At the start of the half-century marks in this series, I take time to step back and say a little something about the series itself, as opposed to the content of the series. By now, you are aware that the content of the series is varied and many times goes outside the strict subject matter of the Germanna Colonies. I don't feel too badly about that; the main purpose is to build some interest in the Mailing List (see below for information on the Mailing List) to promote an active body of researchers. When I do stretch a bit in the subject matter, I often get some favorable comments from some of the readers.
Left on my own resources, I have to repeat some of the subjects that I have written about in the past, but I don't feel too bad about that as I suppose there is some turnover in the List members. If I get inquiries or reader requests, this sometimes furnishes the subject material. There are some limitations in this. I hardly know that the Nineteenth Century exists.
There is about a three-page Note on no less than three websites, see the URLs below, which tells a lot about the Germanna Colonies.
http://www.germanna.com/
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/who_is_a_germannan.html
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/johnsgermnotes/germhis1.html
http://www.germanna.net/
Amplifying on that is a major activity, but, as I have said, I believe that I have covered a lot already. By no means have I written a lot about information that has been, and is being, discovered in recent years. There are still a lot of things to be found, interpreted, and discussed.
The notes tend to be informal without extensive references or footnotes. Many times I have taken material that I have published in Beyond Germanna , where the references are more numerous and detailed.
I have given up the idea that there should be a Note every weekday. Even though I am retired, and, in theory, have more time, it does not always work out that way. I just complained to my wife that I was not getting as much done in the reading of the German Church Records as I would like. She says that I must make time for that. So should I give up the visits to the doctors (assorted kinds), dentists, and ophthalmologists? Then my physician says I should exercise more each day.
(03 Jun 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.