The county of Spotsylvania, Virginia came into being in 1720-1721. Initially it included all of the following modern counties: Spotsylvania, Orange, Culpeper, Madison, Greene, and Rappahannock. It ran from east of Fredericksburg (which did not exist then) to the Blue Ridge Mountains, or for about fifty miles east to west. Along the Blue Ridge it ran for about the same distance. In the eastern parts, the extent was much less in the north-south direction, making for a very roughly shaped triangle. At the time, there was no settlements or towns in this region. Except for the eastern region, the area was not settled. Toward the west, the First Germanna Colony had been at Germanna (sometimes called Germantown), and the Second Germanna Colony was still at New German Town, about two miles west of Germanna. These were the pioneers of the frontiers. The First Colony could be said to be the first settlers of modern Orange County, while the Second Colony became the first settlers of modern Culpeper County. When the parish of (new) St. George's was created, it was necessary to elect a vestry of twelve men to govern it. These men were chosen by the vote of the parishioners. (Besides the first election to the vestry, citizens voted for two members of the House of Burgesses, their only other democratic opportunity.) After the first vestry was elected, it was self-perpetuating. The vestry has been likened unto a board of supervisors with full autonomous power including the ability to tax. The work was not hard though, as in many years only one meeting was required. When a new church was being built or a new minister was being hired, more meetings might be required. What are the Germanna Colonies? The term has never been defined precisely and different individuals would define it differently. I am defining a Germanna colonist as a person of at least partial Germanic extraction who lived in the modern Virginia counties of Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, and Rappahannock. The earliest ones also lived in other counties, generally on a temporary basis. It is important to note this as some records are to be found in Essex, Spotsylvania, Orange, Stafford, and Prince William Counties. Many of the Germans married outside their race and language at a very early date. Apparently, not many years after her immigration to Virginia, Catherine Tanner married Richard Burdyne who, himself, is not thought to be of German origin. Her descendants qualify as Germanna colonists, I would say. There were many mixed language marriages and many people qualify as a Germanna descendant even though their name may not be a clue to these origins. Just prior to the Revolutionary War, the political situation in what is now southwest Pennsylvania was very confused. Both Virginia and Pennsylvania claimed jurisdiction. Virginia, at first, seems to have the lead in granting land there. A number of Germanna people found their way there in these early years. Some stayed and some went on to Kentucky. Those that went on to Kentucky generally built flatboats and floated down the Ohio River at no small danger to themselves from the Indians. The early pioneers included a heavy mixture of Germans including several families from the Germanna communities. The frequency of mixed nationality marriages is very much a function of the size of the communities. The Second Colony which has the largest number of Germans had the fewest marriages to the English in the early years. The First Colony which had fewer Germans had more marriages sooner with the English. There is another group of Germans, very few in number, who lived in the Mt. Pony area. This group moved the most rapidly to become assimilated into the English speaking world. They learned to speak English very quickly and adopted the Church of England as their church. By the 1730's, Christopher Zimmerman, from the Mt. Pony group, was a Lt. in the militia. At the other extreme, in the Robinson River community which had the most Germans, the elders forbid the pastor, William Carpenter, from speaking English in the community. This was after the Revolutionary War, a full fifty years after the community was formed. Perhaps because it does appear that several families came in 1719, there has arisen the idea there was a Third Germanna Colony of as many as forty families. Probably it would be best to note that individuals did arrive that year but they do not seem to be an organized or even a connected group of people. At this time, it seem best to drop the phrase, "Third Colony", and not to use it. "Now as regards to the so-called third colony I find no substantial evidence of its existence." A. L. Keith referred to a series of documents which may be found in the Public Record Office in London. These have been published before, in Huddle's History of the Hebron Lutheran Church (which is where Keith probably found them), but many readers here may not have seen these. It will take a few notes here to get through them but they are worth the effort. From the Public Record Office, Board of Trade (Virginia), Vol. 20., S. 33-34) To the Kings most Excellent Majesty in Council The humble Petition of the Minister Elders and Members of