This Note is a series of questions and I hope that the answers (from you) will serve to enlighten us all.  George Clore wrote his will on 23 Nov 1750.  He names his wife Barbara [who was his first cousin once removed], eldest son Michael Clore, second son Peter Clore, and a daughter Alesabet (Elizabeth).  His loving friends, John Clore [who was his brother] and Michael Rossal [Russell?] were nominated as executors.

The witnesses to the will were Mical Holt, who signed with the mark M; John Clore; and Michael Russel.

My first question is, "How does this Michael Holt fit into the Holt picture?"  Is he a son of the immigrant Michael Holt?

About one year later the will was submitted to the court and proved by the witnesses (Michael Rossel renounced the executorship).  The court assigned Peter Weaver [the father of Barbara Clore] as the guardian of George's son, Michael Clore.  Then the court asked Peter Weaver if he had any objections to the will on behalf of his charge Michael.  He had none.

My second question is, "Would not the two younger children also have had guardians appointed, and why aren't the guardian(s) for them named?"

I presume, from the documents, that Peter Weaver was appointed and asked if he had any objections because all of the children were minors and could not object in their own name.  In order that someone could object, at least one child had to have a guardian and that guardian was given a chance.

Going back to the will and its details, wife Barbara was given the use of the house and plantations during her natural life [there was no limitation expressed if she should remarry].  This could go for another fifty years, so perhaps the court felt that the children should have a chance to object.  The will goes on to say that each of the children was to be given a hundred acres of land.  In a sense, the will is not clear because the clauses sound contradictory.

Can anyone say something about the Russells?  Are they German or English?  Maria Rossel attended one communion service.  Was she a German who married an English Russell?

Your comments are welcome.  You do not need to reply with the whole text of this note.
(31 Mar 03)

Cleo writes that the Michael Holt who witnessed the will of George Clore was probably the son of the immigrant Michael Holt.  She goes on to say that he married, first, Elizabeth Margaret O'Neill.  The immigrant Michael Clore had a daughter Agnes who married Michael O'Neill, or O'Neal.  Assuming Elizabeth Margaret O'Neill was a daughter of Agnes, then Michael Holt who witnessed the will of George Clore was a nephew (by marriage) of George.  We saw there was another relative who witnessed the will of George and that was John Clore, his brother.  We are left with Michael Russell, or Rossel.

Michael Russell left a will in 1777 which names a wife Maria, sons Elijah, John, and William, and daughters Hanna Rice, Elizabeth Russell, Frances Lakey, and Millie.

Hanna Rice and her husband Benjamin had a child, namely Franke, baptized in 1777 at the German church.  The sponsors were Michael Schneider and his wife Mary Delph.  Michael Schneider was an executor of the will of Conrad Delph who had married Anna Magdalena Castler.

Back to the will of Michael Russell, it was witnessed by George Hume, Michael Delph, and Geo. Resor.  I believe that George Hume married a Crigler girl, so the witnesses have the look of Germans which tends to make Michael Rossel look more German.  Michael Delph, witness to Michael Rossel's will, was a brother to Mary who married Michael Schneider.

Out of all of this, these names tend to occur together:  Rossel, Delph, Castler, Klug (Rev. Klug married a daughter of Castler), Schneider, and perhaps the Resors and the Deers.  There was another way in which the Klugs and the Rossels were associated.  Ephraim Klug was the father of Sara by an unspecified Rossel girl (Elizabeth or Millie?).  At the baptism of this child by Rev. Frank, one of the sponsors was Maria Rossel, which would appear to be the mother of the girl.  Another sponsor was Johannes Frey who might be related to the Mary Frey who married Peter Clore, a son of George Clore with whom we started above.

It is obvious that we have a complex of families where we do not understand the relationships which seem to exist.

I was hoping to have more of a response on the guardianship of Peter Weaver.  There is still time to send your comments.
(01 Apr 03)

Jeff Aylor asked some questions.  I would assume that Franke Rice is a female but I do not know for sure.  The Rices have a presence in Madison County, Virginia, up to 1816, to judge by the marriage licenses, but there is no name that would be related to Franke.

There were three Schneider lines in Germanna, all of whom lived in the Robinson River Valley.  I suspect that the line of John Snyder came from the Siegen area.  Certainly the Schneider name is well known around Siegen if today�s cemeteries are any guide.  (Two or three Schneider families lived in Trupbach in 1713.) John Snyder had three sons, John, Adam, and Michael, and five daughters, names not known.  I believe he lived out to the east of today�s Madison Court House.  This family is not found very often at the Lutheran church.

