John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 1202

Essex County, Virginia, does not have many records that pertain to the Germanna Colonies, but two that are less frequently quoted are given here.

From Order Book #5, 18 Aug 1719, on page 338:

"It is ordered by the court that Francis Hume and the Germans clear a road from Wilderness Run away to Difficult Run and be the surveyor of the same and keep it in constant repair making bridges where he shall think necessary."

Now Wilderness Run is about four miles southeast of Fort Germanna, and flows into the Rapidan River.  I have had some difficulty in finding Difficult Run; in fact, I never did find it.  It is only fair to assume that it is the neighborhood.

The First Colony moved into Fort Germanna about five years previous to this.  Roads are still being built.  (Road building was a continuous process.)

There are two points of difficulty in the court order.  Neither Francis Hume nor the Germans were existing then.  But in these very large counties, and especially in the frontier region, the court was not always well acquainted with the particulars.  The problem with naming Francis Hume is that he has been dead for a year.  He has been discussed here.  He rebelled against the English crown, was caught and tried, and sentenced to transportation for his treasonous acts.  In Virginia, he was fortunate that a relative of his was there, namely Alexander Spotswood.  Spotswood sent him to Fort Germanna about 1716 to oversee the Germans there (and to keep Hume out of the public eye).  But, according to the Hume family, he died within the year.

As regards the First Colony of Germans, they had left for their new homes, probably about the start of 1719 (new style).  So they weren't there to work on the roads.  It could hardly have been the Second Colony Germans that the court was referring to, since these Germans lived up to ten miles away from Wilderness Run.  So the court was in for a surprise.  Their information was no longer valid.

In another record, which is slightly off of the mark, William Barnes, a servant man belonging to the Iron Mine Company on Rappahannock, was brought before the court for absenting himself from the Company for thirteen days.  The Company was also out two hundred pounds of tobacco in taking him up.  It was ordered that William Barnes serve his masters, the Iron Mine Company, for his said absence and the costs according to the law.  (I believe there was a provision for something like double time.)  The date of this action was June of 1720.  Again, this is after the First Colony had left for their new homes.  Spotswood and his partners had been forced to "hire" British labor to build the iron furnace after the Germans had discovered and developed the iron mines.
(05 Jul 01)