I remain fascinated by the records at the Savoy German Lutheran Church in London. Let me give one baptismal record again:
29 August [1717]. Born to Johann Georg Förckel, his baby girl, baptized on the 31st [at the same time as another child belonging to Matthias Schmidt] and named Maria Barbara. Sponsors: Matthias Schmidt and Maria Barbara Weiland. The mother’s name was Susanna.
In Virginia, we know a Maria Barbara Weiland who was the wife of Thomas Weiland [Wayland]. Taken with the other names who are known arrivals in Virginia in 1717, this suggests that the Weilands should have arrived also in 1717. Thomas Weiland had his first land patent in 1728, two years after most of the other people who arrived in 1717 had their initial land patents. This, and other events, suggests that he did not arrive with the members of the so-called Second Germanna Colony. Yet, he appears to have been in London in 1717 with people who are known members of the group we call the Second Colony.
We now know that not all of the Germans who reached London in 1717 were able to go on to America immediately. The English, rather than allowing them to stay in England, sent (or proposed to send) them back to Rotterdam. Some of the returnees in 1717 were later Germanna emigrants to America. For example, one list in 1717 of people being sent back to Rotterdam shows two adjacent names, Christopher Uhl and Frederick Kapler, who came to Virginia later. The Colony of 1717 would have been larger had these families been able to go to America when they intended. There may be other names in the same category, but more research is needed. The best available source for these names is the (three volumes) book by Henry Z Jones, Jr. and Lewis B. Rohrbach, entitled “ Even More Palatine Families ”. [This information was contributed by Andreas Mielke and Sandra Yelton, to a note in Beyond Germanna , on page 917].
We are able to draw the conclusion that the so-called Second Germanna Colony would have been larger had all of the Germans in London been able to go on to America. We see that three families are in this category, the Waylands, the Yowells, and Kablers (to use their American names.) I suspect there are more names that should be added to this short list. One family that is a likely candidate was that of Johann Michael Willheit. He seems to have disappeared from the Schwaigern church records before the summer of 1717, yet, like Thomas Wayland, he did not have his land patent in America until 1728. This suggests that the family was stranded in London and had to wait a couple of years. Whether they remained in England or returned briefly to Germany is unknown.
Why were all of the Germans in London in the summer of 1717 not taken to America? I believe that either Captain Tarbett’s ship (the "Scott") was too small to take all that wanted to go, or, that the “order” from Gov. Spotswood for a shipload of Germans was limited to about 80 people.
(14 Jul 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.