24. John Carpenter (aka Carpenter)
25. Anna Barbara Kerker
26. Peter Weaver
27. Elizabeth UNKNOWN
28. Peter Weaver (same as 26.)
29. Elizabeth UNKNOWN (same as 27.)
30. Mark Finks
31. Elizabeth UNKNOWN

50. Andrew Kerker (more known from Germany)

52. Joseph Weaver (more known from Germany)
53. Susanna Clore (same as 19.)

There is more to be worked out.  Michael calls me a cousin because we both have a Blankenbaker ancestor, but he doesn�t begin to know all of the ways in which we are cousins!
(02 Aug 03)

One of the rarer names in the Hebron baptismal records is Gerret or Garriott.  On one occasion Ambrosius Gerret and his wife Elizabeth brought Jacob, born 9 Oct 1777, for baptism on 17 Nov 1777.  The sponsors were John Dear and wife Maria, Samuel Blankenbaker, and Elizabeth Gaar.

It would not be immediately obvious that Ambrosius was a Garriott but other records clarify the name.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Jacob Blankenbaker, the son of the 1717 immigrant John Nicholas Blankenbaker.  Maria, the wife of John Dear, was a Blankenbaker and a cousin of Elizabeth.  Samuel was Elizabeth's brother and Elizabeth Gaar was her cousin.

From other records, I have that Lewis Rouse married Elisabeth Garriott and they brought Patty for baptism on 30 Mar 1788.  The sponsors were George Rouse, his brother, Maria Weaver Rouse, who probably is his sister-in-law (she married Samuel Rouse), and Maria Rouse Tanner who was his sister who married Frederick Tanner.

The appearance of the Garriott name in the Robinson River Valley has led me to pay some attention to Garriott family histories.  The only history that I found in a formal printing is not worth the paper it is on.  Beware of the histories of this family.

I have made some notes over the course of time.  Highlights are:

• Lewis Rouse (*1756) m. Elisabeth Garriott, d/o James Garriott.  Moved to Henderson Co., KY.
• Ambrose Garriott m. Elizabeth Blankenbaker (*1752).
• James Shirley m. Judith Garriott.  Their daughter Elizabeth m. William Wilhoite (*c1741).
• Margaret Wilhoite (*c1792) m. William Loving Garriott.
• Ambrose Garrett m. Ella Wilhoit in 1877.
• James Garrett m. Lydia Haynes in Culpeper Co.  Two children born there, moved to Tate Co., MS.
• Parents of Ambrose Garriott were Jonathon Garriott and Sarah.
• Jonathon's parents were John S. Garriott and Catherine.
• James Yowell m. Nancy Ann Shirley, the d/o James Shirley & Judith Garriott.
• Judith was the d/o Moses Garriott.
• Thomas Garriott (*1758) m. Ann Cully/Curry.
• Mary Garriott (d/o Thomas) m. Philip Bunger, Sr.
• Barbara Garriott (d/o Thomas) m. Henry Bunger Levina (d/o Thomas) m. Joseph Good in Madison Co. by Rev. Carpenter.

The Garriotts have interacted enough with the Germanna families that they ought to be included in the Germanna history.  Probably the Garriotts themselves were not German.  Their nationality is uncertain.  Some members of the family changed the spelling to Garrett, the way the clerks often spelled it.
(04 Aug 03)

Which family names occur most often in the Baptismal Register at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley of Virginia?  I'm not going to count them exactly but use estimates based on the number of columns the family has in the Index. The winners are:

FAMILY COLUMNS IN INDEX Capenter* 2.00 col. Blankenbaker 1.80 cols. Utz 1.20 cols. Weaver 1.10 cols. Crisler 1.00 cols. Cook 0.90 cols. Yager 0.85 cols. Broyles 0.80 cols. Crigler 0.80 cols. Garr 0.80 cols. Willheit 0.80 cols. Smith 0.75 cols. Clore 0.70 cols. Rouse 0.70 cols. Tanner 0.70 cols. Fleshman 0.60 cols. Wayland 0.60 cols. House 0.50 cols. Huffman 0.50 cols. Zimmerman 0.45 cols. Finks 0.40 cols. FAMILY COLUMNS IN INDEX Aylor 0.30 cols. Barlow 0.30 cols. Bunger 0.30 cols. Deer 0.30 cols. Delph 0.30 cols. Fisher 0.30 cols. Snyder 0.30 cols. Beemon 0.25 cols. Frey 0.25 cols. Miller 0.25 cols. Wayman 0.25 cols. Baumgardner 0.20 cols. Kinslo/Kuenzle 0.20 cols. Moyer 0.20 cols. Reiner 0.20 cols. Schwindel 0.20 cols. Chelf 0.15 cols. Holtzclaw 0.15 cols. Lederer 0.15 cols. Price 0.15 cols. Reser 0.15 cols.

Nancy House Perry asks a question about Adam House and wife Catharine in the Shenandoah Valley.  In particular, she asks if this could be the Adam House in the family of the Robinson River Valley Matthais House family.  I think the answer is that it well could be.

Adam House himself was confirmed at the German Lutheran Church in 1782, at age 18.  In 1785, he is a communicant with this added notation after his name, "wife confirmed".  In the list of people being confirmed that Sunday, there are these House family members, all of them believed to be siblings of Adam:

Matthias (age 19),
Eva (age 17), and
Margaret House (age 16).

There is one more House, namely Catherine (age 18), whose maiden name is given almost illegibly.  It is about eight letters long and the last part does seem to be "bach".  It also seems that the initial letter is "F".  Between these parts, it is a guess.  Eisenberg thought it was, in total, Farnbach.  Andreas Mielke and I looked at in the microfilm, and in the original, and we could not say anything with certainty.  George M. Smith took the easy way out and gave it as ?, for which he may deserve an "A" for honesty.  I tried to see if the name could be read as Fischbach, as being the only name I knew that would fit what we could approximately see.  It did not look like Fischbach to me.

Probably, the marriage of Adam and Catherine took place shortly before her confirmation when she was 18.  Nancy House Perry gave children as born in 1786, 1788, 1794, and on to 1809.  These would certainly be consistent with the Adam and Catherine that I have been describing.

There is another point worth mentioning.  After 1785, Adam House disappears from the Robinson River Valley.  Though his father and his younger brother Michael are in the 1787 Private Property Tax List for (old) Culpeper County, Adam is not present.  Adam never appears in the Communion Lists after the case in 1785 above.  Nor is this Adam ever present in the Baptismal Records as a parent or as a sponsor where the family is moderately active.

