The previous note had references which require an explanation. On 16 Mar 1732(NS), the St. Mark's vestry met at Germanna church and ordered that the doors of the church at Germanna be repaired. On 30 Jun 1932 the vestry met on Germanna Road and gave orders to build a church. They also ordered that the nails of the "burnt" church be sold. In between these two dates, some dissatisfied citizens burned down the Germanna church in an attempt to get a church that was closer to them. So reported Byrd in " Progress to the Mines ". The vestry minutes made no mention of the arson, only the reference to a "burnt" church.
About sixteen months later, the vestry ordered the wardens to offer Col. Alexander Spotswood his choice of a place in the new church to seat himself. Also, in 1733, there is the first mention of a Germanna citizen in the minutes. It was ordered that Frederick Cobler have David Jones bound to him to learn the trade of a cooper. The Cobler and the Zimmerman families were two of most prominent German families in the Mt. Pony area, and both were coopers. (Probably, they were busy making casks in which to pack the tobacco.) This was the general region of the new church.
In 1733, there were 816 tithables, who were each to pay 85 and a quarter pounds of tobacco as the parish levy. The high levy reflected the cost of the glebe farm and house and the cost of the new church.
An unusual item in the minutes was the decision to move the north door of the church to the south side and to set the church east and west (the church was already built). One of the problems which the vestry continually faced in these early years was to find workmen who could do a good job and could complete work on schedule. More than once the vestry threatened to sue the workman. Part of the problem may have lain with the vestry itself. In December of 1733, they decided to erect a chapel and instructed Benjamin Cave to find the cheapest man to do the job.
At the spring meeting in 1734, it was ordered that Michael Holt be paid sixty pounds of tobacco for an overcharged levy. At the fall meeting in 1734, the number of tithables was 981, and the levy was set at eighty and a quarter pounds. Growth was very rapid in these years. Thomas Stanton, Gentleman, was paid 832 pounds of tobacco for nursing a bastard child. It was ordered that the child be bound to Thomas Stanton, Junior.
The name Francis Michel occurs in the minutes and in the Spotsylvania County records earlier. This was the name of Graffenried's partner, and it isn't clear whether we are talking about the same individual.
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.