The line of Philip Snyder left eight children:

1. Michael (m. Mary Delph),
2. Joseph (m. Mary Christopher),
3. Philip (no marriage),
4. Samuel (m. Elizabeth Cook),
5. Mary (no marriage),
6. Susanna (m. Jacob Rasor),
7. Elizabeth (m. George Conrad Delph), and
8. Mary Margaret (m. Michael Delph).

The third line of Snyders left no Snyder heirs.  (This is Jeff Aylor�s line.)  Henry Snyder and his wife Dorothy came in 1717 (from the Second Colony area in Germany).  A few years later, their daughter Anna Magdalena came with her Aylor husband (no proof of this last fact?).  This last marriage had taken place before 1717.  Anna Magdalena married, second, John Harnsberger but there were no known children by this marriage.  The Aylor children were Elizabeth, who married Christopher Tanner, and Henry, who married Margaret K�fer.  The Tanner children are very well represented in the Lutheran church records, where they married into the families of Zimmerman, Rouse, Cook, Burdyne, and an unknown.

There is no known relationship between Philip Snyder and Henry Snyder.  The name Schneider is a common in Germany and could easily originate in different parts of the country.

Three daughters of Henry Aylor married English men, Murray, Newman, and Bohannon.  I will come back later with more questions about the Bohannons.  Jeff perhaps could fill us in on some of the details that I glossed over here.
(02 Apr 03)

The northern fork of the Rappahannock River was called the Hedgeman or Hedgman River, over the stretch from the junction with the Rapidan to the junction with the Hazel River.  The junction of the Hedgeman and the Hazel starts the Little Fork, now in Culpeper County.  To the east of the Hedgeman River (which generally flowed north and south in this region) lay the county of Fauquier.

In the third quarter of the Eighteenth Century, a new strain of religious thought entered Virginia life.  Adherents were called Baptists and were much persecuted for violating the established (by law) Church of Virginia.  The fact that the Baptists stood for independence in church government was enough to excite the authorities.  The Baptist ministers were insulted, abused, interrupted during service, beaten, threatened, and lodged in jail on diets of bread and water for extended periods of time.

Two men who were imprisoned this way were Elijah Craig (in Culpeper) and John Pickett (in Warrenton).  At one time, James Madison said there were no less than six Baptist ministers imprisoned in the Culpeper jail.  A typical warrant for their arrest might read, "Teaching and preaching contrary to the laws and usages of the Kingdom of Great Britain, raising sedition and stirring up strife among His Majestie's liege people."

Persecution seemed to increase, rather than retard, the spread of the Baptist faith.  It may not have hurt that the imprisoned Baptist ministers, sometimes for months, continued to preach while in jail.  At first, meetings were held in private houses, in the open, or in any building large enough for the crowd of listeners.

John Pickett was a dancing master and a lover of gaming and sports.  He went to North Carolina to engage in business and there he heard the preaching of Joseph Murphy which convinced John of the "error of his ways".  He returned to Fauquier in 1767 and exhorted his friends privately, then instituted family worship, and began to preach more publicly.  The next year, having made many converts, he organized Carter's Run Church.  Four years later, when he was ordained, he became the preacher in Carter's Run Church.

His work came to the attention of the authorities.  They excited a mob which broke into the church while Pickett was preaching, split up the pulpit and table, and took Pickett to jail in Warrenton for three months.  Pickett regarded this as an opportunity for further preaching to any who cared to come to the jail.  When released from jail, Pickett extended his labors further.  The membership of Carter's Run grew rapidly and it became the mother of several other churches such as Mill Creek, Battle Run, Fiery Run, and Upper Goose Creek.  (Early Baptist churches were often named after the water courses which were the principal landmarks of the time.)
(05 Apr 03)

In starting this thread, I had in mind outlining the origins of the Jeffersonton Baptist Church in Jeffersonton.  The origins are complicated and so it was necessary, and still is, to give some of the background leading to the origin of the church.  It actually started some distance away in another county.

Jeffersonton, as it now exists, is in Culpeper County in the Little Fork, on land originally owned by Germans.  Across the Hedgeman, or Rappahannock, River lies the county of Fauquier.  Carter Run Baptist Church is in Fauquier County and it was founded by John Pickett.  Elijah Craig was preaching in Orange County (1760s) at Blue Run Church.  His work spread to Culpeper County, where he encountered much opposition and was jailed.  His jailers, after hearing him preach from his cell for a month, released him on his promise of good behavior and his promise to leave the county.

On the eastern or northern banks of the Rappahannock River, i.e., in Fauquier County, the work of Craig and Pickett came together.  Craig organized a group and Pickett assumed the responsibility for their care as a branch or daughter church of the Carter's Run Church.  At first there was no church, but they met in private homes.  The general locality is pegged at Freeman's Ford which is about two miles north of the start of the Little Fork.