I would say that the appearance in the Shenandoah Valley of an Adam House with wife Catherine, having children starting in 1786 and running to 1809 would be very consistent with the Adam House and Catherine who are in the 1785 Communion List at the German Lutheran Church (Hebron) in the Robinson River Valley.  I feel terrible that the name of Catherine could not be read with some certainty.
(06 Aug 03)

Two notes back, I gave some of the names that were more typical of the community around the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley.  I will reverse the approach in this note and give some of the less frequent names.  Many of these are a mystery to me.  If you can help end my mystification, please send your comments along.

When Christopher Zimmerman and his wife Mary Tanner had their first two children baptized, that is, Susanna, born 7 May 1769, and Joshua, born 22 Aug 1771, they chose Marg. Bohannon as a sponsor on both occasions.  Christopher Zimmerman was one of the real Zimmermans, the son of John, the son of the immigrant Christopher.  (The ersatz Zimmermans were the Carpenters.)  Other sponsors for these two kids were Jacob Gerber (Tanner), Elizabeth Zimmerman Holtzclaw (she had married Joseph), Joseph Holtzclaw, and Jacob Holtzclaw.  These were, left to right, Mary's brother, Christopher's sister, Christopher's brother-in-law, Christopher's second cousin-in-law, who was also his brother-in-law's brother.  Mary Bohannon though???

When John Becker and Elizabeth Clore had Elizabeth baptized, the sponsors were Peter Clore, Elizabeth Rossel, and Mary Rossel.  Elizabeth had quite a few people to choose from, so why did she (or John) choose Elizabeth Rossel and Mary Rossel????  That there were no relatives of John Becker is understandable, as he seems to the first of the Beckers in the community.  Or were the Rossels his relatives?

When George Cook and his wife Mary Sarah Reiner had their second child baptized (Margaret), one of the sponsors was Matthew Smith.  And, again, for the third child (Magdalena), one sponsor was Matthew Smith.  For the fourth child (Dorothy), one of the sponsors was Mary Smith.  On some occasions, Nicholas Smith was chosen, but he had married a Reiner.  George Cook was a Reiner in his own right, so the choice of anyone with a Reiner history is hardly a surprise.  But there is no good explanation that I know for Matthew and Mary Smith.  For this reason, I have often wondered if Mary Smith, whose maiden name is unknown, was a Cook.  Michael Cook, the immigrant, left no will.  We know that he divided his land among two sons and two sons-in-law.  Was there another Cook child, Mary, who married Matthew Smith?

We should also keep in mind that the Smiths were from Gemmingen, and the Cooks were from Schwaigern.  These villages were only three miles apart, maybe less.  Perhaps the Smiths and Cooks had some common ancestors in Germany.  Perhaps they thought of each other as close neighbors.  In a more general way, if anyone has ideas as to the maiden name of Mary Smith who married Matthew Smith, I would like to hear their comments.
(07 Aug 03)

There are several intriguing names at the Hebron Church.  One of them gave the writers of the records fits, though they did their best they could phonetically.  They were close enough that Andreas could tell what they were aiming at.  The name is Isom or Isem.  Andreas believes they were probably trying to write Eastham, a name which is known in old Culpeper County.  In the church records there are two of them, Maria and Catharina.  Since Catharina attended Lutheran Communion Services several times, it is likely that she is a German who perhaps married Bird, James, Phillip, or William Eastham, who are found in the 1787 Personal Property Tax List.

Maria Eastham was a sponsor once when Adam Broyle and his wife Mary UNK had the infant Mary baptized in 1776.  If Adam had married an Eastham, then his wife Mary might have selected a relative as a sponsor.  So Mary Eastham could be either English or German.

Let's look at the people next to Catharine at the Communion Services.  In 1784, it was John Gaar and his wife Margaret Willheit, Mary Yager, CE, Margaret Smith widow, and Jacob Hendrickson and his wife Margaret.  In 1787, it was Mary Elizabeth Smith, William Carpenter, CE, Peter Reser and wife Veronica, and John Zimmerman and wife Ursula (Blankenbaker).  In 1789, it was John Willheit and his wife Elizabeth (Blankenbaker), Adam Yager, CE, Adam Gaar, and Mary Willheit.  In 1790, it was Margaret Fleshman, John Wayland, CE, Elizabeth Willheit, Mary Willheit.  In 1791, it was Rosina Samuel, Elizabeth Zimmerman, CE, Anna Maria Lipp, and Elizabeth Smith.  In 1792, it was John Gaar, Christian Rungo, CE (she was last one).  After missing a few years, in 1796, it was Susanna Yager, Elizabeth Weaver, CE, Susanna Smith, and Lewis Cook and his wife Mary (Yager).  If you come across a Catherine in your family research who perhaps married someone such as an Eastham, please tell us.

One of the names in the last paragraph that I bet you are not familiar with is Christian Rungo.  If you had been going to church, say from 1790 to 1822, you would know Christian.  He must have been a loyal supporter of Rev. Carpenter, as he seems to miss fewer services than Rev. Carpenter did.  Of the forty-six Communion Services in the period, Christian missed only eight.  He probably came to the Robinson River Valley shortly before 1790, as he is not in the 1787 Personal Property Tax List.  He is never listed at church with any other members of his family, so I assume he is a bachelor.  Of course, I would also assume he is a genetic dead-end.  Of the 38 times or so his name is recorded, it seems to me that it was always spelled Rungo, but Andreas objects to that spelling as a good German name.  He would prefer Rungow.
(08 Aug 03)

In the discussion here about copyrights, there is a confusion between a presentation and the facts which are contained therein.

Let us say that I go to a public cemetery and transcribe the information on the stones and publish this.  My presentation of the material is copyrighted.  Under the copyright law, another individual or company is not permitted to reproduce my presentation by photocopies, photographs, or by any other methods such as retyping or scanning without permission.  Nothing prevents the second individual from going to the cemetery and compiling his own set of information and publishing it.  He may have the same facts as I did.  This shows that the names and dates are not the material being copyrighted but that the presentation is what is being copyrighted.

Here is a real life situation.  The printers of map books deliberately introduce errors into their maps.  If they find that someone else is publishing a map with these same errors, they have a good case for suing for damages.  Authors of books introduce errors in the index in the form of nonexistent people, subjects, or page numbers.

