There was a recent query about Edward Smith and whether he was related to the Germanna families. His descendants are Germanna Colonists since Edward married Agnes Stonecipher. Edward and Agnes had a son Nicholas.
I have no proof that Edward Smith was himself a Germanna descendant. I suspect that he was not. The question is an intriguing one because of the presence in the Robinson River Valley of both English Smiths and German Smiths (generally known as Schmids/Schmidts/Schmitts in the old country).
We do know there was an Isaac Smith who married Margaret Rucker. Isaac Smith was born ca 1720 in Virginia. He married Margaret Rucker whose nationality is probably German and English. They had ten children, one of whom married Peter Fleshman, Jr., and one of whom married Catherine Boehme. Three sons of Downing Rucker Smith and Catherine Boehme married, respectively, Diana Yager, Anna Yowell, and Barbara Yager. The English Smiths and the Germanna people were mixed up enough to make sorting the various Smiths difficult.
At a first glance, Edward Smith might be a brother of Isaac Smith. Certainly, their ages are about equal. But we do not know that this is true.
Johannes Steinseifer came to Virginia in 1749 with his wife (Elisabeth Schuster) and family of nine children (the eldest son came later). One of the daughters of Johannes was Agnes Catharina, baptized 26 August in 1736. In 1749, Agnes would have been thirteen years old. The Steinseifer family settled in the Robinson River Valley near their fellow German neighbors, Hoffman(s) and Rehlsbachs.
If Edward Smith married Agnes Stonecipher, it would probably have been after 1749, as Agnes was only 13 in 1749. So, Edward might have been born a little later than 1720. There were Germanna Nicholas Smiths, but they would have been too old to be a son of Agnes Stonecipher.
If anyone could help with the English Smiths, it would be good to have the information to help sort out all of the Smiths.
(29 Dec 05)
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.