[My attention to these notes was diverted by all that white stuff outside the house. I had to get Eleanor off to work; important things come first.]
I like not to refer to the Hebron Community for several reasons. It is not inclusive by any means. Some of the descendants of the Anglos and Saxons lived there also. And, of the Germans, not all of them professed the Lutheran faith.
The members of the Church, which I will call Hebron , was positive that they were adherents to the Lutheran "unaltered Augsburg confession". In the Eighteenth Century, anyone was welcome to attend Church, but only Lutherans could partake of Communion. There was a strong Lutheran flavor to its beliefs and practices.
Referring to the Hebron Community should only be used for the Lutherans. To be more inclusive, I use the term Robinson River Valley [RRV]. While this is not absolutely correct because the boundaries of the area in which we are interested did not exactly match the Robinson River watershed, it is remarkably close. I can forgive the excesses and shortfalls.
After a few decades in the Robinson River Valley there were several choices in churches. To the Germans, the most important alternative was probably the Hoffman Reformed Chapel , which was active late in the Century. Several families were Reformed in the RRV. Besides the Hoffmans, there were Fischbachs, Stoneciphers, Railsbacks, perhaps a Becker, and at least two families of Holtzclaws.
Starting about the time of the Revolution, there were also the alternative churches such as the Baptists and Methodists. And the Anglicans, later Episcopalians, were there also.
All of these were mixed together in the big bowl called the Robinson River Valley. Only one of the ingredients was called Lutheran or Hebron .
[Did you notice how my attention has been drawn to food by the work that I did?]
(05 Dec 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.