This is the SEVENTH page of John BLANKENBAKER's series of Short Notes on GERMANNA History, which were originally posted to the GERMANNA_COLONIES Discussion List. Each page contains 25 Notes.
GERMANNA History Notes Page 7 |
Nr. 151:
[NOTE from John BLANKENBAKER: Many of you take advantage of the capability
on those pages to send comments to us. We thank you for these, even if we do not reply
to every one. You can be assured that we read them and listen to your comments and questions.
Your input is a guide is a help in preparing these notes.]
[In putting together the web pages, these notes have been broken down into sets of
twenty-five. This note is the first of a new set. It is appropriate to
comment upon the aims of the notes. The emphasis is on the Germanna people,
or the Germans who lived in the Virginia Piedmont, in particular, in the
modern counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, and Rappahannock. The
precedents of these counties include: Orange, Spotsylvania, Essex, Prince
William, and Stafford. The notes have stirred interest in a broader range of
people, so the discussions, in some cases, have been generalized. Still, the
primary source of examples is drawn from the Germanna people.]
The county of Spotsylvania, Virginia came into being in 1720-1721. Initially it
included all of the following modern counties: Spotsylvania, Orange,
Culpeper, Madison, Greene, and Rappahannock. It ran from east of
Fredericksburg (which did not exist then) to the Blue Ridge Mountains, or for
about fifty miles east to west. Along the Blue Ridge it ran for about the
same distance. In the eastern parts, the extent was much less in the
north-south direction, making for a very roughly shaped triangle. At the
time, there was no settlements or towns in this region. Except for the eastern
region, the area was not settled. Toward the west, the First Germanna Colony
had been at Germanna (sometimes called Germantown), and the Second Germanna
Colony was still at New German Town, about two miles west of Germanna. These
were the pioneers of the frontiers. The First Colony could be said to be the
first settlers of modern Orange County, while the Second Colony became the
first settlers of modern Culpeper County.
All of Virginia was divided into religious parishes by the Assembly. The
government was responsible for the administration of the affairs of the
church in the absence of any bishops who lived in Virginia. The religious
parishes were solidly embedded into the fabric of the government. When
Spotsylvania County was created, it simultaneously decreed in the
legislation that the parish of St. George would extend throughout
Spotsylvania County. This St. George's Parish is to be distinguished from
the older, and much smaller, parish which had been created for the benefit of
the First Colony Germans (or for Spotswood's benefit?). This first St.
George's Parish was dissolved when the new St. George's was created.
Church attendance at least once a month was legally required of every person
21 years of age or older. This was a burden on many residents of St.
George's Parish because the only church was located at Germanna.
Nr. 152:
When the parish of (new) St. George's was created, it was necessary to elect
a vestry of twelve men to govern it. These men were chosen by the vote of
the parishioners. (Besides the first election to the vestry, citizens voted
for two members of the House of Burgesses, their only other democratic
opportunity.) After the first vestry was elected, it was self-perpetuating.
The vestry has been likened unto a board of supervisors with full autonomous
power including the ability to tax. The work was not hard though, as in many
years only one meeting was required. When a new church was being built or a
new minister was being hired, more meetings might be required.
The legislation creating Spotsylvania County and St. George's parish
specified the county seat and the church would be at Germanna, the home of
Spotswood. It was some time before a church was built at Germanna and
apparently use was made of the blockhouse that the Germans used for church
services. The problem with Germanna, though it was the home of Spotswood,
was that hardly any of the English lived to the west of Germanna. Spotswood
had used his influence to have these functions set up on the very frontier,
at Germanna, because he was the owner of 40,000 acres (it plotted more
closely to 65,000 acres though) to the west of Germanna. He wanted the
action to be near to his land which he hoped to lease to tenants. It is for
this same reason that he built his home, later called the Enchanted Castle,
at Germanna. It was nearer to his vast land holdings. At this time, he knew
there was money to be made in land but he was only speculating on iron which
was unproven. Hence, he did not build close to his iron furnace but he built
closer to the center of mass of his land holdings.
The citizens and vestrymen were very unhappy with the choice of Germanna as
the site of the parish church. One of their first acts was to establish a
new place of meeting to the southeast. It just happened to be home of one of
the vestrymen, Larkin Chew, an enemy of Spotswood. (One can't help but
notice that many political decisions were based on personal considerations,
not on public needs.) In 1724, two new permanent church sites were selected
to the south and east of Germanna. The buildings were primitive, in part
because Spotswood had control of the colonial funds designated for building
a church. A minister was hired but he found life on the frontier to be hard
and unpleasant and he did not stay. In part he had to cover too much
territory and he spent too much time in the saddle. He was unhappy and his
parishioners were unhappy with him and they parted company in 1728. By then,
there were chapels in the Great Fork of the Rappahannock River to the west
of Germanna for the settlers who were beginning to move in there. These were
serviced by readers. For seven years there was a succession of temporary
ministers showing that it was not easy, even in the English community, to
obtain ministers.
The vestry was required by law to provide a glebe or farm for the minister
of 200 acres. How the funds were obtained for this, the church building and
the care of the poor will be discussed in the next note. Ultimately, the
funds came from the parishioners under the taxing power of the church. This
is why our German ancestors complained so bitterly.
[Sorry, I forgot to mention last Friday I would be working Saturday at the
Hans Herr House again. This is why I missed Saturday's letter.]
The church was responsible for the ill and the indigent and made annual
appropriations to those who had to have help. Often in emergency cases,
Vestry members gave help from their own means and submitted a statement to
the Vestry for reimbursement. This might include burials, doctors' fees,
nursing, boarding bastard infants, and caring for the helpless and
incompetent. In the early days of the Spotsylvania Vestry, these costs were
low, less than 5 percent, which was typical of frontier communities. As
settlement increased, the figure commanded a larger percentage.
All of the expense of the parish was paid by a levy upon the tithables in
the parish. The Vestry met, usually in the fall of the year, and drew up a
budget, a combination of expenses from the past year which had not been
budgeted, plus anticipated expenses for the next year. Expenses were
denominated in pounds of tobacco, the working currency of eighteenth century
Virginia. From the levy of 1734, some expenses were 1000 pounds of tobacco
to George Carter for being the reader at the Mattapony Church in the year
past, 1000 pounds to Zachary Lewis for being Clerk of the Vestry, 200 pounds
to Thomas Hill for burying a poor man, and 500 pounds for the support of
Catherine Rice. The total charges in 1734 were 74,520 pounds of tobacco.
There were 1035 tithables that year. By a simple division, the Vestry
decided that each "poll" owed 72 pounds of tobacco.
A poll was a white male 16 years of age or more or a slave or indentured
servant. The exempt category was the very young and the white women.
If a man had nine tithes, perhaps himself, two sons, and six servants, then
he would owe 648 pounds of tobacco which was worth perhaps three or more
pounds of currency. This would have bought quite a bit of land, even a new
town lot in Fredericksburg.
The Germans felt that the tithe to the colonial church left them with little
discretionary income to support their own church. So they were constantly
seeking exemptions from the tithe. The numbers quoted above for the year of
1734 would not have applied to the Germanna Colonies for they were living
outside Spotsylvania County that year. They are cited here as typical.
Nr. 154:
The last note looked at the high cost of religion in Virginia. There was no
option to supporting THE church in Virginia; it was mandated by law. People
who wished a church of their own faith had to do this above and beyond the
tithes they paid to the Church of England. The Germans in the Robinson River
Valley were complaining about this up to the time of the Revolution.
The German Congregation of the County of Culpepper sent a petition, dated
22 October 1776, to the Honorable, the President, and Delegates of the
Convention of the Common Wealth of Virginia. (Notice the early support for
the Common Wealth of Virginia as opposed to the Colony of Virgina.) The
language with some gaps due to reading difficulties goes:
"On their Arrival, the loss of their Estates, and the Snare the Captain had
draged them in, was not equal with the loss they were at, in not
understanding the English Tongue, which rendered it impossible to join in
the Worship of God; till they were Free, and the Lord directed a Door for
them, where they could exercise themselves in the Christian Religion as they
were taught by their Parents in Europe.
"Soon after they were gathered to the Place where we now live, they
concluded to erect a Church and School House. But 1st, they being just free,
were too poor; 2nd, the laws of the Country was against them; & 3rd, the
Arbitrary Power of Bishops _______ Prayer to God, that he would be merciful
to them, they petitioned the Governor and House of Burgesses, acquainted them
with theirDistress, and asked redress of all Grievance, which was so far
granted that they had a License to collect Money, build a Church, call a
Minister, worship God in a congregation, & practice the Christian Religion
as they were taught by their Parents in Europe.