There is a real life situation in the Germanna community in the "Before Germanna" booklets where the authors used microfilms of the German church records and found the ancestries of many Second Colony people.  They published a series of booklets as a result.  Aside from a very limited use of information taken from these books ("fair use"), it is a violation of the copyright law to issue a report, book, or story based on the information in these books.  It does not matter that the information was retyped, reformatted, or scanned; there is no escape from the fact that the information came from a copyrighted book and not from the original source.  If you want to issue a report(s) similar to that in "Before Germanna", you can obtain copies of the films and do your own transcription and translation.  (Remember that the authors had to transcribe the original German handwriting which is a creative endeavor itself.  What you read is their English translation of a German transcription.  These are not the original facts.)

As I have written these notes, I have tried to refrain from using too much of the information that was found by Zimmerman and Cerny in the "Before Germanna" booklets.  I do not hesitate to quote isolated facts, and I try to identify the source.  Some of the information that they have covered has been found by other people in the same sources.  These people have permitted the publications of their findings.  For example, I have published the origins of the Blankenbakers, as found by Margaret James Squires and by Richard Plankenbuehler.  No restrictions have been placed on the use of the information except making copies of the presentations in BEYOND GERMANNA.  Another notable example is the research on the Gaar family by the Theodore Walker family, which has generously permitted its open publication in BEYOND GERMANNA.

(Note: The contents of BEYOND GERMANNAn and of these Notes are copyrighted.  I have always permitted the use of limited amounts of the material upon request.)
(11 Aug 03)

Norma House has probably solved the mystery of the Marg. Bohannon who was a sponsor for a child of Christopher Zimmerman and Mary Tanner.  The only problem is that she has Mary Bohannon and I have Marg. Bohannon but that is not an insurmountable problem.  It merely requires some research to determine which possibility is the correct one (including the possibility that both are right).

Mary Tanner married Christopher Zimmerman.  Mary Tanner's father and mother were Christopher Tanner and Elizabeth Aylor.  Elizabeth Aylor had a brother Henry Aylor who married Anne Margaret Thomas.  They had a daughter, Mary, who married a Mr. Bohannon.

Thus, when Mary Tanner Zimmerman chose Mary or Marg. Bohannon, she was choosing her first cousin, a very typical selection.

The lady in question, Mrs. Bohannon, might have had the name Mary Margaret Aylor at birth.  It is not unusual for German women to use either of their two names, or both of their names.  At different times, she might be called Mary, or Margaret, or Mary Margaret.  This is explanation one for the difference in names.

In the church records, it is not uncommon to abbreviate Margaret or Margaretha as Marg.  Very often the "g" is written with an open top and a transcriber has to debate with himself whether the letter is a "y" or a "g".  Now, normally the name Mary is not written that way, though sometimes it is.  The more usual way, in German, is Maria.  But still there are times that it is written Mary.  Just the fact that on a few occasions it is written as Mary keeps the transcriber guessing.  Explanation two is that the name was misread.

**** People in the USA have a difficult time understanding the attitude of European public agencies and churches toward the ownership of information.  Generally, the Europeans will let one read their information but they ask, "What are you going to do with this?"  I use the example of the Public Record Office in England.  When you ask for a copy of a specific item, they respond with the question of what is the intended use.  Depending on the size of the audience that it will go to, they will adjust their fees.  They are very opposed to an exact copy of their documents being made by you because they could lose control.  If you tell them the intended audience is small and the use is nonprofit, they will perhaps let you have a copy of the original for free (except for the copying costs, which tend to be steep).

The Colonial Records Project at the LoV has many filing cabinets of microfilm copies of documents in England.  You are not supposed to make a copy of these documents.  This was one of the terms of the records being made available to Virginia on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the founding of Virginia.
(12 Aug 03)

About the time that the Germanna Colonists were coming to America, perhaps slightly later, a young German orphan, thirteen years old, landed in New York (his parents died on the trip).  There he became an apprentice to William Bradford, a printer, who had been allowed by the government of New York to establish a printing office.  It was not easy to obtain permission as the Colonial Governments generally were of the view that the free expression of opinions was dangerous.  When Benjamin Harris in Boston attempted to start a newspaper, the "Public Occurrences", he was stopped at once.  In Philadelphia, Bradford was ordered in 1692 to close his office.  He moved to New York where, after many petitions, he obtained a permit to publish the "The New York Gazette".  It was understood that the paper had to support the Governor's party.

Our apprentice served several years with Bradford, which, considering his young age when he started, would be expected.  He was expert enough that Bradford made him an assistant and partner (all the more remarkable because the boy probably knew little English when he started).  In 1733, the two men separated, perhaps because of their political differences.  Bradford, by necessity, had been an organ for the aristocratic party, while our German was more inclined to the common man's interest.

Our German immediately started his own newspaper, the "New York Weekly Journal",  which was first issued on 5 Nov 1733.  He found support among both the working class and among some of the ablest men in the colony, including some lawyers and judges who were at risk for supporting the "Journal".  A former judge wrote an article which read,

"We see men's deeds destroyed, judges arbitrarily displaced, new courts erected without the consent of the legislature, by which it seems to me trials by jury are taken away when a governor pleases; men of known estates denied their votes contrary to the recent practice of the best expositor of any law.  Who is there in that province that can call anything his own, or enjoy any liberty longer than those in the administration will condescend to let them, for which reason I left it, as I believe more will."

The Governor became incensed at the "Journal" and he directed the Grand Jury to indict the publisher for libel.  At the same time he ordered that four numbers of the offending paper be publicly burned by the hangman, "as containing many things derogatory of the dignity of His Majesty's Government, reflecting upon the legislature and tending to raise sedition and tumults in the province."  The Mayor and the City Magistrates were requested to be present at the burning of the newspapers.
(13 Aug 03)

The Grand Jury called to hear the evidence against Johann Peter Zenger (as we now know what his name was) could not see any cause for the accusations against Zenger.  The Colonial Assembly would not concur in the resolution of the Council that the objectionable numbers of the "Journal" be burned by the hangman.  The mayor and the magistrate refused to attend the burning and even prohibited the hangman, subject to their jurisdiction, from executing the mandate of the Governor.

The Governor was livid and caused the four issues to be burned by a Negro slave in the presence of the Sheriff and the Recorder of New York.  He then ordered the arrest of Zenger, and had him confined in prison and denied him all writing material.  His bail was fixed at the ridiculous sum of eight hundred Pounds; however, the "Journal" continued to be published by his wife and employees, as Zenger dictated editing instructions through a crack in the door.

The Grand Jury again, in January 1735, found no cause for indicting Zenger.  The Attorney-General filed against him for Seditious Libel, and arranged for him to be tried before the court that he had censured.  Zenger's lawyers attacked the constitutionality of the court, but this so enraged the President of the court, that the lawyers were disbarred for contempt of court and the case was adjourned.  Zenger's case now seemed hopeless, for no lawyers in New York wanted to touch the case.

