Holbrook line: Dethmarus Sternberg, Immigrant

I've been waiting for several years for the facts about this ancestor to come out.  I think I've waited in vain, and it will be some time, if ever, before the origins of this man are determined.  We know where he was baptized, and we know his parents' names and when and where they were baptized.  But after that, it gets confusing.  Was Detmar's father a German count, or a Dutch count, or an Englishman named Stansbury who decided to stay in the area of the Low countries after spending time there during one or another of the many wars those countries had?  Was his mother some relation to William of Orange?  All these theories are mentioned on various internet sites but no one seems to really have documents that show anything for sure.  The one exception is a crude drawing of heraldry, with a 1609 date, and the name Sternberg written on it.  It's written in a foreign language so I have no idea what the sketch actually says. 


Detmar was the son of Dethmarus and Catherine Morske Sternberge, and was baptized in the Protestant church honoring St. Rainaldi in Dortmund, Prussia in 1628.  He was probably born shortly before that.  He married Catherine (Renske was her nickname but we don't know her given name) probably about 1650. Their first and perhaps only son was named Tobias.  The three of them came to Maryland in 1658 according to Detmar's claim for headrights, and he had also transported a man by the name of John Dowlin.  So he had 200 acres, or at least the right to 200 acres. 

I wish I knew more about Detmar.  He arrived in 1658 and was in 1663 selling land.  Why?  Did he acquire other land?  Did he originally acquire unsuitable land?  What crop was he trying to raise?  Did he actually work the land, or was that done by servants and slaves?  Did he have another trade or way to support himself?  What was his religion?  We know he was living in 1678 but we don't know when after that he died.  And most certainly, I'd love to know more about his origins.  Did he find fellow Germans in the area, or Dutch, or English?  What was his relationship with his neighbors?  Could he speak English at all?  Since we don't know the answers to these questions, this post is not a story of his life but just a beginning, hoping to point us toward a fuller understanding of our ancestor with the strange sounding name. 

Two generations after Detmar arrived, the family, or at least some of it, changed its name to Stansbury, and that is the name our line is using today. 

Here's the line of descent:

Detmar Sternberg-Catherine (renske)
Tobias Starnborough-Sarah Raven
Thomas Stansbury-Jean Dixon Hayes
Thomas Stansbury-Hannah Gorsuch
Rachel Stansubry-Alexis Lemmon
Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants