A few notes ago, there was an observation that the typical New England immigrant was different from the typical Virginia immigrant. A similar comparison can be made between English and German immigrants to Virginia. There were definite differences.
Using Nell Marion Nugent's " Cavaliers and Pioneers, Vol. 3 ", which covers the period 1695 to 1732, I counted the male importations of the surname Thomas. Assuming that none of the names were duplicated, then more than 36 different male Thomases were imported in the 37 year period. (The actual importation date might be a few years earlier.) The importation count is a lower bound on the number who came, as several might have come who were not claimed as importees. That these Thomases were English is a judgment call based largely on the names surrounding them in the Lists.
In this period of time, 13 male Thomases patented land. Some of these may have duplicate names, as only eight different first names occur. Using the numbers 13 and 36, though, then 36% of the male Thomas importees made land claims resulting in Virginia land patents. The actual percentage of the male Thomas immigrants who received land patents is probably less than 36%, as the number 13 should probably be smaller, and the number 36 should be larger. One concludes that the majority of the English immigrants were not landed here, but followed trades and jobs which did not require land.
Among the German immigrants, the picture is completely reversed. All of the members of the 1714 Colony owned land. Almost all of the 1717 Colony owned land, which they obtained by Patents. Even those Germans who had a trade still felt it desirable to own land. For example, Christopher Zimmerman, who was a cooper, owned a large quantity of land. Matthias Blankenbaker, who was a tailor in Germany, had about 470 acres of land. That such a high percentage of the Germans obtained land must be a reflection of their desire to own land. The desire of the English immigrants to own land was nearly as strong.
In the period when there were at least documented male Thomas importees, I counted 13 female Thomas importees. If this ratio held true across all of the English importees, then almost three men came for every woman. Among the Germans, the sex ration was probably better balanced as the Germans often came as families with approximately equal numbers of males and females. Under these circumstances, the marriage of English men and German women should be expected in a higher ration than of English women and German men.
(17 Feb 05)
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.