John GAAR [Parents] was born in 1744 in Virginia. He married Margaret WILHOIT.
See note under father.
The five hundred and ninety-third note in a series on the Germanna Colonies
Looking at the birth and baptismal records at the German Lutheran Church for
the first seven children of John Gaar and his wife Margaret Wilhoit, we have1. Lawrence, b. 16 Nov 1767. The sponsors were Michael Gaar (his cousin),
George Crisler (his cousin), Eve Fisher (her sister), and Mary Carpenter
(her cousin). [In the relationships here, the reference is always to the parents so "his" refers to Andrew and "her" refers to Margaret, the parents of the child.]2. Abraham, b. 28 Feb 1769. The sponsors were Michael Carpenter (his
cousin-in-law, married Mary Crisler) and Eve Fisher (her sister who married
Bernard Fisher). It was unusual to have only two sponsors but perhaps the
baptism was rushed.3. John, b. 16 Mar 1771. The sponsors were Nicholas Yager (her
brother-in-law who married Susanna), George Crisler (his cousin), Eve Fisher
(her sister), and Mary Carpenter (her cousin who married Wm. Carpenter).4. Aaron, b. 20 Jan 1773. The sponsors were Michael Carpenter (his
cousin-in-law), George Crisler (his cousin), Susanna Yager (her sister), and
Eve Fisher (her sister).5. Elizabeth, b. 25 Jan 1775. The sponsors were Nicholas Yager (her
brother-in-law), Bernard Fisher (her brother-in-law), Magdalena Crisler (his
cousin-in-law who married George Crisler), and Mary Carpenter (her cousin).6. In the church records, the sixth child is unnamed but it was born 8 Nov
1776. In the Garr Genealogy, this child is Leanna with the same birth date.
The sponsors were George Crisler (his cousin), Michael Carpenter (his
cousin-in-law), Susanna Yager (her sister), and Eve Fisher (her sister). The
record for this child is duplicated in the church register (but that is
another story).7. The seventh child in the church records is Lea, b. 16 Apr 1778. No child
appears in the Garr Genealogy with this birthday. The sponsors were Bernard
Fisher (her brother-in-law), Nicholas Yager (her brother-in-law), Mary
Carpenter (her cousin), and Anna Crisler (his cousin whose full given name
was Anna Magdalena). The Garr Genealogy says there was a total of twelve children but only the seven here are in the church register.Note some points about the choice of the sponsors. They were all of the same
generation as the parents. They were chosen from siblings or cousins of the
parents or from spouses of the siblings or cousins. Of the twenty-six
choices made for sponsors, half of them were from cousins or the cousin's
spouses. Nine of the twenty-six were related by marriage and not by blood.
This is the classic pattern of sponsorship at the church. Knowing this, we
can often detect or confirm relationships among people.Andrew Garr was never a sponsor for his brother John's children, a situation
which makes one wonder. The situation is even more strange when one
considers that Andrew's wife was Christina Wilhoit who was a sister of Margaret.This little exercise started primarily to see if Eve and Elizabeth, John
Gaar's sisters, could be detected. They do not appear as sponsors.John Blankenbaker, PO Box 120, Chadds Ford, PA 19317
The five hundred and ninety-fourth note in a series on the Germanna ColoniesIn the last note, I gave the baptisms in which John Gaar was a parent and we
looked at his choice of sponsors. This note looks at the baptisms where John
Gaar was chosen as a sponsor.1. Michael Zimmerman (who was a Carpenter) and his wife Mary Crisler for
their son, Solomon (born 20 Nov 1761), chose John Gaar (her cousin), Henry
Crisler (her brother), Mary Carpenter (his sister-in-law who was the w/o
Wm., Sr.), and Elizabeth Fisher (her cousin, the w/o Adam).
2. Again, Michael and Mary for their son, Moses (b. 5 Nov 1775), chose Wm.
Carpenter (his brother), John Gaar (her cousin), Elizabeth Fisher (her
cousin), and Elizabeth Crisler (her sister-in-law who had married Henry).
3. Nicholas Yager and his wife Susanna (Willheit) for their daughter, Rosina
(b. 9 Oct 1778), chose John and Margaret Gaar (her brother-in-law and
sister), and Eva Boehm. For Eva, I not ready and/or able to make any statement.
4. John Wayland, Jr. and his wife, Rosina (Willheit), sometimes called
Rosanna, chose for their son, William (b. 20 Jun 1783), Joshua and Rachel
Utz Wayland (his brother and sister-in-law), and John Gaar (her brother-in-law).Fourteen choices were made. Five were related by marriage, not by blood.
