Two responses were received concerning Difficult Run. It is living up to its name as both of them were in the wrong county. However, George’s answer did serve as a nice demonstration of the new capabilities. I suspect that the Difficult Run in Essex County was never a major water course or its name was changed very early on.
In response to other questions asked here on the list Are there any remaining structures in the vicinity of where the Second Colony first lived, which was along the Rapidan River over a stretch of about five miles? Dr. Sanford made a modest preliminary survey over a likely area, and did find one location which had evidence consistent with an eighteenth century habitation. Since the spot was very close to what used to be Fleshman’s Run, it could even conceivably be the home of Cyriacus Fleshman and his wife Anna Barbara Schöne.
At the time we were expecting several homes to be "closely joined", as Spotswood put it. This was for their mutual protection; however, it turns out that "closely joined" meant about a one half mile separation from each other. So now we expect the home sites to spread out considerably more than had been anticipated at first. An early lease shows the approximate location of two of these homes. A serious search could possibly uncover ten of these twenty-odd sites. An aerial infrared survey would be the first step.
(Editor's Note: I guess "closely joined" is a subjective term; a "half mile" is 2640 feet, or 880 yards, or about 9 football field lengths. Out in the country, a "half mile" would still be fairly close. GWD)
It is not clear where either of the Germanna Colonies landed in Virginia. Sometimes ships headed for one of the major rivers and unloaded goods and took on tobacco. My guess though is that Jamestown is the most likely first stop. In Virginia, there never were any records of passengers. There were hardly any records of the ships. The question would be akin to asking how many 18 wheeler trucks pass by a point on Interstate 95.
Where would one find information on the membership of the Germanna Colonies? The information available for the First Colony is good, though not absolutely complete. On the contrary, the information for the Second Colony shows too many candidates for the limited number of positions. After that, the information goes downhill, as some as the later arrivals tended to stay a shorter time. A lot of information has been published here on the list. The Germanna Foundation has published a list of books. On the whole, very few groups have had more information published about them.
It is hard to believe, but tomorrow is another one of my monthly stints at the Hans Herr House. Then, the week end following will be at Crockett Park in Fauquier County. Let’s hope the weather is reasonable. At the Park, we will probably be in one of the shelters.
(07 Jul 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.