GERMANNA_COLONIES-L Archives

Archiver > GERMANNA_COLONIES > 2003-03 > 1047032674


From: John Blankenbaker <>
Subject: [GERMANNA] (1611)Germanna Colonies, History of
Date: Fri, 07 Mar 2003 05:24:34 -0500


The sixteen hundred and twelfth note in a series on the Germanna Colonies

Jim Messersmith writes that his ancestor, Johann Henrich Spitzer, was
baptized 19 Nov 1713 in Neckargemünd and asks if this was done by Rev.
Henckel. Close, Jim, but you miss by about ten months. Rev. Henckel did not
start at Neckargemünd until Sept of 1714. The pastor who baptized the baby
Hans was Rev. Johann Adam Gutheil. In June of 1714 he left saying there was
too much activity for him.

The Henckels did make it to America where I have heard that he started a
(Lutheran) church in Germantown, Pennsylvania. One of his grandsons was
Johann Justus Henkel who married Maria Magdalena Eschmann. This last family
found its way to North Carolina.

In 1727, George Teter (American spelling) found his way to Philadelphia
from Schwaigern. That he came relatively soon to the Robinson River Valley
may have been due to the influence of other people there from Schwaigern.
He bought 200 acres of land in 1735/36 under the name Jeter (which is how I
believe is the way he is to be found in the tithe lists). Though he was
relatively young, he died in 1743 and his wife Margaret Teter was appointed
the administrator of his estate. The picture grows a bit fuzzy but the
Teter family went to North Carolina. There, there were four marriages
between the Henkel and Teter families.

George Teter married Mary Ann Margaret Henkel.
Paul Teter married Rebecca Henkel.
Mary Barbara married Jacob Henkel.
Philip married Susanna Henkel.

All of these Henkel children were from Johann Justus Henkel and Maria
Magdalena Eschman.

Did the Henkel family know the Teter (Dieter) family in Germany? It does
not seem to be the case. Each family probably had heard of the places where
the other family was. They would have felt like they were meeting friends.

Perhaps a more telling factor is that each family seems to have been better
educated than average. The George Teter estate included books. And his wife
Maria Margaretha signed her own name in the estate administration. In
Germany, the German Henckel family, on both sides, was professional and
were supporters of education. In fact, the lack of good schools may have
been a contributing factor to their decision to emigrate.

An article on the Teter family by Frank Cochran appeared in volume 9 of
Beyond Germanna.

John Blankenbaker
http://www.germanna.com/
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/johnsgermnotes/germhis1.html
http://www.germanna.net/



This thread: