John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 157
Besides signing the patents, Spotswood named the first justices to the new
Spotsylvania court and appointed a Clerk of the Court and a Sheriff. The
new county came to life quickly at Germanna where Spotswood designated the
county seat would be. By this time, Spotswood had torn down Fort Germanna
and used the cleared land as the site for his new home, which Col. Byrd was
to call "The Enchanted Castle". The legislative act gave Spotswood 500
pounds to build a church and a court. These were not ready when the
business of the new county commenced. For a church, they used the
blockhouse and the court met in a room of Spotswood's home. The time was
fifteen months after the date specified for the creation of the county.
Even the legality of the new counties was in question because their creation
had been embedded in an act with unusual features. But the counties were
not questioned so much as the land patents. The resolution of the questions
left the titles to land clouded for many years, especially for the largest
landowner, Alexander Spotswood. In the end, he had to go back to England
and petition the Crown for a clear title.
Spotswood did not get everything that he wanted in obtaining the title to
his land. The Privy Council, who had the last word, decided that Spotswood
would be reissued the land as new patents and therefore he must pay
headrights (purchase fees). He was allowed a seven-year exemption of the
quitrents though.
In spite of this resolution, clearly Spotswood was the beneficiary of the
creation of Spotsylvania County; however, there was an impact on the
Germanna settlers also. The Second Colony was looking for land during the
period when land was being issued "free of public levies". Thus, they paid
no headrights and no quitrents for seven years. This is another instance
where our Germanna people benefited as a result of legislation passed to aid
Spotswood.
Willis Kemper, who wrote an early (a century ago) history and genealogy,
said that the Second Colony moved to the Robinson River, and not to
Germantown, where the First Colony was already living, because of
differences between the two colonies. He said these differences arose
because of religion, the First Colony being German Reformed and the Second
Colony being Lutheran. He entirely failed to note that the Second Colony
had the advantage of free land in Spotsylvania County, a more powerful
motivation than joining other Germans. He also failed to note that land
around the First Colony was not readily available.
As a result of the decision that Spotswood would have to pay headrights, he
used the names of 48 Germans. These appear to be Second Colony members as
most of them have excellent credentials for inclusion in the Second Colony.
The assumption is that all of these 48 people should be counted as Second
Colony members.
(There will be a break in these "
Short Notes
", until John returns form his vacation.)