"Full of love and Gratitude for this advance, and trusting that the Lord
would further give his Grace to this Religious design, they send Three of
the Congregation to Europe, who acquainted their Brethen there, with the
Mercy they received from God, through the Act of the Assembly, and asked
them for Assistance.
"(The Reverend Ziegenhakem, Chaplain to the Royal Household in England)
assisted them as much as was in his Power; sent letters in favor of them to
our Brethren in Germany, which caused that they raised a tolerable Sum of
German Money, of the free Gifts of the Germans and other People, with which
they built a Church, School House, and purchasedd some land and Negroes as
an Estate to the Church. But that Estate is not near sufficient to support
the Church expence and the Minister.
"And thro' our poverty we are obliged to pay Parochial Charges, as well as
Support our own Church, which still leaves many of us distressed, and as we
are fellow Citizens in common, and still can not understand the English
tongue, and as we now, with our fellow citizens are obliged to bleed for
Freedom, and contribute our proportional part of the Expence of the War, and
are not breaking from the established Church, as do the common Discenders,
we humbly pray, that we may hereafter be exempted from further payment of
Parochial Charges, other than Sufficient to support our own Church and Poor.
And that our Ministers who we hitherto receive from the German Lutheran
North-American Ministerii, under whose Direction we at present are, may have
full right and Privilege in the Administration of their Office with their
Brethen in Pennsylvania, or the established Church in Virginia, and your
Petitioners in Duty bound shall ever pray:"
Signed by 121 male members of the church
Nr. 155:
The last note quoted the Petition of the German Congregation from the book
by W.P. Huddle, "History of the Hebron Lutheran Church". It was almost a
hundred years ago that Rev. Huddle wrote the first edition which has been
updated with an Epilogue much more recently by Margaret Davis. Rev. Huddle
made a sincere attempt to be honest in his writing but in some instances he
simply did not have the information that we have today.
Taxes to the church have been discussed recently. These were based on the
polls or tithables of all males 16 and over and of all female servants 16
and over whether white or black. The head of the household was responsible
for paying the tax. In many cases a young adult male would be living with
another family besides his natural family though technically he was not a
servant. He would usually be enumerated separately and be charged to the
head of household.
The tithe list, the same one in fact, would be used to collect two taxes.
One was for the costs of the county government. The other tax was payable to
the church. The sheriff or his deputies collected these taxes. In the case
of the church tax, the church paid a percentage to the sheriff for the
collection. The collector's comments, when available, are interesting for
they explain why the collector could not get the money. They include "left
the county", "imbecile", "committed suicide", "ran away", or "died".
One also had to pay something to the Colony of Virginia. Called the "public
levy", this tax was assessed for the benefit of the general government. This
annual tax could be supplemented by a special tax, perhaps for raising an
army in a time of need. If you owned land purchased from the Crown, quit
rents at two shillings per 100 acres were due. This corresponds to our
property tax.
Tithe lists permit population estimates to be made. For example, the
Spotsylvania 1723 tithables numbered 630 which would be about 150 households
based on four tithes per household. The head of the family, two sons and one
slave might constitute this. Then count a wife, two daughters, and a young
servant and the population, white and black, is about 1,250 persons in the
county. This was in the original county consisting of today's Spotsylvania,
Orange, Greene, Culpeper, Madison, and Rappahannock Counties. So the
population was very sparse, especially to the west of Germanna where it was
essentially non-existent. By 1726, the population was probably around 1,750,
a growth of 500 people or 40 percent in three years.
Spotswood always described the First and Second Germanna Colonies as
"freemen", not as servants. This may have been an attempt to avoid
responsibility for the payment of the taxes for servants. At other times, he
described them, at least by implication, as servants. For example, he said
they were tenants but that he didn't charge them any rent. And, he used the
names of 48 of the Second Colony members toward the cost of the land for
which he had to pay. Normally these headrights are associated with servants.
And he admitted paying their transportation costs.
Nr. 156:
Spotsylvania County was formed in 1721 and 1722. By this time, the First
Germanna Colony had left Germanna for their new homes in Stafford County,
now Fauquier County. The Second Germanna Colony remained near Germanna until
after the formation of Spotsylvania Co. And when they moved to their
permanent homes they were still in Spotsylvania Co. In this new location,
they were at a considerable distance from the courthouse. In terms of
today's counties, they would have had to travel east across a portion of
Madison, the full length of Culpeper, and into Orange where Germanna is
located; however, the population center of the new county of Spotsylvania
was to the east of Germanna and pressures soon developed to relocate the
seat of the government from Germanna to the east. This only increased the
distance for the Robinson River people. Going to court was not an easy
matter. They had to leave early in the day on the day before they appeared
at court. The First Colony people, who had moved from Germanna early in 1719
(new style) to Stafford, continued to come to Germanna and Spotsylvania to
transact some of their business. For example, their proofs of importation
were made at Germanna, not at the county seat of Stafford. Also Jacob
Holtzclaw filed his proof of naturalization in Spotsylvania Co., not in
Stafford. This use of the court at Germanna was probably because of their
familiarity with the location.
The formation of Spotsylvania County was not a clean, neat event. In the
fall of 1720, the House of Burgesses, under the sponsorship of Spotswood,
created two new counties, Brunswick and Spotsylvania. The legislative act
gave as a reason for their creation that they would be a means of increasing
the security of the frontier. These were not routine creations though. They
contained clauses reducing the requirements for acquiring land in them. The
act stipulated that settlers would be "free from public levies" for ten
years. This in itself was an ambiguous and undefined statement. Did the
language mean free of the quit rents and of the purchase fee? Also, there
were no size limitations placed on the amount of land that could be
acquired. And the act was mute on the treatment to be accorded land already
acquired in the county. Could this be re-patented under the new terms? It
was very clear that the sponsor of the bill, Spotswood, could profit
handsomely under the terms of the act, especially as he already owned much
land in the new county.
The law was to take effect in May of 1721, but as soon as the measure was
signed by the (Lt.) Governor in December, the Council began accepting and
approving applications for patents. Immediately, ten applications, the
smallest for 3,000 acres and the largest for 20,000 acres, were approved.
But Spotswood knew that the special features of the legislation needed
approval from London (as "unusual acts"). Therefore, he did not sign the
patents approved by the Council. And the new county of Spotsylvania was not
installed at the date specified for its creation. A full year went by and in
the Spring of 1722, Spotswood was sure that he would be replaced as
Governor. Since the new Governor might balk at signing the patents,
Spotswood proceeded in May 1722 to sign the patents including those where he
was the hidden beneficiary. One of latter ones was for 40,000 acres and
included the land where the Second Germanna Colony was living. More than
138,000 acres of land was patented plus 9,000 acres of old Spotswood
patents. From this land, Spotswood was to be found as the owner of more than
85,000 acres of land in the new county.
Nr. 157:
Besides signing the patents, Spotswood named the first justices to the new
Spotsylvania court and appointed a Clerk of the Court and a Sheriff. The
new county came to life quickly at Germanna where Spotswood designated the
county seat would be. By this time, Spotswood had torn down Fort Germanna
and used the cleared land as the site for his new home, which Col. Byrd was
to call "The Enchanted Castle". The legislative act gave Spotswood 500
pounds to build a church and a court. These were not ready when the
business of the new county commenced. For a church, they used the
blockhouse and the court met in a room of Spotswood's home. The time was
fifteen months after the date specified for the creation of the county.
Even the legality of the new counties was in question because their creation
had been embedded in an act with unusual features. But the counties were
not questioned so much as the land patents. The resolution of the questions
left the titles to land clouded for many years, especially for the largest
landowner, Alexander Spotswood. In the end, he had to go back to England
and petition the Crown for a clear title.
Spotswood did not get everything that he wanted in obtaining the title to
his land. The Privy Council, who had the last word, decided that Spotswood
would be reissued the land as new patents and therefore he must pay
headrights (purchase fees). He was allowed a seven-year exemption of the
quitrents though.
In spite of this resolution, clearly Spotswood was the beneficiary of the
creation of Spotsylvania County; however, there was an impact on the
Germanna settlers also. The Second Colony was looking for land during the
period when land was being issued "free of public levies". Thus, they paid
no headrights and no quitrents for seven years. This is another instance
where our Germanna people benefited as a result of legislation passed to aid
Spotswood.
