Recent notes have pointed up the lack of information that we have about some supposed German families. There are several other families for whom information is scarce and several of these would seem to be German beyond any doubts. One such family is John Michael Stoltz, whose name betrays his origins.
John Michael Stoltz had a patent in 1725 for 400 acres of land in Hanover County on both sides of Owens Creek. From the date of the patent, it is possible that he came about the time of the Second Colony members, perhaps slightly later, and was indentured to people who lived some distance from the other Germans in Virginia at that time. As a consequence, he may have become acquainted with land in Hanover County and found some that he could take up. A few years later, in 1732, he patented 291 acres on the north side of the Robinson River. This may have been a desire to be located closer to a German community. A John Stolts is in the 1739 Orange Co. tithe list. In Orange Co., on 25 Feb 1741/42, the bond of Jno. Michael Stolts was recorded as the administrator of John Michael Stolts. The bondsmen were Henry Downs and Thomas Wood. The two Stolts were probably father and son, but the abstract that I am reading does not make it clear which way this went. At an inquiry in 1741, the land of the Robinson River patent was declared to be the property of the Colony again, and was sold to Michael Utz in 1745. At this point, let us say that we would like to know more about the Stolts/Stoltz family. They may not have been active members of the Robinson River community.
In 1728, William Vinegunt, of King and Queen Co., obtained a patent on 500 acres, adjacent to a patent of Michael Clore. From the location adjacent to several Germans (the general location is known) and from the spelling, it suggests a German name. But after the patent, the man drops from sight. Maybe he never came up from K & Q Co.
What I am trying to illustrate is that our inventory of Germans is incomplete. There were more than we usually count. Some of these may have interacted with the ones that we know better.
Some progress has been made toward discovering some of these unknowns with a number of very interesting discoveries. Many of these people are known to the families, but not to the Germanna community. In some cases, the present day families are not aware that there was a presence in the Germanna community. Some more work is needed to complete the inventory of Germans who lived for at least a while east of the Blue Ridge Mountains.
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.