Person:Jacob Holtzclaw (3)

Jacob Holtzclaw was one of the Early Settlers of Germanna Colony

Immigration to Germanna Colony

Jacob Holtzclaw and his family are listed among the first group of settlers to Germanna Colony in Virginia in April 1714:

• Jacob Holtzclaw, 31, b. 1683, his wife Anna Margaret Utterback, b. 1686, and their two sons, John, b. 1709, and Henry, b. 1711. Besides the German spelling of Holtzclaw, the spelling of Holsclaw and other variants are used. Jacob Holtzclaw had been a teacher in Germany. While he did keep school in Virginia, he was also involved in farming and mining.

Fauquier County, Virginia Court Records:

Pg.358: 24 Sept. 1762, Harmon Miller and wife Elizabeth, Jacob Holtzclaw, Joseph Holtzclaw, Henry Hitt and wife Alice Catherine, Henry Holtzclaw, Harmon Holtzclaw, and Eve Wiley, representatives and residuary legatees of Jacob Holtzclaw decd, vs. Jeremiah Darnell Gent., exor. of Jacob Holtzclaw decd, In Chancery.

Acquisition of Land in Virginia

Acquisition of Land from Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, Vol. 1:

• A-125: Jacob Holzclaw of Stafford County, 496 acres 82 Per. in said County adj. Wm. Stone, on Broad Run. 9 Feb. 1724. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, Vol. 1, Gertrude E. Gray, pg. 79].

• C-198: Jacob Holtzclaw of Prince William County, Virginia, 362 acres in Prince William County on Goose Creek and Broad Run Mts. adj. John Fischback. 9 July 1731. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, Vol. 1, Gertrude E. Gray, pg. 79].

Acquisition of Land from Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants 1742-1775, Vol. 2:

• F-30: Jacob Holtzclaw of Prince William County, 357 acres in said County. Surv. Mrg. George Byrn. On Hungry Run adj. Gibson & Siers, Thomas Barton, Edward Feagan, line of Walker, Holtzclaw's land. 1 Dec. 1742. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775, Vol. 2, pg. 2].

• F-293: Jacob Holtzclaw of Prince William County, 335 acres in Fairfax County. Surv. Jacob Lasswell. On Fork of William's Gap Branch, adj. George Carter, Esq. dec'd, John Hanby, Jacob Pedrick, Fairfax Manor of Leeds. 2 June 1748. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775, Vol. 2, pg. 16].

• G-62: Jacob Holtzclaw of Prince William County, 1,300 acres in Prince William County. Surv. Mr. James Genn. Surplus in 688 acres granted him 27 Sept. 1749, on Indian Run, in Little Fork of Rappahannock River, adjoining Chisam now Col. Carter, Col. Slaughter, Col. Beverley. 6 June 1748. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775, Vol. 2, pg. 25].

• G-408: Jacob Holtzclaw of Prince William County, 407 acres in Augusta County. Surv. Mr. George Hume. On South Fork of Shannondoah River. 9 Aug. 1750. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1742-1775, Vol. 2, pg. 43].

Acquisition of Land from Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys:

• Jacob Holtzclaw, assignee of Mathias Selcer, no warrant, date from survey - 20 Sept. 1749 - 1 Dec. 1749; 401 acres on South fork of Shando. River. Chain Carriers - Micall Koffman & David Laudibouch. Surv. George Hume. [Abstracts of Virginia's Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, Orange & Augusta Counties, with Tithables, Delinquents, Petitioners, 1730-1754, Volume One, Peggy Smomo Joyner, pg. 25].

• Jacob Holtzclaw/Houltsclaw of Prince William County; 5 Apr. 1751 - 6 May 1751; 104 acres on Shannandoah in Augusta where he lives. Chsin Carriers - Herman Houltsclaw & Joseph Strickler. Surv. George Hume. [Abstracts of Virginia's Northern Neck Warrants & Surveys, Orange & Augusta Counties, with Tithables, Delinquents, Petitioners, 1730-1754, Volume One, Peggy Smomo Joyner, pg. 25].

Records in Virginia

• A-63: Capt. Thomas Hooper late srvr. made a surv. for the Germans seated upon Licking Run of Occaquan in Stafford County. Germans returned platt by Thomas Barber surveyor for 1,805 acres 108 Per. Grant in names of 3 of their members that are naturalized: John Fishback, John Hoffman, & Jacob Holtzclaw in Stafford County 22 Aug. 1724. [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, Vol. 1, Gertrude E. Gray, pg. 76].

• E-274: Mr. William Walker of Stafford County, 524 acres in Prince William County adj. Mr. Burgess Challin, John Fishback, on Goose Creek & Hunger Run towards the Bull Run Mts. Surv. by Mr. John Warner. Adj. Jacob Holtzclaw. 16 June 1741. # [Virginia Northern Neck Land Grants, 1694-1742, Vol. 1, Gertrude E. Gray, pg. 134].

