John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 173

A recently published article on the Germanna settlers in Madison Co., Virginia, has many errors.  Recent notes have tried to correct some of these.  This note continues the process.

The statement is made,

"The only two single males in the group were John Fishback and John Hoffman."

The writer of the article gives thirteen families which agrees with most other writers.  John Fishback was a member of the Fishback family of whom there were five others.  Then omitting John Hoffman on the grounds that he was a bachelor, there would have been a need for twelve homes at Germanna.  Yet John Fontaine is clear in his description of Germanna that there were nine houses.  If you make the reasonable assumption that each family would have its own house, it would seem that twelve houses would be required without providing any accommodation for John Hoffman.  The fact that there were only nine houses suggests there were more than two bachelors who lived together in one house.  B.C. Holtzclaw, another writer on the Germanna people, suggested that Melchoir Brumbach, John Hoffman, John Kemper, Joseph Martin, and John Spilman were bachelors besides the two Fishback boys who lived with their family.  On this basis, nine houses would work out just right.  From the thirteen families subtract the five bachelors (other than the Fishbacks) and then eight houses would be required for the families plus one house for the bachelors.

Both Holtzclaw and the writer of the article being discussed omit Johann Justus Albrecht, "the head miner," who, as the agent for the George Ritter and Company, recruited the Nassau-Siegen people and who came to Virginia with them.  (We know he was here because we have his statement and signature in a Virginia court house.)  Apparently he was a bachelor and so he could have lived with the bachelors.

Another statement made in the article is,

"Their trip [referring to the people from Nassau-Siegen] was to take them east to the Rhine River, north to the seas, then to London where they departed for Virginia."

If they left to the east from Siegen, they crossed Europe, Asia, the Pacific Ocean, America, and the Atlantic Ocean before they got to Rotterdam, the usual point of departure for London.

But the biggest problem I have with the statement is that it makes events in London sound as they were perfectly normal.  On the contrary, the Germans were there an extended period of time, at least a few months, and perhaps a little more than a few.  The quoted statement completely overlooks this aspect which is a vital part of the story.  Unless what happened there is understood, the following history is apt to be completely distorted.

It is implied in the article that the Nassau-Siegen people make their living mining iron.  While this might have been true for a few, it appears that many of them did not make their living by mining.  We have the diary and account book by William Hoffman, brother to the Virginia immigrant, John Hoffman, which describes some of William's activities there.  He never mentions mining but does mention agricultural activities.

[There will be no column tomorrow.  It is the first Saturday of the month and I am slated to be a tour leader at the Hans Herr House.  On the way there, through Pennsylvania Dutch country, I expect to see all the tobacco in the barns.  Some corn will have cut for fodder but most will be standing.  A few late cuttings of alfalfa will be in progress.  The serenity of the trip itself is worth the effort spent at the house.]