Germanna Colonies

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History of Germanna, Colony of Virginia

Germanna was a German settlement in the Colony of Virginia, North America that was populated by multiple waves of immigrants starting in 1714. The first two waves of immigrants are known as the First Colony and the Second Colony. The name of the settlement was chosen by Alexander Spotswood, who had been given a series of land grants. In 1720, Germanna became part of Spotsylvania County.^[1][2] Virginia Lieutenant Governor Alexander Spotswood encouraged the immigration by advertising in Germany for miners to move to Virginia and establish a mining industry in the colony.^[3]

The Germanna peninsula, now near the northeastern end of Orange county, Virginia, is formed by a large loop, shaped like a horseshoe bend, of the Rapidan River, 50 to 60 yards wide at this location. The first settlement in 1714 was made on the east side of the river, which is the southern branch of the Rappahannock, nine miles above its confluence with the northern branch and 13 miles above the site of Governor Spotswood's iron furnace.

The Germanna peninsula comprises an area of approximately two square miles, about 1200 or 1300 acres. It is still surrounded on the south and west for the most part, by forests, in which the trees are probably of second or third growth. The peninsula was originally all heavily timbered, as much of it still is, with oak, hickory, pine, poplar, and other native trees. Since a clearing had to be made for the original settlement, the trees cut down for the clearing were likely used as logs for building the cabins and the blockhouse, and for erecting the five-sided palisade that enclosed the settlement, called Fort Germanna.

When Baron de Graffenreid returned to Europe from America, Lt. Governor Alexander Spotswood requested him to recruit some German miners. Graffenreid persuaded 14 individuals with families totaling 42 persons from the town of Siegen and Muesen in the principality of Nassau-Siegen, Germany to come to Virginia. The First Germanna Colony arrived in Virginia at Tappahannock in the spring of 1714, and then came up the Rappahannock River where they settled 20 miles west of Fredericksburg at a location that would be called Fort Germanna.

The First Colony was made up of individuals from Siegerland who traveled to London in 1713. In January 1714, the group left London and arrived in the Colony of Virginia in April.^[1][2]

The Second Colony from the Kraichgau of Baden and Württemberg, as well as some from the Rhineland Pfalz (Palatinate) settled across the Rapidan River from Fort Germanna, then from 1725 to 1727 began to move to the Robinson River Valley in present day Madison County and patent land in their own names."^[4]

"The families of the 'Second Colony, mostly Lutherans seeking to escape from the persecutions of the French, traveled up the Rhine River to board ship at Rotterdam."^[5] "Their ship departed on 12 July 1717, enroute to the Colony of Pennsylvania. The colonists' choice of vessel was, in hindsight, profoundly unfortunate. They made the customary stop in London, but there, they were detained for several weeks, while their captain (Capt. Scott) was imprisoned for debt."^[6] "food supplies dwindled while passengers waited for the captain's release. Actual starvation took the lives of many passengers at sea." "The revised list of constituency of the 1717 colony shows that at least 138 persons left Germany at the time, so perhaps as many as fifty people perished, most of them children."^[7] "Very little is known about the actual voyage across the ocean, but once arrived, the captain did not land in Pennsylvania, but landed in Virginia."^[5] "Their captain's heart had not been soften by his own recent experiences, but sought to replenish himself at the expense of the friendless Germans. Knowing that he would get a good rate for the individuals as indentured servants, Captain Scott took them to the Colony of Virginia instead of Pennsylvania. He then claimed that they had not paid their passage money, which claim may have been true, and refused to allow them to land until Governor Spotswood gave him the amount he demanded."^[8]"While Spotswood may have recognized the injustice done these immigrants, he obtained agreement in advance to extract eight years of indentured labor from them. He profited from the situation by gaining an additional year of service, as the normal time was only seven years, and they were indentured to Gov. Spotswood, not the British Government.'[3] "The captain released the immigrants to Spotswood but only after he had confiscated all of their belongings. Spotswood, established them at or near Germanna. where the original colony was located."^[8]

"The customary period of indentured service in Virginia was seven years, but as the 1717 colonists approached the end of their indenture, Governor Spotswood was reluctant to allow them their freedom." In 1724, "he filed a suit against nineteen men.^[9]

"In 1725 the entire colony, now released, moved to the Robinson River near the foot of the Blue Mountains, in the present Madison County, Virginia. Here in June, 1726, they received large patents of land. They had chosen for their home a place that stood on the very border of civilization. Surrounded thus by the dangers and difficulties of the frontier life they made their homes and reached a certain degree of prosperity."^[8]

The Second Colony was also made up of other Germans whot also left around 1717 and arrived later than the passengers on Scott's ship.^[1][2]

A third group of German emigrants of approximately forty families arrived at Germanna in 1719. Then on February 20, 1719, the 15,000 acre mine tract was patented to Spotswood's friend, Robert Beverly. Soon Spotswood added this land holding to his Germanna tract. On April 22, 1720, a tract of 1,920 acres in the fork of the Rappahannock River across the Rapidan from Germanna was conveyed to Spotswood from Robert Beverly. On November 2, 1719, another tract of 3065 acres adjoining Germanna land was patented by Richard Hickam and was transferred to Spotswood one month later.

