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 / About / History
History

History

The Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization founded in 1956.

Its purpose is to preserve and make known the history of the Virginia Germanna Colonies, their operations under the patronage of Alexander Spotswood, his residence and activities at Germanna and in the surrounding area.

The name Germanna, selected by Governor Alexander Spotswood, reflected both the German immigrants who sailed across the Atlantic to Virginia and the British Queen, Anne, who was in power at the time of the first settlement at Germanna. Though she was to die only months after the Germans arrived, her name continues to be a part of the area.

The Germanna Colonies consist primarily of the First Colony of 42 persons from the Siegerland area in Germany brought to Virginia to work for Spotswood in 1714, and the Second Colony of 20 families from the Palatinate and Baden-Wuerttemberg area of Germany brought in 1717, but also include other German families who joined the first two colonies at later dates.  At the time, the Germanna area was the westernmost outpost of colonial Virginia.

Although many Germanna families later migrated southward and westward from Piedmont Virginia, genealogical evidence shows that many of the families intermarried for generations, producing a rich genealogical heritage. See list of Germanna families

The Germanna Foundation owns about 170 acres of land on the original Germanna peninsula, on the south side of the Germanna Highway, State Route 3, (about 15 miles east of Culpeper and 20 miles west of Fredericksburg, Virginia) surrounding the 100-acre Locust Grove campus of the Germanna Community College, which was donated by the Germanna Foundation to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the purpose of founding the College.  This property is the Germanna Foundation’s Siegen Forest, with several hiking trails and thousands of feet of frontage along the Rapidan River (also named after Queen Anne – the Rapid Anne).  This property is also the site of the Foundation’s Brawdus Martin Visitor Center, which houses the Germanna museum and the Evelyn C. Martin Genealogical Research Library.

In 2013, the Foundation acquired the 62-acre archaeological site of the original Fort Germanna, and containing Alexander Spotswood’s Enchanted Castle remains, on the northern side of Route 3.  The Foundation is re-starting archaeology at this historically significant site.

The Foundation also owns a nearby 18th century mansion (ca 1757), Salubria, in Culpeper County, once the home of Governor Spotswood’s widow, who had married the Rev. John Thompson.  In Fauquier County, the Foundation owns and maintains the historic Hitt Family cemetery.

The history of Germanna is inextricably intertwined with the history of America.  Colonial Virginia sprouted the spirit of freedom with the Germanna immigrants playing an important role.

In the classic history text, The Stamp Act Crisis: Prologue to Revolution by Edmund S. Morgan and Helen M. Morgan, the book begins with an account of Governor Alexander Spotswood and the Germanna area.  The excerpt below is but one sample of the role of Germanna in our history as a people:

Prologue

THE PLACE WAS something out of a fairy tale, a ghost town in the wilderness, empty houses lining the street on one side, savage plants creeping toward them to recover their domain, and on the other side—an enchanted castle, where a gentleman lived with his wife and her young sister. They might have been king, queen, and princess, and the two tame deer which wandered about the house were doubtless a lord and lady transformed by some magic into their present shape. There was a rich meadow, surrounded on three sides by a winding river, and shady lanes which led past a marble fountain, and a covered bower where the princess satand bewailed the suitor who did not come.

This was Germanna, on the Rapidan River in Spotsylvania; the king was Colonel Alexander Spotswood, former Governor of Virginia, and the queen was the wife whom he had brought from London to live in this improbable paradise. The empty houses had once been the homes of the German settlers whom Spotswood had planted there but who had since deserted him.

In September,1732, the place was visited by a traveller who, like the Spotswoods, would have looked more at home on Regent Street than on the frontier of Virginia. William Byrd had come to consult with the Colonel about iron-mining,but he had a gift for recording scenes and conversations, and in his journal he snatched the whole episode out of time and left it to us, complete with Spotswood’s oracular pronouncements not only on iron-mining, but also on tar-burning, hemp, the Spaniards, the post office, and British politics. In this fantastic setting, so far from the civilized world, far it might seem from the world at all . . .

[Byrd then described how Spotswood on the banks of the Rapidan River in 1732 predicted great difficulty if England were to attempt to compel the American colonists to do things against their will.]

Spotswood’s prophecy need not be ascribed to second sight, for he had been Governor of Virginia, and he knew from bitter experience how jealously a colonial assembly guarded its right to levy taxes.

