Trying to summarize the reasons for the emigration of the Germanna colonists, no single reason will cover all people. Even more strongly, hardly any individual had only a single reason for coming. But it seems to me that the dominant reason for coming was a chance to improve one's economic condition. For some people, they could be the beneficiaries. For others, there would be little opportunity to improve their own position in life; instead, they could look forward to lots of hard work and few rewards. They were probably more motivated to improve the opportunities for their children and grandchildren.
When we start handing out the awards, the blue ribbons go to the women. Being more oriented to family and tradition, the decision to go to America was probably harder for them than for the men. My blue ribbon to the woman in the First Colony for fortitude goes to Anna Catherine Friesenhagen, the wife of Rev. Hager (Haeger or Häger). She was fifty years old, while Rev. Hager was sixty-nine and retired because of ill health. Two daughters were sixteen and eleven. She was leaving a home with three servants in it.
In the Hager family, economics was less important than for the other emigrants. Going to the New World was a step down for them on the comfort scale, though they were perhaps unaware of this. The Hager parents had one motivation that none of the other emigrants had; they had a son in New York, their only surviving child besides the two daughters. Thus the journey could result in a reunion, not a split of the family.
In the Second Colony, the blue ribbon goes to Anna Barbara Schöene, to give her maiden name. At fifty-three years of age, she packed up with her seven children, and their children, and her husband, and set off for a new life. She made it to Virginia but it is unknown whether she lived past the seven years at New Germantown and made it to the lands which her family purchased in the Robinson River Valley. One would like to think that she made it to the promised land. In this case, I would think the family was economically motivated and Anna Barbara joined in to preserve the family as a unit. (I get weepy-eyed when I think about Anna Barbara who an ancestor of mine in three different ways.)
As the emigrants are examined, we could ascribe many different motivations to them. But we would keep coming back to the general theme that they were trying to improve their own or their children's station in life. Adventure and a discomfort level arising from war and cold weather could be included. But the religious situation was not that bad for Lutherans and Reformed people in Nassau-Siegen, the Neckar region, and in The Palatinate. (Nassau-Siegen was mixed in religion.)
After a few more years, in some cases only a very few years, the situation changed. A new factor appeared, letters started going back to Germany. More reports appeared telling how it could be done. Generally the letters were encouraging, and, with more information about how it could be done, friends, relatives, and total strangers joined in. Still they were motivated by the same old reason, there was a better life to be had across the Atlantic.
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.