I doubt the validity of the medieval components of this story. For one thing the printing press wasn't invented until the 15th century. Germany at this point in time was the Holy Roman Empire, and the kingdoms within the Holy Roman Empire didn't have kings, but electors. Bill Thomas -----Original Message----- From: brethren-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:brethren-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Janet Rogers Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2008 9:46 PM To: brethren@rootsweb.com Subject: [BRE] Renner and the BE Dear Merle, Or really, anyone on the list that may be able to answer the question. I have xerox copies of the biographies of my RENNER's listed in the Brethren Encyclopedia (which I cannot lay my hands on at the moment). I also have a xerox copy of the Roy Bohn "Genealogy of the Renner Family" circl 1937. In the introduction of the Bohn work, Roy basically transfered, lifter, plagerized, borrowed, whatever you would like to call it, excerpts from the BE Renner biographies. In these biographies it states, "The Renner family came from sturdy German ancestry. Their lineage came into prominence when one Francis Renner was make the King's printer in one of the large kingdom's of Germany in 1315. This printer, Francis Renner, was one of the best educated men of his day and had great influence in the royal household. His descendents continued in the royal service of the kingdom for many generations. Some of the grandsons of Francis won distinction as crusaders. They had the spirit of adventure. Some were pioneer Crusaders, while others traveled as merchants, or went out as valiant knights. The descendents of Francis Renner became numerous in Germany, and when the persecutions swept over Germany, William Renner, a dirct descendent of the old pioneer, Francis Renner, cast his lot with the faithful band of persecuted souls and came to America with a colony of Palatines. He settled in Lancaster County, PA and died there." Now, my question is this. Bohn, as stated before, lifted some material from the BE. Bohn's work has no footnotes, no reference to where information was retreived, etc. He does, in his preface, mention there were many family bibles involved. Is there any reference in the BE as to where some of this information came from? There are some errors that I can see, one being that if William Renner lived and died in Lancaster County, PA, why is his tombstone in Frederick County, MD? Can anyone give me a bit of a clue as to how the facts in the BE were gathered, or were they oral histories? To quote a local colloquillism, "I think I done confused myself." Blessings Janet ------------------------ Search the Archives at http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/BRETHREN ------------------------ Support Our Sponsoring Agency The Fellowship Of Brethren Genealogists (FOBG) For further information contact Ron McAdams mailto:McAdamsr@hotmail.com ------------------------ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to BRETHREN-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Bless your heart! Thank you so much for confirming what I had already guessed. I think Bohn, took a bunch of fanciful tales and wove them into whatever oral histories he compiled and basically created a Renner history for those ancestors before William (b. 1742). As far as I can tell, Bohn made no trip to Germany for reference or facts, as if he had, there would at least be the mention of which German province the Renner's came from other than the "Swabia" reference which is listed (again, no access to these notes at present).. It is just very frustrating to be stuck at this one juncture - up to the physical presence of William Renner's tombstone with a death date of 1792 (+/- a year or two, going by memory) and the rumor that he was born in 1742 Germany, there is no proof I can find of his immigration on either shore. I can place him in Washington County, Haugh's Church, 1768 when his son was born - so immigration had to be between 1742 and 1768. Of course, with no mention of whether his siblings or other family immigrating with him, I am reluctant to impose family status on the Renner's I do find immigrating to the US during this period... But thank you Bill, I really appreciate your help. Now, if I can find where the BE got it's information...hehe..I will be a happy camper, for a day or two anyway. Many Blessings, Janet Rogers North Carolina >I doubt the validity of the medieval components of this story. For one > thing the printing press wasn't invented until the 15th century. Germany > at > this point in time was the Holy Roman Empire, and the kingdoms within the > Holy Roman Empire didn't have kings, but electors. > > Bill Thomas