In the last Note I showed that the pastor of Freudenberg wrote comments implying Georgia was the destination of the emigrants. This should not be taken at its face value because there was no way of his knowing that there would be a ship which could take them to Georgia. By "Georgia" he must have had something else in mind other than what we know today as Georgia. Most likely, he simply meant America.
From other evidence, is there any hint as to where the departing Germans did want to go? We know, from our studies of German emigration, that the Germans preferred to settle with friends and relatives. There is a minor connection with Pennsylvania, as the father of Johann Georg Hirnschal (who was one of the emigrants), who had been an earlier emigrant to Pennsylvania, seems to be returning with the others. The language is a bit confusing and in fact makes it difficult to say what the exact number of people was. It seems to say that the father had been to Pennsylvania, had returned to Germany, and is now returning with the others. On this basis, it would appear that the destination was Pennsylvania, but none of the people shows up in the passenger lists made at Philadelphia. This comment would also negate Georgia as a destination.
Some of the surnames do suggest a connection with the First Colony people. We should note that the location of Freudenberg is close to Oberfischbach where Rev. Haeger was the pastor for a while, and where Jacob Holtzclaw was the school teacher a while. Others, from Nassau-Siegen, seem to have been recruited by Holtzclaw or others in the First Colony. It would seem that several of the emigrants from Freudenberg were acquainted with Haeger and Holtzclaw (by 1738, though, Rev. Haeger had just died). It would be very probable that the group had been recruited for settlement in Virginia, and that is where they intended to go.
Klaus Wust made an extensive study of the 1738 shipping season for passengers. He studied the archives in Switzerland, in Holland, and in England, and the available records in America, including newspaper reports. He found destinations, besides Philadelphia (many), of Savannah, New York (three ships), Lynn Haven Bay in Virginia (where a ship destined for Virginia sank), and another wreck at Block Island off Rhode Island (I believe it had intended to go to New York).
Attention has focused on two of these ports, Savannah and the intended Jamestown. So, a German historian has put forth the idea that the Freudenberg party was on the ship which went to Georgia, even though it does not fit the facts very well.
(18 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.