FYI... ----Original Message Follows---- From: "Jim Huffaker" <[email protected]> Reply-To: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject: [BRE] Dunkers of Virginia Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 12:07:30 -0500 F.B. Kegley claims in his "Virginia Frontier" that in 1745 the Eckerlin brothers left Ephrata and led a group of men into Virginia and created a settlement and named it Mahanaim. He lists the men (or families since he used plural form of last name) and "Huffacres" was the last name on the list. Have details survived over Mahanaim or on the families who lived there? Kegley goes on to say because of threats from Indians the Dunkers abandoned Mahanaim and some returned to Pennsylvania in 1755 - 1756. The following can be substantiated: (1) Joh Michael Hoffacker of Mutterstadt, Germany b 1700, arrived in Philadelphia Sep 1732 (2) An illegitimate child named John Michel Hofacker was Christened in 1744 "of John Michel Hofacker" (3) Michael Hoffecker's first child (George) was born 1757 (4) Michael Hoffecker immigrated down the Shenandoah in 1768 to near present day, Saltville, VA. He changed spelling of surname to Huffaker. (5) In late 1700s Michael and wife gifted land for a Church and Cemetery and named the Church "Mahanaim". The first and second Mahanaims were about 20 miles apart. (6) A family historian connects virtually all Hoffackers to the child born 1744 and I am not DNA match with two "descendants" nor those two a match to each other. (7) I am a DNA match with a present day Hoffecker and that is the original spelling Michael used in 1757. (8) That Hoffecker has a well documented paper trail to Mannheim to a Johannes b 1706. (9) Neither Michael nor the 1732 Immigrant are in the paper trial. (10) The 1732 Immigrant's parents and siblings in Mutterstadt are known and the immigrant was the eldest. (11) Mutterstadt and Mannheim are close and Archives in both cities have no information earlier than about 1690. It is likely (but unproven) the Mutterstadt Hoffackers and Mannheim Hoffeckers were related with earlier origins in Switzerland. The first five facts could be woven into a narrative with Kegley's history to be: The immigrant was the Huffacre in the Dunker list. It is not conclusive he fathered the illegitimate child and probably not relevant. The immigrant's son was Michael who grew to manhood in Mahanaim, VA. He and father returned to Pennsylvania (somewhere close to York) around 1756 where Michael married and had his first child. After the French and Indian War, Michael brought his family to Virginia and later named a Church "Mahanaim" over fond memories of his youth with the Dunkers. Nothing earlier than 1757 in the above narrative can be substantiated. The immigrant might also have been a Dunker (Tunker) in Germany and that was a reason to immigrate. After landing in 1732, he went to Ephrata and anonymity until he appeared in 1744 at a Christening where (perhaps) he adopted an illegitimate child and gave it his name. Resources I have exhausted: Ephrata Cloister's Archivist, Virginia Archives and Archivist, several Professional Genealogists in Pennsylvania and Virginia. Yet I feel there must exist more detail somewhere about this old Mahanaim Community of 1745 - 1756. I hope someone on this list has a resource or information that would tie the facts and a narrative together. Jim Huffaker ==== BRETHREN Mailing List ==== 8 ------------------------ The new Brethren Heritage Center 428 Wolf Creek Street, Brookville, OH Open Monday, Wednesday and Saturday 10 am-4 pm For further information contact Jim Denlinger mailto:[email protected] ------------------------