Hans Jacob Richter (1674 - 1729)

Born 10 Oct 1674 in Trupbach, Siegen, Westfalen, Prussia

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Elizabeth (Fischbach) Marr — married 17 Jan 1711 in Trupbach, Germany

Descendants

Died 7 Aug 1729 at age 54 in Germantown, Fauquier, Virginia

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Biography

This profile is part of the Germanna, Virginia One Place Study.

He was an important man in the colony, and was one of the elders of the congregation while the colony was at Germanna. He went to Germantown, but seems to have died soon after the colony went there, before 1729, for the Germantown land was set off to Elizabeth Rector. Steel smelter and toolmaker. He was christened in German Protestant Chrich the 19th Sunday after Trinity, 1674 with Hans Jacob Zimmerman acting as godfather. Married at Trupbach Jan 17, 1711 to Elizabeth, daughter of Philipp Fishenbach, had a son Johannes born there Dec. 1, 1711. He was admitted to the Guild of Steelsmiths and Toolmakers of the Freudenberg District as a toolmaker Jan. 7, 1712 and as “Hans Jacob Fishbach” sold his house at Trupbach in 1713 to his brother, Johannes Richter of Weidenau. . The house sale must have been in preparation for his leaving Germany. They first went to Maidstone England and then immigrated into Virginia in 1714 into the Germanna Colony, John (Hans) Jacob Rector acquired considerable land and chattels as well as a small number of slaves. After his death, Elizabeth, his wife, married John Marr. She and John Jacob had four sons, as proven by her will leaving her estate to her four sons.^{[citation needed]}

"14 JOHN JACOB RECTOR (Hans Jacob Richter) is the ancestor of the families recorded in this Work. He was born in 1674 at Trupbach, Germany and died about 1728/1729 at Germantown, Virginia. His surname "Richter' (meaning judge) was Anglicized to "Rector" after one or two generations of his descendants had been living in America. The "Hans' in his German name is an abbreviation of "Johannes" and is equivalent to 'Jack."

John Jacob Rector and Elizabeth Fishback (Elisabeth Fischbach) were married at Trupbach 17 Jan 1711. Details of their four children are given in the following SECOND GENERATION CHAPTER under Record Numbers 2-1; 2-2; 2-3 and 2-4. Their succeeding descendants thru twelve generations are likewise shown under numbered records of applicable generation chapters.

Known ancestors of John Jacob Rector are: (1) Parents; Christopher Richter, born about 1645, a clockmaker of Trupbach and a member of the Guild of Steeismiths and Toolmakers, and Anna Catharina Becker daughter of Herman Becker of Trupbach; (II) Grandfather; Johannes Richter of Siegen. born about 1605/1610. about 1638 admitted to the Guild of Hammersmiths and Smelterers as a Reidtmeister (middleman). dealer in iron products and ironworks owner; (111) Great Grandfather; Jacob Richter of Siegen, born about 1575; and probably (IV) Great Great Grandfather; Hans Richter born about 1550 in Saxony. Siegen citv records show that he (Hans Richter) paid the fee for Siegen citizenship in 1585 being 'from the country near Meissen, from the city of Freiburg.'

Elizabeth Fishback, wife of John Jacob Rector, was born about 1687 at Trupbach and died after 1760 in Rectortown, Virginia. Her known ancestry is: (1) Parents, Phillip Fischbach, born Seelbach, Germany in 1661 and died in Virginia about 1715, and his wife Elizabeth Heimbach daughter of Johannes Heimbach of Trupbach-, (11) Grandparents; Johannes Fischbach. 11, of Seelbach, born 1631; and (111) Great Grand- father; Johannes Fischbach, 1, of Trupbach, born about 1600. The original ancestor of the Fischbachs was a prominent "iron-master," Tiel Van Fischbach (otherwise called 'Von Holienstein') born about 1415-1420 who was 'Schultheiss" of Freudenberg, or Chief Justice of the District Court and official representative of the Court of Nassau-Siegen in that District.

Phillip Fishback/ Elizabeth Heimbach, parents of Elizabeth Fishback, came to the Virginia Colony in America along with their seven children and other relatives in 1714. Today (1986) they are the ancestors of thousands of descendants including the following United States Governors: (1) Henry Massey Rector, sixth governor of Arkansas-see Record No. 5-115 of this Work; (2) James Sevier Conway, first governor of Arkansas-see Record No. 5-116; (3) Elias Nelson Conway, fifth governor of Arkansas; (4) James Lawson Kemper, governor of Virginia 1874/1878, and (5) William Meade Fishback, governor of Arkansas 1893/1895.

