John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1598

The sponsors of the children of George Utz, Jr. and his wife Margaret Weaver form a classical picture that is almost too perfect.  It is the ideal which is not always achieved. For the first six children, the sponsors are:

  1. Rachel (15 Aug 1763):  Peter Weaver, the mother's brother; Barbara Weaver Carpenter, the mother's sister; and Elizabeth Utz Schwindel, the father's sister, who married Michael Schwindel.
  2. Johannes (14 Apr 1766):  Peter Weaver, the mother's brother; Michael Schwindel, the father's brother-in-law, who married Elizabeth Utz, the father's sister; and Barbara Weaver Carpenter, the mother's sister.
  3. Absalon (05 May 1768):  Peter Weaver, the mother's brother; Andreas Carpenter, who married the mother's sister, Barbara Weaver; and Catharina Weaver Gaar, the mother's sister.
  4. George (08 Nov 1770):  Peter Weaver, the mother's brother; Michael Utz, the father's brother; Elizabeth Finks Weaver, the father's sister-in-law, who married the mother's brother; and Elizabeth Utz Schwindel, the father's sister, who married Michael Schwindel.
  5. Hanna (20 Apr 1773):  Andreas Carpenter, who married Barbara Weaver, and hence was the mother's brother-in-law; and Hanna Weaver Schwindel, the mother's sister who married John Schwindel.
  6. Salamon (19 Jun 1775):  Peter Weaver, the mother's brother, after missing one, tries a come back; Adam Utz, the father's brother; and Hanna Weaver Schwindel was the sister of the mother.
Margaret, the mother, tended to choose brother and sisters who were approximately her age.  Peter seems to be two children older, Catherine was the next younger, and Hannah was the second next youngest.  There were two from her family outside this group.  The oldest member of the Weaver family, John, never was a sponsor for Margaret.  Sometimes this is helpful in ordering the children and put down some rough estimates of their births.

George Utz, Jr., was called Junior to distinguish him from his uncle.  His uncle had a son, George, who was called the Younger because he was younger than Junior.  George Utz, Jr., tended to favor his sister, Elizabeth and her husband, Michael Schwindel.  He had his brother Adam once.  Some of his siblings must have been reluctant to serve because we do not have a good representation from his family.  For one child (Absalom), he could not summon any of any siblings to serve.

Overall, the pattern was to choose from the siblings of the parents, with a sprinkling of in-laws.  The question had been raised in the past as to whether George's wife was a Weaver, but after studying this pattern there can be no question of the fact that Margaret Weaver married George Utz and not John Willheit.
(19 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.