*[Heute scheint die Sonne.]
In the last Note, I talked about the Headright List of Spotswood and the applications of some of the Second Colony members for Headrights. Now, there should be only one Headright per person, yet we have some of the names appearing in both places. As an example, Michael Cook is on both Lists. This says something about the rigor with which these names were checked. Spotswood described the Second Colony members as “free”, which would normally mean they were not servants. But when the need arose, he had no hesitation about using the names. (For the record, they were first, and he was second except for Peter Weaver.)
In our counting of the Second Colony members, we were short a few from the seventy to eighty that both Spotswood and spokesmen for the Second Colony mentioned. Some of these were working for partners of Spotswood. When the Spotsylvania tract was conceived with its more than 40,000 acres, Spotswood took in partners. One of these was Robert Beverley, who died not long after the partnership had been created. His only son inherited the tract and he soon sold out to Spotswood. There is excellent evidence that George Meier (Moyer) was in this category, since in the lawsuits brought by Spotswood, the younger Beverley testified for Spotswood in the case of Moyer. The natural explanation for this is that Spotswood acquired Moyer’s “contract” when he bought out the Beverley interest. This might add six people which brings the total to the mid-seventies.
What this suggests is that any more names which are to be added to the list must be looked at very carefully. For example, there is no solid evidence that John Thomas, his wife, and two children, were members of the Second Colony if we define the members by their arrival in Virginia. It is extremely probable that this family left with her three brothers and their families and her mother, stepfather, and three half-siblings. Yet we have no evidence that they arrived in 1717. The sons in this family, John and Michael, had a land patent in 1726 along with many known members of the Second Colony, but the two boys were young and their relatives were probably the leaders in arranging for these patents. Another name in the doubtful category is Michael Willheit who had his land patent two years after the known members of the Second Colony. (Now already, I have raised the hackles of some excellent people here.) I am inclined to count those who left in 1717 as members of the Colony even if they were delayed en route. On this basis I would have no qualms about including John Thomas and Michael Willheit and their families. Or, I could define the Second Colony as those who arrived in 1717, or in the immediately following years.
*[Today the sun is shining.]
(08 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.