There are definitely other sources of information about the people in the 1709 emigration. These people were divided into groups which went to different destinations. The largest group, of about 3000 people, went to New York. The Rev. Friederich Häger of Oberfischbach went with this group as an ordained Church of England pastor. The New York group arrived in eleven ships at New York City in the spring and summer of 1710 and were settled along the Hudson River to work on naval stores. Governor Hunter kept records of his payments for their subsistence during their first two years in America. These lists of names are in the Public Records Office, but have been reproduced widely. They detail some 850 families by names.
Ulrich Simmendinger, who came with the group in 1710, returned to Germany after his children died. He published, in 1717, in Germany, the names of the Germans who were now distributed in New York at several locations along the Hudson River, and along the Schoharie River, which is off the Hudson River; and, in New Jersey, along the Raritan River. 2,047 individuals are included with 817 listed by names.
The really large study of these New York immigrants was done by Hank Z Jones in the two volume book, “ The Palatine Families of New York ”, and in “ More Palatine Families ”. Using the Holland Lists, the London Lists, the Hunter Lists, and the Simmendinger List, he attempted to identify the German names (not easy since the spelling were made by Dutch, English, and German writers) and their history in Germany. This latter aspect required the services of a researcher in Germany to examine the church parish registers. On the whole, this was a very successful project. In addition, he made use of the church records in New York.
One of the principles that he used very successfully in locating the people in Germany was that the Germans associated in their endeavors with people from their own village or district in Germany. The homes of a few were known from sources such as the London Lists. Names on lists which were close or adjacent to a person with a known point of origin had a good chance of being from the same locality.
[Jones’ work, which emphasized this principle of association, was appearing at just about the time that I became interested in the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley of Virginia. As I read the baptismal and communion lists, I could see that the principle of association with relatives was especially strong. Further study convinced me that this principle
1
could be used to state relationships which had been unknown earlier.]
(09 Jul 04)
1 (John Blankenbaker acknowledges the use of Baptismal and Communion Lists by Jones, but does not take the deserved credit for realizing that this extremely important principle could also be used in almost all Germanna genealogical quests. John, alone, has successfully applied this principle to the Lists from the "Hebron" Church Records, and from many, many other sources, in America, in England, in Holland, and in Germany. It is HIS application of the "principle" that has opened many new doors to discovering the relationships of the Germanna families in Virginia. GWD)
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.