In 1715 the House of Burgesses had refused to grant the supplies necessary for defense against the Indians, because they thought that he had called some of their prerogatives in question. He had denounced them and finally dissolved them, but he had not beaten them. And he knew that any attempt by Parliament to beat them would have met with doubled resistance.

The story of Germanna reaches across time and space to reflect on our human experience which can help us better understand our own history and our place in that history.

Germanna descendant and Foundation member John Blankenbaker provides a timeline snapshot of the Germans’ odyssey to America:

First Colony Timeline:

Late spring of 1713: the people left Nassau-Siegen, apparently not in a single group.

Summer of 1713: the people arrived in London.

January 1714: they left for Virginia on an unknown ship.

Late March 1714: Spotswood first learns from Col. Nathaniel Blakiston, the agent for Virginia in London, that Germans are coming.

April 1714: the Germans arrived in Virginia.

1716: they started mining operations at the silver mine.

1718, early in the year: they were instructed to search for iron.

During 1718: the search for iron continued and a statement in a courthouse says they worked until December of 1718 at mining and quarrying. Also during the year they made their commitment to buy land at “Germantown.” By December of 1718, Spotswood says he spent about 60 pounds on the endeavor so there was no iron furnace.

January 1719: they moved to Germantown. Pastor Haeger may not have moved at this time. By this time they had completed the four years of service they committed themselves to in London.

Someone else built the iron furnace after the Germans left.

 

Second Colony Timeline:

1717: Eighty-odd Germans from Wuerttemberg, Baden, and the Palatinate agree with Capt. Tarbett in London to take them to Pennsylvania in the ship Scott.

1717/1718: Capt. Tarbett hijacks the Germans to Virginia where they become indentured servants of Lt. Gov. Spotswood.

1719/1722: Some of the Germans who left in 1717 arrived in Virginia at a later time.

1723/25: Spotswood sues many of the Germans.

1725: Most of these Germans move to the Robinson River Valley.

1733: Johann Caspar Stoever becomes their (Lutheran) pastor.

1740: The German Lutheran Church (Hebron Lutheran Church today) is built with funds raised in Germany.

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Comments

  1. Miriam M Harris says

    August 18, 2017 at 4:09 pm

    My great grandmother, Mary Spottswood was Alexander Spottswood’s daughter by a slave. She had a brother named Peter and settled in Phoebus, VA (now Hampton). Somehow Mary was in Missippi at the end of the Civil War, but came back to VA. Many of the descendants still live in the area.

    Reply
    • Susan Perong says

      July 12, 2022 at 3:35 am

      What a blessing that you have this information. I have tried to find this type of information but it is so difficult. Thanks for sharing.

      Reply
  2. patricia Sluder cason says

    September 11, 2017 at 1:19 pm

    My grt,grt,grt,grt,grt,grt,grt Heinrich Schlucter son of Anna Barbara Schone Schlucter, Fleischman. Cyriacus Fleischman was her 3rd husband. She was my 8th grt. grandmother . She was the mother of Sarah Fleischman who was married to Heinrich Schlucter. Tricia Sluder Cason

    Reply
    • Vickie Goodger Schoppe says

      April 21, 2018 at 9:12 pm

      She was my 7th great grandmother….my connection comes through the Fleischman side (Maria Catherina who married Hans Jacob Broyles/Breyhel.

      Reply
      • Alisha Fleshman-Campbell says

        April 23, 2021 at 7:50 pm

        Cyriacus Fleischmann was my 7th great grandfather
        My maiden name is Fleshman.

        Reply
      • Cheryl Rowe says

        February 6, 2022 at 5:43 pm

        I am descended from Jacob’s younger brother, Conrad, who later moved his family to North Carolina. After living there for several generations, one extended family group moved to Kansas, making a land run in Oklahoma. The parents later moved back to Kansas after raising their family. My grandmother was Vernace Iota Briles and a direct descendant of the Briles/Broyles/Breyheuls.. In 1992,we were lucky enough to get to travel to Virginia, where my uncle lived. We traveled to the Madison area and found the Hebron Lutheran Church and toured the vicinity. We were unable to view the church because the pastor refused to copen it up, but I did purchase a history book and a plate commemorating the 250th anniversary of the church by mail. All my family history was stolen in its fireproof boxes and I so wish i sitll had it. I hope I get to come back someday and maybe see inside the church. We peeked through windows, but it was hard too see. It looked lovely! Their story has always fascinated me. We also saw the excavations going on at Germanna at that time, but it was a closed site. Oddly enough, my uncle had retired from HUD, sold his Georgetown home, and buildt himself a place in the mountains not even 60 miles away as the crow flies. He said he had always been drawn to the area. He completed a circle back to the area the story began, without even realizing it.

