Willis Kemper seems to have been bothered by the fact that the Second Germanna Colony did not relocate to the neighborhood of the First Second Colony. The reason he concocted to explain this is false.
The First Colony left Fort Germanna, probably in the month of January in the year 1719 (NS) and moved to Stafford County, which became a part of Prince William County later and is now Fauquier County, all in Virginia. They bought land from Lady Fairfax (though the grant was confirmed by her son, Lord Fairfax, after her death). The location became the best known Germantown in Virginia but is now identified as the location of Crocker Park. The Second Colony left their home in New Germantown (the "New" was to distinguish it from the "Old" which was Fort Germanna itself). This original home was in modern Culpeper Co. on the Rapidan River about two miles upstream from Fort Germanna. They moved to the upper reaches of the Robinson River in what is now Madison Co.
Since the Second Colony did not move to the neighborhood of the established First Colony, Mr. Kemper sought a reason. To quote him from the Genealogy of the Kemper Family,
"The remarkable thing is that these Reformed and Lutheran brethren were dwelling together in harmony, and Pastor Hager was 'ministering to them in common.' This did not long last, as will soon be seen."
The quotation used by Kemper refers to an advertisement in Europe seeking a minister to serve both the First and Second Colony in common.
A second quotation from Willis Kemper goes,
"Perhaps the antagonism between the Reformed and Lutheran broke out; Whatever the reason, certain it is the Germans left Germanna and the members of the Reformed faith, 'our colony' of twelve families, went north abut twenty miles into the Northern Neck, into Stafford county, and engaged in agriculture; while the large body, the Lutherans, soon after went west, also into the Northern Neck, on Robinson's river, into what is now Madison county. The latter seemed to have held on to the contributions from Europe. They built Hebron church, still in existence, and still have an organ and a communion service, contributed by their European friends."
In writing about what historians had said about the Germans, Kemper writes,
"None of them know anything about the difference in religious faith, which undoubtedly was the cause of their separation."
These false statements, now over a hundred years old, have prejudiced the study of our Germanna people. They have prevented an objective analysis of the situation. There are at least two good reasons that the Second Colony did not join the First Colony, neither of which has anything to do with religion. The next note will explore these.
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.