At the start of the Eighteenth Century, the status of foreigners in Virginia was cloudy. The Huguenots who were settled on the James River had been admitted by special legislation. When the First Germanna Colony came in 1714, Lt. Gov. Spotswood was nervous because he seemed to admitting foreigners at a time when there was no clear policy. He thought it was a good idea, but he lacked a clear policy on the subject. He asked for clarification, but it appears that none was given him. He assumed then that it was OK. By 1716, he was notifying Captains of ships that he wanted a boat load of Germans to settle on his land. (This resulted in the Second Colony.)
From time to time, the methods for naturalization changed. We know that in 1722 Spotswood personally naturalized two Germanna people, Jacob Holtzclaw and Nicholas Yager. In addition to this method, which was not widely used, one could go to the County Courts or Williamsburg. By 1744, Parliament had specified that one of two forms was to be used. Form A was for the general populace. The wording of the form varied slightly but in general it read:
"At a General Court held at the Capitol (date), (name(s)) of (place) who have resided in this Colony upwards of seven years last past and have not been absent out of the same the space of two Months at any one Time came into Court between the Hours of Nine and Twelve in the Forenoon and produced Certificates of their having received the Sacrament of the Lords Supper according to the Act of Parliament in that Case lately made and provided and then took and subscribed the Oaths of Allegiance and Supremacy the Oath appointed by an Act of Parliament made in the first Year of the Reign [1714-15] of his late Majesty King the first Intituled [Entitled] "an Act for the further Security of his Majesty’s Person and Government and the Succession of the Crown in the Heirs of the late Princess Sophia being Protestant and for extinguishing the Hopes of the pretended Prince of Wales and his open and Secret Abettors" and made repeated and subscribed the Declaration thereby also appointed in order to be their being Naturalized."
Form B for the special benefit of the Quakers was similar, except there was no requirement for Communion and there was no reference to Oaths, merely that those naturalized "affirmed", instead of taking an oath. This had been permitted by an Act in the eighth year of the reign of the late Majesty King George the First and included a reference to an earlier Act in the reign of King William and Queen Mary. Since most Quakers were English, it would seem to me that they did not require naturalization.
One form or statement in the court records might be used for several people who came at the same time, lived in the same place, and had taken Communion together. There was no requirement that this Communion had been in an Anglican church. The Germans could have taken Communion in their own church.
(05 May 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.