The Fauquier County Court Records show that land was conveyed in 1790 to Trustees for the Hedgeman River Baptist Society.  Whether a church building existed already or not is unknown, though the church had been functioning for some time.  The important point that survives is that this fixes the location of the church.  There is no information about what the early church might have looked like, but it has been reported that the meeting houses of the early Virginia Baptists were commonly plain weather-boarded structures, with no paint on either the outside or inside.  There was no heat.  The seats were crude benches without backs.  Occasionally, the building was expanded outward on the sides by the addition of "sheds".

By 1819, the majority of the members of the church lived in the Little Fork on the opposite side of the Rappahannock River.  Crossing the river was an inconvenience for them and they desired a church which was closer to them.

The source of my information is "Bicentennial Sketch, 1773-1973, Jeffersonton Baptist Church", a booklet which was the gift of Marylee Newman.  This was written by Woodford B. Hackley, a friend of B. C. Holtzclaw, as they seemed to engage in some projects together.
(07 Apr 03)

I now turn to the political history of Jeffersonton.  In 1798, the Legislature established the town of Jefferson (notice the difference in spelling).  This was laid out on the property of Joseph Coones.  Twenty-five acres, in half acre lots, were to be sold to the highest bidders.  If today you were in Jeffersonton, the original Jefferson would be the south part.  At about the same time, about one mile to the south down the main road, the town of Springfield was also established.  It was on twenty acres of land belonging to John Spilman.

Two adjacent towns were not enough.  In the year 1807, the General Assembly saw fit to establish a third town within a stone's throw of Jefferson.  The new town was called Wealsborough.  The remains of it constitute the upper or northern part of the present town of Jeffersonton.  Wealsborough was laid out on ten acres of land belonging to Martin Fishback, Mourning Hurt, Richard Mauzy, John Lampkin, and James Newman.  Apparently the existence of two other villages within a mile and a half of Wealsborough did not discourage the promoters or the buyers who paid as high as $350 for a lot in 1807.

Between Wealsborough and Jefferson, there was some undeveloped land, and still is (I think).  Each of the two towns developed to a certain extent.  The post office would not provide two offices.  The post office gave the locality it served the name Jeffersonton.  Actually, the post office came before Wealsborough did so it was located in Jefferson.  In the course of time, the name Jeffersonton became the name for the entire developed area.  The new name was not immediate.  Even after the Civil War, the names Jefferson and Wealsborough were still used.

The first postmaster for Jeffersonton was Joseph Coones, who was appointed in 1799.  In 1825, the Assembly appointed new Trustees for the town of Jefferson, and then did a similar thing for Wealsborough in 1835.  It took a while before the name Jeffersonton became fixed.  The Baptist Church minutes speak of the Baptist Church in Wealsboro, then in Jefferson, and then in Jeffersonton.  The church didn't move; only the designation changed.

In 1835, the town (Jeffersonton) was said to be on the Washington to Milledgeville, Georgia, road.  It had one street with 43 dwelling houses, 1 Baptist house of worship, 1 Female Association for the purpose of educating young men for the ministry [sounds interesting], 1 elementary school with 50 students, 3 mercantile stores, 3 taverns, 1 tan yard, 1 hat manufactory, 3 boot and shoe factories, 1 wagon and carriage maker, and 3 house carpenters.  The population was 300, of whom two were doctors.
(08 Apr 03)

In the previous note, there was a reference to a young women's association to educate ministerial students.  The nature of this is just what the name says.  A group of young women organized to raise money to help the Virginia Baptist Seminary in Richmond, which was training ministers.  (This school later became the University of Richmond in 1840.)  The Jeffersonton ladies were effective, and held some of the annual records for the amount of money raised (as compared to similar organizations in other towns).

As the discussion on the list here showed, the early Baptist ministers were filled more with spirit than with education.  After a period of time, the church began to feel the need for better educated ministers, and so a school was established.  This is what the ladies were supporting.

Looking at some of the early names in the community, the first trustees for Jefferson were John Fishback, Thomas Spilman; John Dillard; Philip Latham; John Spilman, Sr.; Robert Freeman; Francis Payne; William Ferguson; and Thomas Freeman.  In Springfield, Thomas Spilman; John Spilman, Sr.; John Fletcher; William Tapp; and Elisha Matthews.  In Wealsborough, John Fuller, Thomas Spindle, Thomas Spilman, John Fishback, and William Tapp.

In 1825, the legislature appointed new trustees for Jefferson, who were William Freeman, Jr.; William Helm; Thomas Read; Peter B. Bowen; and Conway Spilman.  Then in 1835, the new trustees for Wealsborough were Frederick Fishback, Daniel Ward, Conway Spilman, William Hurt, Pickett Withers, and George W. Latham.  According to Woodford Hackley, none of these surnames were in the community in 1932.