THE HOLTZCLAW FAMILY

Hans Jacob Holtzclaw and Anna Margreth Otterbach Jacob Holtzclaw, was born in Truppbach, Germany, in 1683, the son of Hans Henrich Holtzclaw and his wife, Gertrut Solbach. He was christened at St. Nicolai Church in Siegen, Germany on Laetare Sunday, 1683. Jacob grew up in Truppbach with his ten brothers and sisters. His parents had moved there in about 1680, when his father, Hans, took the position of Schoolmaster. It is probable that Jacob attended the famous Latin School in Siegen. Jacob's brother, Johann served as schoolmaster at Oberfischbach, a nearby village. In 1707, Johann, who was only thirty-eight years old, died. Immediately after the death of his brother, Hans seems to have been asked to take the position of Schoolmaster in Oberfischbach left vacant by his brother's death. He was then twenty-four years of age. No doubt the acceptance of this new position enabled him to marry the following summer. On the 5th Sunday after Trinity, August 7, 1708, Hans Jacob Holtzclaw, schoolmaster at Oberfischbach, married Anna Margreth, daughter of Hermann Otterbach of Truppbach and his wife, Elizabeth (Heimbach) Otterbach. Anna Margreth was born at Truppbach in 1686, being christened at St. Nicolai Reformed Church in Siegen on the 9th Sunday after Trinity, 1686.

For five years after his marriage, Jacob Holtzclaw lived quietly at Oberfischbach, carrying on his work as schoolmaster. There, too, were born his eldest children, both sons. The eldest and our ancestor, Johann (John) was born in 1709. In the year 1710, Alexander Spotswood became the Governor of Virginia. Having discovered evidence of iron ore in the direction of the Blue Ridge Mountains, he began immediately suggesting in letters to Queen Anne and to the Council of Trade in England that they should open iron mines in Virginia. A friend of Governor Spotswood was the Baron Christopher de Graffenried. de Graffenried had already begun negotiating with a John Justus Albrecht to bring workers for the mine from the neighborhood of Siegen. Albrecht seems to have exceeded his authority in getting his workers. When de Graffenried went to England in the summer of 1713, he was dumbfounded to find Albrecht and 40 people already in London. They had used up practically all their money in getting to London, but Spotswood and de Graffenried were not ready for them and advised them to return home. This they absolutely refused to do, saying that if necessary, they would sell themselves for four years as indented servants in order to pay their passage, rather than go back. de Graffenried and Spotswood managed to get them some work to do in England during the autumn of 1713. They lumped together all the money that they possessed in order to help pay their passage, de Graffenried got two London merchants to advance the balance of the passage money, on condition that they would be repaid by Spotswood when the colony reached Williamsburg, and in the beginning of the year 1714 they set sail for Virginia.

They landed in Virginia in April of 1714. Spotswood on July 12, 1714, wrote to the Lords Commissioners of Trade in London: "In order to guard the frontiers from the Indians, I have placed here a number of Protestant Germans, built them a fort and furnished them with two pieces of cannon and some ammunition." It was the policy of the Virginia Government to place foreigners on the frontier to protect the English against the Indians. The new colony was called Germanna, and was situated in Orange County, on a remarkable horseshoe shaped peninsula containing about 400 acres with the Rapidan River surrounding it on the north, west and east. Our ancestors set up the first iron furnace in America, manufactured the first pig-iron, and established the first German Reformed Church on the continent. The colony worked for the Governor for over two and a half years, and no doubt by that time they had fully repaid what they owed him.They were granted land further to the north and west, in Stafford County, Virginia, and founded the settlement of Germantown. The original grant was made to only three members of the colony, John Henry Hoffman, John Fishback and Jacob Holtzclaw because only these three men had been naturalized. (Hans Jacob Holtzclaw was naturalized July 11, 1722, and the copy of his naturalization has been preserved in the records of Spotsylvania County, Deed Book A, page 165.) The actual legal transfer from the three to the remainder was not made till August 1729. Jacob Holtzclaw on his death left over 3,000 acres to his children, giving over 200 acres to each one male and female, and some to his grandchildren. The center of the colony was the church (German Reformed) and after the death of the pastor, Henry Haeger in 1737, our ancestor, Jacob Holtzclaw, was employed as "Reader." For this he received annually from each family thirty pounds of tobacco. Jacob always acted as schoolmaster in both Germanna and Germantown. Harman Utterback (Hermann Otterbach), father of our ancestress, Anna Margaret (Otterbach) Holtzclaw, who with his children and second wife, Anna Catherine (Hitt) Holtzclaw, also came to Virginia at an early date and settled near the colony.

