Many dates have been advanced for the move of the First Colony from Germanna to the location which became known as Germantown in present day Fauquier County. Willis Kemper thought that it was the fall of 1721 or the spring of the following year. I believe this is erroneous and that the date can be set at January of 1719 (using the modern calendar).
Here is my thinking on the subject. It is recorded that the Germans agreed they would work for four years in return for the balance of their transportation costs that they could not pay. Col. Blakiston in London committed Gov. Spotswood to doing this. When they arrived in Virginia, Spotswood confirmed that he paid the one hundred and fifty pounds sterling due on their passage. They arrived in April of 1714. It was probably May or June before they were settled in Fort Germanna, which could be considered the start of their service.
Four years after the summer of 1714 would be the summer of 1718. In this year, the Germans purchased the tract later known as the Germantown tract. This by itself shows they were anticipating moving in the near term. It is not conceivable that they would purchase land and then wait for three years to move to it.
Why didn't they move in the summer of 1718? This is a very poor time of the year to move because the growing season was well advanced. They would have to live on a store of food for a whole year. By staying at Germanna where they had land prepared for farming, they could have harvested crops from the 1718 growing season.
A better time to move would be after the harvest and butchering season of 1718 was ended, approximately by late November. Actually, they stayed until the end of December of 1718, for it is recorded in the county records that they worked at "mining and quarrying" to the end of December of 1718. This date is consistent with statements of Spotswood.
January is a logical time, though perhaps not the most pleasant time of the year to move. By moving then, they could build their first crude shelters and start on clearing ground. Clearing consisted of chopping the trees down and burning them. The stumps were left in the ground because it was too time consuming to remove them. The first crops were grown among the stumps. The preparation of the ground for crops and gardens is time consuming and labor intensive.
What was the nature of the first shelters? Something that could be done fast, yet provide some protection against the elements. Some people favored digging caves or bunkers in a hillside. Later, perhaps the next fall or winter, a first home would be built, no doubt a variation of a log cabin. A permanent home would not come until still later.
The party of Mennonites of which the Herrs were members came in 1710. But Christian Herr did not build his permanent home until 1719, a full nine years after he came.
That the Weaver home at Germantown had the date 1721 over the door does not indicate the arrival time of the people. Before the permanent homes were built, there were more important things to do.
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.