Our knowledge of the constituency of the Germanna Colonies is only partial. In the Second Colony, we have several indicators, such as the Gemmingen list, the head right list of Spotswood, the lawsuits, the land patents, etc.
It is only an assumption that we know the actual members of the First Colony. Again, do we mean to classify as First Colonists those who left Germany around 1714, or those who arrived in Virginia in 1714? Of those who left, not all of them left at the same time. At Oberfischbach, the pastor who succeeded Rev. Haeger (Sr.) wrote of the departure of Rev. Haeger and at the same time mentioned that Jacob Holtzclaw had not obtained permission to leave. So if Haeger and Holtzclaw did not leave at the same time, are they both members of the same First Colony? Did some leave Nassau-Siegen, but grow discouraged in London and return home? Or did they become "Englishmen"? I jest slightly, but seriously. We simply do not have enough good information that permits to say anything with certainty.
Consider the following. In 1709, the Sixth Party (of Palatines, or Germans) from Rotterdam was headed by Johan Fredrik Heger (as written by the Dutch). That there were many Germans from the Nassau-Siegen area seems obvious from the great number of names from the parish of Oberfischbach where Johan Fredrik Heger was from. One of the entries in the list was Peeter Heÿdee & vr. + K. Remember that this was written by the Holland Dutch as the party was embarking for London.
We should interpret this as Peter Heide, or Heite, wife, and child. Would this be the Peter Heide whom we think of as a member of the Second Colony? Do the facts fit with what we know? We have a record of the marriage of Peter Heite and Maria Elisabeth Freudenberg in 1707. By 1709, one child would be expected. In Germany, there are no known records after the marriage. One of the reasons there may have been no more records is that Peter Heide was not in Germany after 1709. So the family structure in the Rotterdam list is what we would expect, the Sixth Rotterdam List has many people from Nassau-Siegen, and there is a dearth of further records in Nassau-Siegen for Peter Heite.
I cite all of this to show that we should not be so certain that we know the members of the First Germanna Colony. What happened to the 13,000 to 15,000 Palatines who did make it to England in 1709? New York got 3,000; Ireland got 3,000, but 2,100 found their way back to England; North Carolina got 650; another 1,000 were sent to English villages; a thousand went to Jamaica in the West Indies; 4,700 were returned to Rotterdam; and 4,000 died in England. So the possibilities for Peeter Heÿdee & vr + K are many. I must leave it to you to identity this family with Peter Heite (or Peter Hitt) of the First Colony, but it does strike me as extremely probable.
(03 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.