It is customary as we start the half-centuries in these Notes to take a time-out and comment on the purpose of the Notes. The Germanna Colonies Mailing List service is a medium for exchanging information about our Germanna ancestors. These Notes were started to build interest in the list, and at the same time to provide information that might be helpful to users of the List.
Germanna is a geographical location in the Virginia Piedmont area, named for a group of Germans who left the vicinity of the town of Siegen in Germany to mine silver for a company headed by Christoph von Graffenried; however, the group arrived in Virginia under an obligation to seek silver for Lt. Gov. Spotswood. Spotswood, being nervous about importing foreigners, thought it would appease Queen Anne if he used her name as a part of the name he gave to the location where the Germans were settled. Today, the site is marked in part by Germanna Community College.
The Germans soon disbursed to other locations which were spread over the modern counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, and Rappahannock. But in remembrance that the settlement in the Virginia Piedmont started at a place called Germanna, the individuals are collectively called the Germanna people or colonists. The first Germans came in 1714 and they never stopped coming. Even during the Revolutionary War, when normal immigration to the colonies was stopped, new additions were being made to the community by the German soldiers who had been fighting for the British. Some of these became associated with the Germanna community.
Though some of the immigration was direct to Virginia, probably half of it was indirect and through other colonies. In trying to learn about all of these people, the notes take a liberal view as to what constitutes a Germanna settler. Our Germanna settler may have come from Pennsylvania, Maryland, the Shenandoah Valley, even New Jersey. A lot of what can be said about Germans in general applies to the Germanna settlers. And the opposite is also true.
The Germanna people left Virginia for other colonies and the story can hardly be complete without information from the Carolinas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. The range of interest in the notes recognizes these facts. For example, the current mini series on Hans Herr will show that he came from an area in Germany that was within a day's walk of half of the Second Colony of Germanna citizens. As someone who came early, in 1710, he helped to pioneer the way for those who came a few years later. His story is relevant to the list here in more than one way.
I have been talking about the notes that I write. Remember though that the list primarily exists for the use of all people.
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.