Early eighteenth-century German emigration was fitful, meaning it was very irregular. In 1709 there were thousands who descended on London in hopes of a trip to America but only a few thousand were accepted. The rest were returned home and the Germans were discouraged by the English in the following years from coming. A few came, such as the Nassau-Siegen people who we have been talking about, but by and large no Germans were coming in any appreciable numbers.
Then in 1717, there was a large group, perhaps a thousand who left Germany with the intention of going to Pennsylvania. Most of these were coming for economic reasons; they were attempting to find a better life. One shipful of people did not make it to Pennsylvania . Instead the captain of the ship took them to Virginia. Though it has been widely reported that the name of the captain was Scott, his name may be confused with the name of the ship.
There were seventy odd Germans who were on board. Collectively they became known as the Second Germanna Colony but we need to back up in the story.
They left Germany quite late in the year as their departure was in late July. These families had made a contract with the captain of a ship in London to take them to Pennsylvania. He was then thrown in debtor's prison and the passengers lingered on board, consumed their supplies, and were forced to spend their passage money on more food. The captain was released and the voyage was undertaken, in essentially the late fall or winter.
It is very doubtful that they arrived in Virginia before January 1. Until March 23, they could still say 1717 (but we would describe it as 1718 if it was after January 1). Thus they also became known as the Colony of 1717, besides being called the Second Colony. I stick with 1717 as the year of arrival even though it probably distorts history to say that.
Whether the landing in Virginia was due to weather (the captain's claim) or due to collusion (the descendant's claim), is not clear. Not just immediately, but later there will be additional comments.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.