To honor the coming of the 1717 German Colony at the end of two hundred years, A. L. Keith wrote a three-part article for the " William and Mary Quarterly ". The genealogy which he included was the first comprehensive look at the colony, though it did follow the Garr Genealogy . Some general history, which is the concern here, is included. Keith repeats, following Rev. Stöver's original remarks, that the origin of the group was Alsace, the Palatinate, and the vicinity. He adds Hesse to the list because the naturalization of Nicholas Yager indicates he was from there. But Keith does not mention Württemberg, which the Moravians had noted, correctly, as the source of many or most of the Second Colony. Keith was aware of the work of Huddle, as the reference list which Keith gives is almost identical to the reference list of Huddle.
Keith was not entirely convinced that the Captain of the ship bringing the Second Colony was Scott. Once, when he mentions the Captain he adds "(Captain Scott?)". Perhaps he read the proof of importations in which the statement is " in Capt. Scott " and had his doubts.
Keith repeats Stöver's comment that many people perished on the ocean crossing. While death nearly always accompanied the voyage, comparing those who left with those who arrived shows that the death rate was not very high.
Keith says that the entire colony moved in 1725 to the Robinson River, near the foot of the Blue Mountains. In saying this, he failed to note that some of the families moved to the Mt. Pony area, less than ten miles from Germanna, and only a few miles from their first home. I was the first to note and write about this Mt. Pony area and that was only ten years ago.
Keith comments that the relationship with the 1714 colony was " purely accidental ". I believe that Spotswood abetted Capt. Tarbett in his crimes, and so the connection was not entirely accidental . Spotswood liked the first group of Germans and wanted more Germans for his vast landed empire which was in formation. Capt. Tarbett obliged him with the shipload of Germans which became the Second Colony.
A major advance of Keith was, "Now as regards the so-called third colony I find no substantial evidence of is existence." Unfortunately, modern writers have failed to justify their statements as to the third colony and they continue to write of it.
[Keith erred in reading the will of the immigrant George Utz, and found a daughter Barbara. She has been said to be the wife of Jacob Blankenbaker. (This error is still being repeated today, as I just received advertising from the people in Bath, Ohio, for a Blankenbaker book, and they cite this erroneous marriage as an example of the data to be found in a projected book.)]
The efforts behind the Garr genealogy, which covered many families, and behind Keith's work, launched and provided the basis for much of the future genealogies of the Second Colony.
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.