Jacob was admitted to the Guild of Steel Steelsmiths and Toolmakers of the Freundenberg District as a toolmaker.

During the governorship of Alexander Spotswood from 1710 to 1722 iron ore deposits were discovered in what is now Northeast Orange County, Virginia. Prior to this time there had been no iron ore mining and production of iron products in the Colonies. All much needed items made of this metal were imported from England at great expense. The Governor fully realized that if this newly found and valuable resource could be mined and processed into farm implements, tools, household items, guns, etc. it would be of great benefit to the Colony.

Swiss promoter/developer Baron Von Graffenreid was engaged by Governor Spotswood to recruit im- migrants from the old Principality of Nassau-Siegen area, now a part of Westphalia, Germany to mine and process this newly found iron ore. This area of Germany, about forty-five miles East of Bonn, was selected because iron ore had been mined, processed and iron products manufactured there for centuries.

Twelve families, consisting of forty-two individuals, with a knowledge of iron ore mining, processing and iron products manufacturing from the Nassau-Siegen area were persuaded to immigrate to the New World. Subject John Jacob Rector, his wife Elizabeth Fishback and their son John (see Record No. 2-1) were one of these families.

In the Summer of 1713 the twelve families departed their German homeland for the New World. Their first stop was Maidstone, England. On arrival they found their promoter was without money or provi- sions for the voyage to America. During the Winter of 1713/1714 they worked to pay their own way and April 1714 landed not far from Williamsburg, Virginia; the then seat of government.

[King, p2, cont.]

The settlers named their new home "Germanna" in rememberance of their homeland and to honor Queen Anna of England. They cleared the forest and built their homes and a church. And for the first time in the New World thev engaged in iron ore mining and processing and production of iron products. The Government cut a road thru the forest into the area, built a fort and furnished two cannon and ammunition for protection against the Indians.

About 1720 the twelve Germanna families moved northward about nineteen miles into what is now Fauquier County, Virginia and settled on a tract of 1805 acres. The exact location is on Licking Run between Warrenton and Midland. Each family was granted 150 acres. They named their new community "Germantown."

John Jacob Rector, three of his four children and some of his grandchildren spent the remainder of their lives at, or near, Germantown. His youngest son Jacob (see Record No. 24) and other descendants migrated westward and have since lived in, or are now living in, most all areas of the United States.

Since schooling was compulsory in Germany at the time of his birth there, it is assumed John Jacob Rector was an educated person. He was admitted to the Guild of Steelsmiths and Toolmakers of the Freudenberg District as a toolmaker on 7 January 1712. And he was an elder in the German Reformed Church, the great German branch of the Presbyterian family of churches." King, 1-2.

Note:

Klaus Wust, The Virginia Germans, (Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1969), 21, "Besides head miner Albrecht and the Reverend Johann Heinrich Haeger, the following male adults are believed to have formed the Germanna group: Melchior Brumbach, Johann Cuntz, Hermann Fischbach, Johann Jacob Fischbach, Peter Heide, Hans Jacob Holtzklau, Johann Kemper, Johann Jost Merdten, Hermann Otterbach, Hans Jacob Richter, Johann Spielmann, and Johann Heinrich Weber."

Footnotes cite: Lueck, Eisen, Erz und Abenteuer (Siegen, 1955) at 31, 76; 13 Virginia Magazine of Historiy and Biography, 367-370; Benjamin C. Holtzclaw, Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia, 1714-1750 (Harrisonburg, Virginia, 1964), 7-9.

Children

John RECTOR b: 1 DEC 1711 in Trupbach, Westfalen, Germany

Harmon RECTOR b: 1715 in Germanna, Essex Co., VA

Henry RECTOR b: ABT 1718 in Germanna, , VA.

Jacob (John) RECTOR b: 1724 in Germantown, Essex Co, VA.

Sources

See also:

• Benjamin C. Holtzclaw, John Jacob Rector and of Germanna and His Descendants, (Germanna Record No. 4), April 1963, Published by the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. p 3. Also known as "Hans Jacob Richter."
• Larry King, Rector Records, 1986. p1, no. 1-1. Library of Congress No. CS71.R3 1986.
• Find A Grave: Memorial #13039423
• Genealogy of the Fishback Family in America by Willis Miller Kemper. New York: T. M. Taylor, 1914. Note: v. 359 p. front. (map) plates, ports. 24 cm. Library of Congress, Washington, DC http://books.google.com/books?id=eFtMAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=fishback+genealogy& output=html Page: 83
• Tidewater Virginia Families, chapter 19, p 628 https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/49380/images/FLHG_TidewaterVAFamilies1-0642?pId=111039