baptized in 1777, with John Yager and wife Maria, John Wayland, Jun., and Barbara Carpenter as sponsors. Also, Godfrey's child Julian, in 1789, was baptized with sponsors John Yager, William Carpenter, Sr., Barbara Carpenter, and Elizabeth Carpenter. His wife on both of these occasions was Mary Wayland. Previously, he had been married to a daughter (first name is unknown) of Rev. Klug. Godfrey never attended any communion services.
Godfrey's record was slightly better than his brother Adam, Jr., for whom we can find no baptismal records as either as a parent or as a sponsor. Whether Adam attended Communion Services is hard to say, as his father, of the same name, attended frequently. There is no service at which two Adams are present.
Please note that I am not saying Adam did not go to church. It is only that there is no record for him at the German Lutheran Church.
On the whole, the these six Yager children have fewer records than many families do. Other families have still less than these Yager children. I would not attempt judgments from this distance and time.
As we have gone through some of these baptismal sponsorships, you may have noticed that, while brothers and sisters are often favored, the selection is biased toward particular brothers or sisters. Michael Yager chose John Yager, Barbara Yager Clore Chelf, and Nicholas much more often than he chose his brothers Godfrey or John. Nearly always this is the case. The selection of siblings is very biased.
I think age is an important factor. We are dealing with families where there may be a twenty-year spread in the ages of the children. By the time the last one is born, the oldest may have moved out of the home. Those of similar ages do things together as they grow up. They become friends in addition to being siblings. Some of the children may grow up with a negative feeling toward church and refuse to participate. My ancestor, John Blankenbaker, who was the son of a 1717 immigrant, appears never to have left a record at church. He never appears on behalf of his only living brother, Christopher. There not being any other siblings, Christopher chose cousins who lived on the next farm. He was probably fairly close to these.
(12 Feb 03)
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.