Willis Kemper, who wrote an early (a century ago) history and genealogy,
said that the Second Colony moved to the Robinson River, and not to
Germantown, where the First Colony was already living, because of
differences between the two colonies. He said these differences arose
because of religion, the First Colony being German Reformed and the Second
Colony being Lutheran. He entirely failed to note that the Second Colony
had the advantage of free land in Spotsylvania County, a more powerful
motivation than joining other Germans. He also failed to note that land
around the First Colony was not readily available.
As a result of the decision that Spotswood would have to pay headrights, he
used the names of 48 Germans. These appear to be Second Colony members as
most of them have excellent credentials for inclusion in the Second Colony.
The assumption is that all of these 48 people should be counted as Second
Colony members.
(There will be a break in these "Short Notes", until John returns form his vacation.)
Nr. 158:
The eastern shore of Maryland is a pleasure to visit. We had never really
visited it, so last week we toured a bit in it. One must be prepared for the
unexpected. In the midst of corn, soybean, or wheat fields, with perhaps a
seasoning of timber, but all very flat, a town will appear. Then one finds
that it has been there for three hundred and fifty years. Once, in its past
glory, it was a customs port.
The eastern shore of Maryland is along the eastern edge of Chesapeake Bay.
It is a part of the Delmarva peninsula which derives its name from the fact
that the three states of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia all have a portion
of the land between the Delaware River, or the Atlantic Ocean on the east of
the peninsula, and the Chesapeake Bay on the west. The settlement of the
peninsula was from the Bay because of the harbors provided by the rivers
which drain to the Bay. Though the peninsula is not large, the rivers are
broad and tranquil and sailing ships could progress far inland. It is for
this reason that the "inland" towns became customs ports. Sailing ships
could easily reach them.
When the Europeans came, the land was very woody but they cut down the trees
and planted tobacco. Settlement spread quickly because people could reach a
lot of land easily along the numerous rivers. Since tobacco was a regulated
product, all shipments had to occur through an approved customs port. The
large quantity of wood led to another industry, ship building. Since the
area is protected from the worse of the ocean, the speciality became smaller
ships used in coastal trading. Later this ship building talent was turned to
building boats and ships for harvesting the marine life in the Chesapeake
Bay. Today, tobacco is nonexistent, replaced by corn, wheat, and beans. The
harvesting of clams, oysters, and crabs continues.
Towns and buildings have been preserved. Historical societies and museums
abound. The scenery is clean and neat with a minimum of commercial
interference. One item stands out in our memory, the Wye Oak. This white oak
tree was sprouting from an acorn when Henry VIII was on the throne. Today,
the Wye Oak is considered the oldest white oak in the United States.
If one continues south on the peninsula, eventually you will come to limit
of the land. At this point you can take a bridge over the water to the
Norfolk area. Then by traveling over the James River in Virginia, you can
arrive at James Town and a bit more history. Just a few miles away is
replacement for James Town, the new city of Williamsburg which was still a
borning when Col. Alexander Spotswood arrived to become the Lt. Gov. of
Virginia. We skipped Williamsburg and proceeded to Hewick Plantation, built
ca. 1685 by Christopher Robinson. We spent the night in the Robinson
bedroom. Fortunately, the ghosts of Christopher did not disturb our rest.
The next day we went to Richmond and visited the new Virginia Library. Our
experiences there were both frustrating and rewarding. Frustrating because
it is not easy to find material through their computer system. Fortunately,
I had in mind two categories that I wanted to see so I could enlist the aid
of the very helpful staff personnel. One item was the Culpeper Classes and
before long a copy of the original document was sitting on my desk. The
library personnel were hovering near by and they suggested perhaps I would
like to work with the microfilmed copy of it. So I made my copies from the
microfilm but it is still essential to have the original because the
microfilm both fails to pick up some of the lines and it adds lines of its own.
One item I learned from the Classes was a hint as to the origin of the
Garriott family. Previous reports of the Classes gave two of the militia
members as Peter Vandyke and immediately following as Garriett Vandyke. The
original shows clearly that the names are Peter Vandyke and Garriott
Vandyke. This suggests an alliance between the Van Dyke and the Garriott
families. The name Van Dyke suggests Flemish origins so perhaps the
Garriotts originated there.
Nr. 159:
Last week there was a (profitable) discussion of the Rectors, especially
Uriah and Maximillian. Some points in their history were not noted. Using
the information presented by Tommie Brittain (1105 Pampa Road, Pasadena, TX
77504-1631) in an article in Beyond Germanna (volume 9, number 3), I can add
a bit to the Uriah and Maximillian story.
Maximillian served in the Revolution and was taken prisoner at the siege
of Charleston and marched to Greenville, SC, where he remained until the war
was over. A mystery occurs for the second marriage of Uriah in 1805. He
married Winifred ___ in South Carolina. Perhaps it was related to the time
that Maximillian was a POW in South Carolina. Winifred made a pension
application from Williamson Co., Illinois in 1854 in which she stated they
were married, as best she could remember, in 1805 in Grinville (Greenville?)
Co., SC. She also thought the minister was Isaiah Lemon. She was 78 at the
time, so born ca 1776. Uriah had been born ca 1756 according to his pension
application.
The father of Uriah Rector has recently been found in a conclusive way by
John P. Alcock, the author of the book, Fauquier Families, mentioned here
several notes ago. In the loose papers at the Fauquier Courthouse, John
found that Uriah Rector had been sued by John Peyton Harrison in 1784
because Uriah's father, John, had been "killed by thunder" before he could
execute a deed to Harrison for land Harrison bought of John. Uriah was the
eldest son of John Rector. This John (killed by lightning) was the son of
another John Rector and the grandson of the 1714 immigrant Hans Jacob Rector.
Last May's issue of Beyond Germanna contains the articles by Tommie Brittain
and John Alcock mentioned above. Any Rector descendant trying to sort out
these branches can have a free copy of this issue by requesting it. Since
the time that I mentioned Fauquier Families, several people have written to
confirm they thought the book was excellent. So I will repeat John Alcock's
address which is 3910 Lea Road, Marshall, VA 20115.
Louise F. Hodge sent information which apparently solves a mystery or at
least gives a starting point for further investigations. I have mentioned a
Carl Vrede at the Hebron Lutheran Church in Madison, VA. Louise writes that
this may be her Charles Frady. She is probably correct. When a German
pronounces Vrede and an Englishman pronounces Frady, they will sound almost
alike. Of course, Charles and Carl are equivalents.
In the Culpeper records of 1782 to 1790 the name occurs as Charles
Frady/Veraity/Frawdy. Known children in Virginia are Henry, John, Ephraim,
and William. They lived near Thoroughfare Mountain and moved in the early
1790's to Surry County, NC (now Yadkin Co.) near the Moravian settlements.
Charles' second wife was Elizabeth. If you can tell Louise any more
information such as the wives maiden names, the marriage records or the
family origins, then please write to her at 2101 Oakengate Lane, Midlothian,
VA 23113.
Nr. 160:
Fred Zimmerman and Johni Cerny found a list of people in the Gemmingen, Germany,
church book who were going to Pennsylvania in 1717. Altogether there were
six families. Four of the families are well known as Germanna families:
Weaver, Clore and two Smith families (using their Anglicized names). The
fifth family made it to Virginia also; this was the Mihlckher family. If you
drop the two "h" letters, probably you would come closer to the "true" name.
Thus, Milcker might be better.
The eventual fate of the sixth family is totally unknown. This was the Bekh
family which has been spelled as Beck. The family probably did not disappear
entirely and, in fact, may have made it to Virginia along with the other
five families above. We only have the names of 48 of the immigrants in 1717,
namely the ones for whom Alexander Spotswood paid the transportation. He had
partners in the planned naval stores project and they may have paid the way
of the about thirty other people who arrived in 1717/18. The Becks could
have been in this subgroup.
What became known as the Second Germanna Colony left very late in the year,
apparently in late July. By the time they made it to London, most of the
passenger shipping for the season had probably been closed out. I mention
this because it is possible that the Becks might have caught a ship that did
make it to Pennsylvania. But it is about equally probably that they made it
to Virginia. When the family left Baden, it consisted of Lorentz Beck (40),
Anna Martha (same), Lorentz (14), Maria Margaretha (13), Hans George (10),
and Anna Catharina (8).
