Greetings: I am new to the list, and am posting a synopsis of the information I have come across so far for my Whitnah family. My grandfather is Carroll Whitnah; his own father, Charles, was born in OHIO, but came from a long line of Martinsburg, Berkely county Whitnahs. The earliest anscestor is a direct line from Gramps to Martin Weidknecht - Wide Neck, if you will. He was born and died in Bahden, GE, His own son, Andreas did as well. However, Andreas is the father of Johannes Georg Weidknecht, who came to the NJ area (Then New Amsterdam) in the early or mid 1600's. The famiily cell divided once or twice, and almost all moved into Martinsburg Berkeley County WV. Why they all moved from New Amsterdam is almost certainly a policitcal story. They were very closely associated with the families Burns (scots) and VanMetre (dutch) who all apparently moved to WV with them. THese family names aare all intermingled - First generations of them married each other and their children then married each other, and even my Grandfather had an Aunt Anne Van Metre, so there. There Johannes was Widknecht, and his son, Heindrick was Wiedknach. His sons were Whitnach, and then some then became Whitenack, and others (my John G. and his bro. Joseph and William) metamorphosized into Whitnah. John G. Whitnahs' Son was Eli Carroll, his son Charles, and his son Carroll, my Gramps. Then mom. Then Me. Heindrick had nearly 12 children. Before the Rev War - 1730-40 or so, the WV Family, Heindrick at the head, moved to Livingston County NY, where they proliferated, and many can still be found as Whithach or Whitenack in some way. Some, apparently, stayed in WV, including John G. who was born anad died in WV. Some of his contemporaries were in Jefferson County, WV. The county then was Frederick county, VA, what might be now called "Old Frederick County" from what I have read - either the Martinsburg ones or the Jefferson County ones. Land was dealt out to several in Iron County MO, (by Burnses, no doubt) and some can still be found there. Too, land was inherited by some (Hendrick's kids, I think) in WI (had to have been Van Metres' hand in those) and there are the traces there. The Martinsburg Whitnahs moved to OHIO and were there only a generation (Eli's) before Eli moved to Illinois, where other Whitnahs awaited him - I wonder if they might have been quakers, because Eli married a Quaker woman, Sophia Evans, and her Evans people moved to OHIO from South Carolina around the same time Eli moved to the same part of OHIO to a Meeting that adheared to "no slavery" sentimients. Supposedly, Hendrick and the kin who went to Livingston Co NY left WV because of anit-slavery sentiment. I wonder if that meant that my people stayed because of a difference in opionion. So far, most info has this as family rumor. I found all of this info only a week ago. So interesting. The illinois Whitnahs, Eli and his son, Charles, went to Beaver Creek NE in 1890, where Gramps was born 1892. Eli went back to Ilinois and was bured there, in 1902, whilst Charles stayed in NE, where Carroll and his brothers and sister grew up - Mark, Scott and Evelyn. All my life, I knew Granpa as a mid-westerner, but when, near the end, he was found chopping down trees in the woods, my mother and Grandma said its really his West Virginia roots, you know. He's a woodsman at heart and loved the mountains. It was then that I remembered the songs he sang - Oh, Shennandoah. He talked about the Smoky Mountains and about the Blue Ridge mountains, and, when I was little, even then I thought it strange, he should be waxing nostalgic about the Rockies, shouldn't he? I remember West Virginia, now. I remember Gramps telling me about West Virginia. Now I know why. I would love to find info about any Whitnahs, on this list. Charlene, if you are able to do any lookups, I did see a Whitenack or so on the list of the page you referenced. I would be most interested in anything you might find about anyone of the surnames in the subject field. I am hoping to find specific history on these family memebers and any relatives and hopefullY, through this list, some places and associations they might have had. Also, service records. Thanks, Charlene, and anyone else with any interest or information. I re Cheryl L. Higgins [email protected]