*[Ich weiss.]
There isn’t enough time left to me to do all that I could wish. Another project that I think would be appreciated would be more land mapping. I have plotted more of the original patents in the Robinson River Valley for public distribution than anyone. In doing this, I did not take advantage of some of the tools available today, especially the aerial photos. I have plotted some of the Little Fork, again more than anyone else. Extensions to the west of the Little Fork area into what is now Rappahannock County would be desirable. More needs to be done in the area of the First Colony which I have omitted because a start here has been made by others. This start is only a small part of the lands that the First Colony took up.
What would be especially desirable is to extend the original Patent Maps by using the land transfers that are recorded at the courthouses. It would be great to see how the ownership changed and who inherited what. For example, Philip Chelf sold a piece of ground but no one knows how he had come to own this land.
Next to finding ancestors, finding the land where the ancestors lived is the dearest to the descendants.
In a somewhat similar vein, it would be desirable to have a complete database of deeds; wills; church records; and legal instruments, such as bonds, marriage licenses, and you name it. If this was really complete, one could search by a given name and see all of the names who are associated with that given name. Then one could ask the question as to why the associated person was chosen. Most of the time there is a family reason but in emergencies the choice might be dictated by other concerns. (When the immigrant William Carpenter wrote his will on the occasion of being kicked by a horse, the need for witnesses was so urgent that it appears the nearest neighbors were called upon.) In general these associations tell us something but we need to know the associations. Perhaps this project might consist of digitizing all of the records that can be found. It would be convenient to have a code name besides the name actually written. One does not want to search on every conceivable spelling of a name such as the variations of the name Blankenbuehler.
So much to do and so little time. In many of the projects that I have been naming, note that we are studying the community, not an individual family. We need more people studying the community, not an individual. Plotting an ancestor’s land is good but whose land adjoins it?
*[I know.] (Don’t I wish that.)
(11 Apr 07)
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.