Friends of Zenger persuaded Andrew Hamilton of Philadelphia to take the case.  He pleaded the cause of Zenger so eloquently that the jury could do nothing but set Zenger free.

Hamilton's case was based on admitting that Zenger had published the material in question, but that it not libel because it was the truth.  He explained there was nothing false in the articles but they were statements of true facts.  He said that the unreserved expression of opinion based on true facts was the right of every free British citizen.  Since the paragraphs published by Zenger were nothing but true facts, they could not be condemned as libel.

The jury returned with a verdict of "Not guilty"!  The population of New York indulged in wild demonstrations in honor of both Hamilton and Zenger who were considered heroes.  Perhaps at the time it was not realized how sweeping the decision was for it lay the groundwork of the freedom of the press.

All of this came from a German orphan boy with the assistance of friends and the skill of Andrew Hamilton.
(14 Aug 03)

Part of the appeal by Andrew Hamilton in the defense of John Peter Zenger was that the colonists were British citizens and were to be treated like British citizens.  This sounded fine, but, in fact, the colonists were not treated as if they were citizens of England.  A different set of laws applied to the colonists.

The merchants and manufacturers in England were instrumental in having laws established that were one-sided, favoring people in England over the people in the Colonies.  By these laws the colonists were forbidden to manufacture any articles which could be procured in England, especially cloth and iron articles, such as nails.  No hats, no paper, no ploughshares, no horseshoes were to be made in the Colonies.  Clothing was to be imported from England.

Manufactured articles were to be procured in England.  They were to be shipped in English vessels to the Colonies.  No goods, such as tobacco, cotton, hides, furs, wool, or lumber were to be shipped from the colonies to any country except England.

We have seen traces of this in the complaints of the Germans in Virginia, that the price of clothing was high.  It also had an impact on Alexander Spotswood's consideration of an iron furnace.  Iron was a gray area as it was not clearly defined as a raw material which the colonies could supply or as finished goods which was to be purchased in England.  When Spotswood proposed to the Board of Trade that the Colony of Virginia be allowed to smelt and cast iron, the Board informed him that any enabling legislation to this end must include a suspension clause.  That is, if there were objections in England to the manufacture of iron in the colonies, the merchants in England could demand that iron production cease.  This is why it took ten years for Spotswood to get into the iron smelting business, and even then he approached it very cautiously.  He had to wait until he had powerful friends in England who would support him in an "iron works".

As one reads American history in the colonial era, he/she begins to understand that the seeds of revolution were sown many decades before the War of Independence.  If the British had truly treated the people in the colonies as British citizens, there might never have been a Revolution.
(18 Aug 03)

For a lighter diversion, let's look at the first names given to children at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley, in the period from 1750 to 1775.  The baptismal register generally shows the children received only one name.  If they received two, I have used the second or "Rufnamen", the calling name.  Ranked in order of popularity, the clear winner is Elizabeth (I will use English spellings).  In order of frequency of use, they are:

NAME TIMES USED Elizabeth 18 John 9 Mary 9 Aaron 8 Margaret 8 Susanna 6 Anne 5 Hannah 5 Abraham 4 Barbara 4 Michael 4 Sarah/Sara 4 Dinah 3 Jacob 3 Magdalena 3 Nimrod 3 Samuel 3 Solomon 3 Zacharias 3 Absalom 2 NAME TIMES USED Adam 2 Ambrosius 2 Benjamin 2 Catherine 2 Daniel 2 Elias 2 George 2 Jemima 2 Joshua 2 Lewis 2 Moses 2 Rachel 2 Rebecca 2 Ambas 1 Andrew 1 Christopher 1 Diana 1 Dorothy 1 Ephraim 1 Eva 1 NAME TIMES USED Frederick 1 Helena 1 Henry 1 James 1 Jonas 1 Joseph 1 Julius 1 Lea 1 Levi 1 Lorenz 1 Matheus 1 Molly 1 Nicholas 1 Peter 1 Phoebe 1 Rebecca 1 Reuben 1 Rosina 1 Sophia 1 William 1

Many in this set of names were common among the immigrants.

Many of the German spellings duplicate the English spellings, such as Barbara and Daniel, or they are close to them.  Some that are further apart are Ludwig and Lewis, Friederich and Frederick, or Heinrich and Henry.  I was amazed at the diversity in the choice of names.  About sixty names are used.
(19 Aug 03)

In naming children, regional patterns have an influence.  We would not expect the same pattern of names in New England as in the South.  There were differences in Germany also, due to the regional impact.  Most of the names that I gave yesterday were given by people who came from or were immediate descendants of people in the southwest part of Germany.  There were changes in the course of time.  In this note, I have taken the names given to children in the period from late 1775 to the early 1780s.

FOR THE GIRLS NAME TIMES USED Elizabeth 13 Mary 13 Rosina 6 Susanna 6 Margaret 4 Hanna 3 Nancy 3 Sara 3 Barbara 2 Catherine 2 Rhode 2 Veronica 2 Agnes 1 NAME TIMES USED Amilia 1 Anne 1 Delila 1 Elisa 1 Franky 1 Jemima 1 Lea 1 Lydia 1 Magdalena 1 Rachel 1 Rebecca 1 Salome 1 Saranna 1

FOR THE BOYS NAME TIMES USED Aaron 4 Johannes 4 Ezekiel 3 Jacob 3 Michael 3 Simeon 3 Soloman 3 Adam 2 Andrew 2 Henry 2 Jeremias 2 Moses 2 Abraham 1 Ambrosius 1 NAME TIMES USED Bernhard 1 Caleb 1 Charles 1 David 1 Enoch 1 Frederick 1 James 1 Joseph 1 Joshua 1 Lewis 1 Matthew 1 Million 1 Nicholas 1 Samuel 1

In comparison to the last note, Mary gained.  Margaret, Anne, and John slipped.  Elizabeth, Susanna, and Aaron remained popular.  There was still a good diversity, but the choice of old favorites for the girls remained.
(20 Aug 03)

I happened to be looking at the birth register for Gemmingen in Germany yesterday.  I decided, as I passed through the 1760s, to copy out some of the given names that were being used there at this time.  The German baptismal registers will show two names for the children if they have been given two names, which is the usual case.  The names that I copied are:

BAPTISMAL NAMES FROM GEMMINGEN, GERMANY Albertina Alexander Anna Barbara Carl Carl Frederich Carl Gottlieb Carl Ludwig Catharina Barbara Catharine Albertina Charlotta Benedicta Christian Gottlieb Christina Barbara Christoph Clara Magdalena Coysa [?] Elisabetha Elisabetha Wilhemina Eva Veronica Friderich Georg Hans Jerg Jacob Friedrich Johann Johann Caspar Johann Christian Johann Christoph Johann Cunrad Johann Dieterich Johann Friderich Johann Georg Johann Jacob Johann Leonhard Johann Michael Johannes Joseph Juliana Friderica Margaretha Maria Barbara Maria Magdalena Maria Sophia Michael Philipp Adam Philippina Christina Wilhelm Wilhelm Rheinhart

In general, this set of names sounds a little different from the ones we have just been looking at.

