E. W. Wallace brought the URL address ( http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/littleforkmap (12).jpg ) to our attention. This map shows the lands which comprised the Little Fork Germans as of 1748, especially those who were members of the Jeffersonton German Church. (The map was provided by Marylee Newman of VA, and is posted on the Germanna Colonies Family History website.) I thought that I might add some comments on the map this.
This map appeared in the second issue of Beyond Germanna (page 12). The first issue had been written entirely by me since no one else even knew of the possible existence of the newsletter. For the second issue, some people sent contributions, including Marylee Newman who forwarded a booklet of the History of the Jeffersonton Baptist Church , by Woodford B. Hackley, to me. At a time when I was needing some concrete encouragement, this contribution by Marylee was very good for my morale. From the booklet, I extracted the map as shown.
Some of these lands shown were obtained by patent from the Crown. Others were obtained by purchase from the original patent owner. The Little Fork is much larger than the area shown in the map. I have plotted most of the original patents (sometimes grants) in the Little Fork, for both the English and German patentees. This appeared in Beyond Germanna on page 548 and 549. After 1743, it was decided that the lands of the Little Fork were a part of the Northern Neck. Therefore, virgin lands were acquired by grant from the proprietor, and not by patent from the Crown after this date.
On this latter map, the patent of (Jacob) Holtzclaw is shown, which, when compared to the first of the maps here, shows that Holtzclaw sold his lands to Fishback, Back, Wayman, Young, Huffman, and Harman Miller. The final ownership of one tract is not stated. Either Holtzclaw continued to hold this or the purchaser was unknown to Hackley when he drew the map.
Where the Little Fork ends is not clear. It is generally defined as the land between the North Fork and the South Fork of the Rappahannock River. The South Fork is sometimes called the Hazel or the Elk River. The North Fork is sometimes called the Hedgman River. All of the land between the two branches of the river, whatever they are called, would extend essentially to the summit of the Blue Ridge Mountains. These furthest reaches are usually not considered a part of the Little Fork. This upper area basically constitutes modern Rappahannock County. The lower Little Fork is in modern Culpeper County.
Holtzclaw and (Frederick) Fishback, members of the First Colony, were the earliest patentees in the Little Fork. More typically, the Germans who lived in the Little Fork were the later comers but often from the larger Siegen area.
(12 Apr 04)
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.
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