Austin, Martin, Hopwood, and Holtzclaw and Others.

Our Austin Line:

First Generation

Our line begins with John Austin who was born circa ____ in Kentucky, (probably).  John married unknown.  Note:  Shelby County, KY Records:  An indenture dated April 1, 1803 of John Austin of Shelby County that "puts his son George Austin apprenticed to George Shelladicy" for 4 years.  Among other things, George Austin is "not to commit fornication nor contract marriage" during his service.  There are a couple of John Austin's in the Shelby county, Kentucky census (1820, 30 40 & 50).

They had known child:  George Austin

Second Generation

George Washington Austin, Sr. , born circa ______ in North Carolina.  He married Frances Martin, daughter of Nimrod Martin and Fanny Hopwood.  George Washington Austin and Frances Martin were married on September 9, 1808 in Shelby County, Kentucky.

George Washington Austin and Frances Martin had the following children:

i.	John Austin, born circa 1809
ii.	Betsy Austin, born circa 1811
iii.	Mahulda Austin (our line), born circa 1812, Mahulda Austin married William Buchanan on October 8, 1832.  See my Buchanon line.
iv.	George Washington Austin, Jr. born 29 Feb 1816 -
v.	Lucinda Austin, born 5 March 1819 in Indiana.  My great, great grandmother was Lucinda Austin Kay, the sister of Mahulda Austin. My grandmother was raised by Lucinda and named after her - Edith Lucinda Kay. I don't know if Lucinda Austin's first name was Edith, but that combination of names came down to my sister. I know that Mahulda married William Buchanon on Oct 11, 1832 in Harrison County, but not much else. I have none of her descendants. I do have descendants for George Washington Austin, Jr. and a little bit about the other siblings.  Gordon @ Gdurnil@aol.com   Lucinda is buried in the Kay Chapel Cemetery where I took these pictures summer of 2004.  My couisin Gordon gave me a copy of the picture of Lucinda and her husband
vi.	Eliza Ann Austin
vii.	Martha J. Austin

Notes:  Information about the estate of George Washington Austin can be found in:

The Hoosier Journal; Washington Co special page 55 Probate I Dec 1814 to May 1824 #222 Inventory of George Austin/Auston estate as appraised 4 Feb 1823 by Edmund Wayman, James Marshall and James Martin. William Watts, JP. Sale Bill 6 Feb 1823, buyers were Francis Austin (most everything), John Jackson, Joseph M., Joseph T., and Abner Martin, Samuel C. Overton and James Roberts. Nimrod Martin, Clerk
--------------------------------
Hoosier Journal of Ancestry Washington County Special #2 page 73
Probate Record Book B 1830-1837
#4. Estate of George Austin
Nimrod Martin the administrator reports 10 Sep 1830.
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George W. Austin is listed on the 1820 census in Harrison County, IN at page 57

Shelby County, Kentucky records: An indenture dated April 1, 1803 of John Austin of Shelby County that "puts his son George Austin apprentice to George Shelladicy" for 4 years. Among other things, George Austin is "not to commit fornication nor contract marriage" during his service.

Austin Origin

A Coat of Arms was granted to a William Edward Osteen a parliamentary Senator and Admin Line Officer. He was an old English Patriarch of Penbrokeshire, England. Descendents descended to Scotland, Ireland, & N. Amer during the succeeding centuries. A Coat of Arms was granted in 1506.

Possibly secularized Augustinian Frairs at the time of the Reformation and dissolution of the monasteries in England - the surname is rare or even absent before 1550. Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales speaks of someone who 'did swink and toil as Austin bit' that is as St Augustine orders. Friars of the Augustinian Order were known as Austin Friars.  Submitter: George Austin

A Coat of Arms was granted to a William Edward Osteen a parliamentary Senator and Admin Line Officer. He was an old English Patriarch of Penbrokeshire, England. Descendents descended to Scotland, Ireland, & N. Amer during the succeeding centuries. A Coat of Arms was granted in 1506.