There are few names here that we did not see in Virginia such as Clara, Rheinhard, Carl, Albertina, Hans, Charlotta, Philippina, and Alexander.  And in reverse to this, we saw names in Virginia that are not here.

In other churches, at slightly different times, the name Hans was used nearly to the exclusion of Johann or Johannes.  So there were definite differences due to geography and perhaps to the pastor who was doing the writing.  I know that many of the Blankenbakers had the name Hans at birth, but were married with the name Johann.

Reading the first names in the baptismal register is usually not difficult.  In some cases, because of the use of Latin letters, the names look very familiar to what we would read today.  The surnames of the parents are seldom difficult to read if you are looking for a particular family.  The technique is to form a mental image of what the surname will look like and then seek this pattern.  Today I was looking for Weber, in particular, Joseph and Susanna.  It was not difficult to find them.

The harder part arises with the occupations and the names of the sponsors.  These could be almost anything and the pastor seems to grow a bit lazy and to have the urge to save paper.  This may be reason that more sponsors are not reported.  It takes practice to read them.
(21 Aug 03)

What name was she known by?

Some women had a very flexible policy with regard to the personal names that they used.  One of my favorite examples is Anna Magdalena Smith (Smith was spelled various ways in the Hebron records, so I will simply use Smith), who married Georg Crisler (Crisler also spelled various ways in the Hebron records, so I will simply use Crisler).  Georg and Anna Magdalena were married shortly before the start of Communion Lists in 1775, and they appear with some regularity in the Communion Lists until 1810.  Throughout this period they appear as a couple.  He appears as Georg and she uses different combinations of names, to wit:

1775:  Magdalena 1776:  Magdalena 1777:  Anna Magdalena 1778:  Magdalena 1782:  An MARIA (emphasis added) 1783:  Georg Christerin (a strange thing in              itself, but it seems to indicate the wife              of Georg) 1784:  Anna MARGARETHA (emphasis              added) 1787:  Anna Magdalena 1789:  Ann Mag 1790:  Anna 1791:  Anna Mag 1793:  Anna Mag 1794:  Anna 1795:  Anna 1796:  Anna 1798:  Anna 1798:  Anna 1799:  Anna 1800:  Anna Mag 1801:  Ann Mag 1802:  Mag 1804:  Anna 1805:  Anna M. 1808:  Anna Magdalena 1809:  Ann Magdalena 1810:  Anna Magdalena 1812:  Anna Mag

The abbreviations are due to the persons writing out the lists and it was up to them how to abbreviate the name.
(22 Aug 03)

When a family left Virginia, it is often a question of whether they all left at the same time, or were staggered in their departure.  Consider the family of Jacob Blankenbaker, the son of John Nicholas Blankenbaker, the 1717 immigrant.  Jacob had two families, the first of which included Elizabeth, Samuel, Nicholas, Henry, and Thomas.  All of these people were to be found in Kentucky later.  Did they all leave together?  (Jacob was forming a second family when he moved, and they, of course, moved with him.)

First, we can fix the approximate departure of Jacob, and his second wife Hanna Weaver, between the birth of his child, Mary Barbara, recorded in baptismal record in 1798 in Virginia, and his death in 1801.  (At this latter time there was another child, only weeks old.)

Probably, the first son of Jacob to go to Kentucky was Nicholas, who was a Revolutionary War veteran.  He was in Class 71 of the Culpeper Classes, and was drafted, i.e., he was the selection out of the class.  It is believed that he moved shortly after the war to Kentucky.  He has no records in Virginia after his military service.

The next son to go to Kentucky was probably Henry, who is not in the 1787 Culpeper, Virginia, personal property tax list.  He was a sponsor at the baptism of a child of Joshua Yager, his brother-in-law, in 1785.  At this time he was almost 30 years old.

Samuel was a communicant in 1790 (without a wife), at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley; however, he was not in the 1787 tax list for Culpeper County.  (There is one Samuel there, but that should be his nephew, who was 20 years old).  Some say that his first wife, Amy Yager, died in 1788, so there may have been a complicated story here.  For example, he and his wife may have gone to Kentucky, where his wife died.  He may have then returned to Virginia briefly, made an appearance at the church, and then went back to Kentucky.

The son, Thomas, was having children baptized up to 1798 in Virginia.  Comparing the dates for Jacob's move, it appears that Thomas probably went with his father to Kentucky.

The daughter, Elizabeth, married Ambrose Garriott.  He was in the 1787 property tax list in Virginia.  Except for one very early child in the church records, they left no mark there.

All of the sons, except Nicholas, moved to Jefferson County, KY; Nicholas moved to Shelby County, KY.  His daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Ambrose, moved to a different county in KY.

Jacob directed in his will that his estate was be divided when the youngest child was 21.  Elizabeth, at this time, would have been almost 70 years old, so there was about a fifty-year spread in his children's ages.
(23 Aug 03)

The Orange County Tithe Lists of the late 1730s have been the object of some attention, at least by me, recently.  My source comes from Peggy Shomo Joyner, who has compiled the known fragments in her book "Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys:  Orange & Augusta Counties".  I don't think I have seen a worse case of spelling than those that the Tithe Lists represent, but lets not blame Ms. Joyner for that.

One list of 1736 starts with names that seem to be east of present day Madison.  I skip a few of the English names and hit the German names starting with John Hufmon and Cotley Broyle.  Each has one Tithe, which will be the general rule, except when noted otherwise by a number in parentheses.

