Urban TANNER, Part 5:
After E. W. Wallace so kindly gave us some reference material that might show the Tanners in Ireland, let me add that one must be lenient with regards to spelling. Hank Jones noted the poor spelling of the German names by the Irish. He suggested that Damur or Damus might be two of the spellings to be found there.
When the switch from Urban to Robert was made is unknown. When Andrew Kerker was keeping the books for the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley in 1733 he made an entry which read: “By paid Urban Tanner for travelling to Wmsburgh about Church business.” The amount was 12 shillings. I would think that this indicated an above average level of education on Tanner’s part. So far as I know, this is the only time that the name Urban is used in Virginia.
I did get to the LDS FHC again and was able to copy out about 30 pages of early baptisms. Having more time at home to study the baptismal records of Anna Catharina, I discovered a phrase which concluded the record which I had overlooked. These words said that the baptism did not occur in the church at Westhofen but in a chapel which the pastor at Westhofen also served. I have written to Germany seeking a clarification. For the present, I would continue to identify Urban Danner with Westhofen as his last place of residence in Germany.
One thing that this Danner/Tanner series of records tells us that the process of emigrating was sometimes more complicated than we had originally thought. We knew already that some of the people who left in 1717 did not make it to Virginia that year, but took a few years. Now we have a documented case where the trip took eleven years.
There is one record which shows that many people left the Nassau region in 1709. The sixth party from Rotterdam to London in 1709 is headed by Johan Fredrik Heger (remember these names are written by the Dutch). Buried in the list is Peeter Heidee and wife and child. Surrounding this name are many names from the Nassau region. [In the spelling of Heidee, the Dutch used an umlauted “y” (Ÿ) in place of the “i” that I used.]
For many years, I have been insisting that the Germanna historians have been overlooking the significance of the 1709 emigration from Germany. And the historians have been giving the wrong reasons for the emigration.
(20 May 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.