Returning to the Milcker family, it consisted of Hans Michael Milcker (30),
Sophia Catharina (same), Anna Margaretha (7), Anna Catharina (4), and
Sophia's sister, name not given. When this family arrived in Virginia, it
consisted of Hans Michael, Sophia Catharina and Maria Parvara (Barbara). The
two daughters are missing and probably the sister is missing since Barbara's
name is given as Milcker. Maria Parvara might have been a daughter born on
the way.
This importation record is the last time the family is mentioned in
Virginia. There are two theories as to what might have happened to them.
Theory One is that they left immediately for Pennsylvania which is where
they wanted to go. By the standards of the day, they were bound to Alexander
Spotswood as servants because he paid their way. Many servants escaped from
their servitude by slipping out under a dark moon. Since no record is known
in Virginia for the family, perhaps the Pennsylvania records hold the key.
Theory Two for the Milckers, which also holds for the Becks, is that the
head of the family died. This creates a void in the records; however, the
family may still be present. An excellent example of this is the Joseph
Weaver family, another Gemmingen family. The father died very early in
Virginia though the son, who eventually took the name Peter, remained to
carry on the name. Peter Weaver had been thought to be a later comer until
the Gemmingen records were uncovered.
All of this long winded story is told for two reasons. First, it illustrates
the dangers of trying to find wives for men. The pool of women who could be
wives is larger than we generally believe. Maybe one of the Milker or the
Beck girls did become the wife of a Germanna settler. Johann Hirsch (that is
as close as I can get to John Doe in German) may have married a Catherine.
How do we know that it wasn't Catherine Beck?
Second, I have had a run of luck in having people identify individuals.
Maybe if I put forth the Milker and Beck names, someone can tell me something.
Nr. 161:
In the eighteenth century, the vestries of the Church of England helped
enforce many of the civil laws for which the court returned the favor by
enforcing many of the church laws. The distinction between civil and
ecclesiastical laws was very blurred. One of the duties which the vestry was
charged to do by law was "precessioning". In theory this was to be done
every four years. In theory, neutral parties walked the properties of
boundaries in the presence of the owners to establish where the property
lines were. Thus, the neutral parties were witnesses to the fact that the
boundaries were publicly declared.
Most of the time, the exercise was an empty gesture. The property owners
might not cooperate or would not be home. But the practice went on
throughout the century. The precessioners made reports to the vestry but few
of these have survived. What few do survive suggest that the
conscientiousness and accuracy of the team doing the precessioning were not
the highest. Where the reports do exist, they tell a lot about who was
neighbor to whom.
One precessioner's report from the Northwest Precinct of Spotsylvania County
was recorded in the vestry minutes for April 1732. The report went as follows:
One would conclude that it was not common to mark boundaries with fences.
Though in New England they might say that good fences make good neighbors,
they apparently did not hold to that view in Virginia. For one thing, the
tracts of land were often very large and it would take much effort to fence
a piece of property. For example, Col. Spotswood's land west of Germanna,
encompassing more than 60,000 acres, would have taken the better part of 100
miles of fence though that figure would have been reduced slightly by
watercourses which marked portions of the boundary.
Colonial fencing used a different philosophy than we use today. Today we
fence animals in. Then, they fenced animals out. If you had a garden with
many succulent plants, you might put a fence around it to keep the animals
out. If you wanted to keep the animals out of your cornfield, you might
assign a child to watch the corn. You allowed your pigs to roam the forest
and forage for themselves. They could do very well on their own. You
registered clip marks for the animals so you could tell yours from the
neighbors. In the fall of the year, you would round up the pigs from the
forest and bring them into the orchard where they could fatten on the fallen
fruit and nuts.
Property disputes and trespassing and actions arising from alleged claims of
trespassing were common court cases. Without an extensive net of public
roads, it was often necessary to cross another man's land. As a youth, I can
remember situations of this type which were very troublesome.
Nr. 162:
The last note, in quoting from a precessioner's report, referred to five men
of whom four were named with a military title, e.g., Col. Alexander
Spotswood. Though Spotswood earned his title as a member of the Royal
British Army, the other men were members of the colonial militia which was
organized along the lines of the formal forces. At this time, Spotswood
could have been called Governor in recognition of his past services in the
capacity of Lt. Governor.
This use of military titles in civil address developed in the southern
colonies, probably first in Virginia and spreading to the other colonies. In
England, titles were more common, but Virginia, that most English of the
colonies, was populated by second and third sons who came without
significant estates or any claim to a title. In Virginia, there was the
militia organization which had ranks. Those who well placed probably
encouraged the use of their title to set themselves apart from the rest.
The use of titles filtered down through the ranks to the Captains,
Lieutenants, and Ensigns. Eventually the use of military titles had little
to do with any position in the ranks. After a while, the use of terms such
as Colonel was a matter of habit, not an earned right. People who wanted to
curry favor with someone else would use the salutation, Colonel. The use of
military titles took precedence over other titles. Thus, our first President
was Gen. Washington, not President Washington.
John Gott wrote a short note in the Fauquier Heritage Society News on the
use of the term "Gentlemen". I quote it here:
Nr. 163:
Today's note is intended to illustrate the remoteness of Germanna. It came
to life in 1714 when the Virginia Colony built Fort Germanna and installed
forty-two Germans from the Nassau-Siegen region of Germany in it. At this time,
Alexander Spotswood described the location as fifteen miles beyond the usual
course of the Rangers. This is just about how far the Fort was to the west
of the present town of Fredericksburg. The region grew by the addition of
seventy-odd additional Germans who lived about two miles to the west of
Germanna in the "Great Fork" of the Rappahannock River.
Probably it was in January of 1719 (NS) when the Nassau-Siegen people moved
to the north onto the land they had bought (which became known as
Germantown). Meanwhile, Spotswood was acquiring land in and around Germanna.
One tract alone to the west of Germanna contained about 60,000 acres (though
it was described in the patent as 40,000 acres). Germanna was more or less
at the center of his land holdings and this no doubt influenced his choice
of where to build his new home.
When Spotsylvania County was created in 1720, the seat of the government was
to be Germanna which probably shows that Spotswood was already planning for
his home to be there; however, the choice of Germanna as the seat of the
county government was not popular with the citizens. From their standpoint
it was not centrally located. In 1724 they filed a grievance with the new
Lt. Gov. of Virginia (Drysdale) against Spotswood and the decisions that had
been made.
They noted that the act creating Spotsylvania County provided Spotswood with
500 pounds of money for the building of a church and a court. As of the date
of the petition, satisfactory progress had not yet been made toward these
objectives. They did note that Spotswood had laid the foundation of a church
but Germanna was so remote that few or none other than his menial servants
could ever attend it. Even the number of his servants was decreasing. The
majority of the people in the vicinity are foreigners and also tenants of
Spotswood. If the foreign Protestants employ a minister of their own which
the creation of the county allowed, then they were exempted from attending
the Church of England. So perhaps there was no need for a church at Germanna.
The petition went on to complain that Spotswood had not built a courthouse
yet, but instead he had fitted a room in his own house for that purpose.
Attending court is a great inconvenience for four-fifths of the inhabitants
of the county. With most of the land around Germanna belonging to Spotswood,
there will never be any population around Germanna.
Therefore the petitioners stated that they labored under handicaps by reason
of the great distance the court was from their homes. They also noted that
the one thousand pounds given to Spotswood for arms, ammunition, church and
court house had not been distributed according to the good intentions of the
Assembly in creating the county.
The petition did not ask specifically for any remedy except by implication
they seemed to be asking for the county government to be relocated (to the
east) where the majority of the population lived. This argument over the
location of the county government was to go on for several years.
Nr. 164:
T. L. C. Genealogy (Books and Search Services at PO Box 403369, Miami Beach,
FL 33140-1369) has a Web Page, http://www.tlc-gen.com (Click Here to go directly do it), which leads to
information about Fauquier Co., VA. They post, for the precinct of Thomas
Marshall, the list of tithables in Fauquier Co. for the year 1759. This is
available to everyone who can access it. By mail, they will sell the list
for $3.00.
This note is based on that list. Apparently there had been three
lists and the list of Thomas Marshall is the Southern District. There is
another extant list for the Northeast District of George Lamkin. The
Northwest District list is missing. The year 1759 is when Fauquier County
was formed. Germantown is in the Marshall list.
