Some of the Germans in London in September of 1717 were at the Lutheran Church then. When they actually left London is unknown. One report says that some of the Germans had spent eight weeks in London. We know that some of them left their home (Gemmingen) in late July. Allowing about four weeks to get from their home to London, which was typical, they would have arrived in late August. Two months after that would have been late October.
Voyages across the Atlantic in the westerly direction typically took about ten weeks. From late October, the ten weeks would have ended very close to January 1. In the English-speaking world, whether they landed on December 31 or on January 1 would make no difference as to the year of their arrival. They would have said 1717 and they would have been correct. By the modern calendar, we would say 1718 if they arrived on January 1 or later.
The Lutheran Church which these immigrants formed takes its origination as 1717, but I had been uncertain that, by the modern calendar, they actually did arrive in 1717. The people who claim 1717 as the foundation date had no proof that the group did arrive in Virginia before January 1. As I have shown above, it is very doubtful that they arrived before January 1. Still, they were not lying, because there is no doubt that they did arrive in 1717 by the calendar in use then. But for the purpose of counting how long they have been here, it would be better to use the New Style Calendar (the one we use today) which says they probably arrived in 1718.
[I mentioned this to Klaus Wust once and he said it was impossible to correct this error because the year 1717 had been carved into too many stones.]
I now feel better about the Lutheran Church outside Madison, Virginia, saying that they were formed in 1717. As the last note showed, the group coalesced in London and laid their plans there for the spiritual future of the group. They obtained a promise from the Lutheran Clergy in London that they, the London Clergy, would send a minister when the group announced that they had arrived. They attended Communion in London as a group.
So, if the Lutheran church in Madison wants to say they were formed in 1717, I will accept that, but I would add the amendment that the Church was formed in London, not in Virginia. Though they had come from diverse villages in Germany, they came together and formed a unified body in London. It would appear that they planned to live as a group in America where they could physically have a church building and where they would have a minister in common.
(16 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.