In 1974, when Hackley updated his earlier remarks from 1932, it was believed that the Jeffersonton Baptist Church had occupied five buildings.  The first two were on the other side of the Rappahannock River.  Some believe that the church first received permission to build a church in 1775, after having met in homes for a period of time.  (Without any particular proof, the church organization is dated from 1773.)  This was in Fauquier County.  This was on the lands of John Kelly, and would seem to be located close to Kelly's Ford.  The second location in Fauquier County was near Freeman's Ford.

Then the big move was made to Jeffersonton, where the first building there sat in front of the present Baptist Church.  The fourth building was built behind the first church.  It burned down in 1877 when the church was being warmed for a Sunday service.  The fifth church was built on the same foundation and is still to be seen today.
(09 Apr 03)

The records of the Jeffersonton Baptist Church were destroyed in the fire of 1877.  They immediately tried to reconstruct a list of members drawing on the living people and on their memories.  In addition, Prof. Hackley searched in the minutes of other churches for mentions of Jeffersonton members.  The following are some of the names most likely to be Germanna names.

• James M. Button, died in 1868.
• Joseph W. Button, Mrs. Jane H. Button, and Henry Button, joined the church in 1868 (Joseph was a delegate to conventions).
• James William Coons, joined and died as a youth.
• Martin Fishback, born in 1763 and died in 1842.  (This last man was born, married, and died in the same room.  He served the church very faithfully.)
• Mrs. Sophia Ann Fishback, the wife of Col. Frederick Fishback, and the mother of Gov. William Meade Fishback, who was said to be a member by a relative.
• Capt. Conway Spilman, baptized in 1825.  (His wife, Nancy, died in 42 year in 1835.)
• Luther Spilman, transferred from Jeffersonton to Richmond.
• Mrs. Susan (Fishback) Young, described as an "ornament of the church".

• Harmon Button was a trustee in 1819.
• James M. Button was a trustee in 1852.
• T. Fishback was a delegate to a convention in 1841 (taken from the minutes of the convention).
• John M. Young was a trustee in 1852.
• F. Wayman was convention delegate in 1869.

The church was predominantly English, not German.  Even those above with German names might not have thought of themselves as German.  In the case of the Spilmans, I am not certain about their nationality.  There were German Spilmans in the Little Fork.

In 1959, Prof. B. C. Holtzclaw "stumbled" on the diary of Matthias Gottschalk, a Moravian missionary, who stated that in 1748 there was a colony of Germans in the Little Fork.  This was news to Holtzclaw and he, with Hackley, started a search for the Little Fork Germans.  They found land patents and grants, plus transfers of land which fixed the names of many people in the Little Fork.  Gottschalk had said there was a "small, neat, and suitable church", which the Germans had.  Being so few in number, they could not get a minister.  John Jung (Young) served as a reader and conducted services every Sunday.  The German chapel was never located positively but it was thought to be about a mile south of today's Jeffersonton.  Without a regular German minister, the congregation was certainly open to the invitation from the Baptists to join them.
(10 Apr 03)

Alexander Spotswood sued some members of the Second Colony, but not all.  The number of Germans in total was put at seventy-odd by Spotswood, and at eighty by the Germans.  But Spotswood only paid for the transportation of forty-eight of these people.  His partners, including Robert Beverley, paid for the others.  Therefore, when Spotswood sued the Germans his actions were generally limited to those for whom he had paid the transportation costs.

However, he did sue several others, and that came about because he had bought out some of his partners, who had agreements with the Germans.  He picked up, by this route, the contracts for Germans such as Amberger, Ballenger, Broyles, Moyer, Paulitz, Snyder, and Yager.  We can be fairly sure that this is the background of the lawsuit against Moyer, for example, because the son of Robert Beverly came to court to testify for Spotswood in the suit against Moyer.

There were nineteen lawsuits, all brought by Spotswood.  The Germans did not sue Spotswood as some historians have said.  Spotswood initiated the actions which were spread over time.

At no time, did the argument in the suits concern the length of time the Germans were to serve.  Nor did the suits require the Germans to work an extra year.  The suits were brought for monetary damages, and the awards, if there were any, were in money, not in service.

The basis of the lawsuits, that is, the reasons that Spotswood thought he was entitled to money, is murky.  There seems to be no pattern to the amounts that Spotswood sought and the amounts that the juries awarded him.  The very first suit, against Jacob Crigler, ended with the defendant agreeing to pay court costs.  This is rather remarkable when one considers that the amount sought was thirty-four pounds.  How Spotswood could have thought he was entitled to such a princely sum of money, and then back down with nothing, is hard to fathom.  In all, the suits against Crigler, Bellenger, Holt, Utz, Clore, and Fleshman were dismissed.

