Recently, the question was asked if certain individuals were Germanna citizens. Three of the names were Nicholas Wilhite, Zachariah Smith, and Henry Blankenbecker. The year was 1794. I can say that:
All three of these individuals were from Germanna, and Descendants of these three men all had a Blankenbaker ancestor.
Nicholas Willheit was the son of John Willheit and Walburga Weaver. John was the son of Michael Willheit. Walburga was the daughter of Joseph and Susanna (Clore) Weaver. Nicholas married Mary Margaret Fisher, whose father was Lewis Fisher, and whose mother was Anna Barbara Blankenbaker. Anna Barbara was the daughter of Balthasar Blankenbaker. So the descendants of Nicholas are Blankenbaker descendants.
Zacharias Smith was the son of John Michael Smith, Jr., and his wife Anna Magdalena Thomas. Anna Magdalena was the daughter of John Thomas and Anna Maria Blankenbaker (sister to Balthasar above). Zacharias and Mary Margaret Fisher, wife of Nicholas Willheit above, were second cousins.
Henry Blankenbecker/beker/baker was the son of Jacob Blankenbaker, who was the son of John Nicholas Blankenbaker. John Nicholas was the brother of Balthasar and Anna Maria. So Henry was a second cousin to Mary Margaret Fisher, and to Zacharias Smith. Since Jacob Blankenbaker had married his first cousin, once removed, Barbara Thomas, this gives another connection and makes Henry a cousin of some degree by another path to Mary Margaret Fisher and to Zacharias Smith. Henry married Phoebe Yager.
Zacharias moved to Kentucky about 1777 with other individuals from Germanna, including his brothers Adam and John. He was in the church records fairly often up to the year 1777, but he does not appear after that year in the church records. Suggestions have been made that his wives were Anne Elizabeth Fishback, the first wife, and Sarah Anne Watts, the second wife. I believe it is correct that we would like better proof of both of these women.
One other individual who moved at the time of Zacharias Smith was Jacob Holtzclaw, son of 1714 Jacob. Jacob (Jr.) married Susanna Thomas, the sister of Barbara Thomas, who had married Jacob Blankenbaker. These women were daughters of John Thomas (Jr.) and granddaughters of Anna Maria (nee) Blankenbaker. Henry Blankenbaker and the wife of Jacob Holtzclaw, Jr., were first cousins.
Isn't there a saying, "Birds of a feather flock together."? Or put another way, the Blankenbaker genes got scattered around Kentucky.
(23 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.