Martin, Holtzclaw, Hopwood Ancestry - Germanna Colony, Virginia
 

For more information on the Germanna Colony, see their web site.

First Generation

i  Merten of Ferndorf b. ca. 1510, m. Unknown.

Children:

Second Generation

Mertens Heintz b. ca. 1540, m. 1580-1609, Martins Gela. Mertens died ca. 1583, Ferndorf, Germany, buried: 1-Mar-1583.

Children:
 

Third Generation

Henrich Merten b. ca. 1580, Muesen, Germany, m. 1603, Demuth Baum, (daughter of Heilmann Baum and Grete Baum). Henrich died after 1627.

Children:
 

Fourth Generation

Johannes Merten b. ca. 1606, m. Sophia Merten.

Children:
 

Fifth Generation

Jacob Merten b. ca. 1634, Muesen, m. Margarete Eichen, (daughter of Johannes Eichen and Enchen (Anna) Schweissfurth) d. 1-Sep-1693, Muesen. Jacob died 19-Oct-1689, Muesen, Germany.

Children:
 

Sixth Generation

Hans Jacob Merten b. ca. 1660, Muesen, Germany, m. 22-Oct-1687, in Muesen, Anna Barbara Wurmback, b. ca. 1667, (daughter of Frederich Wurmbach and Margarete Rode) d. 10-Mar-1741, Muesen, German. Hans died 26-Aug-1693.

Children:
 

Seventh Generation

Johann Jost Merten b. 24-May-1691, Muesen, Nassau-Siegen, Germany, m. (1) Maria Kathrina Otterbach, b. ca. 1699, (daughter of Hermann Otterbach and Elizabeth Heimbach) d. after 1724, m. (2) Eve ?. Johann died ca. 1759, Germantown, Virginia.

Jost (Joseph) Martin was 22 years old, and a resident of Müsen. The Martins (Merten in German) and the Brumbachs were related, so we have three of the young bachelors who were related. So, it sounds as if a third bachelor joined his two relatives in making the emigration decision. Probably all three were thinking, "Let’s try it. If it doesn’t work out, we can come back."   John Spilman (Spielmann) was an older bachelor, about 34 years of age. He lived in the Oberfischbach parish, to the west of Trupbach. An occupation is unknown for this man, and when he came he seems not to have been related to any of the other members of the group. Later, this all changed as several of his relatives came to Virginia. Not much is known about him in Germany.

Children:

Eighth Generation

Joseph Martin, Born: ABT 1733 - Died: ABT 1793 - Fauquier Co. VA,  Married: to Catherine Holtzclaw.
 

Ninth Generation

Nimrod Martin settled in the Germanna Colony of Virginia, then to Shelby County, Kentucky and then to Harrison County, Indiana. Nimrod Martin is listed in Washington County, IN on the 1820 Census at page 221.  Nimrod was born about 1762 in Fauquier County, Virginia and died aobut 1832 in Lincoln County, Kentucky.  He married Fanny Hopwood on 22 December 1787.

Fanny Hopwood and Nimrod Martin had:

Tenth Generation

Francis Martin married George Washington Austin and had Mahulda Austin who married William Buchanon.  See my Buchanon line.

Hopwood Ancestry:
 

Generation One

Richard Hopwood, Born: 1682 - Westmoreland, VA, Died: 1725 - VA Married: to Mary (Unknown)

Children:

Generation Two

Moses Hopwood, Born circa 1707, father Richard Hopwood, Mother Mary (Unknown) Married:10 APR 1727 to Elizabeth Pridham.  Elizabeth Pridham Born:1710 - Richmond, VA Father:  Christopher Pridham Mother:  Mary Lewis Married: 10 JUL 1726 to Edward Hinkley Married: 10 APR 1727 to Moses Hopwood.