Many of the awards in the cases that went to the juries were sharply reduced from what Spotswood had sought.  Conrad Amberger was sued for thirty-two pounds and the jury awarded Spotswood two pounds, thirteen shillings, one and a half pence.  This was in the county named for the plaintiff, with judges appointed by the plaintiff, and with jury members who were friends of the plaintiff (well, some of them were).  Surely the court room was packed against the defendants.
(11 Apr 03)

The Second Colony members were probably in the service of Alexander Spotswood for seven years.  There is no written statement that specifies the length of the time and we are left with asking the questions, "When did they arrive?", and "When did they leave?"  We do not have definitive answers to these questions either, but we do have some information.

We know that the Second Colony left their homes in Germany about the middle of July in 1717.  The Gemmingen pastor recorded the departure of six families from his parish and implied that they were just leaving at that time.  It would be August before they were in Rotterdam, and there would be a delay finding a ship to London.  In London, the biggest delay was the wait for the captain of the ship they had contracted with to be released from debtor's prison.  Some say this was eight weeks.  A departure from London could hardly occur before the first of November, or perhaps even December.  Ten weeks was a good crossing time westward on the Atlantic.  It is very unlikely that they arrived before December 31, 1717.

But you might ask, "Didn't they arrive in 1717?"  At that time, until March 25 the year remained at 1717.  They might have arrived in February (of what would be 1718 by our calendar today) and they would say they arrived in 1717 if they used the calendar in effect in Virginia at the time.

Counting out the years of servitude, 1718, 1719, 1720, 1721, 1722, 1723, and 1724, would make seven years.  They probably left in the winter of 1725 (by the modern calendar) as this would give them time to clear ground, plant crops, and build shelters before the growing season started.  If they left early in the year of 1725 (modern calendar), then they would have put in seven years (plus perhaps another month or two) of service for Spotswood.

Did they move in 1725?  According to the petition of Stoever, Smith, and Holt (in London) in 1734, they moved in 1725 to the very borders of the country under the Great Ridge of Mountains.  What calendar were they using?  The old style was in effect.  What season was it?  These are the difficulties of pinning a date for the move, as we do have some numbers, but the reference frame is not clear.

Road making activity in the region from Germanna to the Robinson River Valley suggests that the Germans were at the Robinson River in 1725.  Putting it all together, the Second Colony members probably worked for Alexander Spotswood for seven years.  It would be a mistake to count any part of the year 1717 (by the modern calendar) in those years of servitude.
(12 Apr 03)

This past Saturday, Eleanor and I went to the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Palatines to America Spring Conference (in New Holland at Yoder's).  There were to be two speakers, but, in the days before the meeting, the father of one speaker came into a life threatening situation.  The conference chairman was lucky in that the other speaker also delivers talks on the same subject as the speaker who could not attend.  So, Christine Crawford-Oppenheimer became the speaker for three talks, and, fortunately, she is a very capable speaker.

Her biggest impact was perhaps with "Long-Distance Genealogy".  One of the tools in this is the research letter requesting information.  It actually applies to us here because our list is a tool itself and it is certainly long distance.  We actually see "letters" on the list here requesting information.  In addition to those addressed to the list, I receive some privately by email and by USPS.

People would be more effective in obtaining information if they observed the following items:

First Impressions Count.  I am not inclined to answer someone who does not follow a few rules of Standard English usage.  Thoughts should be expressed in sentences.  Capital letters should be used where appropriate (which is certainly not everywhere).  Punctuation is used.  Look at the comments of E. W. Wallace on the list for good examples of how it should be done.

Keep It Short!  Some people ramble.  Writers should not tire out the readers while they come to their point.  Do not send the entire original message back to the sender.  She has probably read it already.

Be Sure It's Legible.  We don't have much problem that way here because of the standard fonts used.  Don't blame the writer for using umlauts.  They are almost a necessity here and your email program should be adjusted to receive them correctly.

Include full contact information.  We do accept email addresses without snail mail addresses.  But did you give your real name?  Hiding behind a mask does not encourage people to answer.  I hate to write, "Dear [email protected]".  Are you a person or a series of code letters?

Be specific in your questions.  "Are your Smiths related to my Browns?" does not suffice.  Names are incomplete, no place is mentioned, no time is given.  I personally, and the list in general, get too many questions of this type.

Recently Susan Snyder asked some questions about John Deer's will.  Let me make a start on these questions by going back to Volume 3, the Number 4 Issue (that was back in 1991) of Beyond Germanna, where an article appeared by Sally T. Baughn on "Eve Baumgardner Boughan".  Sally related that she and her husband had been looking for the surname of his great (x4) grandfather's wife.  Family members had been searching for more than sixty years.

