*[Sie arbeitet gerne mit Holz.] (Holz = wood as in Holtzklau.)
The names of the Milchers in the Spotswood Headright List are not unfamiliar to us. We encountered them in the departure list from Gemmingen. As best that list could be read, we had Hans Michael Michlekhr, Sophia Catharina (his wife aged 30), two children, namely, Anna Margaret, Anna Catharina, and the wife’s sister, not named. In the Headright List, the names of the two children are not present, nor apparently the wife’s sister. In route, another child, Maria Barbara, must have been born. However, we should not draw a too-refined estimate of who arrived because the maker of the Headright List had several known errors.
These names suggest that the names in the list are those who arrived at Virginia, because the probability is high that the entire family boarded in London. If they did not appear on arrival in Virginia, then it is likely they died at sea and were not entered on the Headright List. But it seems clear that three members of the family did arrive in Virginia as members of the Second Colony. What happened to them in Virginia is unknown. This would indicate that the names in the Headright List are those who did arrive in Virginia. There are other scenarios but the one that I have outlined is the most probable.
We must also say the four Wegmans were members of the Second Colony and again we do not know what happened to them. It is tempting to compare this family with that of Thomas Wayland who was one of the slightly later comers to the Robinson River Valley. So far, there is no known connection.
Another source for the names of the Second Colony members is the list of Headright applications. This adds the names John Motz, his wife Mary Apollonia; John Harnsberger, his wife Anna Barbara, his son Stephen; Andrew Kerker, his wife Margaret, his daughter Barbara; Christopher Barlow, his wife Barbara; Jacob Broyles; John Broyles, his wife Ursula, his children Conrad and Elizabeth; Nicholas Yager, his wife Mary, his children Adam and Mary; Philip Paulitz, his wife Rose, his children Margaret and Catherine. This adds about 23 names which with the 48 names on the Headright List makes 71 people. According to the Second Colony writers and Spotswood, we should perhaps be looking for 70 to 80 people.
However, the Headright List and the Proofs of Importations just cited, are not exhaustive. There could still be others; in fact, at least one more family is known.
*[She likes working with wood.]
(07 Feb 07)
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.