The Second Germanna Colony was an integral part of Spotswood's plans to become a large landowner to the west of Germanna. Though he had been through the country and explored it along with other men (on the trip over the Blue Ridge in 1716), he had needed settlers. These he got when Capt. Tarbett, of the ship Scott, delivered a whole ship of Germans, the Second Colony, to him. Now he needed to pay for the land, and he concocted the scheme of the Crown giving the land to the developers. There would be no purchase price, and quit-rents would be excused for ten years. These ideas were embedded in the language creating two new counties, Spotsylvania and Brunswick, in 1720.
That there was a great deal of interest in Spotsylvania County is shown by the filing, on the same day that the legislation was enacted, for 30,000 acres (or so) within the future Spotsylvania County. There was no filing for Brunswick at this time. In fact, Brunswick County is regarded by many as a disguise or subterfuge to hid the true interest of Spotswood and others.
The counties did not come into existence immediately. It was two years before the Spotsylvania court sat for the first time (which was typical). That the formation of Brunswick County was premature is shown by the fact that it was more than ten years before the county government was organized. So one has to conclude that development came earlier in Spotsylvania County than in Brunswick County.
The dates of patents are not reliable guides to when an area was settled. When the Second Colony sought their land, they had to go a considerable distance to the west to find it. Much of the intervening land had been claimed (formally) or staked (informally claimed). But this did not mean that it was occupied and developed. Joshua Fry had a large tract along the western side of the Rapidan (now it would be in Madison Co.), which he repatented twice. This was because he did not settle and develop the land, which would have given him a clear title. Without this, it would have reverted to the Crown, so he repatented the land. This type of activity made it necessary for the Second Colony Germans to go much farther to the west until they were "at the mountains".
When the Second Colony moved to their lands in 1725, they were the westernmost point of civilization, but it did not last long. Within a few years, people moved into the area west of them (which was the Shenandoah Valley) by using an entirely different route. They came down from the north, especially from Pennsylvania and also from Maryland.
The Germans were good frontier citizens. Of all of the nationalities, they lived more harmoniously with the Indians. They competed the least with the Indians as they concentrated on farming, not on hunting and trapping which were typical Indian activities. And they were more respectful of the Indians.
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.