At the start of the "century" and "half-century" points in these notes, it is customary to take time out to discuss what the notes are all about. Had it not been for particular Germans in Virginia, these notes would not exist. These Germans lived on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains and, even though they had many ties with the Germans in the Shenandoah Valley on the west side of the Blue Ridge, they are distinguished. Since the east side Germans were all in a region which lies in what is called the Piedmont of Virginia, these Germanna people could be called Piedmont Germans. " Piedmont " is in many ways a better descriptor than " Germanna " because Germanna was a point in space and time while the Piedmont is an area that will last for a long time.
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The first Germans in this area were at a Fort called Germanna. They arrived due to a misunderstanding with Christoph von Graffenried and Johann Albrecht. While they left Germany thinking they were employed by the George Ritter and Company, they ended up working with for another person, Alexander Spotswood. They were so successful at one of the jobs assigned to them, securing the frontier, that Spotswood actively sought from the ship captains coming to Virginia another "load" of Germans for a similar purpose. He was successful in his search and about eighty more Germans were settled to the west of Fort Germanna. Spotswood profited by obtained more than one hundred thousand acres of land as a result of the work by all of these Germans.
Very quickly, more Germans, often related or at least from the same villages, settled among the first groups of Germans. Because of the changing patterns of emigration, many of these people came through Philadelphia, not a Virginia port. As a consequence, a strong tie to Pennsylvania developed and many of the new Germans came through and from that colony. In one of the latest finds, at least one of the Germanna citizens was a Hessian soldier who chose to live here, not fight here. Many of the Germans who lived in the Piedmont were only passing through on the way to a new home in the south or west.
Much work remains to be done on identifying the Germans and finding their history. There are many gaps, mistakes, and errors in the general history of Virginia and in the genealogy of the German families. Finding the information which will help solve these problems often takes us outside of the Virginia Piedmont to the other colonies and to Europe. Therefore, these notes are written on a broad basis and, hopefully, have some appeal to a larger audience. Some of the readers may have the answers which the Germanna descendants seek or the notes here may have answers which are a help to others.
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.