In reading BG:1:5, Sally noted that Eve Baumgardner married, probably, Ambrose Bohannon.  In all of Sally's research, she had found only one Eve, the wife of Mordecai Boughan.  In the BG article, the Eve there had brothers Joel and Moses, and half-sisters Catherine and Susanna.  Sally's Eve had children named Joel, Moses, Catherine, and Susanna.  There was a Jeremiah and a Simeon Deer who could go with Eve's sons Jeremiah and Simeon.

Reading on, Sally was excited to find that John Deer had left a legacy to Eve Bohan, who was presumed to be the wife of Ambrose Bohannon, the co-executor of John Deer's will.  Sally decided that Bohan was another version of the name Boughan.  Sally enlisted the aid of the author of the article, Ardys Hurt, who could confirm (after a delay) that Eve Baugh was the daughter of Frederick and Catherine Baumgartner.  The proof was a disposition made by Eve Vaughan/Baughan in March of 1828, wherein Eve stated she was a sister of Joel Bumgarner and Dolly Fleshman.  This seemed to be the first that the disposition had come to light, perhaps because it was filed under "Pumgarner vs. Weaver".  (Ardys gave credit to Gene Dear for finding this.)

Eve Baumgardner married Mordecai Boughan about 1771, as their first child was born in 1772.  He died in 1792 and Eve did not remarry, but continued to operate and to improve his estate.  Her will was written in 1829, and proved in 1835, with a settlement in 1838.  Their children, named in both wills, were:

1. Henry Boughan, b. 4 Oct 1772, m. Elizabeth Wall;
2. Sarah Boughan, b. c 1772, m. Michael Aylor;
3. Susanna Boughan, b1775, m. Robert Jones;
4. Lystra Boughan, b. 1777, m. Margaret Hitt;
5. Mordecai Boughan, b. 1782, m. Mary Zimmerman;
6. Moses Boughan, b. 9 Feb 1783, m. Sarah Yowell;
7. Catherine Vaughan, b. c 1790, never married;
8. Jeremiah Vaughan, b. 1788, m. Molly    ?   ;
9. Simeon Boughan, b. 8 Jul 1786, m. Lucy Haines;
10. Joel Vaughan, b. c 1785, m. Frances    ?   .

To help understand the will of John Deer, we should remember that he married a widow, Catherine    ?     who had been married to Frederick Baumgardner.  They apparently had five children before he, Frederick Baumgardner, died:

1. Adam,
2. George,
3. Frederick, and
4. Joel,
   (who each received 100 acres)
   and a daughter,
5. Dorothy,
   (who received the value of her share).

The evidence that Eve was another child of Frederick Baumgardner comes in the will of John Deer.  John Deer and Catherine had six children also:

1. John,
2. Moses,
3. Catherine,
4. Susanna,
5. Mary, and
6. Elizabeth.

Dorothy Baumgardner married Robert Fleshman, the son of Peter Fleshman, and grandson of Cyriacus and Anna Barbara Fleshman, the 1717 immigrants.  Dorothy and Robert moved to Greenbrier County in 1790.

Adam Baumgardner married Elizabeth Clore, and he died as a young man.  After he died his son Jesse was born, and Elizabeth and her second husband, John Becker, brought Jesse for baptism.  The record at the church does not note that his father was a Baumgardner and one might assume, incorrectly, that he was a Becker.  (One of the sponsors of Jesse was the brother of the actual father.

George and Joel Baumgardner never married.  Frederick Baumgardner married Sarah Swindell.

I don't have the spouses of John Deer's own children, except that son John did marry Mary Blankenbaker, the daughter of Christopher and Christina Blankenbaker.  This is proven by a lawsuit that went all the way to the Virginia Supreme Court and turned upon the decision of which laws were in effect at the time of the Revolution.  John Deer's daughter Catherine married    ?    Rider, and his daughter Susanna married    ?    Brown, which is known from John's will.  The spouses for the other children are blanks in my book.

It would be nice to know the maiden name of Catherine who married, first, Frederick Baumgardner.  We do know that Frederick was baptized Johann Frederick Baumgardner, in 1706, in Schwaigern, as the son of Hans Jacob Baumgarter and Catherine Willheit.  This Catherine (Willheit), was the sister of Johann Michael Willheit, early Germanna pioneer.  Michael Willheit's children were first cousins of Frederick Baumgardner.