There were about 420 tithables in the Marshall list. People entered on the
tithable lists include all white males, sixteen years of age and above, and
all servants, sixteen years of age and above. The number of tithables on the
list is approximately 420. Of the 420 tithables, about 225 were Blacks. Or,
stated another way, there was about one Black, sixteen or older, for every
white male, sixteen and older. For every white male there was probably one
white female. We might say there was one Black person for every two white
people. The ratio of Blacks to whites seems high for the Piedmont.
It is not hard to discern the reason that the percentage of Blacks was as
high as it was. There were some large plantations manned almost entirely by
servants. On the Churchill Quarter, there were eight whites and forty-two
Blacks. On the Alexander Quarter, the numbers were one and five. On the
Blackwell Quarter, four and seven. On the Carter Quarter, at Ludwell Park,
one and nine. This pattern extends to many more quarters. (Remember these
numbers are the tithables.) In fact, it appears that the majority of the
people were living on tracts designated as quarters. (A quarter is a farm on
which the owner does not live but has overseers and servants.) A modern
analogy might be corporate farms and family farms.
One of the implications of these large farms is that land was not so readily
available for expansion. Our German ancestors at Germantown found they were
landlocked in the sense that they could not find land adjacent to their
first farms. This forced them to go some distance to find land for
expansion. They had enough land as they could farm with their own efforts
but they wanted more for their children. Also, more people were arriving
from Germany and they needed land. One expansion move was to the northern
part of the county. Another was across the Hedgman River into the area which
became Culpeper County (Little Fork). Before very long they were moving to
the area which became southwestern Pennsylvania, the Shenandoah Valley,
southwestern Virginia, or to the Carolinas and Georgia. Later, came
Kentucky, Tennessee and points west.
Germanna names on the Marshall list include Catherine Holtzclaw (HOH or Head
of Household), with Joseph; Henry Utterback with John; Harmon Rector, with
John and Harmon; John Rector, with Jacob; Jacob Holtzclaw, with Jacob and
Joseph. Most of these families included Blacks who were tithables to the HOH.
Nr. 165:
One of the popular destinations for Germanna people, who lived in the
Robinson River Valley, was Jefferson County, Kentucky. Of course, migrations
from Virginia occurred much earlier than these relocations to Kentucky. And,
immigrants to Jefferson County came from other locations than from Virginia.
Pennsylvania yielded up many of its citizens. But there certainly was an
influx of German ancestries to this area just outside Louisville.
There is a record of the Jeffersontown Lutheran Church from 1818 to 1885,
which has been published by Virginia Vance Lovett. One of the prominent
citizens, both in civil affairs and in the church, was Samuel Blankenbeker,
who appears on the tax rolls in Jefferson Co. in 1795. Earlier he had been
in other Kentucky Counties. He was a son of Jacob Blankenbeker, the son of
the 1717 immigrant, John Nicholas Blankenbeker. All of Jacob's children
moved to Kentucky, apparently before he moved. Jacob had two wives and two
families, separated widely in time. When Jacob died, his youngest child was
less than a month old. Jacob's will stated that the estate was not to be divided
up until this youngest child had reached his majority. When the estate was
settled, Jacob's oldest child, Elizabeth Garriott was seventy years old.
Other Germanna surnames in the church included Crisler (Christler was the
preferred spelling), Garr, Nunnemaker, Wilhoite, Yeager. Other names which
duplicate Germanna names are House, Pence, Carpenter, Berry, Slaughter,
Smith, Peck, and Miller. But I can't immediately say whether this latter
set of names are Germanna people or not. Later the name Diehl occurs which
also duplicates a Germanna name.
I would like to think that an index could be compiled of the major locations
to which our Germanna people moved. This index would try to collect the
names of those moving and the dates of the move. Let me give just a few of
the general locations which were popular. Southwestern Pennsylvania, though
it was thought to be Virginia at the time, received several families.
Greenbrier Co., now in West Virginia, got several Culpeper families, both
English and German. Rowan Co. in North Carolina was very popular as an
early destination. (The original Rowan County was quite large though.) Southwest
Virginia received many. And, of course, many just moved over the Blue Ridge
to the Shenandoah Valley. We have had several mentions of Boone Co.,
Kentucky, which received a whole colony en mass from the Robinson River
Valley. A little later in time, Missouri seemed to be the "in" spot for
relocations.
Nr. 166:
In this note, I will outline a situation about which I have wondered for
some time. I have never seen any discussion of the questions which are
raised. The 1714 immigrants, Hans Jacob and Anna Margaret Holtzclaw, had a
son John (who came with them), who was their oldest child. John married a
widow, Catherine (Russell) Thomas. Apparently, Catherine had at least one
son by her first husband, ? Thomas.
Jacob Holtzclaw was married twice, and the second wife was Catherine ?.
Anna Margaret was the mother of the first four of Jacob Holtzclaw's children,
and Catherine was the mother of the last three of Jacob's children. In
between there are three children, Harmon, Elizabeth and Alice Katherine but
it is not clear whether the mother was Anna Margaret or Catherine.
Among Catherine's three known children were two sons, Jacob and Joseph.
Jacob and Joseph moved from Fauquier County to the Robinson River Community
where they married daughters of John Thomas. This suggests to me that the
move from Fauquier to the Robinson River, and the marriage there to the
Thomas daughters, was because Jacob and Joseph knew the Robinson River
Thomases. The most probable reason that Jacob and Joseph knew the Thomas
family was because that family was related to the ? Thomas who was the
first husband of Catherine Holtzclaw.
To review a little of what is known of the Robinson River Thomases, John
Thomas married Anna Maria Blankenbaker in Germany, where two children were
born: John (Jr.) and Anna Magdalena. Later in Virginia two more children
were born, Michael and Margaret. John Thomas (Sr.) died shortly after he
arrived in America and Anna Maria married, second, Michael Kaifer. Michael Kaifer's will
gives us the insight into the Thomas family.
John Thomas, Jr., had two daughters, among other children, and he gave land
to their husbands: Joseph and Jacob Holtzclaw which gives us the
Holtzclaw-Thomas marriages.
This whole story would be wrapped up very neatly, if John Thomas, Sr., had a
brother who became the husband of Catherine Russell. No such brother has
yet been found in the German records but not all records are available or
have been examined.
If anyone can provide a rational explanation which would explain the
situation that I have outlined above, I would be interested in hearing it.
Why did Jacob and Joseph Holtzclaw move from Fauquier Co. to the Robinson
River community?
Mary Thomas, who married Joseph Holtzclaw, died before any issue is known.
Joseph married, secondly, Elizabeth Zimmerman who was related to Mary Thomas,
as both have Blankenbaker ancestors. Eventually, both Jacob and Joseph had
large families.
Nr. 167:
Just prior to the Revolutionary War, the political situation in what is now
southwest Pennsylvania was very confused. Both Virginia and Pennsylvania
claimed jurisdiction. Virginia, at first, seems to have the lead in granting
land there. A number of Germanna people found their way there in these early
years. Some stayed and some went on to Kentucky. Those that went on to
Kentucky generally built flatboats and floated down the Ohio River at no
small danger to themselves from the Indians. The early pioneers included a
heavy mixture of Germans including several families from the Germanna
communities. In giving some of the names, I want to emphasize how incomplete
the information is.
Many members of the Michael Thomas family apparently went to Kentucky.
Michael was the son of John Thomas, Sr., who died shortly after coming to Virginia.
The family of Michael is very imperfectly understood.
The Hupp, or Hoop, family from Culpeper went Kentucky also. Everhard Hupp was married to
Margaret Thomas, hence there is a Thomas and Hupp connection. Margaret was
the daughter of Michael Thomas, and the claim has been made that she was the
first white woman west of the Monongahela River. The center of this activity
was Redstone Fort, which, with about 20 families, rivaled Pittsburgh, which
was a center for trappers. The year 1765 had been given as the date of
arrival of George Hupp, one of several brothers.
Another Culpeper family was the Rowes who also intermarried with the Hupps.
In 1781, Abraham Teagarden was appointed guardian of Jesse Bumgarner's
affairs in Washington Co., PA. The Bumgarners were a Culpeper family.
From Fauquier Co. in Virginia, members of the Hardin family, who were
associated with the Holtzclaw family, went to Pennsylvania.
The genealogical situation in southwest Pennsylvania needs major work. It
was attracting people from the Germanna communities. The total set of people
is not that well known nor are the relationships clearly understood. Many of
these people went on to Kentucky, using the Ohio River.
