SATURDAY CONFERENCE AT THE GERMANNA COMMUNITY COLLEGE CULPEPER CAMPUS

Saturday morning, bright and early, people began arriving at the Daniel Technology Center, Germanna Community College in Culpeper.  Coffee and doughnuts, vendors' tables set up with their wares for sale, and silent auction items awaiting successful bidders greeted those arriving for the day's conference.

While extremely hot and humid outside (even for July in Virginia!), cool air and warm greetings prevailed inside. People gathered in the vendors' area, talking, and greeting friends and cousins known from previous years at the conference. A happy cacophony of voices!

And friendly faces to help you navigate the many offerings of the day.

John Blankenbaker as Master of Ceremonies began the Roll Call of the Families with each individual standing briefly as the family names were called. Some had so many Germanna lines they actually got their morning exercise while standing and sitting!

Marc Wheat, President of the Germanna Foundation, shared with the group pertinent information about the accomplishments of the past year and upcoming opportunities, especially volunteer opportunities for those attending. Dr. Frank Turnage, Executive Director, spoke briefly about his work during the last year and presented the first Annual Report of The Germanna Foundation to the conference attendees.

For the remainder of the conference day, everyone had a wonderful choice of topics and speakers with two or three options during each time period. Many chose to hear John Blankenbaker on his topic DNA-The Big Picture. One attendee was heard to comment that John's diagrams resembled physics' equations which would not be at all surprising since John taught physics for a number of years! Others opted to attend Marc Wheat's talk about Germanna 101 or Don Tharpe speaking about Spilman vs. Gent, an actual lawsuit in colonial Virginia with great importance to the 1714 colonists. Presenting the Spilman vs Gent lawsuit as an example of colonial law, Don Tharpe shared some of the more interesting details about the case and their importance to the First Colony story. Contained within the court file is an attested copy of the lease agreement between the three trustees (Jacob Holtzclaw, John Hoffman and John Fishback) and John Spilman which illustrates the manner in which the land was conveyed to each member of their group. Of particular interest is that this lease agreement is the only known remaining copy as Stafford County has suffered the loss of so many original records. This step back into colonial courts was enlightening for all.

Whew! After all of those topics, it was time for a break and some serious shopping in the vendors' area and bidding on silent auction items!

Next came another series of lectures. Many chose to listen to Preserving Old Film presented by Amy Gallick and Lynanne Schweighofer, experts who work with the Library of Congress. Cheryl Hanback Shepherd gave an informative talk about her family as Master Builders of the Little Fork. The new Germanna Record on the Yagers was the highlight and focus of Gone With the Yagers presented in person by the author, Cathi Clore Frost.

Gone With The Yagers -- was an illustrated overview of the origins of the Yager family, their migration from Falckenstein to Virginia, members of the family who arrived in Virginia, where the Yagers settled in Virginia, Yagers who served in the military during the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, the Mexican War and Civil War, descendants who settled the frontier and those who were either the victims or perpetrators of several reported crimes and other Yager trivia.

Time for lunch! A delicious assortment of box lunches from The Honeybaked Ham Company added to the fun of talking and visiting with each other.

After lunch, a brief talk The Germany Trip! given by Katharine Brown shared the details of the recent trip to Germany as well as future trips.

SPECIAL CEREMONY AFTER LUNCH

(Note: anyone with photos of the presentation ceremony depicted below are requested to send them to foundation@germanna.org - thank you!)

On Saturday, July 17, 2010, just after the lunch break of the Germanna Conference seminars at the Germanna Community College, an interesting presentation surprised and delighted all those in attendance.  The story begins with the annual Germanna trip to Germany in which Katharine and Madison Brown, as Germanna ambassadors extraordinaire, continue to cultivate ties that reach across the Atlantic with our friends in Germany.
 
When the Germanna travel group visited the Siegerland in June, 2010 the group made our usual visit to Eisern, the village near Siegen, that was home to the Hoffman and Weaver families. The Heimatverein (local history and village improvement club) there always gives us an especially friendly and warm welcome, and for the past two visits, has also presented us with some fine craftsmanship by one of their members who admires the work of the Germanna Foundation.
 
Werner Hoffman-Gassner presented a gift to Germanna this year and he outdid himself. He is a skilled foundry worker by trade, and in the past has poured two handsome iron plaques for us, one of the history of the iron industry in the Siegerland, and the other a historic view of Siegen.

His health no longer permits him to undertake foundry work, so he has turned to wood working. He prepared fourteen (14) coats of arms to represent the villages from which the Siegerland emigrants came to Virginia, as well as the regional division of Nassau-Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia, and the Federal Republic of Germany.
 
