The last issue (in two senses of the word) of Beyond Germanna (November 2003) reports on some Germanna Colonists in a place where they had hardly been expected. Sandra Yelton, at the suggestion of Andreas Mielke, investigated on site in London last summer and found some material of interest. There were two pages in the German Lutheran Church St. Mary le Savoy church book which pertain to the time period when the Second Colony people were passing through London. There are definitely some Germanna names there.
We now know that Dorothy Cook (Koch) was an English citizen for she was born in London on the 8th of September 1717. Her full name was Maria Dorothea Koch and she was baptized the next day with sponsors Henrich Schneider and Maria Eleanora Scheibel. Dorothy lived to become the wife of John Carpenter, Jr., in Virginia.
Another Germanna baby was Johann Schmidt (parents Matthias and Regina Cathrina Schmidt), but he did not live to become a name we know. Young babies had a very hard time surviving the ocean crossing.
Altogether, several names appear in the church book, but they may only be coincidentally the same as names that we know. Until we know more, these are simply names to investigate more. The names are Jurgen Meÿer (George Moyer?), Hanss Adam Rausch (John Rausch?), Christoph Zimmerman, Hanss Jürgen Scheibeler, Matthias Schmidt (twice), Regina Cathrina Schmidt, Maria Barbara Weiland, Johann Michel Koch, Maria Dorothea Koch, and Barbara Koch, Heinrich Schneider, and Maria Eleanora Scheibel. The name George is spelled in the church book as Jurgen or Jürgen. Moyer is spelled in German as Meier, Meyer, Meÿer, and Mejer. John Adam Rausch is not the best fit because this man would usually be known as Adam Rausch, but since our John Rausch in Virginia had a son named Adam it is hard to ignore this name, especially in the context of other known names.
There were even some marriages recorded in this period, but none seem to apply to our Germanna Colonists.
We know also that not all of the people who were in London in the summer of 1717 were able to come on to Virginia that year. Some of the people were turned back to Rotterdam. Two identified people in this category were Frederick Kapeler and Christoph Uhl. They were in London in the summer of 1717 and sent back to Rotterdam. They proceeded to continue on to America later. It could be said that their trip just took longer than most of the people.
More records have to be searched. I have already looked at the church records for the Hamburg Lutheran Church and they have nothing that seems to pertain to the Germanna people in either 1713 or 1717.
(11 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.