Germanna History Notes

Ephraim Tanner was the son of Frederick Tanner and Mary Rouse. He was born 17 Oct 1778 to Friederich and Maria. He had the honor of being the last child baptized by the Rev. Franck before he returned to Philadelphia. Friederich's father and mother were Christopher Tanner and Elizabeth Aylor (she was mentioned in the last note). Christopher was born in Germany and came with his parents about 1720. Mary Rouse was the daughter of Mathias Rouse and his wife Elisabeth, maiden name unknown. Mathias was one of the three sons of the immigrant John Rouse.

Jeremiah Carpenter was the eldest son of (Rev.) William Carpenter, Jr., and his wife Maria Aylor. Mary Aylor was the daughter of Henry Aylor and Barbara Carpenter. This Barbara Carpenter was a cousin of the Rev. William Carpenter, her father being Andrew, and William's father being Andrew's brother William, Sr. So the Rev. William married his first cousin once removed. Ephraim Tanner and Jeremiah Carpenter were remotely related, being second cousins, once removed. Jeremiah was born in 1795.

Susanna House was born a Tanner and she married Jacob House. Her father and mother were Christopher Tanner and Margaret Cook. Christopher was the brother of Frederick Tanner, above, who was the father of Ephraim. Thus, Susanna House and Ephraim Tanner were first cousins. Margaret Cook's parents were George Cook and Mary Sarah Reiner.

Not having all of the information or time necessary to research the other names, I can say, though, that the people who went to Boone County, Kentucky, from Madison County, Virginia, did tend to be related. It might be said that any random sample of Madison County people by 1800 would be related, but that is not true. Here the strains of Tanner, Rouse, Carpenter, House, and Aylor are heavily weighted. There are others also, but, still, if the immigrant Tanner had fallen overboard on the way here, there probably would not have been a Germanna settlement in Boone County.

The Surface name comes, I think, from the Zerfass family in the Shenandoah Valley. I am not sure how they got into the picture.

Gene should keep the pictures. Most of them are cousins of his wife, Leatrice (Tanner) Wagner.
(03 Apr 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.

John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1635