There are a few English names to the southeast of Madison:

Heny Haws (3),
William Rice,
John Bruce,
David Bruce,
William Henderson (3),
William Offill (2)

Probably German but not for sure:

Thomas Stanton (3),
Mark Fink,
John Hanchbirque [Harnsberger?] (2),
John Garth,
William Pirce (2) (Price?),
John Stone,
Phillip Ruts(Roots?),
Anthony Strader (6),
William Banks (4),
Nicholas Yeagoe (4)

Coming North:

Adam Yeagoe,
Larance Christ (2) [Crees or Grey],
Richard Halcom (3),
George Long,
William Caphinder (2) [Carpenter?],
George Myers (2),
William Jeliff,
Thomas Downer (2),
Robert Cave (2),
Charles Rone (2),
John Brensford,
John Phillips (3),
Andrew Garr (3),
Christopher Parter [Barlow],
John Scott (3),
Denel Chrisler,
Micale Smith,
Michale Copher [Kaefer],
Thomas Weland [Wayland],
Andrew Kerker (3),
John Rouse,
Mathias Kaseler,
Nathan Fill (?),
Alender Conway (4),
Jonah ? (2),
John Wisdom (2),
David Phillips, Constable.

From the Land Patents, it appears that the path of the person counting the Tithes was not systematic, but, still, he was working a semicircular area to the east, south, and west of present day Madison.  One name from this area that is missing is Michael Holt, though he should have been in Europe in 1736 canvassing for funds.  Still he should have had sons old enough (16) to be counted.

Comments on any of these names are welcome.  Does Haws ring a bell?  What is the more usual spelling of Harsnap?

Also, in 1737, David Phillips was responsible for counting the Tithables in his precincts.  The duplication of many names from the 1736 list suggests the precincts were the same but still there were many differences.  Michael Holt, with two Tithables, shows up in the 1737 list, so perhaps he has returned from Europe.  In this 1737 list, would anyone recognize the name Cornealus Blan?
(25 Aug 03)

I like the suggestions made in response to the last note that William Jeliff could conceivable be William Chelf, or, as the name was sometimes known at the German Lutheran Church, Jelf.  At the Church, the man's name was Phillip Chelf, but that was a generation later than the late 1730's that we are talking about.

In the 1737 list, I will pick up the names, after skipping a few, with some of the names we had in the previous note:

Anthony Strader Phillip Root Peter Rucker William Offill William Pirce John Garth Thomas Stanton Edward Ferrell John Skilton Samewell [Samuel?] Bird Walter Lenard Thos Zachary Thos Jackson William Jackson William Phillips John Mackdanall [McDaniel?] Robert Cave Thomas Downer James Dyer Charles Blunt Benjamin Coward William Crawford Benjamin Tomson [Thompson?] Anthony Hed Thomas Wood William Stone William Pelam Henry Haws Richard Halcom Thos Binns John Scott John Wise Elias Smith John Rogers Thomas Colmon John Harsnap Cornealus Blan Learance Chrise John Hufmon Cortley Broyles Andrew Careker [Kerker] Andrew Carr [Garr] William Carpinter Michals Cook George Myers Michale Capher [Kaefer] Abraham Bledso Thomas Bledso Michale Smith Nichles Yeage Adham Yeago John Brenesford Mathias Caselear [Castler] George Long Mark Fink Mathias Smith Christopher Taner Michale Holt William Rice David Bruce Gye Meeks Mihcale Pireeon [?] David Phillips

When one looks at the locations of some of the original Land Patents, the conclusion is that David Phillip's precincts were on the south side of Robinson River, on both sides of White Oak Run, perhaps to the east where the Robinson meets the Rapidan River.  This leads to the conclusion that John Huffman lived south of the Robinson River.  This is a surprise to me, as most of his land was north of the Robinson River.  Another surprise to me was seeing the name Christopher Tanner in the list which would place him also on the south side of the Robinson River, opposite to the land of his father.  The location of Christopher's land is unknown to me.  Most of the land of the Germans in this list is known to me as I have plotted the original patents.  Some of the "English" holdings are known to me, but the majority of these are not.

George Smith generated a list of names in his precinct, but they are all English, and also the list has no date.  Another undated and unsigned list of names is English, with many "quarters", some of which have more than ten Tithes.  Remembering that Orange County ran to the east of Germanna, and included all of the Great Fork, there is a lot of room where these names could be located.
(26 Aug 03)

There are two Tithe Lists that are of interest because they may indicate the source of some of the names found at the German Lutheran Church in the Robinson River Valley.  Neither list encompasses the region of the Church itself.  The first list is:  "The List of Tithables in the presinks of Samuel pound Constable".  Some names of interest are:

Stevin Bacom,
Samuel Beccker,
Nicolus Christopher,
John Christopher,
William Bacom,
Thomas Russel,
John Floyd,
Joseph Mortun, and several
Edings/Eddens.

• We have a Maria Baccon who communed at the church in 1777.
• Elisabetha Becker communed in 1775 and 1776.
• Elisabetha Christopher took communion in 1775 and in 1777.
• Maria Rossel took communion in 1778.
• When Dieterich Hoffman and wife Jemima had Ezechiel baptized in 1782, two of the sponsors were his sister Agnes, who had married Robert Fleit, whose name might have its source as Floyd.
• Elizabeth Wayland married Morton Christopher.
• Several of the Christopher name also appear in the Baptismal Register.
• The surname Becker also appears in the Baptismal Register.
• Rossel also appears in the Register of Baptisms.

Isaac Hadon's "persinct" includes a few names whose residence I know.  I will just mention Fredrack Cobbler and Christophar Zimmerman.  The area is to the east of Mt. Pony, and runs over the Rapidan River to include Germanna, where Spotswood was living.  He had 14 tithables.  This list also includes a Jacob Miller.  (The area may not have covered all of Germanna, as some of Spotswood's Tithables may have been located in the Great Fork, and were included in the Tithables there.)

Henry Rice's list seems to be on the south side of the Rapidan River, as it mentions Mine Run.  One name of interest in the area is Jeremiah Dear.

All of the lists in this Note are undated.  The next list is John Mickell's, but it will take perhaps more than one note itself, as it is the heart of half of the German Robinson River Valley community.
(27 Aug 03)

One of the better-known Tithe lists, from the standpoint of the Germans, is John Mickell's, in the year 1739.  He starts with J. Fry's Quarter, which from the land patents should be in the area where the Robinson River flows into the Rapidan River.  He then moves west toward modern Madison on the north side of the Robinson River.

The first names are English:

Fry,
Smith,
Mcfearson,
Yarborough,
Sparks,
Layton,
Toles,
Waker,
Bobo,
Fields,
Mickell,
Stanton,
Duett (John and William), and
Morgan.

