The question was asked, "How did you get a headright originally?" The general procedure was to go to the County Court and tell them that you wanted to make a Proof of Importation (I assume it is for yourself). Generally, you stated who came, when you came, and made a statement that this was your first opportunity to declare your importation. I do not believe that any real proof was necessary; the court would take your word for the facts. The amount of detail that people gave was varied, but as a rule it was a simplified story (perhaps the clerk was not interested in writing too much).
John Huffman said he came in 1714 with his wife Katherina. He applied June 3, 1724. Apparently, he did not bother to tell the court that he was not married to Katherina in 1714. To John, it was sufficient that they both came in 1714 though they were not married then. He did not get his certificate until May 30, 1729, which was five years after he applied. Probably he did not feel that it was that important to pick up the certificate. (During these five years, land was free in Spotsylvania County, so headrights had little value.)
The certificate said that it could be used to purchase 100 acres of land from the Crown. John Huffman sold his headright for 100 acres to William Moore who used it with others to pay for 380 acres of land in Spotsylvania County, in a patent issued on September 27, 1729. Seeing that there was often a delay in issuing patents for land, John probably had a buyer in hand when he picked up the certificate. Moore also used the headrights of John Camper, Alice Catherine Camper, Jacob Richart, Elizabeth Richart, John Richart, and Katherine Cunk, in addition to those of John and Catherine Huffman.
The applications of John Broyle, Jacob Broyle, Nicholas Yager, and Phillip Paulitz all said that they had arrived nine years since "in Capt. Scott". Since their applications were made in May of 1727 this would translate to 1717 or 1718, depending on how you rounded the numbers. Quite early, perhaps a hundred years ago, a researcher (probably A. L. Keith), seeing the difficulty of the statement, "in Capt. Scott", said that it read "with Capt. Scott", which made more sense to him. Other researchers who followed after him used his wording. But the original documents are quite clear that they say, "in Capt. Scott."
Frederick Cobler said that he arrived in the month of January in 1718. Assuming he was used the calendar correctly for that time, then he came in January of 1719 by our calendar which is only one year after the Second Colony came.
Proofs of Importation must not be confused with the naturalization process. The two were separate and distinct.
(29 Apr 03)
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.