Thom Faircloth mentioned the case of the baptism of the children of Christopher Crigler and his wife Catherine Finks. For the first ten children, Catherine was not present. For the last one, the eleventh, she was present. None of the first ten sets of sponsors include any Finks. For the eleventh (William or Wilhelm), we get one individual with a Finks' connection, namely Elisabeth Christopher, who was the mother's sister's niece.
What is especially noteworthy about these baptisms is that Christopher Crigler's brother Nicholas never appeared for the first ten. Only for Wilhelm does he appear, when the mother is listed as present. I have interpreted this as a refusal on the part of Nicholas to be a sponsor when the mother was not present. Christopher was faced with a real problem on the baptisms since his wife was not present, none of her relatives were present, and his only brother refused to serve; however, he found nieces, nephews, cousins, and cousins-in-law to serve.
I could expand with other cases, but this serves to illustrate the reluctance of the Finks to serve as baptismal sponsors at the church. Later, they do serve a few times, but this was probably after the parents had both died.
Why would someone have objections to the baptism of children (babies) at the Lutheran church? First, they might be opposed to the baptism of infants as the Anabaptists were. This is almost tenet number one in their faith. Their belief is that the person being baptized should make the decision to be baptized; however, the Anabaptists are also pacifists and they do not believe in war. Mark Finks, Jr., was a captain in the militia at the time of the 1781 draft via the Culpeper Classes. Probably, he was not an Anabaptist.
We have seen that John Huffman did not have his children baptized at the Lutheran Church. Some Reformed people were willing to overlook their differences from the Lutherans, but others were strong-willed on the question. Also, the feelings between the Catholics and Lutherans could be strong. I am inclined to the view that Mark Finks, or his wife, was Catholic and just did not want to get involved with the "heretical" Lutherans. In the eyes of many Catholics, the Lutherans were heretics.
As to whether the Finks were Jewish, the name Finks is also a Protestant name which is found in many Protestant church records in Germany. There was a participation at the Lutheran church in the Robinson River family by the Finks, but in a limited way. For example, Christopher Blankenbaker married Christina Finks, who was present for the baptism of all their children. For the first seven, no Finks served as a sponsor. For the eighth in 1775, and later ones, some Finks served. For many parents, the Baptismal Records note if the parents are not Lutheran. Never are the Finks noted as being anything besides Lutheran. Perhaps they were Lutheran in name, but had negative feelings about attending or participating at the Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley.
(15 Jul 03)
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