a German Lutheran Congregation Settled in the Prince Orange County (formerly called Spotsilvania County) in Virginia. Sheweth That the said Congregation consists of Sixty-two familys making in number 274 Persons [a little more than four persons per family]. That they came to Virginia in the year 1717 and were then Settled on some Lands belong to Colonell Spotswood but in the year 1725 they removed forty miles further and were then seated upon Lands belong to the Crown at the very borders of the Country under the Great Ridge of Mountains where they have served as a Defence against the Indians and in which dangerous Scituation they have continued ever since. That in 1720 an Act of the Assembly was past in Virginia for Erecting two new Countys called Spotsilvania and Brunswick and for granting certain Exemptions and Benefits to the Inhabitants thereof. In which Act it was enacted "That if any number of Foreign Protestants shall at any time within the space of Ten Years from the first of May 1721 come to Dwell and Inhabit the said Countys of Spotsilvania and Brunswick respectively and shall keep and maintain a Minister of their Own all and every such Foreign Protestants with their and every of their Tytheable persons in their Familys shall be Exempt and Free from all Parochial dues and Charges towards the Parishes of St. George or St. Andrew for the Space of Ten Years next after their arrival or so much thereof as they shall keep and maintain such Minister of their own as aforesaid." That your Petitioners being Inhabitants of the Parish of St. George they did in consequence of the above Act use their utmost Endeavours to obtain a Minister of their own Religion but could not find one that would accept of so small a living till very lately that Providence hath directed them to hear of a Divine regularly educated in one of the Accademys in Germany whose heart is inclined to accept of their calling him to be their Minister.Very early, at Germanna, Spotswood had legislation passed which created the (old) Parish of St. George. Limited in extent, one of the stipulations was that if the Germans kept a minister of their own they would be exempt from tithes. More truthfully, the legislation should read, "Spotswood would be exempt from paying their tithes." If Rev. Häger had moved to Germantown in 1719, the Second Colony members would suddenly become tithables. Again, it would be Spotswood that could be considered as the party who was responsible for paying the tithe; however, if he hired Rev. Häger to minister to the Second Colony, then they would be exempt from tithes. He probably did not "hire" him with monetary payments, but offered him rent free use of his home at Germanna. That is, Spotswood may have encouraged Rev. Häger to remain at Germanna. The old German parish of St. George was wiped out when the county of Spotsylvania was created by legislation in 1720. A new St. George Parish was created which was coterminous with the county. Since it was a year and a half before the county started to function, there is a period wherein there is uncertainty as to which rules applied. Most likely, the old rules applied until the new government and parish were actually functioning. Founded in 1730, St. Mark's Parish covered the western part of Spotsylvania Co. On 1 Jan 1735, Orange County was formed and St. Mark's became the parish for it. At this time, Orange Co. included several of the present day counties, including an area in the Shenandoah Valley. When Culpeper Co. was formed in mid-century, St. Mark's became the parish for what is today's Culpeper, Madison, and Rappahannock Counties. In 1752, Bromfield Parish was split off. St. Mark's included several pockets of Germans (Mt. Pony, Little Fork, and the Robinson River) at some time during its existence. The following members of the Germanna community are mentioned in the Vestry minutes: Frederick Cobler, Michael Holt, Thomas Wayland's wife, Matthias Blankenbaker, Jacob Holtzclaw, Jacob Fishback, Frederick Zimmerman, Christopher Kabler, Conrad Cabler, John Cobler, and Woolfenbarger.In the spring of 1722, as Spotswood was approving the applications for land patents in anticipation that he would be replaced as governor, he also appointed justices, a sheriff, and a clerk for the new county of Spotsylvania. The original land patents had been redefined. The 40,000 acre Spotsylvania tract was in the name of Thomas Jones, John Clayton, and Richard Hickman. Some time has been spent on the land acquisitions of Spotswood for two reasons. First, it shows where his priorities were. Second, it was to have an impact on the future homes of the Germans. The legislation passed by the House of Burgesses was approved in England and land in the new county of Spotsylvania was free of the head rights and quit rents (for seven years) on smaller tracts. Thus, when the time came for the second group of Germans to relocate to their own homes, they choose land in Spotsylvania County. The alternative might have been to go to the Northern Neck where the first Germans had already established their homes but this would have required a purchase from the proprietor of the Northern Neck, plus quit rents for the first years.