Children:

Christopher A. Hopwood Born:1732 - VA Died: ABT 1801 - Prince William Co. VA Father:  Moses Hopwood Mother:  Elizabeth Pridham Married: 14 FEB 1764 to Martha Combs

Children:

Fanny Hopwood Born:1765 - Manassas, Prince William Co. VA Father: Christopher A. Hopwood Mother: Martha Combs Married: 22 DEC 1787 to Nimrod Martin

Children:

Frances Martin married George Washington Austin, and had Mahulda Austin who married William Buchanan and had Frances Buchanan who married John Wesley Apple and had George Thomas Apple who married Mariah Bell and had Nancy "Jennie" Apple who married Erastus Montague and had Vivian Lucile Montague who married William Ratcliffe and had Barbara Ratcliffe who married Wendall Smith and had me!

THE HOLTZLAU‑HOLTZCLAW FAMILY

The origin of the family is from the very ancient parish of Holtzklau, first mentioned in 1089, with a parish church dating back to the 13th century in the central village of Oberholzklau, and a number of other villages in the parish, including Niederholzklau. There is a brook called the Klav (an ancient name for a gully or ravine) which runs through the parish, so that the name means "the woods of the Klav." The brook later changes its name to the Fern­dorf, runs through Klafeld (the "field of the Klav"), and joins the river Sieg at Weidenau. Holzklau has always been an almost ex­clusively agricultural parish. The case is different wiidenau ef Weidenau, when our ancestors liv\\\ ed there, the township (Gemeinde) contained seven iron‑works settlements as well, Hardt, Muenkershuetten, Muesenershutten, Meinhardt, Schneppenkauten, Fiskenhuetten and Buschgotthardshuetten. Through marriages in the third and fourth generations of the pedigree given above, the Holzklaus of Weidenau became connected with the ironworks people there, particularly in the family of Johannes Holzklau of Weidenau, Jacob Holtzclaw's grandfather.

First Generation

Hans Henrich Hotzklau Born circa 1658 Married: to Gertrud (Patt) Solbach.

 

Second Generation

Hans Jacob Holtzclaw Born:1683 - Nassau-Siegen Father:Hans Henrich Hotzklau Mother:Gertrud (Patt) Solbach Married: to Anna Margreth Otterbach

Children:

Third Generation

Johannas Holtzclaw (aka John) Born:1709 - Nassau-Siegen Died:1752 - Prince William Co. VA Father:  Hans Jacob Holtzclaw Mother:  Anna Margreth Otterbach.  Married: ABT 1730 to Catherine Thomas Russell

Children:

The Germanna Colony of 1717

On July 12, 1717, twenty families left the area that would become Germany to go to the New World of North America. Their boat was detained in England, where the captain was imprisoned for debt. Because they were delayed while waiting for his release, their provisions ran so low that many of them perished during the crossing.

They had planned to join other German families in Pennsylvania, but storms forced the ship south, to Virginia. There the English sea captain claimed that they had not paid for their passage and refused to let them land until Gov. Alexander Spotswood paid him the amount he demanded. Spotswood, in turn, managed to get the Germans to sign a contract that "they apparently did not fully understand." Thus members of the 1717 Germanna Colony came to America as indentured servants. Further, at the end of the customary seven-year period, Spotswood sued and compelled most of them to work an additional year, "so that they labored eight years to gain their freedom."  Read more about this family (Martin and the Germanna Colony here, courtesy of George Austin.

The Germanna Colonies, John Blankenbaker

In 1713, forty-odd Germans left their homes in Nassau-Siegen expecting to mine silver in the New World. In 1717, about eighty Germans left their homes in southwest Germany expecting to go to Pennsylvania. Neither of these groups fulfilled its expectations. Instead, they became guardians of the frontier in Virginia and a vanguard in the westward expansion of English civilization on the North American continent. How did this come about, especially when the Germans themselves had no expectations of serving in these capacities? 

