About twenty years ago, when I was starting in genealogy, I came across a lease that Spotswood made. In it, the following phrases occurred: "in the fork of the Rappahannock River", "New German Town", "Nos. 18 and 19". The date of this lease was 4 Feb 1728/9 and it was recorded in Spotsylvania Co. The first two of these phrases were troublesome, as the only Germantowns that I knew were possibly Germanna and the Germantown which became the home of the First Colony (now in Fauquier Co., VA). Neither of these locations were in the Fork of the Rappahannock.
Some time later, I found Spotswood's letter to Harrison in which Spotswood referred to the Second Colony with the phrase, "some seventy-odd Germans were settled upon the tract as free men in twenty-odd tenements, close together for purposes of defense." Nothing indicated where these tenements were located.
And we know that Spotswood paid the transportation for 48 of the seventy-odd Germans. Therefore they could be considered his servants, in which case he would be responsible for their tithes; however, the old parish of St. George had been created with a radius of five miles around Germanna to exempt Germans from the payment of tithes. Therefore, the Second Colony of seventy-odd people was surely put down within this circle around Germanna so that Spotswood would not have to pay tithes for them.
At another time, while looking at a detailed map, I noticed a water course named German Run. Being only two miles from Germanna, I could conceive that it was named with a reference to the First Colony; however, another water course, into which German Run flowed, was, at one time, named Fleshman's Run. Now there was no one named Fleshman in the First Colony but there was a Cyriacus Fleshman in the Second Colony.
Bells started ringing. Most often, a water course, with the name of a person, is named for someone of that name who lived beside it. The location is in the Great Fork of the Rappahannock. Of course, the locality would have been called some variation of Germantown if seventy-odd Germans lived there. The mention in the lease of parcels 18 and 19 sounds as if they might have been taken from the twenty-odd tenements in which the Second Colony lived. All these pieces fit together so well, that I concluded the general location had been found where the Second Colony first lived.
Not long after this conclusion, I gave a talk with these ideas. A member of the audience, David Brown, came to me afterwards and said that he knew the area quite well as he used to walk over the land with his grandfather. Once, he had asked his grandfather if there were any Civil War episodes there. The grandfather said there had not been but there had been a group of people who lived there long before the Civil War. David said he thought little about it until he heard my conclusions based on the concurrence of a few written records. Then it dawned on him that his grandfather must have been talking about the Second Colony, though his grandfather did not know them as the Second Colony. I asked David to tell his story to the audience and I was standing at the front observing the audience while he told his story. Literally, jaws were dropping throughout the audience.
This only increased my resolve to explore the area. So I arranged with some of the owners of the land for a survey party. Some of them joined us as did members of the Center for Historical Preservation. The results were encouraging and staff and students of the Center returned later for a more detailed survey. Some evidence of eighteenth century habitation was found.
It would be nice to think that more exploratory work could be done. Also it would be great to think that more substantial evidence could be found. I have little doubt about the outcome. As individuals, it would not be wise to enter on the land without permission. The owners are not thrilled by the thought of a mass of people treading across their property.
Unfortunately, in my estimation, the name of Fleshman's Run has been changed to Field's Run. This is unfortunate as Cyriacus Fleshman was one of the first settlers of modern Culpeper County, Virginia. It very well may be that the Germans were the first settlers; I have heard of no better claims than these 1717 Germans.
I will be covering ground similar to this in my talks at the Hebron Lutheran Church this next Saturday. I believe that space and food are still available. If you are interested, call Monika Edick at (703)591-3656.
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.