It is reasonable to say that the Lutherans who found themselves in London in August of 1717 formed a congregation and agreed to move together to America. What is not clear is whether there was a decision to coalesce even before their departure from Germany. But it is clear that by the summer of 1717 in London that they were acting as a body. As a group they intended to go to Pennsylvania which was widely discussed in Germany by 1717. We now know that they were highjacked by Andrew Tarbett and taken to Virginia where they became servants of Alexander Spotswood and a few other partners.
According to the letter which John Casper Stoever, Michael Smith, and Michael Holt wrote in December of 1734 to explain their fund-raising trip to the London Lutherans, they said that they had arrived in London in 1717 and had themselves transported to Virginia [they omitted the reference to Pennsylvania] on their expenses. Before they left, they consulted with the Reverend Protestant-Lutheran German preachers then present with regard to the future care of their souls. They requested the Lutheran ministers assist them by sending a pastor and making a contribution toward the construction of a church when they were ready. The body of emigrating Germans believed that the Reverend Clergy were inclined to do this. The Clergy distributed the Holy Communion and admonished them to remain faithful to the Protestant-Lutheran truth. [The source for this news must have been Smith and Holt since they were present in 1717.] After their arrival in Virginia they became feudal tenants on Gov. Spotswood’s land because they were unable to pay their transport.
They (the immigrants to Virginia) began with divine services by reading the divine word, singing and praying, in particular asking untiringly with tears and sighs for a pastor who could refresh and revive their starving and thirsting souls in this wilderness with the divine word and the holy sacraments. They claimed they wrote to London asking for help in obtaining a preacher.
In 1726, they sent two of the Congregation, Cyriacus Fleischman and Johann Mutz (Motz) to London to personally present their case. The two succeeded only in obtaining verbal promises of help and some books. The group in Virginia had moved 40 English miles (actually it was somewhat less than this) into the wilderness to the foot of the high mountains on the River Rappehannak (the Robinson River is a tributary of the south branch of the Rappahannock River). Here they found their physical nourishment but because of their distance from the markets they could not turn anything to money.
And here at this new place, they immediately built a meeting house in the midst among them.
(08 Mar 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.