(continuing the quesiton of whom to consider members of the Second Germanna Colony)
Among those who left Germany in 1717, but who did not make it to America in 1717, were the following families (the numbers indicate the number of individuals):
Hans George Forchel (4),
Chistoph Uhl (8),
Frederic Kapler (3), and
Hans George Long (4).
These consecutive names came from a list made in England of people who were asking for money to return to Germany. There is no evidence that they obtained their money, nor is there any evidence that this was an exhaustive list of the people who were stranded in England. Also, there may have been others who were detained in Germany. What this does establish is that there were people who left in 1717 but who did not make it to Virginia in 1717.
Therefore, the disappearance of a name from the German church records by 1717 doses not constitute evidence that the person made it to Virginia with the Second Colony who arrived in 1717.
One thing that had always bothered me was the appearance of the people in 1719. How did they know to go to Virginia? Why did they not go to Pennsylvania, which is the place where the people who left Germany in 1717 originally wanted to go? How could letters have gone back to Germany in sufficient time for the 1717 (or 1718 NS) people to inform the people in Germany where they were (i.e., in Virginia, not in Pennsylvania)? Also, very few ships left Rotterdam for Virginia. How did people know in 1719 to go to London to catch a ship for Virginia? [I acknowledge that this latter point is weak.]
The answer to these questions is best provided by the knowledge that a German Lutheran Church in London was used as a contact point between the Germans who went to Virginia in 1717 and the Germans who, I believe, were stranded in London from the fall of 1717 to the spring/summer of 1719.
I do not believe that mere "disappearance from the German Church Records by 1717" is a reason to claim that a person made it to Virginia in late 1717 or early 1718. This is the case with Johann Michael Willheit. He does not meet any of the tests that were described in the previous note. Most likely he was detained en route and did not arrive until 1719.
That Michael Willheit was detained en route is, I believe, also supported by the statements of his sons, John and Tobias, that they were from Mentz rather than Schwaigern or Wuerttemberg. "Mentz" is a city along the Rhine, and I take it that the Willheit family spent some time there as they went down the Rhine.
The whole argument is changed if you wish to argue that leaving home in Germany in 1717 would make you a member of the Second Germanna Colony.
(02 Jan 06)
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.