John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1596

I thought we might look at the sponsors for another family which shows the degree to which parents reached to find a "relative".  The parents are Christoph Blankenbaker and Christina Finks.

By the child, they are:

  1. Maria (29 Sep 1754), sponsors Adam Barlow, Adam Wayland, and Jacob Blankenbaker.
  2. Catharina (28 Sep 1759), sponsors Adam Weyland, wife, Jacob Blankenbaker, Adam Barlow.
  3. Ephraim (29 Jun 1762), sponsors Adam Weyland, wife, Jacob Blankenbaker, Adam Barlow.
  4. Ludwig (21 Jan 1765), sponsors Adam Weyland, w. Elis.
  5. Margaretha (13 Nov 1769), sponsors Adam Weyland, Jacob Blankenbaker, Adam Barlow, Martin Christopher's wife.
  6. Sara (07 Nov 1772), sponsors Adam Weyland, Jacob Blankenb., Marg. Sch.
  7. Elisabetha (09 Jun 1775), sponsors Adam Weyland, Hanna Fischer, Jemimah B. . .
    (The following children are added per John Blankenbaker's next Note, Nr. 1597, and were not originally listed in this Note, Nr. 1596. GWD, Webmaster. )
  8. Jonas (18 Jun 1767), sponsors Adam Wayland, wife Elis.
  9. Hannah (25 May 1778), sponsors Jacob Blankenbaker, Mary Wayland, and Mary Utz.

Christopher Blankenbaker's father and mother had three sons and no daughters.  One son, George, died in the 1740s.  Another son, John, is never to be found at church.  So Christopher had no brothers or sisters to draw upon.  Christina Fink came from a family that avoided the Lutheran Church.  She was actually being bold by attending herself.  (She had a sister who did not attend the baptism of her own children.)  So Christina had no brothers or sisters to draw upon.

Jacob Blankenbaker was a first cousin of Christopher.  He was willing, and he was used several times.  Christopher had other first cousins, several in fact.  The two that show up here are Elisabetha and Anna Barbara, who were daughters of Balthasar Blankenbaker, and lived on the next farm to Christopher.  How do they show up?  Elisabetha married Adam Wayland and he appears.  Two of the "lines" are ambiguous in that they say "Adam Weyland, wife", which could mean Adam and Elizabeth, or could mean Elizabeth alone.

In June of 1775, there was a new minister who did not know the names well.  He entered "Hanna Fischer" when she nearly always used the name "Anna Barbara Fischer".  So far, the sponsors have been chosen from cousins or the spouses of cousins.  Adam Barlow was a little more distant.  He married Mary Smith, the daughter of J. Michael Smith and Anna Magdalena Thomas, who was the daughter of Anna Maria Blankenbaker.  Martin Christopher's wife was a Wayland, the daughter of Adam.  There is one person who is not a relative and that appears to be Margaret Schwarbach, the minister's wife.  Jemimah was a first cousin, once removed.

So, even though Christopher had no brothers and sisters who would help, and Christina had no brothers and sisters who would help, they managed to find relatives to be sponsors.
(15 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.