Genealogy Day: Germanna 101

On Saturday, July 27th, from 9:30 am to 12 (noon), the Jonesborough Genealogical Society will host its July Genealogy Day at the Washington County-Jonesborough Library, 200 Sabin Drive, Jonesborough, with guest speaker, Cathi Frost, who will be presenting a program entitled, Germanna 101.

This program will describe what is Germanna and who is a Germanna Colonist? This presentation will identify Germanna in both historical and current context. Learn how we identify the Germanna settlers, including the First and Second Colonies as well as later arrivals. Some factors that led the Germanna Colonists to leave Germany, conditions of their journey, and what they found in Virginia will be explored. The First and Second Germanna Colony settlements at and near Fort Germanna were fleeting. Why didn’t the colonists settle there permanently? Where did they settle after leaving Germanna? How did the location each colony settled after their indenture period affect group cohesion? Descendants of these colonists migrated out of Virginia, and some settled in East Tennessee (and in our county at Broylesville). How does one go about researching Germanna ancestors? These questions, and more, will be answered in this presentation offering a history of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia.

Cathi Clore Frost is the author of Germanna Record #16: The First Four Generations of the Michael Clore Family published in 2005, Germanna Record #19: The First Five Generations of the Nicholas Yager Family published in 2010, and Germanna Record #21: The First Four Generations of the Michael Willheit Family published in 2017. She is currently researching the Broyles and Weaver families for future Germanna Records. Cathi has served on the Board of Trustees of the Germanna Foundation for ten years and maintains a database of Germanna descendants for members of the organization which currently contains over 125,000 individuals.

Cathi’s ancestors include Second Colony members of the Clore, Kaifer, Weaver, Volck, and Blankenbaker families as well as members of the Hirsch/Deer and Razor families who were later comers to the Hebron / Robinson River community in Madison County, Virginia. Cathi has lived in Oregon her entire life although she spent time in Perth, Australia and Vienna, Austria as an exchange student. She graduated with honors from Linfield College after completing a B.A. in History and Education. In the past she has been a teacher and a librarian but currently works as the office manager of a friend’s dance studio. Cathi is married to Bob Frost and they have two adult children.