John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 1276
John W. Wayland, when he was a student at the University of Virginia in 1901, wrote a historical essay which won first prize in a competition. Apparently he was a good writer for he also won the English literature prize for the best short story, the magazine prize for the best essay, and the Bryan prize for the best paper, The Theory of Government. Later he was to admit that the historical essay did contain some errors. The historical essay under the title "The Germans of the Valley" was published in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography for April 1902. Excerpts from that magazine follow, sometimes with slight wording changes.
Virginia from the beginning was essentially a commonwealth of Englishmen; and because of this fact we often fail to emphasize sufficiently the elements in her population that are not English. After the English, perhaps the next place on the scroll of Virginia's glory can be claimed by the Scotch-Irish. . . . On the other hand, it may be that the German element in our State life is frequently not accorded its due share of recognition. In passing, let it be noticed there were several German artisans in the Jamestown colony from its beginning. Later, German settlements were established in what is now Spotsylvania and Madison Counties [it would have been better to have said Madison, Culpeper, Fauquier, and Rappahannock Counties].
As early as 1635, the following German names appear on the register of Virginia Land Patents: Johann Busch, Thomas Spielmann, John Schumann, Ph. Clauss, Henry Kohlman, John Laube. The oldest volume of county records, kept at Henrico Courthouse in Richmond, mentions as prosecutors, defendants, and witnesses persons that were evidently Germans such as John Bauman and Georg Krontz. It is highly probably that Col. William Byrd, when he founded Richmond in 1733, sold the first lot to a German, Samuel Ege.
Why hasn't the German element been mentioned more prominently? In the first place, only a few of Virginia's historians have been Germans, or persons acquainted well with them. Then too, the early disposition was to regard the Germans with contempt. Not even their nationality was correctly recognized as they were typically called "Dutch." [Klaus Wust relates that when he took his book, The Virginia Germans, to the University of Virginia Press that they suggested the book be called the The Virginia Dutch.]
The Germans were not always quick to change their ways and language. But in 1900, after 170 years, the distinguishing characteristics were largely gone. The best memory is in the proper names such as Strasburg, Zapp, Hinckle, Chrisman, Hamburg, and Amsterdam. Or in the surnames such as Smuckers, Lautzes, Koontzs, Lutzs, Dingledines, Zirkles, Rosenbergers, Kochenours, Garbers, Huffmans, and Hildebrands. Of course, many of these no long followed the original German spelling.
(10 Oct 01)