Tobias Wilhite,
John Stolts,
Frederick Bumgarner,
Christopher Moyers,
Peter Weaver,
Michael Wilhite,
George Woods [Utz],
Paul Blunkenbeamer,
Ludwick Fisher,
Mathias Blunkabeaner,
Nicholas Blancabeaner,
George Shively,
Conrat Slater,
Jacob Broil,
Zacharias Fleshman,
Peter Fleshman,
Richard Birdine [technically, he only married a German],
John Wilhide,
Michaell Claur,
Martin Dalbeck, and
George Ouylor.

Michael Oneall,
William Martin,
Fenly McAlester,
Nicholas Coplin [Copeland],
Nicholas Coplin.

David Ouell,
Thomas Fargason,
John Thomas,
Henry Shiter,
John Zimmerman,
John Dotson,
John Sutton,
Robbert Hutchison,
Thomas Canely[?],
John Full [Vaught],
Christian Clemon, and
Jacob Manspoille.

If one has a plot of the original Land Patents, one can see that John Mickell was very methodical in his survey.  An exception to the Land Patent rule occurs for Ludwig, or Lewis, Fisher; however, there is a logic to his position in the sequence, as he married Anna Barbara, the daughter of Balthasar (Paul) Blankenbaker, and he was living on his father-in-law's farm.  Conrat Slater had no Land Patent, but he may be connected to Henry Shiter, and both "Slater" and "Shiter" may have actually had the name "Schlucter".  Henry Schlucter was the uncle of John Thomas, and also the uncle of John Zimmerman's wife, Ursula Blankenbaker.  [It is a mystery why Henry Schlucter had no land patent of his own.]  Henry Schlucter was born in 1697, so he was 20 when he arrived in America.  If he married soon after coming [Sarah was the name of his later wife], he could have had a son by an unknown "first wife".  Possibly, this is the origin of Conrad Slater, who seems to be definitely a part of the Neuenb�rg crowd, which included the Blankenbakers, the Sheibles, the Fleshmans, and the Thomases.

Martin Dalbeck is an unknown.  German or English?  Ouylor is probably Aylor.  The full name of Henry Aylor who married Anna Margaret Thomas was, in English, George Henry Aylor.  On this occasion he seems to have used both his names, and John Mickell omitted the second name on the theory that one first name was enough.  A German, who had to select one of two given names to use, would have chosen the second as the more probable.  John Mickell missed badly on the name of John Paul Vaught whom he called John Full.
(28 Aug 03)

Betty Johnson asked questions about George Shively, and, in particular, could he be a Shirley or Shurley.  This one is easy for me though I allow that Betty has a good question.  The answer is "No".

I believe that the George Shively family, or, in better German, Scheible, originated in Austria.  When one is on the Plankenbichl hilltop farm, which is the Blankenbaker homestead not far out of Gresten in Austria, one can see down in the valley, about one-half mile away, the Scheiblau farm.  Then, a generation later, some of the Blankenbakers are to be found in Neuenb�rg, Germany, just north of Oberwisheim.  And, there is a Georg Scheible (and close variants) in the village also.  Then, a few years later, there is a series of Land Patents in the Robinson River Valley.  I gave the sequence in the last Note which has George Shively.  He is right in the middle of the people from Neuenb�rg.

So we have the following possible comparison:

Blankenbaker,                                          Scheible?,
on the Plankenbichl farm                         on the Schaiblau farm
              [!Both in Austria, about one-half mile apart!]

Blankenbaker,                                           Scheible,
in Neuenb�rg                                             in Neuenb�rg
               [!Both in Neuenb�rg (in the same church)!]

Blankenbakers,                                          Scheible, or Shively, as John Mickall wrote it,
on Robinson River                                     on Robinson River
                      [!Both in John Mickall's survey!]

George Scheible had only daughters, and, though three of them came to America, we have evidence that only one of them, Anna Elisabetha, lived.  She married Michael Holt.

I am convinced that the Scheibles had their origins in Austria, though I have no proof.  The coincidence of names in Austria, Germany, and Virginia is just too much for me not to accept otherwise.  It does mean something to say they lived on the next farm.  In this case we have a sequence of three locations and we find a close physical association in all three.

It happens that I believe there were other Germanna families who had their origins in Austria.  They moved to Germany as the first stage and then moved to Virginia.

There is an error in the history of the larger Scheible family in Neuenb�rg by Zimmerman and Cerny.  They were not sure about the maiden name of George Scheible's wife.  They took a guess, which was wrong.
(29 Aug 03)

I am skipping a list for 1739, except I will mention that it has the following surnames:

Christopher,
Smith [English Smiths],
Turner,
Baccom Edings,
Russell, and
(John) Fisher.

Next, we come to the list of James Pickett for 1739, another one that is famous for the Germans in it; however, it also contains many English names.  The general area is southern Madison County, probably all the way to the Rapidan River, and up to the Robinson River.

The first German name is Michael Holt, who was the southernmost German.

The German names start in earnest with:

Laurence Crees Courtney Browel George Lung John Hoffman John Carpenter Mathias Castler Michael Cook Henry Snider Robert Tenner George Tenner Lodowick Fisher Geo. Teter Phillip Root's Quarter Henry Moccoy Anthony Strother's Qtr. John Kelly Adam Carr (prob. Garr, as he is not in the list under the name Garr) William Carpenter Nich Yager Thos Watts Thos Edmondson Geo. Thompson John Phillips Wm Henderson Thos Coker John Edins Daywall Cristler Adam Yager Henry Crowder Mathew Smith Christley Browel John Hansborgow (Harnsberger) Michael Smith Daywol Cristler Michael Keiffer Geo. Moyers John Rowse (Rouse) Thos Weyland Mark Finks Henry Haws and a few more English names

Notice that there are two Broyles, Cortney and Christley.  People used to say these were the same person and the two radically different names were the result of "country spelling".  Conrad (Cortney) is known in the Germany church records but Christian(?) is not.  Their mother, Ursula, was married to John Broyles in 1703, and their first child was born in 1705.  (John Broyles was 26 at this time.)  If Ursula was 20 when her first child was born, she might have been having children up to when she was 42 which would (under the assumption being used here) be in the year 1727.  There could have been two or three children born in Virginia.  It is now considered that Cortney or Conrad (the same) is different from Christley who was born in Virginia.  This is also a reminder that there may have been daughters who were born in Virginia (Catherine is already accepted as a daughter born in Virginia).

The Tenners are a puzzle.  Robert Tanner is the immigrant who is accepted as the head of Tanner family.  George Tanner is next to Robert in the list, but otherwise George is unknown.  The list of names is from the south side of the Robinson River, but I had always thought of the Tanners as living on the north side, where the original land patent was.

