I have been writing about the children of Henry Huffman and his wife Catherine Schuster. For a moment, I must discuss the family of George Cook for whom there is a note in the Baptismal Register of the German Lutheran Church saying, “Second wife, Anna Maria born Hoffman, Reformed Religion.”
One confusing thing about this note is that it is not entirely clear when this second marriage took place. Everyone would agree, I think, that the child Ambrosius (Ambrose) Cook was the son of the second wife. The sponsors for Ambrosius were Philipp Schneider who was the brother-in-law of the first wife (Maria Sara nee Reiner); Magdalena Reiner Schmidt, who was the sister of the first wife, and also a cousin of the father George Cook; and the third sponsor, who was Maria Hoffman Weber, Peter Weber’s wife.
The baptism occurred in 1775 and was the third baptism by Jacob Frank, who had arrived in the community only days before. The baptism is recorded twice in the Register. The first time by Rev. Frank, the record says the wife of Georg Koch (Cook) is Anna Maria who belongs to the Reformed Church. One of the sponsors was Maria Weber. When this baptism was copied into the family section, the sponsor is Maria, the wife of Peter Weaver (the marital relationship was added).
One thing that is unusual about the baptisms of the George Cook family is that so many family connections and maiden names are explicitly given. The two wives of George Cook are identified by their maiden names. Maria Weber is identified explicitly as the wife of Peter Weber (in second copied record).
One statement says, “Second wife (of George Cook) Anna Maria born Hoffman, Reformed Religion.” One sponsor, in the copied baptism, is “Maria Weber, Peter Weaver’s wife.” The original baptism record for Ambrose says “the wife of George Cook is Anna Maria, she belongs to the Reformed Religion.” This same record gives as one of the sponsors “Maria Huffman”.
I am led to the conclusions that Maria was the wife of Peter Weaver. Also, Anna Maria Huffman married George Cook. Also, I conclude that Maria and Anna Maria were sisters. The names are very confusing but they are distinct. The full name of Maria seems to be Maria Elisabeth.
There is still another question about the baptisms of the children of Peter Weaver and George Cook which will have to wait for another Note. I hope that I have the information correctly in this Note. With the similar names and multiple recordings it is easy to get confused.
(18 Aug 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.