These families have been difficult to sort out, with two posthumous births and a similarity in the married name of one daughter to an executor.  The Moses Fleshman who was a witness to the will of John Deer was the son of his step daughter, Dorothy.  I don't know who Reuben Fleshman was unless it is a mistake for Robert Fleshman, Dorothy's husband.
(16 Apr 03)

Johannes Steinseifer, who lived in Eisern a few miles southeast of Siegen, received a letter in 1749 from Johann Henrich Hoffman, a former resident of Eisern who had moved to America in 1743, specifically to Doppel Dab (Double Top?) in Orange County, Virginia.  Hoffman requested that Steinseifer bring the balance of money due to him from the sale of goods to Heinrich Jung of Eisern.

We have knowledge of this letter because Heinrich Jung wished to have it on record that he was paying the money which he owed.  He did not want to be dunned again in case the money failed to reach Hoffman.  A copy of the letter was made and filed at an official office (Steinseifer did not want to turn in the letter).  A receipt was issued to Jung for his records.  The date of this letter was 10 May 1749.

Almost immediately, Steinseifer left for America, since he arrived in Philadelphia on the ship Patience the following September 19.

Information about Johannes Steinseifer and his family has been found in the church books in Germany.  He was born 6 July 1698 at Eiserfeld (next door to Eisern), the third son of Johann Steinseifer and Anna Gehla Grebe.  On 3 Aug 1723 he married Elisabeth Schuster of Eisern.  They lived in Eisern and had nine children baptized in the parish of R�dgen.  From the church records:

1. Johannes Henrich, * 1 Oct 1724
2. Elisabeth, * 24 Nov 1726 (died 1727)
3. Johann Heinrich, * 18 Jul 1728
4. Elisabeth, * 17 Jan 1734
5. Agnes Catharina, * 26 Aug 1736
6. Henricus, * 2 Aug 1739
7. Maria Agnesa, * 14 Jan 1742
8. Johannes, * 2 Feb 1744
9. Anna Margaretha, * 7 Apr 1748

Neighbors were Michael Smith, John Kains, Major William Roan, Henry Hoffman, and Jacob Manspile.  It may be of interest that the maiden name of Henry Hoffman�s wife was Schuster, the same as the maiden name of John Steinseifer�s wife; however, the given names of the two Schuster men were different so perhaps the wives were cousins.

Velvet told us here that Agnes Catherine married Edward Smith in the late 1750s.
(17 Apr 03)

I sympathize with the Huffman/Hoffman researchers because there were several large Huffman/Hoffman families in the neighborhood, and others with the same surname came later, thought not necessarily related.  Just seeing the name Hoffman or Huffman does not ensure that another member of the families has been found.  (Huffman and Hoffman were/are very common German names.)  With some names, the mere appearance of a name is enough to justify saying he or she is a member.

In order of size and number of people, the family of John Huffman, the 1714 immigrant is the most numerous, because he came early and had a very large family -- fifteen living descendants by two wives.  This family was very inclined to the Reformed faith, even though there was a Lutheran Church in the neighborhood.  It was not entirely the Huffman's fault that they were so clannish.  The Lutherans, at that time, restricted communion to baptized Lutherans.  As a Reformed member, unless you underwent the baptismal process, you could not take communion at the Lutheran church.  (Joseph Holtzclaw, Reformed, married Elizabeth Zimmerman and lived in the Robinson River Valley.  He never appears in the Communion Lists, though he could attend church and he could be a sponsor at baptisms.)

John Huffman, the patriarch, seems to have taken the lead in building a Reformed Chapel, where Reformed people could worship.  They never had a full time minister, but preachers did come in.  It is unfortunate that the Lutherans were so uptight about Communion, and that the Reformed were so inflexible; we might have had more church records.

The second largest Huffman/Hoffman family was also in the Robinson River Valley.  This was the Henry Huffman mentioned in the last note.  He was a younger brother, by about twenty years, of the 1714 John in the preceding paragraph.  Though he had a good sized family, he was later in getting started, so the family was smaller.  The members of this family seemed more inclined to switch, or to join, the Lutheran church.  Even here, when one of them appears in the Lutheran Church records, he or she may be noted as Calvinist.

The third Germanna Huffman/Hoffman family was that of Henry Hoffman, who lived in the Little Fork.  These were mostly Reformed people also.  This family is not as well documented.  Confusion develops because two of the families are headed by "Henrys".  Even after having three Huffman/Hoffman families into which stray Huffmans/Hoffmans can be placed, B. C. Holtzclaw had to have a section in his book entitled "Unplaced Huffmans".

There was a question about a Diana Huffman.  The only one that I can find is not even a Huffman but the daughter of Peter Weaver, Jr., and Maria Elizabeth Huffman, the oldest child of Robinson River Valley Henry Huffman.  I can find a slightly later Diana Huffman, the granddaughter of 1714 John Huffman, through his son (Rev.) Daniel.  She was not born until 1784.
(18 Apr 03)

There has been some discussion recently about Huffman/Hoffman marriages.  I can add a little about some of the marriages.