One person who left a record of his relocation from Culpeper Co. to
Pennsylvania was Abraham Thomas, son of Michael Thomas. His comments have
been preserved in the Draper manuscripts. His story is:
"The first of my recollections go back to the time when I was a chunk of a
boy, sent out by my father, in company with an older brother, from Culpepper
County, Virginia, to drive a flock of sheep to land purchased by my father
at the mouth of Ten Mile Creek, above old Red Stone Fort, distant about 150
miles, we remained there along through the winter, living as best we could,
principally from our own resources; some of our relations having before
settled in the neighborhood. The Indians came often to our cabin, and
behaved civilly enough, as we were then at peace; but I both feared and
hated them, for my young mind had thus early been alarmed and irritated by
tales of their thieving and bloody barbarities, with our frontier settlements."
(Abraham goes on to mention later events in 1774, so his trip must have been
made before that year.)
Nr. 168:
The area of Virginia that was to become Kentucky received many Germanna
people at an early date. Outside Danville, Kentucky, stood the old "Dutch
Meeting House", which had its origins in the westward trek of several
Germanna families before 1780. Among those who came were Fishers, Garrs,
Yeagers, Wilhoits and Smiths. The Meeting House was in existence by 1783 as
the District Supreme Court met there in that year. The land on which the
Meeting House sat was not deeded to the church until 1791 when Henry Innes
and Stephen Fisher, Sr. each deeded land to Adam Smith, Adam Fisher, and
Nicholas Wilhite, "elders of . . .the High Dutch Congregation". As a pioneer
settlement, the elders probably had difficulty in securing ministers. Before
long, many members of the High Dutch Congregation had joined the Baptist or
Presbyterian Churches. (From the book by Calvin Morgan, "Early Days in
Danville", by Fackler, 1941.)
Stephen Fisher established one of the first stations in Lincoln County near
Danville. These stations were light duty forts with a palisaded outer wall
and generally an inner ring of simple shelters on the inside against the
wall. In times of Indian troubles, the people would flock to the station,
bringing their cattle also. Fisher's Station stood near the present day site
of the First Christian Church on Lexington Road. Stephen Fisher is said to
have visited Kentucky in the mid-1770's and returned permanently about 1778.
(Based on a newspaper clipping)
A payroll of Lincoln Militia under Capt. Samuel Kirkham shows many Culpeper
Co., Virginia names. There is Abraham Thomas who was mentioned in the last
note. After members of the Thomas family went to "Pennsylvania", several of
them went on to Kentucky via the Ohio River. Another name in the militia is
Jacob Holtzclaw who married Susanna Thomas, the cousin of Abraham. Abraham's
brother Jesse appears also on the list. Next to Jacob is William Barbee,
born in Culpeper Co., who married Mary Smith, daughter of Adam Smith of the
Germanna community. Peter Watts is a fellow private and probably a fellow
Virginian. The Lieutenant of the company was Henry Grider who married
Elizabeth Smith, daughter of Zachariah Smith and Ann Elizabeth Fishback.
There were two Yager brothers, Abraham and Cornelius, sons of Nicholas Yager
who married Elisabeth Fisher, daughter of Stephen Fisher. Another possible
Culpeper name is Crow. The entire company consisted of 52 men and a
significant portion of it had Culpeper Co., VA origins.
A son of Jacob Holtzclaw, Elijah, married Sarah Collier in 1801. It is
possible that Elijah had Collier cousins through his mother. Michael Kaifer
(whose wife was Anna Maria Blankenbaker and the mother of the Germanna
Thomases) left a will in Culpeper Co. in which he mentioned his
step-son-in-law Henry Collier.
Sarah Browder and Robert McDonald contributed information to the above. Some
relationships which are mentioned do not have the best documentation though
I believe all are conventionally accepted. As one will see if the family
relationships are traced out, most of the people mentioned this time are
related by blood or marriage.
Our Germanna people never shied away from the unknown or from possible
danger. They were a venturesome group.
Nr. 169:
A recent article about the Germanna Colonists contained many errors. To
quote one erroneous statement, "It was during the 1716-17 that many of the
first colony moved near Midland in present Fauquier County and patented land
on Licking Run, naming it Germantown." First, to correct a minor error, the
first colony had a land grant, not a land patent. They purchased their land
from Lady Fairfax and they were issued, after a delay, a grant by Lord
Fairfax. Prior to the Revolutionary War, land patents were issued directly
by the Crown to the person taking up the land. In the Northern Neck, on the
lands of the Fairfax family, grants were used. The more serious error is the
date of 1716-17. The use of this date shows a lack of understanding of the
history of the First Colony.
When the First Colony went to London from Nassau-Siegen, they were expecting
the George Ritter Company, of which Christopher de Graffenried was a field
director, to pay their way to the New World. But once they were in London,
they found that the George Ritter Company and Graffenried were both broke
and in debt. The First Colony did not have enough money to pay their own way
but they had some funds. They pooled their money and agreed to work four
years to pay the balance of their transportation costs. Graffenried used
this offer to shop around and found that Col. Blakiston, agent for Virginia,
was willing to commit Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood to paying the balance of
the funds, 150 pounds sterling, in return for the German's agreement to work
four years. The Germans arrived in April of 1714 so their four years were
not up until the spring of 1718. This was an inconvenient time to move as it
was too late in the year to clear ground and plant crops for the growing
season. By staying at Germanna for a few more months, they could use the
land that they had already cleared.
Spotswood gave a summary of these years in a letter to Col. Harrison in
which he said that he had the Germans commence a search for iron ore in
February 1717 (1718 on the modern calendar). But about two years later he
stopped the search after spending something more than sixty pounds sterling.
This would bring the time up to early 1719 or late 1718. The small
expenditure shows that the work could not have involved a furnace and so one
would conclude the search had concentrated on finding a good source of ore.
The Germans left testimony in the Essex Court that they worked until
December 1718 though they said they had started work earlier than Spotswood
had said. The implication is that this was the end of their endeavors for
Spotswood. This work, they said, consisted of mining and quarrying. It was
signed by Johann Justus Albrecht and Jacob Holtzclaw, two of the Germans at
Germanna.
So we know that the Germans could not have left Germanna much before January
1719 (new style) because they were obligated to serve four years. But even
better, we have Spotswood's statement that they worked until late 1718 or
early 1719. The Germans themselves said they worked until December of 1718.
We also know that they purchased the land for their permanent homes in 1718
which appears to be in anticipation of their need.
The statement that the Germans moved in 1716-17 shows a lack of knowledge of
the published records which are quite clear. For instance, the memoirs of
Christoph von Graffenried have been published in the "Publications of the
North Carolina Historical Commission", by Vincent Todd in 1920.
Nr. 170:
This note continues with a discussion of a misleading and erroneous article
recently published about the Germanna Colonies. The primary topic this time
is the role of Christoph von Graffenried in the emigration of the Germanna
colonists to America. (Graffenried styled himself Christopher de Graffenried.)
The statement is made,
"He [Spotswood] had an agent in London at the time whose name was Von
Graffenried to whom he sent urgent messages to secure more help here in
Virginia."
Later parts of the story imply the "time" was when the Second Germanna
Colony was in London trying to get to Pennsylvania and that these were the
people whom Graffenried secured for Spotswood.
This cited article fails to mention that Graffenried played a very active
part in the emigration of the First Germanna Colony. And he played no part
in the emigration of the Second Germanna Colony. So the history is wrong in
its omission of the role of Graffenried with the First Colony and is wrong
in attributing a role to him in the Second Colony emigration.
Graffenried had concluded his operations in America in 1713 and he returned
that summer to London where he found the First Colony was waiting for him.
He, and the George Ritter Company, were broke and they could not assist the
Nassau-Siegen people even though they had recruited them. Graffenried in his
memoirs tells how the problem was resolved by the efforts of the
Nassau-Siegen people themselves, and his efforts in getting Col. Blakiston to
commit Lt. Gov. Spotswood to paying the balance of the money needed for
their passage. Graffenried also helped the Germans find employment.
Graffenried says that winter was approaching and he did not like to travel
in the winter. So as soon as the general arrangements were completed for the
Germans, Graffenried returned to Switzerland and never returned to London.
This was in the fall of 1713.
He noted in his memoirs that he heard later that the Germans had boarded a
ship in January of 1714 (new style), implying that he had not been there at
the time. From his words, it could be inferred that he left London in the
fall of 1713. The Second Colony was in London in the fall of 1717 so that
Graffenried missed the Second Colony by four years. He never knew anything
about the Second Colony.