        Reply
  3. Melody says

    October 7, 2017 at 12:08 pm

    My ancestor Johann Jacob Richter and wife ANNA CATHRINE FISCHBACH were among the first settlers of Germanna.

    Reply
    • Roxane Assaf-Lynn says

      February 7, 2018 at 10:15 am

      We’re in the same line, Melody!

      Reply
    • Judy Holden says

      July 8, 2019 at 2:44 pm

      My husband’s line.

      Reply
  4. Tim Holtzclaw says

    October 28, 2017 at 4:52 pm

    Where is Hans Jacob Holtzclaw buried?

    Reply
  5. Nancy Alvey says

    January 14, 2018 at 10:54 pm

    I am a descendant of Johannes Keeper who came to Virginia with the first group of Germans.

    Reply
    • Julie says

      June 8, 2018 at 12:40 am

      Do you mean Kemper? If so, I am also a direct descendant of Mr. Kemper on my mother’s side, and the Holtzclaws and Utterbacks on my father’s side. I am also blood related to several of the other families listed in the first wave, as well as the second wave. I’m a seventh generation Central Kentuckian descending from these first Germans to colonize in Virginia. Many of the Germanna ancestors migrated to Central Kentucky after being awarded land grants for their service in the Revolutionary War. I still live in Central Kentucky.

      Reply
      • Eric Stevens says

        February 5, 2019 at 9:20 pm

        Julie,
        Which Utterbacks? I am descended from Henry/Joseph/Hankinson Utterback. Hankinson went to Scott County, Kentucky and then to Boone County, Kentucky, ahead of the 1806 group lead by George Rouse.

        Reply
      • Jamie Kemper says

        March 23, 2020 at 4:21 pm

        Tillman Kemper is my 5GGF! What an interesting page.

        Reply
  6. Rosemary S Ragan says

    July 13, 2020 at 4:03 pm

    I am a descendant of Johann Jost Merdten/Martin. He was married to Katherine Holtsclaw. He came to central KY and later my great grand parents came to Nashville, TN.

    Reply
    • Carla Wist says

      May 3, 2021 at 6:37 pm

      I too am a descendant on my maternal grandmothers side to Johann Jost/Martin. John O’Bannon married Susan Martin whose father was Jacob Martin whose father was Johann Jost Merton. My mothers parents and a couple of generations prior to that settled in the Kenton County, Grant County area of Kentucky.

      Reply
  7. Deana Broyles says

    August 6, 2020 at 9:43 am

    My name is Deana Broyles. My grandfather on my mother’s side is Aebersold. My grandfather on my father’s side is the Gillis Broyles Sr. Both are descendants from Germany and Switzerland.

    Reply
  8. Chad Russell says

    September 21, 2020 at 10:55 pm

    I am a direct descendant of William Russell. He seems to have been quite well acquainted with Governor Spotswood, and played some sort of role at Germanna, as well as serving as Spotswood’s lawyer. We have never figured out exactly how he was of the Ducal House of Bedford, but hope that research will help us understand his origins.

    Reply
    • Ann Swindle Schneider says

      August 5, 2021 at 11:48 pm

      Chad, I notice that you and I share must have ancestors in common as we share dna according to the Gedmatch Germanna Group. I have no idea who these common ancestors are. I don’t have Russell in my family tree. My ancestors in the 1717 group are Clore, Crigler, Utz, Swindle, Crees. My tree is public on ancestry under name A.K. Swindle Schneider.

      Reply
  9. Robert Farley says

    March 26, 2021 at 8:17 pm

    I am a direct descendent of Johann Michael Cook(Second Colony) and Son Adam Cook. Any information on their burial site would be appreciated

    Reply
  10. Tony says

    August 14, 2022 at 3:36 pm

    My name is John (Tony) Holt and my 6th GGF was Hans Michael Hold I (Anglicized Holt)….

    He was born in Wurttemberg in 1696 (but a direct descendent of Bavarians which I am told is better than being from Wurttemberg… so say my Bavarian friends from the Algau region there)… I believe among second colony arrivals….

    Married Anna Elizabeth Scheible and moved to Orange NC where our family has remained since…. Any Scheibles in the house?

    Anyone in this chain also related to Holts in Alamance County NC?

    Reply

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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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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
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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:
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Saturdays, 1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
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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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