Hoping to extend the work started by Andreas and Sandra, I obtained a microfilm for the German Lutheran Church St. Mary le Savoy in London. It appears that they obtained the best parts for us, but the Kirchenbuch is not without points of interest.
I paid particular attention to 1709 when there were lots of Germans in London, to 1713 (expecting very little, as the First Colony was Reformed), to an extension of dates in 1717, before and after August and September, and to the summer of 1719 when some more of the eventual Robinson River settlers passed through London.
I found nothing to brag about, only things of interest. On 8 May 1719, Andreas Henrichson married the maiden Fredericka Catharina N.N. (No surname was given for the bride, a most unusual item in itself.) The groom’s surname caught my attention, for Jacob and Maria (Maria Margaretha) Handrikson (Hendriksen, Hendrixon, Hiadriks) were communicants at “Hebron” from 1775 to 1784. As communicants, they would have been Lutherans. Hendrickson, as a name, was always a puzzle to me as I had not associated the name with Germany. The combination of these events suggests that perhaps the name was indeed German. Perhaps the family was in Virginia for longer than I had suspected. The family is not in the Baptismal Register for “Hebron”.
A second marriage that drew my attention was on 17 July 1719 when Johann Meÿer and Dorothea Bender(in) were married. The maiden name of Theobald Christler’s mother was Bender. The Benders immigrated with the Christlers to Pennsylvania in 1719. There may be a connection here.
Both of these marriages are given, not for the Germanna history, but for the possibility that something more may turn up.
An interesting baptism occurred on 2 May 1719 when the sponsors for the daughter of Conrad Harman Krebs were His Royal Majesty and Princess Ann . As is typical in cases like this, there were stand-ins for the named sponsors. His Royal Majesty and Princess Ann did not actually attend. Herr Krebs must have had some "ins" at the palace to get the attention of His Majesty and Princess Ann.
The St. Mary’s chapel did not do a large volume of business. Most of the people did seem to have German names, though there
were
English names. The chapel served a resident German population in London, some of whom had married English people.
(14 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.