Reviewing the events prior to the coming of the Germans, the Colony of Virginia had settled Huguenots on the James River as a buffer between the English and the Indians. Franz Michel in Switzerland wondered if the Swiss might not do the same thing in Virginia and establish colonies where they could send people, including Anabaptists whom they did not desire in Switzerland. Michel went to Virginia where he explored the possibilities. He liked what he saw and heard. Back in Bern, he reported to his partners who unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a concession for a Swiss colony from Queen Anne of England. Michel, meanwhile, returned to America for several years of further exploration. The Swiss entrepreneurs were approaching this venture as an opportunity to earn money. There were no altruistic motives.

The reports of Michel inflamed Christoph von Graffenried of Bern who was looking for a way to restore his status and financial health. Graffenried was especially intrigued by Michels report that he had found silver mines. Graffenried joined Michels company (Georg Ritter and Company) and provided the necessary spark to ignite action. Though colonization was the primary objective, silver mining was promoted to equal importance.

By a coincidence, this was the year, 1709, when so many Germans were in London expecting that Queen Anne would provide transportation for the emigrants who wanted to go to the English colonies.

The proprietors of North Carolina had obtained permission to send several hundred of the thousands of Germans in London to their colony. These proprietors agreed to provided transportation for an initial group of Swiss if Graffenried would be responsible for the Germans they were sending over. Believing he could pursue the dual objectives of colonization and silver, Graffenried agreed to lead the several hundred Germans and a smaller contingent of Swiss to North Carolina.

The silver mining was pursued by hiring Johann Justus Albrecht to purchase tools and to recruit German miners. To find the miners, Albrecht went to Siegen where there were iron mines. Graffenried thought that the North Carolina colony could be set up rather quickly and then he could devote his attention to the silver mines in Virginia. Graffenried's company had obtained the Queens approval for land in Virginia for a Swiss colony. There was no intention now to use Swiss citizens since the German miners were to live there.

In America, many misfortunes befell Graffenried. He was even lucky to escape what seemed like a certain death at the hands of the Indians. The German/Swiss colony did not prosper in these early years. Graffenried and Michel had a disagreement before Michel had shown Graffenried the location of the silver mines. Graffenried went to Virginia to see if he could find a site where he could relocate the remainder of the North Carolina colony and to see if he could find the silver mines. While he was there, he aroused the attention of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood. Spotswood even invested significantly in what seemed to be a silver mine.

Graffenried had to give up in America as the colonization enterprise was bankrupt. He returned to Europe in 1713 and when he passed through London he found that Albrecht was there with forty-odd people from the Siegen area who were expecting to have the balance of their trip to the colonies financed by Graffenried. No report tells us clearly why the Germans had been motivated to go to London at this time. Graffenried, being broke, could only advise them to go home. They did not feel they could do this as they were citizens without a country. Instead, the Germans agreed to pay a part of their transportation costs and to work four years to pay for the balance. The agent for Virginia in London obligated Spotswood to pay this balance even though Spotswood himself knew nothing of the agreement.

This agent in London, Nathaniel Blakiston, was very much aware that Spotswood was interested in precious metals. He appeared on Spotswood's behalf before the Board of Trade and before Lord Orkney who was the nominal governor of Virginia. He pleaded for a resolution of the question of the royal percentage if precious metals were found. Because of Blakiston's knowledge of Spotswood's interest in these precious metals, he felt that the Germans were a good opportunity for Spotswood to obtain the labor he might be needing.

After the Germans were in Virginia, Spotswood welcomed them in the hope that they could be put to work in the projected silver mine of which he was a quarter owner. This mine was about fifteen miles beyond the western extent of English civilization so Spotswood obtained the concurrence of the Virginia Council to build a fort from the public monies for the Germans. The official explanation was that the Germans were to be the guardians of the frontier to protect the English from the Indians. They did serve in this capacity. From the land plots, one can see that the mine which seemed to have silver was only about four miles from the German settlement. As with many of Spotswood's actions, it is hard to distinguish between the public policy which he was helping to formulate and his personal interests.