The Germanna travelers received these plaques in the Kapellenschule (chapel school) of Eisern, with presentations by the mayors of Freudenberg and Hilchenbach-Museun, and the vice Mayor of Siegen, A full German press photography contingent recorded the activities resulting in wide press coverage in Germany.
 
At the Germanna Reunion, Katharine Brown, Germanna trip coordinator, called President Marc Wheat and all others in the audience who had participated in one of the eight Germanna trips to Germany to come to the stage. This group of Germanna Germany Trip alumni received the coats of arms and displayed them to the audience on behalf of the entire Germanna Foundation. These special works of art will be exhibited in the R. Brawdus Martin Germanna Visitor Center.
 
Herr Hoffman-Gassner has promised another surprise next year when we visit, and has hinted that it will have something to do with the Second Colony. He has caught the Germanna spirit – that we are all one big family – that we have come by our separate German routes to Virginia, but that we share a rich and unique heritage that we treasure and want to pass along to our grandchildren.
 

AFTERNOON SESSIONS

And then on to the afternoon sessions with even more choices of topics and speakers! Constance Potter from The National Archives spoke about Researching at the National Archives.

Constance Potter

Governor Alexander Spotswood, aka Dennis Loba, spoke directly and candidly about his life and even answered questions from the audience. 

Well known for his portrayal of Governor Francis Fauquier, living historian Mr. Dennis Loba mesmerized the standing room only Germanna conference participants with his presentation of Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood; bringing to life the man that was responsible for bringing the Germanna immigrants to the colony of Virginia.  Dressed in fine period clothing, a golden horseshoe pin, the finest wig available to a man of his stature, the Governor spoke passionately of his life and times.  In attendance were his wife Lady Spotswood and his daughters Dorothea and Anne Catherine, all attired in the finest 18th century clothing befitting elegant ladies.

The Governor spoke of his birth in Tangier Garrison, Morocco circa 1676, his family lineage, family members, dealings with Edward Teach, or as he is better known -  Blackbeard the Pirate, his expeditions and his residences. He resided in the Governor’s Palace in Williamsburg as it's first occupant and also at the Enchanted Castle his home on the Rapidan. He expressed his pleasure with his iron works and foundries and speculated that he had operated the first successful iron works in the colonies. The Governor took particular pleasure in recounting his 1716 Knights of the Golden Horseshoe Expedition up the Rappahannock River valley to the Blue Ridge Mountains.  He said the expedition party enjoyed their adventure of merry making and toasting the King, Queen and many others......several times.  He acknowledged burying a bottle in the Blue Ridge Mountains with papers memorializing the event.  He declined to reveal the whereabouts of this treasure. 

All left with a much greater appreciation for the colonial Virginia Lieutenant Governor who played such a critical role in the history of Germanna, not to mention the history of Virginia and colonial America.

The other option that many chose was to hear John Blankenbaker share his thoughts and research on Who is a Second Colonist?

Another break and a final opportunity to visit the vendors and get those Silent Auction bids in before it was too late! And an opportunity to meet with others interested in their Revolutionary War ancestors.

One final session of the day presented Dr. Michael Frost, Kathy Ellis and Gordon Lohr sharing the latest research surrounding Salubria with a secret announcement to be made at the end of the evening's festivities later that day at Salubria.

To see the amazing photos and read the special report on the Salubria presentation, CLICK HERE

The other final session presented information on Genealogy Research at the Library of Virginia by Cathi Clore Frost and Suzanne Collins Matson who unlocked the doors to retrieving genealogy data from that library.  Suzanne and Cathi illustrated several different ways to search for data at the Library of Virginia and demonstrated the various types of items one can obtain.  Excellent tips were provided on how to access the Library's digitized images  with the steps to take so the images can be saved to your computer or just printed. Attendees learned how to extract the data from the search pages retrieved and how to locate the Reel number, folio number as well as the importance of such information when mining the treasures of the Library of Virginia.  An overview of the location of the microfilm area, the manuscript room and the book rooms were unveiled in a manner that left everyone better appreciating these resource opportunities. Using the internet in the classroom, real-time examples were demonstrated on the actual Library website so everyone learned how to navigate as needed to find the answers to their questions.  This session was highly acclaimed for its wealth of practical information for genealogy researchers.

LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT YEAR

The day ended with new knowledge, new friends, and a renewed appreciation and awareness of our collective heritage.  The Germanna Foundation established a new level of quality presentations with this year's array of speakers.  Full rooms, lively questioning and a great sense of satisfaction combine to make everyone look forward with great anticipation to the 2011 Germanna Conference and Reunion.

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