Quite a few of the people in the Germanna Colonies came via Philadelphia. I have in mind right now not the people who got off the boat, asked where Virginia was, and started out for it. Their story would be interesting, extremely interesting, but their motivations seem to be that they knew someone in Virginia with whom they wanted to join up. As an illustration of this, consider John Steinseifer, whose wife's maiden name was Schuster. Henry Huffman, the 1743 immigrant, had married a Schuster also, though the two Schuster women do not appear to be sisters. Prior to John Steinseifer's departure, there had been an exchange of letters between Virginia and Eisern. Henry had asked if John would collect some money due to him and bring it along. John knew before he left Eisern where he was going.
On the other hand consider the Gaars who came to Philadelphia apparently with the intention of living in Pennsylvania. They lived for a while in Germantown, next to Philadelphia, where Andreas Gaar worked as a weaver. After a period of about a year, he moved to the Robinson River Valley. Why? What had he heard about the German community there that prompted him to make the move? Why did this sound better than Pennsylvania itself? It is no mystery as to how he had heard about the Robinson River community. The Germans were remarkably well informed about the Germans in other colonies. There was almost an organized network for the exchange of information. The question that I ask, though, is what had Andreas heard that prompted him to pick this spot over other possibilities.
Take another family, the Christlers. They emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1719. After about sixteen years, Theobald Christler moved from Pennsylvania to the Robinson River Valley. In doing this, Theobald left his father in Pennsylvania. He too must have heard something positive about Virginia to encourage him to make a move of this magnitude.
In Virginia, Theobald Christler married Rosina Garr, or did they marry there? He had been born in 1709 and she in 1713. The two of them would have been of a marrying age by 1733. I believe it is correct that we do not know where they married, or when they married. I have wondered if it were possible that they were married in Pennsylvania. If so, this may have influenced Theobald Christler in deciding where to move. Still, though, it does not answer the question as why the move took place. It would seem easier to find a reason for the Gaars move, since they had not put down any roots. Theobald may have had an excellent reason for the move, given that the Gaars were moving. The problem with this scenario is that the Gaars and the Christlers were not living in the same county in Pennsylvania.
Perhaps I have been wondering "Why" too much and have felt compelled to find a reason. All comments that anyone could make on these two families with regard to this question would be welcome. And, we still have the general question as to why people moved from Pennsylvania to Virginia. (29 Jun 01)
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.