Recently, I have been trying to enumerate the individuals in the Germanna colonies. As we will eventually see, this will be an endless task as the stream of immigrants, directly either from Germany or from other colonies in America seems never to have ended. Even among those who we believe to have come directly to Virginia, we find that many came through another colony and may even have spent some time there. In the later periods, it is extremely likely that the families lived in another region besides the Virginia Piedmont where Germanna is located.
Recently, I had tried to list the Germanna Germans up to about 1740. In the case of the Second Colony, the 1739 Orange Co. tithe list was very helpful in forming a census; however, even in this case, some of the families were hidden from view because the patriarch had died, the matriarch had remarried and the children were not yet on their own. Also a few names turned up which are not usually on anyone's list. Presumably so little is known that a record of them has never been made. Some families seem to have just disappeared, or did they? Have they just moved to another locale? Or is the name difficult to trace?
As an example of how a name can be lost, in note 88, I listed five families who came in 1738 to join the First Germanna Colony. (Three of these were bachelors.) What was not recognized was there was a sixth family who came also, Hymanaeus Creutz and his wife Elizabeth. This is a known family in Nassau-Siegen but they had not been recognized in Virginia. Because I failed to list them here as Virginia immigrants, a correspondent directed my attention to the oversight. There are ample records that show they did live in Virginia eventually though they may not have settled in Virginia in 1738.
The process of identifying the Germanna people will go on for a long time.
A few more names of families who came from Nassau-Siegen include the following. Again, the rule seems to be that they had relatives or friends here. Probably they were responding to information that had been sent back to Germany.
Johann Jost Konst or Kuns arrived via Philadelphia in 1737. Probably this is Joseph Coons of the Little Fork group who arrived as a bachelor. He was a nephew of the 1714 Joseph Cuntze.
The brothers, Johannes Crim/Grim and Johannes Jacob Crim/Grim, also arrived via Philadelphia in 1740, and they too settled in the Little Fork area (a part of Orange Co. then, but now a part of Culpeper Co.). Their mother was a Spilman.
Johannes Heinrich Hofmann came some time around 1740 but his exact ship is unknown. He was a brother of the 1714 John Huffman who by then lived in the Robinson River community, now Madison Co.
Johann Jacob Heimbach (Jacob Hanback) arrived at an uncertain time but around 1745. He was a nephew of Mrs. Harman Otterbach of the 1714 colony. Also, his grandmother was an aunt of John Young of the 1734 group.
Dilmannus Weissgerber (Tilman Whitescarver) landed in 1750 at Philadelphia and was granted land in Culpeper Co. in 1752. He had married a sister of Joseph Coons of the Little Fork group.
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.