Willis Kemper, who wrote an early Kemper genealogy and Fishback genealogy, tried to count the number of immigrants to Virginia in the First Colony, which arrived in 1714. Everyone who tries this exercise comes up short. Spotswood says there were forty-odd Germans but the records in Virginia name only about thirty-four people. Some records do refer to the fact there were forty-two people. Also Graffenried says he found forty-odd people in London when he returned in 1713.
Kemper let his imagination roam in trying to find an answer to this puzzle. There is a possible answer, that is not overly complicated. If there was a family, with several girls in it, and if the parents died in the first years in Virginia, while the daughter married bachelors, there would not be a problem.
The records which identify the First Colony people are principally the land records, the proofs of importation, and the naturalization records. There may have been marriage records but they have been lost.
Generally the naturalization records came later. Three of the men were naturalized at an early date and it was these three that purchased the land at Germantown, acting as trustees for the colony. These three were Jacob Holtzclaw, John Hoffman, and John Fishback. I believe it is correct that naturalization records are unknown for several of the men. So the naturalization records provide few clues.
In 1724 many of the individuals, men, women, and children, made proofs of importation in order to obtain headrights to fifty acres of land for each person. This is the most complete and earliest listing that is known for the members. Willis Kemper was confused as to why these proofs of importation were made. The First Colony members could not use the headrights themselves in the Northern Neck, so they were of a limited value. The reason they were not usable was that Lord/Lady Fairfax had already taken the land from the Crown. Now, they were selling the land and they were not about to give it away in exchange for headrights. Headrights only applied to the lands still owned by the Crown. However, someone who lived in the Northern Neck and who would normally be entitled to a head right could obtain one. They could sell it for use by someone who anticipated procuring lands outside the Northern Neck on lands of the Crown. Its value was less that five shillings because one could pay five shillings in cash in lieu of a headright. Even though the majority of the First Colony members made proofs of importations, only a small fraction of them actually used the headright by selling it. Apparently, the people had plans to sell theirs but in practice found that it was not worth the effort.
Jacob Holtzclaw sold his headright to Lawrence Crees who used it when he obtained his land in the Robinson River area. The patent issued to Crees makes note of the fact that he paid, in part, with the headright of Jacob Holtzclaw. This does not mean that Crees paid the transportation of Holtzclaw or even that Crees came before Holtzclaw. All together, about eight of the names of the First Colony members appear in patents. But these add no new information to the proofs of importation.
[to be continued]
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.