Anna Barbara Schoen was only sixteen when she married John Thomas Blankenbaker. She lived long enough to have three husbands and seven surviving children. There is another woman in the Germanna community who had a similar record. That was Susanna Klaar/Clore who married Phillip Joseph Weber in Germany. Her age at this marriage was about fifteen to judge by the estimate of her age when she left Germany.
In Germany, six children were born to Susanna Klaar/Clore, but only two survived, Hannss Dieterich (who became Peter Weaver in Virginia), and Maria Sophia (who married Peter Fleshman in Virginia). In addition, one other child, Walburga, appears to have been born en route to Virginia. This "Burga" became the wife of John Willheit in Virginia. Phillip Joseph Weber died in Virginia, perhaps shortly after arrival.
Susanna Clore Weaver married, secondly, Jacob Crigler. By Jacob, she had two sons, Christopher and Nicholas. It had not been generally recognized, but it definitely appears that she also had two daughters by Jacob; Elizabeth, who married Michael Yager; and Susanna, who married Michael Utz.
After Jacob died, Susanna married Nicholas Yager, whom she also outlived. There were no children by this marriage.
There was a total of seven surviving children. Thus, Anna Barbara and Susanna each married when they were about sixteen, and each had seven surviving children. Each had three husbands.
Because all of the Second Colony Weavers descend from Peter Weaver, they can all claim a Clore ancestry. All of the surname Fleshman can also claim a Clore ancestry, because Peter Fleshman married a girl whose mother's maiden name was Clore. All of the Criglers can also claim a Clore ancestor.
The Fleshman descendants can claim both Anna Barbara Schoen and Susanna Klaar/Clore.
Had the parents of either of these two girls been opposed to an early marriage, I would not be here today. (Maybe they opposed and the couple "eloped".)
(18 Feb 04)
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.