Willis Kemper said the reason for the geographical split in the first two Germanna Colonies was that they were antagonistic toward each other because of the religious differences. Why he even felt there must be a reason is a mystery, though he does show a tendency to display a "chip on his shoulder." In any case the reason that he invented is a complete fabrication.
After the First Colony left Fort Germanna and before the Second Colony left, legislation was passed by the House of Burgesses in Virginia and approved by the Council and Governor which created two new counties, Spotsylvania and Brunswick. As a part of this, land was free in the two new counties for ten years. Thus the Second Colony could use an advantage that was not available to the First Colony members when they moved. They could obtain free land in the new counties. At the time the legislation was passed, the new county of Spotsylvania included all of the present counties of Spotsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, Madison, and Rappahannock.
The First Colony was outside this area in the lands of the Northern Neck which belonged to the Fairfaxes. Had the Second Colony moved to the region where the First Colony was living, it would have been necessary to buy the land from Thomas Lord Fairfax. By staying within Spotsylvania County, the land was free. Our ancestors tended to be a thrifty lot.
There was another problem with moving to Germantown. The land around Germantown was quickly taken up. In one fell swoop, "King" Carter took a large patent on three sides of Germantown which made it difficult to settle next to Germantown. This lack of land forced the First Colony, in seeking an expansion for their growing families, to go beyond Germantown. Principally they went in two directions, to the north on lands not yet sold by Lord Fairfax or across the Hedgman River (also known as the North River or as the North Fork of the Rappahannock). In the latter case, the region is known as the Little Fork which I discussed a few notes ago. Jacob Holtzclaw obtained a patent for several hundred acres here in 1729 which was free because the time limit on free land had not expired.
Also, about this same time period, John Hoffman took a land patent on the Robinson River amongst the Second Colony people. He was not averse to mixing with them; in fact, he took his second wife from among them.
Early colonial history is replete with examples of cooperation between the Lutherans and Reformed church members. They tended to build one church building in common and to share the use of it. When problems did break out, the root cause was not the difference in religion, it was a case of personal attitudes and feelings.
The cause of the separation of the First and Second Germanna Colonies was, first, economic, and second, unavailability of land. There is no reason to ascribe any differences of opinion to religion.
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.