Germanna Foundation

Preserving the historic heritage of the original settlers of the Fort Germanna Colonies in Virginia

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You are here: Home / Germanna Blog / Who Were Germanna’s Founders?

Who Were Germanna’s Founders?

March 13, 2018 By Germanna Foundation Leave a Comment

The inspiring history of the Germanna colonies lay nearly forgotten for 200 years.

Threads of awareness emerge in the historical writing of professor William J. Hinke c. 1920, in an inquiry to President Calvin Coolidge from Müsen, Germany, in 1927 about descendants of the 1714 emigrants from that village, in the Reformed Church’s commemoration of its 220th anniversary at Germanna in 1934, and in the annual Picnic Parties of Germanna descendants that R. Brawdus Martin, a Kemper descendant, organized from 1949-1955.

From Brawdus Martin’s group emerged the two principal founders of our Germanna Foundation, the respected Charles Herbert Huffman and John Walter Wayland.

Both men held doctorates from the University of Virginia, and were professors at Madison College in Harrisonburg, Virginia, now James Madison University. Wayland’s many published books included the textbook from which all Virginia schoolchildren learned their Virginia history for many decades.

In a wonderful roundabout way that involved Dr. Huffman’s letter of congratulations to the Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church) in Siegen upon its restoration after World War II bombing damage, this scholarly duo were connected with Ernst Flender, a successful banker in New York  who was a native of Siegen.

Mr. Flender became so interested in saving and telling the story of the Germanna colonies that he provided the know-how to create a non-profit organization incorporated in the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. That is still the official name of what we all call the Germanna Foundation today.

Next, Mr. Flender provided $10,000, a very large sum in the 1950s, to enable the Foundation to purchase the 270 acres of the original Fort Germanna tract along the Rapidan River. This they named Siegen Forest. It is the site of the R. Brawdus Martin Fort Germanna Visitor Center today.

Click photo to enlarge

At its first annual meeting in November 1956, the original board (Huffman, Wayland, Flender, Border Stanley, Trammel Fishback, Frank Switzer, and Jesse Boyd Carpenter), expanded their membership to add Benjamin C. Holtzclaw, Professor of History and Dean of the Graduate School of the University of Richmond, who was an experienced genealogist.

Holtzclaw, Huffman, and Wayland became a dynamic trio that researched and published half a dozen books that became the foundation of the Germanna Record series that now numbers 21 volumes.

Holtzclaw’s Germanna Record No. 5: Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia, incorporates documentary research by Ernst Flender’s brother Emil Flender in Germany, and remains an invaluable resource today.

And so it is that today, on Founder’s Day, March 14, Germanna salutes its founders, and especially R. Brawdus Martin, Charles Huffman, John Wayland, and Benjamin Holtzclaw who made it possible for us to discover our own proud Germanna heritage and tell the story of the Germanna immigrants to Virginia’s frontier in 1714, 1717 and beyond.

— • —

Consider making a donation in honor of our founders and Founder’s Day to support the continuing work of the Germanna Foundation.

Remember the Germanna Foundation in your will and estate plans.

Become a member or renew your Germanna Foundation membership.

— • —

More information about the Germanna Foundation’s history can be found here:

Germanna Record #17: The First Fifty Years of the Germanna Foundation

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Germanna Foundation’s Mission and Stewardship

The Germanna Foundation tells America’s story of liberty through the frontier experience of her settlers and descendants using archaeological, historical, and genealogical research and interpretation. We are stewards over these important properties and initiatives:

  • Fort Germanna Visitor Center campus which includes a Museum, Genealogy Library, the Hitt Archaeology Center, and the Germanna Memorial Garden
  • Siegen Forest – 170-acre Hiking and Nature Trails along the Rapidan river
  • 1714/1717 Fort Germanna Archaeology Site
  • Virginia Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood’s home “Enchanted Castle” Archaeology Site
  • 1757 Georgian-style Salubria Manor
  • 1800 Peter Hitt Farm
  • Publishing “The Germanna Record” genealogy/ history books
  • Maintaining a genealogy database with over 130,000 records of descendants of the Germanna colonists

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Germanna Foundation

The Germanna Foundation
MAILING: P.O. Box 279
LOCATION: 2062 Germanna Highway
Locust Grove, VA 22508-0279
Phone: 540-423-1700
Fax: 540-423-1747
Contact Us Page

Remember the Germanna Foundation in your Will and Estate Plans.

Fort Germanna Visitor Center, Museum & Library

2062 Germanna Highway (Route 3)
Locust Grove, VA 22508
(Next to the Germanna Community College campus)

Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Saturdays, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
Closed on Sundays

Out of town visitors are urged to call us at 540-423-1700 to confirm or to make special arrangements for groups.

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Hike Siegen Forest!

Behind the Fort Germanna Visitor Center is our 170-acre Siegen Forest nature and hiking trails along the Rapidan river. Trails are OPEN 7 days a week, during daylight hours. When visiting the trails, please practice “Leave no Trace” ethos. If you enjoy the trails, consider donating to the Germanna Foundation to help support their upkeep.

 

About

The Germanna Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to exploring the Colonial Virginia frontier via the historic 1714 Fort Germanna and its German colonists and their descendants.

It conducts archaeological exploration and conservation, genealogical research and publishing, and historic preservation and interpretation.

The Foundation owns and maintains several historic sites and properties, such as Salubria Manor, that were part of or closely connected to the Germanna colonies, the town of Germanna, and the other early colonial Virginia settlements and towns in the Piedmont area of Virginia.

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