In 1718, three trustees of the First Colony received a warrant for the 1805 acre tract that they had purchased. A grant (deed) was not issued for this until 1724, five years after they, the Germans, had moved from Fort Germanna to their new home. This shows one of the dangers of trying to date settlements by the dates of the patents or grants. In many cases, the people have been living on the land before the patent or grant was issued. In the case of the trustees for the Germans, they were delayed in receiving their grant because of the death of Lady Culpeper, which required a wait until her estate was settled. In other cases, the settlement follows the patent or grant by a few years because the original owner did not move to the tract, and he was waiting for someone to buy it from him.
So, as the settlement of Fauquier County is discussed, the evidence today is the date of the grants. These have to be interpreted carefully but it has been estimated that about 80 people lived in Fauquier Co. in 1714, and these were in the extreme southern tip of the county. In 1718 there was a boost when the forty-odd members of the First Germanna Colony moved to their land on Licking Run. In this area, the land was very unsettled. Development continued rapidly throughout the region and by 1734 the population estimate of the future Fauquier county stood at 860.
It was still a number of years before the members of the colony received their individual deeds to the land. To review the history of the land ownership in the area, the Crown in England claimed the ownership of the land by the right of discovery and purchase from the native Americans. Charles II, at a time when his fortunes were low, gave the land in the northern part of Virginia to a group of loyal supporters. Thus, the land passed into private hands, and eventually to Lady Culpeper and her son, Lord Fairfax. Lady Culpeper sold the 1805 acres to the trustees of the Germans, but it was not until 1724 that Lord Fairfax issued the deed to the trustees. They in turn did not issue the individual deeds until later in the decade.
There has been a considerable discussion as to how this 1805 acres was divided by the trustees. About twelve divisions were required which has led to the school of thought that the land was divided into 150 acre lots; however, the later history of the land implies that the land was divided into about 18 lots, each of about 100 acres. The reason for the 18 lots is not clear, and this lack of explanation has been used as an argument against the 18-lot division proposal; however, there are references to individual members getting a lot and a half, and this does require approximately 18 lots. The location of an individual family lot is defined only by implication of later land transactions. The proposal made by B. C. Holtzclaw is probably the best one that has been made. The twelve-lot proposal of Charles H. Huffman suffers by comparison.
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.