There is no easy answer as to where our Germanna Colonists came from except that the First Colony people came from a very concentrated region. Their homes were in an area of about ten miles by ten miles. In addition to the first contingent that came in 1714 to Virginia, several more came over the following years from the same region. Had travel conditions been better, there would have been many more. Unfortunately, eighteen families (or bachelors) decided to come in the year of 1738. This was a bad choice of years because about twice as many people as normal, or perhaps even more, decided to come from Germany that year. This overtaxed the abilities of the shippers to transport the people who responded by overloading the ships. One captain, after leaving, turned around, went back to port, and resigned his commission, saying the ship was overloaded. The response of the shippers was typical: get another captain. One other thing was bad during the fall of 1738 when many ships were at sea, and that was the weather and winds which were not cooperative.
The majority of the Second Colony mostly came from a small region southeast of Heidelberg, though the region was larger than the region of the First Colony. In part this was due to the difference between a primarily agricultural area and an industrial area, with differing concentrations of populations. Looking at a map, the Second Colony area is primarily in the area defined by the Rhine River and the Neckar River.
The population here was not homogeneous. The reasons for this have to do mostly with the Thirty Years War, which lasted from 1618 to 1648. Much of the infrastructure and the population in southern Germany was destroyed. Taking advantage of the opportunities, many people moved into the region from the east and from Switzerland. Some of the people in the Second Colony are described as citizens of remoter places, which means they were born there. Some families who had been on the move, include the Blankenbakers, Fleshmans, Kaifers, and Utzes (these come to mind immediately but they are not an exhaustive count).
In this same region there were many Anabaptists who had either elected to move there from Switzerland, or been expelled from Switzerland. Though none of our Germanna Colonists are known Anabaptists, I cite this to show that there was a considerable movement of the population in southern Germany.
Some of the Germanna Colonists came from the Palatinate which we were discussing a few notes back.
One Germanna Colonist appears to have come directly to Virginia from Switzerland. His motivations in moving are not clear, but there is a record of his birth there. This was Hans Heerensperger, better known as Johns Harnsberger. He immigrated in 1717, and from his proof of importation we know he came with his wife Anna Purve (Barbara) and his son Stephen. The same day that he made his proof of importation, John Motz also made his proof, stating he came with Maria Pelona (Appollonia?). Both of these men stated they arrived in 1717.
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.