A. L. Keith referred to a series of documents which may be found in the Public Record Office in London. These have been published before, in Huddle's History of the Hebron Lutheran Church (which is where Keith probably found them), but many readers here may not have seen these. It will take a few notes here to get through them but they are worth the effort.
(From the Public Record Office, Board of Trade (Virginia), Vol. 20., S. 33-34)
To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council The humble Petition of the Minister Elders and Members of a German Lutheran Congregation Settled in the Prince Orange County (formerly called Spotsilvania County) in Virginia.
Sheweth That the said Congregation consists of Sixty-two familys making in number 274 Persons [a little more than four persons per family].
That they came to Virginia in the year 1717 and were then Settled on some Lands belong to Colonell Spotswood but in the year 1725 they removed forty miles further and were then seated upon Lands belong to the Crown at the very borders of the Country under the Great Ridge of Mountains where they have served as a Defence against the Indians and in which dangerous Scituation they have continued ever since.
That in 1720 an Act of the Assembly was past in Virginia for Erecting two new Countys called Spotsilvania and Brunswick and for granting certain Exemptions and Benefits to the Inhabitants thereof. In which Act it was enacted "That if any number of Foreign Protestants shall at any time within the space of Ten Years from the first of May 1721 come to Dwell and Inhabit the said Countys of Spotsilvania and Brunswick respectively and shall keep and maintain a Minister of their Own all and every such Foreign Protestants with their and every of their Tytheable persons in their Familys shall be Exempt and Free from all Parochial dues and Charges towards the Parishes of St. George or St. Andrew for the Space of Ten Years next after their arrival or so much thereof as they shall keep and maintain such Minister of their own as aforesaid."
That your Petitioners being Inhabitants of the Parish of St. George they did in consequence of the above Act use their utmost Endeavours to obtain a Minister of their own Religion but could not find one that would accept of so small a living till very lately that Providence hath directed them to hear of a Divine regularly educated in one of the Accademys in Germany whose heart is inclined to accept of their calling him to be their Minister.
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.