(continued from Note Nr. 1815)
From the baptism of Dorothea Koch (Cook) in London on September 8, 1717, we know that the Second Colony was still there at that date. According the story that the mayor of Kolberg wrote to Prof. Francke (see Andreas' recent note on the list here), the trip to America took three months. This takes up to October, November, to December 8 at the minimum.
Later in September, there was a petition signed by some Palatines who pleaded for money to return to their homes. Some of the signers are people who would later become settlers in Virginia in 1719. None of the people who did arrive in 1717 were signers. The date of this petition was September 16. Perhaps by this date, it was known who was leaving on the ship Scott for Pennsylvania and who was not. None of the signers of the petition were on the ship. Though this is weak evidence, the ship Scott perhaps did leave between September 8 and September 16.
If we remember that the Old Style calendar was eleven days behind the new style calendar, and we add the eleven days to September 16 we would get September 27. Then, if we added three months to this we would be just about at December 31 on the New Style calender, or perhaps even January 1. Now January 1 on the New Style calendar would be 1718. On the Old Style calendar in Virginia, both of these days (December 31 and the following day of January 1) would have been 1717. If the reports on the year of arrival were based on the calendar in use in Virginia, they would have said 1717. But, as we see, it could readily have been 1718 on the New Style calendar.
The mayor's letter to Prof. Francke said that the Captain was in debtors' prison for eight weeks. The Germans could hardly have arrived before the middle of August, since some of them left Gemmingen on July 12. The trip to London could hardly have been made in less than a month. This would put them in London on August 12, when the search for a ship would begin. After finding and agreeing with one (Capt. Tarbett), it would be later August. Eight weeks from this, would be into October. Then, three months at sea would put them past January 1 for the Virginia arrival.
On an optimistic schedule, they may have made it to Virginia by the end of 1717 on the New Style calendar. By a more realistic schedule, using the numbers in the letter to Prof. Francke, the arrival would have been after January 1, which on the New Style calendar would have been 1718.
I mentioned this possibility once to Klaus Wust and he said humorously, "We can't change the year of 1717 because it is carved into too many stones." We can let the 1717 stand and say the congregation was formed in London in the summer of 1717 when they took communion at a German church there.
(29 Nov 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.