Additional immigrants arrived in Germanna around 1725 and in the 1730's a small group of individuals arrived and settled the Little Fork area in Culpeper County.^[2]

A patent for twenty-eight thousand acres was issued on 11 April 1732 to Alexander Spotswood with the head rights listing fourty-eight individuals.

Traditions tell of manufacturing and industrial establishments. It is probable that the settlement had small shops of carpenters, blacksmiths, wagon makers, saddler, gunsmiths, and others that were found in those days in every town and village.

The site of Fort Germanna is mostly open fields with intervening thickets of second-growth timber. The Fort Germanna site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.^[10]

The Germanna Foundation owns land on the original Germanna peninsula, on both sides of the Germanna Highway, State Route 3, near the site of the original Fort Germanna, once the westernmost outpost of colonial Virginia. The Germanna Foundation operates the Brawdus Martin Fort Germanna Visitor Center on the Siegen Forest side of the Germanna Highway, fifteen miles (24 km) east of Culpeper and twenty miles (32 km) west of Fredericksburg, Virginia.^[3]

Emigrant Waves

Information on each wave of emigration can be found on the colony pages:

• First Colony
• Second Colony
• 1725 Settlers
• Little Fork Settlers

Categories

Individual colonists have been categorized as follows:

• Category:Germanna_Colonies_Project - Top level category, individual profiles should not be added to this category
• Category:Germanna_First_Colony - All settlers that arrived in Germanna in 1714
• Category:Germanna_Second_Colony - All settlers that arrived in Germanna in 1717
• Category:Germanna_1725_Settlers - All settlers that arrived in Germanna by 1725
• Category:Germanna_Little_Fork - Settlers arriving in the 1730s in Little Fork

How To Join

Add your name to the list below, along with a note about what you're working on in this project right now.

Goals

The primary goal of the Germanna Colonies Project is to have all the colonists linked to the colony lists.

Any improvements you can make to linking the profiles of the Germanna colonists in your family or others, is welcome!

Communication

• Germanna Tag on G2G

DNA

The Germanna Foundation is a promoter of the Germanna DNA Project, which is a DNA project at FamilyTreeDNA for all descendants of the Germanna colonists and their associated families.

If you are a descendant of any of the Germanna colonists or their associated families, you can join join the project here: https://www.familytreedna.com/groups/germanna-dna/about/background

If your DNA test was taken at Ancestry, 23 and Me, or MyHeritage, you can find instructions to transferring your test results to FamilyTreeDNA here: https://learn.familytreedna.com/topics/imports/autosomal-transfer/

FAQ

• Where do I find the list of colonists?
  • The list of colonists can be found at the Germanna Foundation website: https://germanna.org

Project Members

• Allison Mackler - Currently working on adding missing profiles and categorizing Germanna colonists.
• Dreama (Morgan) Brower working on my Holt/Hold ancestry (of Germanna Second Colony).
• C (Rector) Walls working on Rector ancestory of the Germanna First Colony.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Wikipedia contributors, Germanna, Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Revision 17 September 2018, 15:01 UTC (https://en.wikipedia.org : accessed 17 September 2018).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Research Your Germanna Roots, Germanna Foundation (https://germanna.org : accessed 18 September 2018).
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Wikipedia: Germanna (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanna
4. ↑ Historic Germanna: The 1717 Colony; (https://germanna.org/things-to-do/research-your-germanna-roots/).
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} "ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD, Portrait of a Governor", By Walter Havighurst.
6. ↑ "THE GERMANNA RECORD, No. Six", By The Momorial Foundation of The Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc., June 1965.
7. ↑ "'ANCESTRY AND DESCENDANTS OF THE NASSUA-SIEGEN IMMIGRANTS TO VIRGINIA 1714 - 1750", By B.C. Holtzclaw (Germanna Record, No. Five) 1964.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2} "THE PATERNAL ANCESTRY OF IVAN LEE HOLT, III", By Isabel Stebbins Giulvezan (St. Louis, MO.) 1962.
9. ↑ "BEFORE GERMANNA', No. 5: By Johni Cerny & Gary J. Zimmerman (Salt Lake City, Utah: Lineages, Inc.) 1990. Spotsylvania County, Virginia Order Book, 1724-30, p.8."
10. ↑ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.