The following report is based on the work of Sandra Yelton, who made copies of the original in London; on the interpretation of Andreas Mielke; and on the translation of John Blankenbaker. The final result was published in Beyond Germanna on page 905ff. The Church referred to here is the German Lutheran Church, St. Mary le Savoy/Strand. This Church has the most records of any of the German Churches in London, and it had a long life due to its service to the German population who were living in London. The parishioners included well-placed Germans in the diplomatic service, and more humble people. Some of the records refer to mixed marriages, i.e., English and German.
The period of time is the summer of 1717, when members of the Second Germanna Colony were waiting for their ship "Scott" while Captain Tarbett was in debtors’ prison. Let us look at a baptismal record for 5 August 1717. The father was Johann Seitz, a Pfaltzer, and the mother was Anna Maria. The child was Johann Christoph. The sponsors were Christoph Zimmerman, Hanss Jürgen (i.e., George) Scheibeler, and Magdalena Niederman.
Since the Second Colony had a Christopher Zimmerman and a George Scheible, and since they were in London at this time, we are inclined to believe that these two sponsors are members of the Second Colony. If so, then that raises the question of whether Johann and Anna Maria Seitz had intended to go also to America (i.e., Pennsylvania). And, the third sponsor, Magdalena Niederman, also becomes an object for our curiosity.
On 31 August, Matthias Schmidt and his wife Regina Cathrina brought their baby son, born on the 29th and named Johann, to be baptized. The sponsors were Johann Georg Forckel and Maria Sophia Steiner. Matthias Schmidt is identified as a Pfaltzer. Since his name and his wife’s name are perfect matches to the known records in Gemmingen, we believe these are Second Colony members. Note that in this case that the word Pfaltzer is probably a synonym for “German”, and not the actual identification of the point of origin. This could also be the case for the Seitz baptism.
On the same day another baptism took place for a girl born also on the 29th of August. The parents were Johann Georg Förckel and Susanna. The baby girl was Maria Barbara, and her sponsors were Matthias Schmidt and Maria Barbara Weiland. Matthias Schmidt and Johann Georg Forckel could have traded roles as sponsors because they were both at the church at, presumably, the same time. Still, we are left with the feeling that Forckel and Schmidt might have been friends or relatives. And we are left with the question of “what happened to the Forckel/Förckel family?”
(12 Jul 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.