Four were siblings. Four were blood cousins. One is an unknown. All were of
the same generation as the parents.Andrew Gaar, John Gaar's brother, had one child baptized, Simon (b. 26 Apr
1777). Andrew's wife was Christina Willheit. Their choices of sponsors were
Bernard Fisher (her brother-in-law), Eva Fisher (Bernard's wife and her
sister), John Wayland, Jr. (her brother-in-law), and Mary Willheit (her
sister-in-law, the wife of Nicholas). To classify them, one choice was
related by blood and three were related by marriage. John Gaar, his brother,
and Margaret (Willheit) Gaar, her sister, were not chosen.Andrew Gaar was chosen by Bernard Fisher and his wife. Andrew was the
brother-in-law of Bernard's wife, Eve Willheit, who Christina Gaar's sister.
Andrew Gaar was chosen by John Blankenbaker and his wife, Barbara Cook.
Andrew was John's cousin. Twice Daniel Willheit and his wife Mary
Blankenbaker chose Andrew Gaar. Daniel and Andrew were brothers-in-law as
Daniel was Christina's brother.Though the details are not given here, eight of the sponsors when Andrew
Gaar was involved were related by marriage out of the total of eighteen
choices. Only seven of the choices were siblings of the parents. But all of
them were of the same generation as the parents.The choices of sponsors which I have been illustrating here recently are
very typical of the sponsorship patterns at large. There are exceptions, few
in number, to the patterns I have been showing.John Blankenbaker, PO Box 120, Chadds Ford, PA 19317
Beyond Germanna, A Newsletter/Journal of Germanna Information
Margaret WILHOIT [Parents] was born about 1750. She married John GAAR.
Stephen FISHER [Parents] was born about 1748. He married Mary Magdalena GAAR.
Mary Magdalena GAAR [Parents] was born about 1753. She married Stephen FISHER.
Benjamin DICKENS was born about 1748. He married Rosannah GAAR.
Rosannah GAAR [Parents] was born about 1750. She married Benjamin DICKENS.
Adam FISHER [Parents] was born about 1745. He married Elizabeth GAAR.
Elizabeth GAAR [Parents] was born about 1746. She married Adam FISHER.
Benjamin GAAR [Parents] was born about 1748. He married Margaret CRIGLER.
Margaret CRIGLER [Parents] was born on 8 Mar 1759 in Culpeper Co., Virginia. She married Benjamin GAAR.
Nicholas CRIGLER [Parents] was born about 1722. He married Margaret KAIFER.
Children of MARGARET KAIFER and NICHOLAS CRIGLER are:
i. ELIZABETH4 CRIGLER, b. 18 August 1750, Culpeper (now Madison) Co.,
VA; m. ADAM CHRISLER.
ii. AARON CRIGLER, b. 09 July 1756, Culpeper (now Madison) Co., VA; d.
August 1832; m.
CATHERINE CRISLER, Culpeper Co., VA.
iii. MARGARET CRIGLER, b. 08 March 1759, Culpeper (now Madison) Co.,
VA.
iv. NICHOLAS CRIGLER , JR., b. 04 April 1762, Culpeper (now Madison)
Co., VA; d. 1813, Madison
Co., VA.
v. SUSANNA CRIGLER, b. 13 September 1764, Culpeper (now Madison) Co.,
VA.
vi. ANNA CRIGLER, b. 16 December 1768, Culpeper (now Madison) Co., VA.
vii. ABRAHAM CRIGLER, b. 03 June 1771, Culpeper (now Madison) Co., VA.
viii. JACOB CRIGLER, d. Bef. 1750.
ix. LUDWIG CRIGLER, d. Bef. 1750.
Margaret KAIFER [Parents] was born about 1734. She married Nicholas CRIGLER.
They had the following children:
F i Margaret CRIGLER
John HUFFMAN [Parents] was born about 1728. He married Alice FISHBACK.
Alice FISHBACK [Parents] was born about 1740. She married John HUFFMAN.
They had the following children:
M i Samuel HUFFMAN
Harman FISHBACK (Otterbach) was born about 1710. He married Catherine.
Catherine was born about 1715. She married Harman FISHBACK (Otterbach).
They had the following children:
F i Alice FISHBACK
Thomas UNDERHILL Jr. was born about 1815. He married Malinda WAYLAND on 1 Nov 1835 in , Boone Co., KY.
Malinda WAYLAND [Parents] was born about 1819. She married Thomas UNDERHILL Jr. on 1 Nov 1835 in , Boone Co., KY.
Another source gives marriage date as 3 Aug 1843. But I've used one from marriage book.
Living [Parents]