These people who had immigrated to the New World were not ordinary people. Our ancestor, Jacob Holtzclaw, had never been anything but a schoolmaster, and Henry Haeger, was both a teacher and a minister. They all worked in setting up the iron furnace at Germanna. However, they were by no means mere laborers. Rev. James Kemper, in the Kemper Genealogy states that they were "mostly mechanics and master workmen in their several trades." They had been prosperous middle-class citizens in Germany. All our colonists could read and write, and were thus far ahead of a vast number of Virginians of their day. One of their first cares after building a church, was to set up a school. Rev. Kemper said of our ancestor that he was a "good scholar."

Jacob Holtzclaw's wife, Anna Margaret, seems to have been still living in 1729 when the Germantown land was distributed to the various families legally. She seems to have died soon after that, and Jacob married again. His second wife was named Catherine, though there is no evidence of her maiden name. Jacob and Catherine had three known children. She probably predeceased him, as there is no mention of her in Jacob Holtzclaw's will.

Jacob Holtzclaw died early in the year 1760, aged 77 years. His second wife, Catherine, had died between 1754 and 1759) the date of writing his will). His will, dated January 15, 1759, was probated in Fauquier County, Virginia, February 29, 1760.

From "Germanna History", Notes:

Jacob Holtzclaw, b. 1683, his wife Anna Margaret Utterback, b. 1686, and their two sons, John, b. 1709, and Henry, b. 1711. Besides the German spelling of Holtzclaw, the spelling of Holsclaw and other variants are used. Jacob Holtzclaw had been a teacher in Germany. While he did keep school in Virginia, he was also involved in farming and mining.

Fauquier County, Virginia Court Records:

Pg.358: 24 Sept. 1762, Harmon Miller and wife Elizabeth, Jacob Holtzclaw, Joseph Holtzclaw, Henry Hitt and wife Alice Catherine, Henry Holtzclaw, Harmon Holtzclaw, and Eve Wiley, representatives and residuary legatees of Jacob Holtzclaw decd, vs. Jeremiah Darnell Gent., exor. of Jacob Holtzclaw decd, In Chancery. ...

From Fauquier County, VA Query:

29 Jul 1997 Day and HoltzclawI am seeking additional information regarding John, Francis and Lewis Day, whose names re-occur in my family line. The information I am seeking concerns a Francis Day who married Elizabeth Hanor Holtzclaw, the widow of Harmon Holtzclaw, son of Jacob Holtzclaw of Germanna Colony fame. Francis was probably @@1725-1735 in Fauquier or Stafford County. He married Elizabeth Holtzclaw @@1761. He had sons Haner, Lewis and probably William and Thomas. Lewis Day, my ancestor, was born in or around Fredericksburg, Va. in 1779. He would have had a half-sister, Mary Holtzclaw Stribling and a half-nephew, William Hanor Stribling, of Stafford County. Mary married William Derrick Stribling, a revolutionary soldier in Frederick County, VA., but moved to Falmouth, Va. Mary died June 17, 1801. The year (1799) that Lewis Day migrated to NC, The Viirginia Herald published an obituary that John Day, a tailor died at an advanced age on March 8, 1799 in Fredericksburg. I suspect that John Day was an uncle or grandfather to Lewis, who was probable apprenticed to him. Personal Property Tax Lists show that Joh, Lewis, William, Henry and Thomas Day were in Stafford and fredericksburg @@ 1785-1798. Lewis was orphaned at about the age of twelve. His father, Francis Day, was dead by 1779 and his mother,Elizabeth, died @@ 1791, Which may be why he was apprenticed to a relative. Names linked to my Day Family would be Holtzclaw of Prince William County, the Hanor, Haner family of of Staffoed County (Falmouth), James Holtzclaw (B.1753) son of Harman and Elizabeth Holtzclaw and half-brother to Lewis Day. I am more than willing to share information pertaining to this line. Robert B Day RBDay@@netpath.net Robert B. Day From "Germanna History", Notes: http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/johnsgermnotes/germhs58.html

Before leaving the Thomas family, I want to emphasize a connection to another family which I feel needs more explanation. That is the Thomas and Holtzclaw interactions. The eldest son of the immigrant, Hans Jacob Holzklau, was John. He married a widow, Catherine (Russell) Thomas, who had a Thomas son. The two youngest sons of Jacob, namely another Jacob and Joseph, married two Thomas girls from the Robinson River Valley. Now the Robinson River was not the home ground of the two Holtzclaw men. This was not a case of marrying the girls on the next farm. This is like marrying someone who was living twenty-five miles away, or whatever the distance is from Germantown to the Robinson River Valley. How did they become acquainted?

