[The petition of Stöver, Holt, and Smith has made it to the King and we were in the midst of getting a report on what happened to it there.]
. . . . . - whereby the Minister Elders and Members of a German Lutheran Congregation settled in the Prince of Oranges County formerly called Spotsilvania County in the said Colony, were exempted from the payment of all Parochiall Dues and Charges towards the Parishes of St. George and St. Andrew for the space of ten Years, or so much of that Term as they should keep and maintain a Minister of their own. His Majesty this day took the said Report and Draught of Additional Instruction into his Royal Consideration, and was pleased with the advice of his Privy Council to approve of the Draught of Additional Instruction, which is hereunto annexed, and to Order, as it is hereby Ordered, that his Grace the Duke of Newcastle one of His Majestys Principal Secretarys of State do cause the same to be prepared for His Majestys Royal Signature -
A true copy
Temple Stanyan
[In reviewing the last few notes, I see that I omitted one, which, from its date and content, would indicate that the original petition was sent directly to the King with the following result.]
At the Council Chamber Whitehall the 13th day of February 1734 By the Right Honorable The Lords of the Committee of Council for Plantation Affairs.
His Majesty having been pleas’d, by His Order in Council of the12th this instant, to referr unto this Committee the humble Petition of the Minister Elders and Members of a German Lutheran Congregation Settled in the Prince of Oranges County (formerly called Spotsilvania County in Virginia) humbly praying, for the reasons therein contained, that His Majesty would be graciously pleased to give his Royal Instructions to the Governor of the said Province of Virginia, to recommend to the Council and Assembly to renew part of an Act past is that Province in 1720, to Exempt the Petitioners from the paying of all Parish Levys, during such time, as to His Majesty should seem meet: The Lords of the Committee this day took the same into their Consideration, and are hereby pleased to referr the said Petition to the Lords Commissioners for Trade and Plantations to Examine into the Allegation thereof, and Report their Opinion thereupon to this Committee.
W. Sharpe
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.