In the last note, I referred to Jacob Holtzclaw's land patents in the Little Fork as altruistic speculation. By this, I meant that he probably had two good motives for taking up the land. The growth and success of the German community depended on getting more Germans to live in the neighborhood of those who were there already. The number of people here already (at Germantown) could hardly support a pastor and more were needed for the support of the church. Unless the congregation had a sufficient size it would be hard to entice a minister to come and live with them.
But it appears that Jacob was also thinking about his own welfare. If he could obtain his land at low prices, as he did, then he could sell it to others. To have buyers for the land, he seems to have written letters to Germany to the people he knew there. Several of the people who responded were relatives of his, but not all of them were. If he could entice people to come, it would benefit the existing community, himself, and probably the immigrants.
As the Germans wrote home, they tended to emphasize several things. The freedoms in Virginia were not to be seen in Germany. The taxes were lower. There were no overloads. Land was cheap and plentiful. The exercise of religion was relatively free. All of these points were powerful selling points as the opposite conditions prevailed in Germany. So Jacob's pitch for Virginia was intended in part for the good of people in Germany. In all of the German communities, these letters home were great motivators. For people who were unsure just how to emigrate, these letters gave helpful advice. They were filled with the spirit of, "If I can do it, you can do it."
Many of these letters were not written solely to individuals. They were used as newspapers to inform and to advertise. Even if one wrote to an individual, the letter was apt to be filled with news that would be of interest to other members of the community. And very often it contained specific instructions or messages to deliver to other people. "Tell Friedrich that he can have all the good land that he wants."
Seldom did an individual from Germany just drop in on the people already in America. Usually letters preceded the trip, and people here were aware that an individual or family was coming. In spite of the uncertainty of the time of a ship's arrival (September and October were favored months in Philadelphia), people already here probably sent someone to meet the boat to help the newcomers find their way to their new homes. A newcomer arriving at Philadelphia would have had a hard time finding Germantown in Virginia unless he had some help.
We have consistently underestimated the communication between Germany and America. Even though there was no postal service, there were methods for getting letters delivered.
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.