As an alternative to the headright system, treasury warrants could be used to buy new land. This was established shortly after 1700 and cash payments proved more attractive than headrights. To pay the transportation of someone cost about six pounds of money or say 120 shillings. The cash price for new land from the Crown was five shillings per fifty acres. Thus the cash value of a head right was less than five shillings considering the trouble to obtaining it.
In 1718, the First Germanna Colony, acting through three trustees, John Fishback, John Hoffman, and Jacob Holtzclaw, purchased 1800 odd acres from Lady Fairfax, the owner of the Northern Neck. I am not sure what the purchase price was; the price was probably competitive with the Crown's land but it could have been higher or lower. Why the First Colony chose to go to the Northern Neck is unknown (as opposed to buying land from the Crown). They had been on Crown land at Germanna that had been patented by Spotswood. There was plenty of land in the neighborhood. But for some reason they chose to go to the Northern Neck, perhaps out of a desire to avoid the Crown and Spotswood. Therefore this land is not recorded in the Virginia Patent Books which record the sales of land from the Crown to citizens. The deed for the First Colony land did not issue until 1724 because Lady Fairfax died and the settlement of her estate held up normal business affairs. By then, Lord Fairfax, her son, was the new owner.
When the Second Colony went after their land, they chose lands of the Crown. Their patents are recorded in the Virginia Patent Books and usually a patent notes how the purchase price was paid. It could be by importations (headrights) or by cash at five shillings per fifty acres; however, the first patents of the Second Colony members do not show any payments, either headrights or treasury warrants. This all came about because the Second Colony was lucky enough to be buying their land at a time when it was being given away. How this came about is interesting.
Around 1720, Lt. Gov. Spotswood could read the handwriting which was saying that his term in office was limited (he had made a few enemies). Among his last major legislative acts was one creating two new counties, Spotsylvania and Brunswick. The legislation provided, to encourage settlement in the new counties, that land would be free of "levies" for ten years. Guess who applied for land under the new system as soon as it was passed and in which counties it was located. But was a little snag in the legislation as it was not final. All acts had to go back to England for approval, especially if they were "unusual" and this certainly was. At first, patents were not issued under the new law, but within two years Virginia was writing patents even though the law still had many uncertainties in it.
By 1726, patents were being routinely issued without any payments in the new counties of Spotsylvania and Brunswick. Since the Second Colony applied for their land in the former, their first patents (in 1726) do not show any payments for the land.
Willis Kemper, in the Kemper Genealogy, sought to explain why the First and Second Colony did not live together or at least side by side after their moves to their own land. The best reason that he could come up with was a conflict of religion. Because the First Colony was Reformed and the Second Colony was Lutheran, he concluded this must be the reason. What he overlooked, and seemed to be totally unaware of, was the economics of land acquistion. Had the Second Colony moved to the Northern Neck, they would have had to purchase the land from Lord Fairfax. By moving to Crown land in Spotsylvania, they could have land for free.
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.