Because the status of foreigners was uncertain, Spotswood was afraid that his actions might be held against him. Perhaps the naming of the fort as Germanna was a subtle appeal to Queen Anne who was favorably inclined toward Germans.

Spotswood would not allow the Germans to work in the mine until the legal title to precious metals was clarified. Therefore, the Germans did no mining for two years while instead they farmed and guarded the frontier. Eventually an attempt was made to locate silver ores but the mine was abandoned because none could be found.

Spotswood was looking for a means to insure his economic future which, as Lt. Governor, was not secure. Observing how other people in Virginia had prospered, he decided on a course of land acquisition. Most of the land in the Tidewater region had been taken up and the large tracts were all in the Piedmont to the west where there were no settlements and no roads but there were Indians. This was the best available land in the period from 1710 to 1720, especially in large tracts. This land had never been patented to private owners by the Crown and it was available relatively cheaply.

Once a private individual took up the land, he had to make improvements and to settle a certain number of people. The western lands could be raided easily by the Indians which would discourage settlers. No one wanted to be first and risk his own safety. Spotswood saw that the answer lay in obtaining a large number of people who could be settled at the same time. Their safety would be provided by their own numbers and they would provide the settlers to make a valid claim to a large tract.

The Fort Germanna Germans had done a good job in keeping the peace without creating any problems for the Virginians. Spotswood envisioned that the people he wanted and needed could be Germans.

In conversations with the captains of ships, he let them know he wanted a whole shipload of Germans. One of them, Andrew Tarbett, when he was back in England, agreed to take about eighty Germans to Pennsylvania which was where they wanted to go. Instead, he took them to Virginia on the ship Scott where he sold them as servants to Spotswood and his partners. They were settled on a tract of 40,000 acres of land (40,000 acres was the official description but the tract was closer in size to 65,000 acres) starting to the west of Germanna.

The Germans in the fort had been the western- most point of English civilization on the Atlantic seaboard. After the second group came, they were the most western point of English civilization even though, in both cases, the language and customs were German.

The first group of Germans, the miners from Nassau-Siegen, lived in the fort and worked about four years for Spotswood. During the first two years they cleared land and farmed, then for about two and half years, they worked in mining and quarrying, first at the silver mine and then with the iron ores which they had discovered. Early in 1719, they moved north to land they had purchased in the Northern Neck, just south of today's Warrenton. Before they left the employment of Spotswood, they had found and developed iron mines but they did not build an iron furnace for Spotswood. This group, which became known as the First Germanna Colony, was German Reformed by religion.

The Second Germanna Colony came from many different villages which were mostly south and east of Heidelberg with a few from outside this area. They worked seven years for Spotswood and his partners in naval stores projects and in vineyards. When they did move, they went about twenty-five miles farther west to land in the Robinson River Valley at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This again was an extremely exposed position but they chose this general region because land there was free at the time and there were few or no English settlers which gave them space for expansion. By religion they were predominantly Lutheran. In 1740, they built a church which is still being used today as a Lutheran church (it is now the oldest building in the Americas still in use as a Lutheran church).

Even before the Germans had left the vicinity of Fort Germanna, more Germans were coming. After the Germans had left the neighborhood of Fort Germanna, the newcomers moved directly to the regions where the earlier Germans were then living. These newcomers had a mixed background. Some of them had been in the English colonies for a few years and were relocating. Others came directly from Germany. Many were friends and relatives of those already here. This process continued until and after the Revolution. During the war, some of the British auxiliaries from Germany thought that farming in a German community was better than carrying a musket for the British. All of these people are called the Germanna Colonists even though the majority of them were never at Germanna and they were not members of any colony. Essentially, the common characteristic was that they lived on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The name Germanna Colonist is used because it was appropriate for the first of the Germans.