Graffenried was not an agent for Spotswood. He had nothing to do with the
Second Germanna Colony. He had a lot to do with the First Germanna Colony.
If Graffenried had not started recruiting them in 1709 or 1710, there would
not have been a First Germanna Colony.
Nr. 171:
Continuing with the correction of errors in a recent article, the statement
is made that:
"Spotswood now refused to release them [Second Colony members]. They sought
common council and took their case to the Royal Governor at Williamsburg who
released all but two families who later purchased their freedom."
It was not a question of bondage as Spotswood simply sued for money to which
he, Spotswood, thought he was entitled. The Germans felt that the conditions
were poorly defined and that the money was excessive. In fact, their first
plea was that "by the law, they owed nothing". They submitted a petition to
the House of Burgesses [the Assembly of the people] who consulted with the
upper chamber, the Council. The Council issued a decision that the person
acting as Deputy Attorney for the King in the said County of Spotsylvania do
appear for the Germans [the Petitioners] in the suits so they the Germans
may have the benefit of a fair trial. All that was decided by anyone or any
group in Williamsburg was the Germans should have a fair trial and that the
King's attorney should assist them.
The Royal Governor did not issue any statement or decree. He did not release
any families. Nor did any families have to purchase their freedom. The
majority had judgments against them and had to pay something.
There was a total of nineteen lawsuits. Six of these were dismissed, either
outright or with the defendant trivially paying court costs. Thirteen of the
suits went to trial. Awards, on the average were far below the amount that
Spotswood sought. For example, he sued Conrad Amburge for 32 pounds. The
jury awarded Spotswood 2 pounds, 13 shillings, one and a half pence. Several
of the other suits had a similar result. A few of the suits did yield
Spotswood larger amounts. The suit against George Moyer was for 24 pounds
and 12 shillings plus a few pence. The amount awarded was 15 pounds, 11
shillings and a ha' penny. These decisions, by the jury, damaged Spotswood's
reputation.
One must remember that these suits were being held in the court of the
county which was named for Spotswood. Also the jury consisted of people who
were more nearly peers of Spotswood than of the Germans. Even under these
favorable conditions for Spotswood, he got only a fraction of the amount
that he was asking for.
Spotswood wrote that the Second Colony members were freemen and not
servants. So, by his words, they were not his servants. But everyone besides
Spotswood has thought of them as servants who were obligated to serve a
fixed number of years. The actual basis of the suits has never been clear.
The records do not leave us any notes of the court minutes. Two ideas have
been put forth. One is that Spotswood was trying to recover what he paid for
transportation costs. Another is that the Germans had cattle in a
partnership with Spotswood. At the end of the period, cattle equal to the
original allotment plus one-half of the increase were to be returned to
Spotswood. He might have felt that he was not getting enough in return.
A summary of the cases by James E. Brown has appeared in "Beyond Germanna", in
volume 5, number 3 (May 1993). The men whose suits did not go to the jury
were Crigler, Bellenger, Holt, Utz, Clore, and Fleshman. Men having to pay
something were Paulitz, Amburge, Jeager, the three Blankenbaker brothers,
Snyder, Moyer, Cook, Bryol, Smith, Kaifer, and Sheible.
Nr. 172:
Continuing with the errors in a recently published article, the statement is
made,
"It is also no coincidence that Alexander Spotswood of Virginia had
discovered iron ore lying about the ground in the Rapidan River area of
Orange County at Germanna. It ran as ribbons of volcanic flow, which made it
much easier to mine than the deep shaft mining of the Siegen area.....
Spotswood was eager to obtain miners to begin his operation."
First, there is no evidence that Spotswood ever discovered any iron ore.
That there was a good quality iron ore in Virginia was public knowledge at
least twenty years before Jamestown was settled in 1607. A complete iron
furnace employing hundreds of people was completed in 1622 on the general
site where Richmond is now located. Before Spotswood got off the boat in
1710, he well could have been aware there was iron in Virginia. Certainly
people in Virginia were aware there was iron ore. One person who knew was
William Byrd, who owned land in the vicinity of where the 1622 furnace had
been built. He immediately told Spotswood about this ore and offered to
yield up his claim to it if it could be developed and he could have a job in
the running of the operation. Spotswood put forth a couple of proposals for
the development of an iron industry by the colony and by the Queen herself.
Nothing came from these.
After a couple of years, Spotswood's attention was focused on a potential
silver mine of 3000 acres which was located in modern Orange Co., about four
miles from where the future Fort Germanna was built. It probably was no
coincidence that Graffenried was also interested in silver. When the owners
of this projected silver mine were disclosed in 1713, the owners included
Spotswood for a one quarter interest and Graffenried for a one sixteenth
interest. Also the Earl of Orkney, Spotswood's boss in England, was in for a
one sixteenth interest. Several Virginians were in for a share also.
At no time did Spotswood recruit miners for this projected silver mine or
for an iron mine. The Nassau-Siegen people were recruited by agents for
Graffenried on behalf of the George Ritter Company and Graffenried to mine
silver in the Shenandoah Valley. This operation went bankrupt and left the
Nassau-Siegen people stranded in London. Col. Blakiston knew that Spotswood
had hopes for the silver mine, but Spotswood was not recruiting people for
this yet. Col. Blakiston bet that the potential problems could be resolved
and committed Spotswood to paying something over one-half toward the
transportation costs of the people. The Germans paid the other part
themselves. Though the decision had not been Spotswood's, he did pay the
balance due on the transportation costs. He settled them in Fort Germanna
about four miles from the projected silver mine. At this time, it strongly
appears that he had no specific knowledge of any iron ore. In fact, when the
ore was eventually found, it was thirteen miles from Germanna. This shows
that Germanna was located, not on the basis of any iron ore location, but by
the location of the projected silver mine.
By 1716, Spotswood was writing to London that the Germans had done no work
for him. He had not allowed them to develop the projected silver mine, nor
to work on any iron project. In fact, he did not let them start a search for
iron, according to his own words, until about 1717.
If Spotswood had found iron ores before the Germans came, it would seem that
he would have located them near to the ore, not thirteen miles away. This
distance alone shows that he did not have any proven iron ore mine before
the miners came. For two years they did nothing for him. During 1717 and
1718, they searched for ore and the search took them thirteen miles from
Germanna. When found, these ores were on the Rappahannock River and not on
the Rapidan River which is a few miles from the Rappahannock proper.
Nr. 173:
A recently published article on the Germanna settlers in Madison Co.,
Virginia, has many errors. Recent notes have tried to correct some of these.
This note continues the process.
The statement is made,
The writer of the article gives thirteen families which agrees with most
other writers. John Fishback was a member of the Fishback family of whom
there were five others. Then omitting John Hoffman on the grounds that he
was a bachelor, there would have been a need for twelve homes at Germanna.
Yet John Fontaine is clear in his description of Germanna that there were
nine houses. If you make the reasonable assumption that each family would
have its own house, it would seem that twelve houses would be required
without providing any accommodation for John Hoffman. The fact that there
were only nine houses suggests there were more than two bachelors who lived
together in one house. B.C. Holtzclaw, another writer on the Germanna
people, suggested that Melchoir Brumbach, John Hoffman, John Kemper, Joseph
Martin, and John Spilman were bachelors besides the two Fishback boys who
lived with their family. On this basis, nine houses would work out just
right. From the thirteen families subtract the five bachelors (other than
the Fishbacks) and then eight houses would be required for the families plus
one house for the bachelors.
Both Holtzclaw and the writer of the article being discussed omit Johann
Justus Albrecht, "the head miner," who, as the agent for the George Ritter
and Company, recruited the Nassau-Siegen people and who came to Virginia
with them. (We know he was here because we have his statement and signature
in a Virginia court house.) Apparently he was a bachelor and so he could
have lived with the bachelors.
Another statement made in the article is,
If they left to the east from Siegen, they crossed Europe, Asia, the Pacific
Ocean, America, and the Atlantic Ocean before they got to Rotterdam, the
usual point of departure for London.
But the biggest problem I have with the statement is that it makes events in
London sound as they were perfectly normal. On the contrary, the Germans
were there an extended period of time, at least a few months, and perhaps a
little more than a few. The quoted statement completely overlooks this
aspect which is a vital part of the story. Unless what happened there is
understood, the following history is apt to be completely distorted.