Mary Huffman, who married Ephraim Fry or Frey or Fray, was the daughter of Tilman and Margaret    ?   .  Tilman was the youngest son of 1714 John Huffman and Maria Sabina Volck.

Caty Huffman married her half cousin Reuben Huffman.  Caty was the daughter of John, son of 1714 John and Maria Sabina Volck.  Reuben was the son of 1714 John and his first wife Alice Fishback.
(The above paragraph is as John composed it.  He corrects a mistake it contains in the following Note, Nr. 1650.  GWD-Webmaster)

The Hannah Huffman who married Jacob Fishback was the daughter of Michael, an older son of 1714 John.  Some say that Michael may have married Mary Fleshman, but I doubt it, as there seems to be no spare Fleshmans.

Elizabeth Huffman, who married David Fultz (a spelling preferred by Fultz family researchers), was the daughter of George, the son of 1714 John.  George's wife is unknown beyond the given name of Mary.  There were a total of three Huffman-Fultz marriages in this family, which took place, I believe, in the Valley.

Mary Huffman daughter of Nicholas, son of 1714 John, and Nicholas' wife Elizabeth    ?    married John Stonesypher/Steinseifer, whose larger family was mentioned here recently.

Susanna Huffman, daughter of Baltz Huffman, son of 1714 John, married John Camper/Kemper.  This marriage was in 1791, and I was not aware that any Kempers were living yet in the Robinson River Valley.  Baltz' wife was Catherine    ?   .

A first cousin marriage is indicated (22 Mar 1791) between Elizabeth Huffman (Baltz, 1714 John) and Michael Huffman (Frederick, 1714 John).  Whether this took place or not is unknown to me.  There were not too many Elizabeth Huffmans, and an Elizabeth Huffman married Michael Zimmerman in 1791.  It was a second marriage for Michael Zimmerman (John, John, 1717 Christopher).

I could not find the 1792 marriage of Eve and Samuel Huffman.  Perhaps that is because Samuel was a son of the Little Fork Henry, and my records are weak on him.

Among the male Huffmans, there was no Elisha Huffman, son of 1714 John.  The date given for the marriage of Zachariah (1838) would say there is a generation missing in the sequence (Zachariah, Elisha, 1714 John).
(19 Apr 03)

Correcting an error in note 1649 above, the third paragraph should read (to correct my mix up in the Johns):

"Caty Huffman married her half-cousin Reuben Huffman.  Caty was the daughter of Jacob, the son of 1714 John and his second wife, Maria Sabina Volck.  Reuben was the son of John, the son of 1714 John and his first wife, Anna Catherine Haeger.  The son John married Alice Fishback."

George Adam Ra�ser (K�iser according to Rupp) came to America on the ship Mary and Sarah, which arrived at Philadelphia on October 26, 1754.  Also included on the Mary and Sarah was George Ludwig Nonnemacher, who settled in the Robinson River area of what is now Madison County, Virginia.

George Razor, using a spelling which become popular in some branches of the family, lived first in New Jersey, in Newton township of Sussex Co.  On 14 May 1774, George bought 100 acres in the Robinson River Valley from Frederick and Sarah Baumgardner.  Members of the family lived there about twenty years, and some of them moved to South Carolina.

Considering the unknowns in the Germany origins of the Ra�sers and the Nonnenmachers, I have always been intrigued by the passenger list of the ship Loyal Judith which arrived at Philadelphia in 1732.  There are two passengers of note, to me, on this ship.  The first name on the ship�s list is Andreas Gaar, who shortly thereafter became a resident in the Robinson River Valley.  A little farther down the list are Georg Adam Riser and Hans Georg Riser.

I have wondered if the earlier Risers were also members of the family that we are talking about, George Adam Ra�ser, who had essentially the same name.  Andreas Gaar�s pastor in Illenschwang, Bavaria, recorded that Andreas was in a party of 300 people going to America.  And Andreas� comments in a letter home make it sound as if the group had traveled together.  I believe that, if I were looking for the German home of the Racer or Razor family, I would first concentrate on the villages around Illenschwang.

George Razor married Margaret    ?    in Pennsylvania or New Jersey before coming to Virginia.  The eldest son of George and Margaret is Jacob, who is to be found in the Madison County Lutheran Church up to 1804.  This is about the last appearance of any member of the family at the Lutheran Church.  The spelling of the name at the church shows a lot of variants, such as Reser, R�ser, Reiser, Rieser, Reaser, Risser, Raser, Raysor, and Racer.
(21 Apr 03)