A Germanna Colonist could be defined as one of full or partial German-speaking descent, who lived in the Eighteenth Century in the modern counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange, Rappahannock, or Spotsylvania.
Work to be done: We have many people whose origins are unknown. From the Second Colony, let me give the names of Barlow, Rouse, and Nonnenmacher by way of example. They had a major presence in the Robinson River Valley community. We do not know where they came from. There are several names in the Robinson River Valley which are also found around Neuenbuerg where the Blankenbakers came from. The area there is probably a good place to start searching; however, the haunting question is why Zimmerman and Cerny did not find them if they are from that area. We have got a lot of searching to do.
There are some names for which we do not have a good classification, such as Marr and Rucker. One finds these names on gravestones and in telephone books in Germany. Are these two Robinson River Vally families German families or not? Do we have any signatures of the earliest people which well help tell us?
Then we have a few families for which we know the village of origin, but no search has been done there. Finding the records may be a problem in itself. Then they would have to be examined, probably on the site. A good example of this case is Cyriacus Fleischmann from Klings. Klings is where he said he was from in his marriage record and the most common name in the Klings graveyard today is Fleischmann. We are surely right up to that point. Can we find the records and then can we do some research? Klings was in the former East Germany where they were casual about the church records. Several other Germanna people have identified villages in Mittelfranken and I think these remain unexamined.
By my opening definition of a Germanna Colonist, there are some for whom we know nothing, so to speak. For example, in John Alcock’s book, " Fauquier Families 1759-1799 ", I find, on a quick scan of the index, these names: Shultz, Stigler, Swarz, and Funck. These may not be the best German spelling, but I would bet the names are not Irish.
I will touch on more problem areas but I want to outline some of the work to be done. A lot of people would vote for an emphasis on the known Germanna names whose German origins are yet unknown.
If you will be in the Lancaster, Pennsylvania, area tomorrow, drop in to see me at the Hans Herr House.
(01 Nov 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.