John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1849

In 1989, there were very limited ways of finding genealogical information including the names of people who were interested in the same families as you.  You would, of course, ask those that you might know whether they knew others.  You could insert a small ad or inquiry into magazines devoted to this purpose.  If there was a newsletter devoted to a group of people, you could use this to express your interest.  There was no Internet with web pages, email, or list services.

Potentially, the interest group for the descendants of the Germans who lived on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia was the Germanna Foundation .  They were issuing a Newsletter once a year, which hardly made a convenient medium for the exchange of information.  I was, in 1989, in the possession of information that had been gleaned from the church records in Germany by private individuals.  It therefore did seem like a good idea to publish a more frequent newsletter for the exchange of information and the publishing of new information.

I launched Beyond Germanna by typing up the first issue on an IBM Selectric typewriter.  I included a report on some German research by Margaret James Squires.  I printed this and mailed it at my own expense.  I asked each person to whom I mailed it to send me ten names and I mailed them free copies of the potential newsletter.  The response was good and I was encouraged to have 800 copies of the second issue printed.  At the same time, I decided to accept paid subscriptions to help defray the expenses.  ( Beyond Germanna has never been a profit-making enterprise; at the best it could be described as nonprofit.)

In the first paragraph of the first issue of Beyond Germanna , I stated or implied that the need was for a frequent newsletter for the exchange of information.  It was to be a medium where questions could be asked and the results of research could be reported.  It was always my hope that all of the Germanna families would be covered.  This was not entirely fulfilled.  Still, no family was excluded.  Reports on several families have been made which had not even been suspected of being Germanna families.

So for the first four years or so, six times a year, ten pages that had been typed on a Selectric went out at the one ounce rate (initially 25 cents).  I then started the work and bookkeeping using a computer.  Eventually, the emphasis changed from a newsletter to having more of the characteristics of a research journal.  Heavier paper was used, an envelope was added, and in the latter years more pages were added.  A lot of information was packed into the issues, perhaps too much.  But I felt that information was what people wanted.

I did feel that more information was packed into Beyond Germanna than in any other publication.
(09 Mar 04)