The mother of the two youngest Holtzclaw sons (perhaps Harmon also) was a second wife. Her given name was Catherine and her maiden name is unknown. Perhaps she had come from the Robinson River community and provided the link between the Holtzclaw and Thomas family.

Or was the Catherine Russell Thomas the link? Was her Thomas son a relative of the Thomas families in the Robinson valley? If this had been the case, perhaps the Thomas family members from the Robinson area paid periodic visits to Germantown to visit their relative(s). This scenario seems to require that the John Thomas who came (probably in 1717) had a relative who came with him.

There is another connection in that it is believed that Henry Holtzclaw, second son in the family, married Nancy Harden. Now some members of the Harden family went to southwest Pennsylvania. Were the Thomases and the Hardens acquainted, and did the actions of one influence the other?

1. ↑ Gott, John K. Abstracts of Fauquier County, Virginia: wills, inventories and accounts, 1759-1800. (Arlington Virginia: J.K. Gott, 1976)
   pg. 5.

   Pages 10-13: JACOB HOLTZCLAW (Will) "... of the Parish of Hamilton and County of Prince William..."
   Date: 15 January 1759
   Son: Joseph - 374 a. bought of Warner Toward, in case of default of heirs, etc., to
   Son: Jacob
   Son: Jacob - 200 a. on Licking Run where he now lives, including 40 a. bought of Harman Kemper, also 40 a. bought of Harman Button - 150 a. in Prince William bought of Thomas Barton, reserving to son Joseph the liberty of taking as much timber off of the said 150 a. for building a dwelling house for himself.
   Son: Harman - 200 a. bought of Thomas Stone, whereon son Harman low lives - 100 a. being part of a tract of 337 a. on the branches of Hunger Run in Prince William County and hereafter given to my grandsons Henry and Joseph Holtzclaw
   Dau.: Eve Wiley, wife of Allen Wiley - 300 a. in Loudoun Co. on Goose Creek granted by Patent in 1750 - should she die without heirs to son Jacob
   :Dau: Alice Katherine Hitt, wife of Henry Hitt - 3-- a. where sd. Henry Hitt now lives, being part of a Tract in Culpeper Co. containing 1,300 a. granted by patent dated 1748 - in case of no heirs to son Jacob and his heirs.
   Dau.: Elizabeth Miller, wife of Harman Miller - 300 a. on which sd. H. Miller now lives, part of the above 1,300 a., to son Jacob if she leaves no heirs.
   Son: Henry - 200 a. where ne now lives, part of 496 a. on Broad Run, taken up in 1824 and "at his Death to fall to his son Jacob Holtzclaw and his heirs", in case of default to son Jacob.
   Gr.son: Henry Holtzclaw, son of son John, 100 a. on Branches of Hunger Run, part of tract containing 337 a.
   Gr.son: Joseph Darnal, son of Jer're Darnall - 305 z. in Loudoun County near Williams' Gap joining the land of George Carter
   Dau.: Katharine Darnal, wife of Jeremiah Darnal - 362 a. in Pr. Wm. Co. joining the Land of the Heris of John Fishback
   Son: Joseph Holtzclaw - one Negro woman, one feather bed & furniture, one cow & calf, one pewter dish and bason and two plates and one desk
   Son: Jacob - one Neggo boy, one feather bed & furniture, one clothes press, one cow & calf, one pewter dish & bason, two plates
   Dau.: Eve Wiley - one Negro girl now in possession of Allen Wiley, her husband
   Dau.: Alice Datharine Hitt - one Negro boy
   Dau.: Elizabeth Miller - one Negro boy, now in possession of Harman Miller her husband
   Son: Harman Holtzclaw - one Negro wench - now in his possession
   Son: Henry - one Negro boy now in his possession
   Gr.son: Jacob Fishback, son to Frederick Fishback - one Negro boy
   Dau.: Katharine Darnal - one Negro man, one feather bed & furnitire, one warming pan
   Gr.son: John Fishback, son to Frederick Fishback - 177 a. in Loudoun Co on Goose Creek being the remaining part of a tract set aside for dau. Eve Wiley, 511 a. in Augusta County in two patents, together with all my personal estate not herein before mentioned be sold at public auction and after paying my just Debts to be divided between my children.
   Son-in-law: Jeremiah Darnal and son, Jacob, to be executors
   Signed: Jacob Holtzclaw
   Wit.: Peter (X) Hitt, Thos. Marshall, Henry Kamper
   Proved: 29 February 1760, by Thomas Marshall and Henry Kamper. Jeremiah Darnal made motion to be recorded & granted cert.

2.   Blankenbaker, John (e-mail: john@@germanna.com). Germanna History.