Some more good stuff from Grandpa.

-------- Original Message --------
From: [log in to unmask]
Subject: two more suggestions for Culpeper Co, Virginia
To: [log in to unmask]

Are you familiar with the "Germanna connection" ?  The very first people to
settle the area which became Culpeper Co were literally all first, second or
third generations of the people in the 1717-1725 Germanna colony, with allied
settlement from their families and friends from German Pennsylvania.
go "http://www.Germanna.org" for an excellent website giving a capsule
history and some good links to alternate information.  Under the "history"
button on the main page the is a pretty good list of the original 1717
immigrants and later arrivals linked by association with the Hebron Lutheran
Church.

Go "http:// homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/hebron.html" for a capsule history
of Hebron, located north of present Madison in Madison County; which was the
central point of the German-speaking communities east of the Blue Ridge until
well after 1800.  There are excellent records associated with the church, but
their publication is "hard-copy"  predating the web.  The first German
settlers formed European-style small communities with adjacent "day-farms"
spreading out in all directions.  Westward movement proceeded in haphazard
fashion, seemingly by no other influence than the availability of the best
sites for these distant "satellite" settlements.  The "English-speaking"
inhabitants of the area did have some American-style self-contained farms and
estates in between, but didn't seem to have enough influence to keep local
governments functional and used Richmond or the older counties such as Orange
or Spotsylvania for deeds, etc.

The Germanna influence cannot be understated.  Up to the civil war period,
the "English-sounding" Culpeper Co names such as Baker, Boone, Bowen,
Carpenter,  Finks, Smith, Wayland and Weaver could all be found in the Hebron
and Germanna records.  The "Links" section of the Germanna site has far more
useful Culpeper Co connections than the Genweb sites.

Hope this helps.
Dave

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