The process of finding the Germans who lived in this general region is ongoing. New names are being uncovered. Work continues also in extending their history in Europe including locations in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria.

Because many of the activities bearing on the early Germanna citizens were semi-official, there is considerable recorded history about them. Major sources of family information pertaining to the Second Colony people are their church records where there are baptismal records from 1750 to the early 1800s and communion lists from 1775 to 1812.

There is a sense of community identity among all of the Germanna people which still exists.

(Reprinted from Volume 14, number 3, (May 2002), Beyond Germanna)

Here the miners dismount in what is the westernmost point of settlement in the Virginia colony and begin to build a five-sided log fort (similar to the one at Jamestown which was built in 1607--a hundred years before).

These German immigrants establish the first settlement of the Virginia Piedmont and of what will become Orange County. It is also the oldest German settlement in the New World. This settlement is christened "Fort Germanna" both in recognition of its German settlers and to honor Queen Anne (also called "Anna"). (The Rapidan River is also named for Queen Anne: "rapid" plus "an" for "Anne"--sometimes it is written as "Rapid Ann" and "Rapidanne" in this period.)

The family names of these pioneer German families prosper in America and figure prominently in the many American German ancestry genealogical societies today:

Jacob Holtzclaw, wife Margaret, sons John and Henry
John Joseph Martin, wife Maria Kathrina
John Spillman, wife Mary
Herman Fishback, wife Kathrina
John Hoffman, wife Kathrina
Joseph Coons, wife Kathrina, son John Annalis, daughter Kathrina
John Fishback, wife Agnes
Jacob Rector, wife Elizabeth, son John (ancestor of the author's wife on her mother's side)
Melchior Brumback, wife Elizabeth
Tillman Weaver, mother Ann Weaver
Peter Hitt, wife Elizabeth
Rev. John Henry Hager
John Kemper
Harman Utterback

The descendants of these German pioneers spread out across the entire country during the decades of westward expansion that follow, and five become state governors:
 
James Lawson Kemper (Virginia)
James Sevier Conway (Arkansas)
Elias Nelson Conway (Arkansas)
Henry Massey Rector (Arkansas)
William Meade Fishbach (Arkansas) ("Germanna History" online 2)

This fort is intended to protect the Virginia frontier and serve as a buffer against the Indians. Thanks to a description of it made in a diary by a visiting British officer, JOHN FONTAINE (who is touring the area with an interest to buying land), we know the fort has two cannons (supplied by Spotswood), nine houses (one for each of the miners with a family); small compounds around each house with outbuildings for livestock, and a central blockhouse that serves as the last point of defense if the fort is overrun. This blockhouse doubles as a church—the first congregation of the German Reformed Church in America. Their pastor is the Reverend John Henry Hager, who is born in Anzhausen in 1644 and thus is 70 years old when he arrives in Virginia in 1714. (A man of "great erudition," he dies in 1737 in Madison County, Virginia, at age 93, this according to Wayland 12.)

Here is John Fontaine's description, from his entry of 21 November 1715 of his visit to Fort Germanna:

We walked about the town, which is palisaded with stakes stuck in the ground, and laid close the one to the other, and of substance to bear out a musket-shot. There are but nine families, and they have nine houses, built all in a line; and before every house, about twenty feet distant from it, they have small sheds built for their hogs and hens, so that the hog-sties and houses make a street. The place that is paled in is a pentagon, very regularly laid out; and in the very centre there is a black-house, made with five sides, which answer to the five sides of the great enclosure; there are loop-holes through it, from which you may see all the sides of the inclosure. This was intended for a retreat for the people, in case they were not able to defend the palisades, if attacked by the Indians.

They make use of this block-house for divine service. They go to prayers constantly once a day, and have two sermons on Sunday. We went to hear them perform their service, which was done in their own language, which we did not understand; but they seemed to be very devout, and sang the psalms very well. (qtd. in Wayland 25).