Germanna Colony

Second Germanna: Later, in 1717, a shipful of German immigrants bound for Pennsylvania, landed in Virginia with approximately 70 persons, and this second group of settlers (called "The Second Germanna Colony" or "New German Town") arrived in Germanna (about 2 miles away from the First Colony at the fork of the Rapidan and Rappahannock Rivers, i.e. - "The Great Fork") in the beginning of 1718. Whether their ship landed in Virginia due to weather (the Captain’s claim) or due to collusion (between Spotswood, his associates and the Captain) is not clear. This second group, was put to work by Spotswood in “naval stores” and were not involved in the iron mines. They were placed on 13,000 acres of land which Lt. Gov. Spotswood and Robert Beverley (and other partners), who needed settlers to move onto the land to lay claim to it. Since their transportation was paid for by these partners, they became indentured servants and were bound to locate to that area. This group of German immigrants, who originated from the Baden, Württemberg, Heidelberg and Neckar regions of Germany and Switzerland, was Lutheran by religion.

Third Germanna: From 1718 to 1755, several other German immigrants (some relatives of the first two groups) arrived in the Germanna area, then referred to as “New Germantown”. These immigrants are referred to by some researchers are “The Third Germanna Colony”, although that label has been dismissed by others noting that this was not an “organized group”. It consisted of many settlers either invited there by other settlers or headed there after hearing about the opportunities that they had hoped for after leaving their homeland. The common elements of all of these individuals is that they were German, and they lived east of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the modern counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison and Rappahannock.

Maria Elisabeth, 1

Michael Stoltz, Maria Barbara, Margaretha Barbara, 2