[Continuing the petition of the previous note.]
That for want of meeting with such a Minister during the said term of ten Years they had no benefit of the Exemptions intended them by the said Act but have been obliged to pay all the Parish Levies from their first Settling to this time. And which they must even still continue to pay notwithstanding that they are now provided with a Minister in regard the said Act is now Elapsed.
That as it will be impossible for this Congregation to Maintain their Minister and at the same time to pay the Parish Levies their distance from a Navigable River depriving them of all benefit of Trade And they have always been good and faithful subjects of to the Crown of Great Britain and regularly paid all their Quit Rents and Taxes.
The Petitioners therefore humbly pray that Your Majesty will be graciously pleased to give your Royal Instructions to the Governor of Your Majesty’s Province of Virginia to recommend to the Council and Assembly to renew such part of the Act as is aforementioned to exempt them from the paying of all Parish Levies during such time as to Your Majesty shall seem meet which will prove a great inducement to many other German Familys to come and settle in those parts.
And your Petitioners shall ever pray &c.
Johannes Casparus Stoeverus
dictae Congregationis Pastor.
Michael Smith one of the Elders of the L. Congregation
Michael Hollt one of the Members of the said Congregation.(Endorsed: Petition of the Minister Elders and Members of a German Lutheran Congregation settled in Virginia praying that they Governor of that Province may be instructed to pass a Law to exempt them from Parish Levys. R 11 Febry 1734)
Note that the authors of this petition did not specify where they were located when they wrote it. The location must be London, when Stöver, Smith, and Holt were en route to Germany on their fund-raising trip. The date by the modern calendar should be 11 Feb 1735. The action is rather unusual in that the petition is directed to the King (George II) and not to the Governor, Council, and Assembly of Virginia. In other words, the petitioners went over the heads of these people and made their appeal directly to the King. It would not be the first time that appeals were made directly to the King.
[The grammar is not what we would write or say today, but it is presented as given in the petition.]
(29 Sep 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.