Recently we were talking about the Thomas family. In reviewing some of my material, I found a bit of family history that I thought I would copy over to you. In giving it to you, I emphasize that I do NOT endorse it. My point is to illustrate some of the fantastic stories that people repeat. In order not to embarrass anyone, I will not give any names.
The story concerns Michael Thomas, who was the younger son of Johann Thoma and Anna Maria Blankenbuehler. His older brother was John Thomas, whom we have discussed in some detail recently. Michael was said to be married twice. His second wife is said to be Eva Susanna Margaret Hart and it is her history that we are discussing.
"Dr. Elijah Hart, a Spanish Don of Seville Spain, emigrated to Germany and became a German Baron. [Already I have begun to doubt the story.] He lived in his Castle [presumably on the Rhine]. He had a daughter, Eva Susanna Margaret, named for her god-mothers. She and her brother, when nearly grown, were sent with other sons and daughters of equal rank to a dancing and finishing school near the seashore. One Saturday afternoon they were given a half-holiday and went down to the wharf where a sailing vessel lay at anchor. They heard music on board. The Captain politely invited them on the ship where they could hear the music better. Four couples accepted the invitation. Eva and her brother were among them. The vessel was swaying with the motion of the waves, and before they were aware of it, the ship was under sail. Pleadings and tears were unavailing, for they were kidnapped by one of the pirate ships that infested the seas at that time. They were rudely treated, and feared for their lives. Eva had a considerable sum of money, so her friends persuaded her to deposit it with the clerk and take a receipt. One of each sex died on the way. When the ship landed, Eva presented the receipt for her money. The pirates cursed her and said the receipt was a forgery. They were all sold to Maryland farmers for three years service to "pay for the passage". They were put out in the fields to work under an overseer, like slaves. Eva’s tender hands soon became swollen, pulling flax, but she had to work on. When her term of service had expired, the son of a wealthy neighbor had learned of her history, and realizing her rank, pitied her sorrows and married her. Soon she was surrounded with luxury like she had been used to in her home in Germany. There were Indian excursions still in the settlements, so her husband, Mr. Wilson, had his slaves build a stone wall, with port holes and a drawbridge, around fifty acres, including his mansion and the cabins of his three hundred slaves. There a daughter, Jane Wilson, was born and reared in ease and pleasure. By the time she had grown up the Indians had disappeared and here and there bushes had grown up around the stone wall. But love was soon to invade this princely home in the New World."
[The story is not finished yet, but do any of you have a story of more rampant imagination?]
(10 Apr 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.