There was an interaction between the Germans on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains (which they called the Great Mountains) and the Germans in the Shenandoah Valley. In fact, all of the Germans in the Colonies interacted and were aware of the other Germans throughout the other Colonies. Though letters were very expensive and many Germans were not literate, they were surprisingly well informed. The principal means of communication was verbal, as travelers would pass on the news to their hosts. The hosts would be glad to give a supper and bed to someone who could tell them some of the news of the world.
When the second pastor of the German Lutheran Church, Samuel Klug, started his work in Virginia about 1739, he traveled to the Shenandoah Valley, where he preached, baptized, and held communion. The Moravian missionaries said that they could make very little headway in Virginia, including the Shenandoah Valley, because of the efforts of Klug. This was hard work though, crossing the Great Mountains when the roads were primitive, and being away from home. Later, another German pastor, Henkel, whose home was in the Shenandoah Valley, came over the Blue Ridge to preach in the Robinson River Valley to the Lutherans, Reformed, and the English. So as people went across the hills, they would inform people on the other side of what was happening. The topics might be religion, war, land, love, you name it.
One of my favorite incidents of the interaction is recorded in the "Hebron" Baptismal Register. Georg Trumper and his wife Margaretha (Utz) had their son Andreas baptized on 17 Nov 1776. The sponsors were Georg Utz, Jun., and his wife (Margaret Weaver). Georg Utz was the cousin of Margaretha Trumper. Since the Trumper name was not considered a Germanna name, I was especially interested in this case. Who was he? Eventually, a correspondent was able to help me. His name was usually given as Trumbo, or sometimes as Drumbo. He lived on the far side of the Shenandoah Valley, in what is now West Virginia.
The story that the descendants have, and there is little reason to doubt them, is that George Trumbo had gone over the mountains, to the east, on business. There he met Margaret Utz whom he married. Probably they returned to his home area and when Andreas came along, they took him to her home church to have him baptized. Or it may have been that she went home to her mother as Andreas’ time was approaching. Margaret may have remained a couple of months until Andreas was strong enough to travel. Before they left, he was baptized by Rev. Franck. (We should not assume that George Trumbo was present at the baptism; at it was not a requirement for the parents to be present.)
We see that religion, war (especially the French and Indian War), love, and business, especially land, were factors influencing cross mountain travel.
(09 Jan 06)
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.