I now turn to a very serious question. Of the information that we say we know, how much is correct? Let me give an example from the Rector family. This was a well-researched family with published genealogies. In the fifteen years, though, since Beyond Germanna started, we have learned a lot more thanks to some able researchers. Some of the results are: John Rector, the son of the immigrant, Jacob Rector, was married twice. Unfortunately, we do not know with certainty how the children divide between the two women, though we have some suggestions. In another case, a John Rector turned out to be two John Rectors. Uriah and Maximilian Rector have now been correctly placed in families. Each of these items corrects a previous mistake.
What is the situation in other families? The suggestion from the Rector family is that it not good. A lot more research is needed in several families to improve the history. Whether we will ever find the information is not clear. But more work is needed and a feeling that "my family" is correct may be premature.
As I have read B. C. Holtzclaw reporting the genealogies in Germany, I grow very nervous at the easy going way in which one generation is connected to another generation. He often has to admit that a first supposition was not correct. More work is needed in Germany in the church and in the civil records. A good example where a lot has been done in Germany is the Gaar family where the Theodore Walker family sponsored research in the field. For Andreas Gaar and Eva Seidelmann, the immigrants, there are about forty-five ancestors, perhaps a record for any Germanna immigrant family. (If anyone knows a family with more, please advise us here. I would really like to know who has the most proven ancestors.) There are still some questions about the Gaar family that may be answered. For one, I would like to know where they came from.
We have not explored all of the records. There are some in unlikely places. The last issue of Beyond Germanna reports of some baptisms in London of people we know in the Germanna community (thanks to Andreas and Sandra). I hope to be able to do some more research in the records there.
So much to do. As I have been listing all of the work which lies before us, I have been emphasizing the genealogical questions. We also have the whole field for study of why our ancestors did what they did. What were their motivations? It may be harder to get answers here than in the genealogies. Certainly the answers that have been put forth are full of errors. People keep repeating the errors. Marc Wheat suggests a preparation for the three-hundredth anniversary. What better thing could we do than to know, with some reasonableness, why the people left in 1713?
(04 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.