One family, who was a part of the Second Colony, was the Barlow family. Barlow is not the German spelling of the name. Barlow, as a name, is English. What we presume is that the name was close enough to Barlow that the clerks and members of the family used Barlow because it was desired to use a familiar name.
Christopher Parlur testified in a proof of importation at the Spotsylvania Court House on 5 Apr 1726 that he came in 1717, with his wife Pauera (Barbara). He did not mention any children who came with him. A few months later, a patent for 400 acres of land by Beaverdam Run, a branch of the Island Run (now White Oak Run), in the Robinson River Valley, was issued to Matthias Smith and Matthias Beller.
This leads to puzzle number one. Who was Matthias and how was he related to Christopher? Were Matthias and Christopher the same person, i.e., Christopher Matthias Parlur/Beller? Were the two men not of the same family? Did Matthias come later? Was Matthias very young, born after the arrival of Christopher? Why did Smith and Beller go together on the patent?
As we discuss the Barlow family, there is going to be opportunities for comment. If you have something that you can add, I hope you will respond here. ( As always, if you wish to add to John's "Notes", you can either send an email John.Blankbaker@comcast.net, germannaresearch@comcast.net"> to John , or post your response to the Mailing List at RootsWeb, by sending an email to the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List. GWD). Already, you have seen that there are questions for which I do not have answers. We do not know how the name was spelled in Germany, nor do we have information on the family from Germany. If we did, it might be a step in solving some of the mysteries of this family.
Another early record was the excusing of Christopher Parlow from the payment of tithes on 5 May 1730 (Spotsylvania Order Book, 1724-1730, p.388). There were two common reasons for being excused from tithes, disability and age. It is also noteworthy that Christopher Barlow was not sued by Spotswood, which may mean his transportation had been paid by another partner in western lands development partnership. After being excused from tithes, there are no further records for Christopher Barlow. In the 1739 Orange County tithe list, there are no Barlows.
Later, there are at least three Barlow men and possibly a fourth. The two earliest names, Christopher and Matthias, disappear. We are left with Jacob, Christopher, Adam, and the possible fourth, John. The first three are considered to be brothers. Whether John should be included also is questionable but not out of the question. The one reference to John, which I know, is the North Carolina will of John Garrett (Johannes Gerhard), who had lived in Orange County, Virginia. Gerhard moved to North Carolina with his sons-in-law, Michael Moyers/Myers and Martin Walke (and stepson, John Blankenbaker/Pickler). One of the witnesses to Gerhard's will was John Parlor (5 August 1757, Rowan County).
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.