It is implied in the article that the Nassau-Siegen people make their living
mining iron. While this might have been true for a few, it appears that many
of them did not make their living by mining. We have the diary and account
book by William Hoffman, brother to the Virginia immigrant, John Hoffman,
which describes some of William's activities there. He never mentions mining
but does mention agricultural activities.
[There will be no column tomorrow. It is the first Saturday of the month and
I am slated to be a tour leader at the Hans Herr House. On the way there,
through Pennsylvania Dutch country, I expect to see all the tobacco in the
barns. Some corn will have cut for fodder but most will be standing. A few
late cuttings of alfalfa will be in progress. The serenity of the trip
itself is worth the effort spent at the house.]
Nr. 174:
There has been considerable misinformation published about the Germanna
Colonies. Trying to improve the record is a major job, especially when
people and organizations who should know better put forth erroneous and
misleading statements. I am continuing with corrections that should be made
to one recently published article.
In one part, the statement is made that the First Colony moved away from
Germanna during 1716-17. Later the statement is made, in the same article,
that the First Colony moved away from Germanna in 1721 which is about a
five-year difference. Actually neither date is correct but the average is
very close. Very probably they moved in January of 1719 by the new style
calendar. Excellent arguments can be made for this specific month.
The author implied that Jacob Holtzclaw and John Hoffman took up land via
the patent process in the Robinson River Valley. Jacob Holtzclaw did not, as
his September 27, 1728 patent was in the Little Fork region. And the year
was 1729, not 1728. John Hoffman did take up land in the Robinson River
Valley. He also found his second wife there and it is not clear whether the
wife or the land came first.
Among the people mentioned as taking up land in the 1726 patents, the name
Tomer is said to be Tanner. This is an error, as the name was really Thomas,
not Tanner. Also no land in the Robinson River Valley has been found for
George Woodruff. Likewise, some of the other names mentioned as patentees
in the Robinson River area are dubious.
The article in question is generally concerned with the Second Colony but it fails to
note that not all members of the Second Colony went to the Robinson River
Valley. There was also a settlement on the southeast side of Mount Pony.
An outward migration from Virginia to Boone Co., Kentucky is mentioned with the
dates implying that the years were the 1730's and the 1740's. This migration did not
take place until about 1810. A migration to Kentucky before 1750 would have beat
the first explorers by 30 years.
Nr. 175:
In the last few notes, I have spent time critiquing a recently published article.
While this article may have had more than its share of problems, it is not
unusual. These problems in history extend to the professionals in the field.
Even they produce works based on what other workers are writing, not on what
the participants wrote or said. This uncritical copying is rampant.
I wrote to one man who had written a pamphlet on Spotswood and Iron, and
pointed out some errors in his statements based on what people wrote at the
time of the events. This man replied to me, in essence, "Don't tell me the
facts; I'm just going to repeat what so-and-so said." Eradicating errors is
not easy when people adopt such cavalier attitudes.
The lesson for us here is that much of what has been written is in error.
Don't trust what someone else says; do your own research. It takes no
unusual skills to be a historian. I try, where I can, to improve upon the
history of our Germanna people. I have two outlets in general, the
newsletter, Beyond Germanna, and such public talks as I am able to give.
Advance reservations at $25 per person must be made with the registrar,
Monika Edick. She would like to know how many people are coming by September
12 which is only three days away. If you feel the time pressure, call her at
(703)-591-3656. Her address is 3249 Cambridge Court, Fairfax, VA 22030. The
early registration list is very impressive. I am very much looking forward
to meeting old friends and new people.)
(This page contains the SEVENTH set of Notes, Nr. 151 through Nr. 175.)
John and George would like very much to hear from readers of these Germanna History pages. We welcome your criticisms, compliments, corrections, or other comments. When you click on "click here" below, both of us will receive your message. We would like to hear what you have to say about the content of the Notes, and about spelling, punctuation, format, etc. Just click here to send us your message. Thank You!
There is a Mailing List (also known as a Discussion List or Discussion Group), called
GERMANNA_COLONIES, at RootsWeb. This List is open to all subscribers for the broadcast
of their messages. John urges more of you to make it a research tool for answering your questions,
or for summarizing your findings, on any subject concerning the Germanna Colonies of Virginia.
On this List, you may make inquiries of specific Germanna SURNAMES. At present, there are
about 1200 subscribers and there are bound to be users here who can help you.
If you are interested in subscribing to this List, click here. You don't need to type anything, just click on "Send". You will shortly receive a Welcome Message explaining the List.
(As of 12 April 2007, John published the last of his "Germanna Notes"; however, he is going to periodically post to the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List in the form of "Genealogy Comments" on various subjects, not necessarily dealing with Germanna. I'm starting the numbering system anew, starting with Comment Nr. 0001.)
"That our Fathers who lived under an Arbitrary Prince in Germany, and __
(invitation of?) ____ by the Honorable William Penn Esq., Proprietor of the
Province of Pennsilvania to settle his Province, which, with the faith
they had in the Provincial Charter, given and granted them from the British
Crown, and that the Germans there, enjoyed freedom in the exercise of
Religion as well as other ways, and that they only supported their own
Church and Poor. Our Fathers ventured their Lives and Fortunes to come into
a Land of Liberty from a European Egypt, to an American Canaan, to enjoy
those Sweets of Freedom which God created for all Men. They journeyed from
Germany to London, & there agreed with a Captain, to land them and their
Families in Pennsylvania; but he proved false, and landed them against their
will and agreement inVirginia, and sold them for Servants.
"According to an order of the Vestry Dated the 30th day August 1731 We the
subscribers have precession all the Lands (viz)
Col. Alex. Spotswood Refused by Reason his land was in Dispute
Col. Henry Fitzhugh Refused by Reason his land was in Dispute
Capt. Robert Slaughter ther was no bodey to shew us the land
Capt. William Bledsoe refused by Reason Col. Alex. Spotswood Joyne on him
and he being from home could not give him word
Philimon Carter we was showde one corner by Lewis Yancey and we procession
one line and could find no furder"
Signed: Thomas Smith, Thomas Reeves
"Among the problems that bemused our colonial ancestors in Fauquier County
was how to tell the "ordinary sort of folk" from the "gentlemen". As that
distinction was then of utmost importance, one did not want to make a
mistake. Unfortunately the ranks of the "gentlemen" shifted from time to
time, and some of the "ordinary sort" became "gentlemen" for no apparent
reason. Much might depend on the whim of the county clerk. Generally
speaking rich landowners were gentlemen but not always. Some men with very
little land were included. Elected officials were gentlemen almost
automatically. The Justices were called "Gentlemen Justices," so were the
members of the Vestry of Leeds and Hamilton Parishes. It was not by any
means necessary to be able to read and write, but it helped. Some, however,
prided themselves on being able to pay to have such menial tasks performed.
Professional men, like doctors and lawyers, were gentlemen, but not surgeons
who were classed with barbers and dentists. Merchants were gentlemen if they
dealt in large wholesale operations, but not if they were merely
"shopkeepers". To be "in trade" was not the mark of a gentleman, though
obviously those in trade often did well enough to become landowners and
merchants, this changing their status. Certain crimes could be committed by
gentlemen and frequently were, but other crimes of the "lower sort" and, if
a gentleman committed one, he soon found himself among the lower sort.
Having something on the county clerk was useful in maintaining one's
position. George Mason achieved the ultimate in one-upmanship by persuading
a county clerk to record a deed in which he is called "George Mason, Gent"
while the party of the other part is called mere "yeoman". That coup-de-main
must have given the party of the second part something like a stroke."
"The only two single males in the group were John Fishback and John Hoffman."
"Their trip [referring to the people from Nassau-Siegen] was to take them
east to the Rhine River, north to the seas, then to London where they
departed for Virginia."
(I will be giving three talks on Saturday, September 20, at the Hebron
Lutheran Church in Madison, Virginia, under the auspices of the Virginia
Chapter of Palatines to America. In addition to the talks, there will be an
organ concert on the 1802 Tannenberg organ (approaching its 200th
birthday!!). During the talks I will be reviewing the history of the Germans
east of the Blue Ridge Mountains, with a special emphasis on the Second
Colony who made their home around Hebron, and conclude with a discussion of
the Hebron Church itself and especially of its more important documents.
Some of the thoughts I will be presenting are novel, but well grounded in
the historical evidence.
This material has been compiled and placed on this web site by George W. Durman, with the
permission of John BLANKENBAKER. It is intended for personal use by genealogists and
researchers, and is not to be disseminated further.
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