Mark Finks has two tithes.  One would be Mark.  Since he had no slaves, the other one is probably a family member, perhaps a younger brother, since Mark's sons are not old enough to be tithes.

We will return to this list as there are some other "problems" in it.
(30 Aug 03)

In the list of names in Note 1747, we were noting problems.  The names in this list are south of the Robinson River.  Earlier we had the names of people (in 1739) of people north of the Robinson.  It was a surprise to read the name of Lewis Fisher in both lists.  Does this mean that there were two Lewis Fishers?  Or did one man dwell to some extent in both areas?  In the other list, he lived on the land of his father-in-law, which is consistent with his general history.

I have been inclined to believe that there might have been two Lewis Fishers, each of whom married an Anna Barbara, which has masked the fact there were two couples with the same names.  It could be, probably would be, that they were father and son.  Besides the name appearing twice in the Tithe Lists, there is one other fact that helps support the idea of two couples.  Mrs. Margaret James Squire, when she was researching the Zimmerman family in Sulzfeld, Germany, found that the sponsors at one of the baptisms was a Ludwig Fischer and his wife Anna Barbara.  The couple that we generally know in the Robinson River Valley would not have been old enough to be the sponsors for the Zimmerman children.

There is another duplication of names which occurs in Pickett's 1739 list.  The names are Daywall and Daywol Cristler.  These two names are only seven apart and were taken by the same man.  One would ask, "How did the compiler get his names?"  Did he ask each person personally, or did he visit a neighborhood and ask an individual who lived in that area?  If there were only one Daywall Cristler, it would be hard to have asked the man twice and to have recorded his name twice.  The Crislers had been in the community less than a decade.  The known history from Germany, and from Pennsylvania where they lived for a while, does not suggest there would be two people with this name.

There is one more list of tithes but it contains no German names.  There are also lists of names of people who could not be found by the Sheriff.  That is, they did not pay their tithe and the sheriff was sent out to collect.  Here are some of the excuses given by the sheriff(?):

Ran away, ran away, ran away, no effects, not found, no distress, a mistake, not found, no distress, not found, a mistake, not found, ran away, ran away, no distress, ran away, not found, I know not the man, dead no effects, ran away, no effects, I know not the man, not found (x4), ran away (x3), etc., etc.

Though I did not see any German names on this list, it may have been a partial or incomplete list and applicable to another section of the county.

These lists are incomplete and fragmentary.  If they were complete, there should have been German names from the Little Fork area, but we do not have them.
(02 Sep 03)

The September issue of Beyond Germanna was mailed last week and many people will have, or will be receiving, their copy by now.  The lead article, by John Blankenbaker, "The Two Wives of Henry Wayman", shows rather clearly, if you read between the lines, that Henry Wayman was married twice.  Henry was the son of Georg Weidmann, who came to Virginia on the ship Oliver.  Here, George married Catherine, maiden name unknown.  Three of their children, Harmon, Mary, and Henry, lived in the Robinson River Valley.  The fourth, Joseph, lived in the Little Fork.  It had been recognized that Henry had married Magdalena Blankenbaker, because she is called the wife of Henry Wayman in her father's will.  It had not been appreciated that Henry was married previously to a stepdaughter of Zacharias Blankenbaker.  The evidence for all of this comes from the Baptism and Communion Records at the German Lutheran Church (now Hebron).  Unfortunately, we do not know whom Zacharias's wife Els had married before she married Zach.

Cathi Clore Frost points out the combination of Paul Lederer's will and the church records may be used to identify whom Paul's daughter, Mary, married.

John Blankenbaker examines the family of Johannes Henrich Hofmann and Elisabetha Catharina Schuster, which has been reported previously by three different people to have three different sets of children.  John concludes that the list of B. C. Holtzclaw comes the closest, but even it omits one daughter, Agnes.  The existence and placement of Agnes is shown in the church records at the German Lutheran church.

Sandra Yelton has an interesting note on an Orange County Court action of 1741, where many people were brought in to settle an estate.  One result is that we learn something about how business was conducted in the early days.

Andreas Mielke has translated several letters from the original German which tell us of the decision of (Rev.) Henrich Haeger to emigrate to America.  We learn about his ill health and retirement.  The letters also tell us a lot about how arrangements were made.  One letter even tells us the day and the time of day and the conditions under which Henrich Haeger left.  Very surprisingly, he did not leave at the same time as other people who constituted the 1714 immigrants.

More of the publications by Klaus Wust are given.

A note with photographs tells a little about Oberfischbach, the village where Henrich Haeger last lived.
(03 Sep 03)

We looked at some of the Orange County Tithe Lists which were accidently preserved; however, we are usually happy to have any list of names.  Several people sent me another list of names which I will mention briefly.

When Madison County was formed in 1792, one of the things that the Court had to do early on was to assign people to the "care and feeding" of the roads.  Each road segment was assigned to a group of people who were to take care of the road.  Since many, maybe all, of the roads were dirt, they were subject to weather.  After a rain, the road might become very rutted and would require regrading to create a new smooth surface.  (It was my personal experience, when growing up, to live on such a dirt road.  I remember vividly how impassable the roads became.  The mail carrier would sometimes leave the road and travel through fields.)

Normally, the people assigned to work on a road were the tithables, both white and black.  The court assigned people to specific roads.  It is a bit of a problem to identify the roads because the roads had only general names which sometimes were not too specific.  Often the road was identified by the two end points.

For example, one order read, "Ambrose Jones to clear the road from Humeses [Humes'] Ford to Dark Run with his own hands [i.e., tithes] & Mumford Stevens, Benjamin Rowe, Charles Humes, John Ramey, John Sparks, Benjamin Petty, James Wilson, Tapley Wilson, Benjamin Garr, Thomas Brown & Benjamin Thornton."

I believe that when they said "clear" they meant to keep the road open or passable.  It did not mean to open up a new road where none had been.  If a new road was to be opened, it was often as a result of a petition to the Court who might appoint a committee to see how feasible the road would be.  Such an order was the following:

"On the motion of John Boroughs for a road from the top of the German Ridge to the Rappidan River, Ordered that Thomas Graves, Adam Banks, Joshua Bush and John Stoneseiffer or any three of them being first sworn before a Justice of the Peace, do view the ground whereon the said road is proposed to be cleared and make Special report of the Conveniences and Inconveniences that the opening of the said road may be of to the Publick or any person or persons whatsoever, to the next Court."

At first, about 33 road orders were issued.  These form an itemization of the male citizens which tells a little something about where people lived assuming one can identify the road.  Historical maps such as Eugene Scheel made are a big help.
(04 Sep 03)