[Continuing one story of Michael Thomas]
"Adam [sic] Thomas and his brother came over from Germany, and located near the Wilson estate [perhaps Adam found employment there, I dont know]. Soon Jane Wilson was madly in love with Adam Thomas. Her father threatened imprisonment, and she told her lover of the threat, and said she would put letters in a certain port hold behind the clump of bushes if her father did have her shut in her room. This he did, but let her old colored nurse take her out for exercise in the afternoons, but only on the inside of the wall. For three months Eva and her lover exchanged letters through that port hole. (Her father objected because Adam was poor.) One day Eva told her old nurse that she could not find any more nice Paw Paw leaves there to pin together. The slaves were gathering corn and hauling it in from the fields outside. The drawbridge was down, so Eva told her nurse she want to go outside, to a large patch of Paw Paw bushes, to get nice leaves. The nurse strenuously objected, but Eva went, and there was Adam Thomas with two fleet horses. Eva looked back and saw her old nurse wringing her hands and screaming, "O Lordly, Massa will kill me", over and over. They fled to where they could legally be made man and wife. Then on they fled to Fort Duquesne (Pittsburg).
. . .
"Now, I have brought the family history across the sea into Pennsylvania, and will be delighted if you can trace it down to the present time. [The material being quoted is from a letter.] I believe that I told you that Adam Thomas' eldest son was killed in the War. Israel was in the battle of Blue Licks, Kentucky. An Indian threw a tomahawk at him and cut his shoulder blade loose as he was trying to crawl over a very large fallen tree. The Indian gave a whoop and plunged after him, falling on him. Israel held him close with his wounded arm, while he secured the Indians knife and stabbed him to death. He then surrendered, ran the gauntlet next day, with arm swinging loose. Was adopted and lived with Indians three years."It seems that Adam Thomas went from Pennsylvania to Culpepper, Virginia."
[From another letter dated March 20, 1911]
"I met the daughter of Cevera, the Spanish Commodore, as we went to the Worlds Fair in Chicago. Sat in seat in car with her all the way and I found her a lovely girl. Her mother was a cousin to the late Queen of Spain. We talked all the way and I found her a lovely girl. Her home is in Seville, Spain. She knew the Hart family there. She said they were Spanish Dons. I believe I told you that Dr. Elijah Hart emigrated from Seville to Germany and became a Baron. It was his daughter Eva Susanna Margaret who was kidnapped. [We] may find a crest, or coat-of-arms, if you will! Isnt it worth while? Eva married a Wilson in Maryland, her daughter, Jane, married Adam Thomas, father of Israel, Abraham, George, and Daniel Thomas, our ancestors."
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.