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http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~george/johnsgermnotes/germhist.html

The parish covered all of the original Spotsylvania County, with eight Colonial churches and chapels inherited or built at the places marked on the map, 1725-1775. The first church on the site of the present St. George's is that marked "2nd Rappahannock Church 1734-1813." Map by Philip K. Brown, from Paula S. Felder, Forgotten Companions: The First Settlers of Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburgh Town (Fredericksburg: Historic Publications of Fredericksburg, 1982), 41; used with permission.In colonial Virginia the Anglican parishes were officially established by the government. When Spotsylvania County was created in 1720 (including the area later laid out for Fredericksburg) St. George's Parish covered the same large land area as the county, probably inheriting two or three churches or chapels already built, with the first services probably being held at Germanna. During the fifty-year period from 1725 to the Revolution, another five or six churches and chapels were built in various parts of the parish (fig. 1 ), including the first wooden church on the site of the present St. George's (fig. 2). All of the earliest buildings are now gone, and only St. George's graveyard remains as a direct, physical reminder of 18th-century parish life. When Fredericksburg was founded in 1728, two lots were set aside at its center for the Market and two lots next to them for the church and graveyard. Here the first, second and third churches were built in 1732-4, 1815, and 1849. Fig. 2. Conjectural drawing of first church, built c1732--1734 No drawings of the 18th-century church have come to light, but the original contract for building it guided the preparation of this conjectural drawing. Drawing by Tina Gibbs Dodd, from Felder, Forgotten Companions, 58; used with permission

PREHISTORY Dinosaur tracks have been repeatedly discovered at the Martin Marietta Rock Quarry ten miles to the northeast of GCC Article in The Conveyor magazine
NATIVE AMERICAN CULTURE This has been the site of settlements by the Saponi Indians of the greater Eastern Algonquin Confederacy. FACTS ABOUT VIRGINIA INDIANS
Links to Native America
ECOLOGY OF THE REGION Papers about the ecology of the Rapidan and the flora and fauna of our region. by Brian Marks
EARLY COLONIAL PERIOD From Jamestown to arrival of Lt. Gov. Spotswood in 1710. No papers currently.
ROYAL LT. GOV. SPOTSWOOD Serves from 1710-22. Founder of Fort Germanna and Germanna as county seat. A Biography by
Rob Sherwood

FIRST GERMANNA COLONY First German settlement in Virginia, 1714,
builds Fort Germanna, mines silver and iron. No papers currently.
SECOND GERMANNA COLONY 1717, lives at Germanna, farming and mining. No papers currently.
THIRD GERMANNA COLONY 1719, lives at Germanna, farming and mining. No papers currently.
"KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN HORSESHOE" EXPEDITION 1716, explores Shenandoah Valley No papers currently.
MINING AT GERMANNA Iron, silver, and gold mining (1715-1936) No papers currently.
SPOTSWOOD'S "ENCHANTED CASTLE" A Georgian mansion on the frontier, 1724-50; extensive archaeological work done on it in 1984-89, led by Dr. Douglas Sanford of MWC. No papers currently.
GERMANNA AS COUNTY SEAT A small community from 1720-32, county seat of Spotsylvania County (now Orange County). Has foundation of a 1732 home. No papers currently.
GERMANNA IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR A visit by Lafayette in 1781, importance of the Germanna Ford No papers currently.
GERMANNA IN THE CIVIL WAR Germanna Ford is main crossroads of major campaigns, including Battle of Mine Run.
Has civil war trenches on campus. Brandy Station by Brian Brown
GERMANNA IN BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE Germanna plays a strategic war in this pyrrhic victory for the South, May 1-4, 1863, in which Jackson is killed. by Jimmie Parks


GERMANNA IN BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS Germanna plays a strategic role in this pivotal campaign in May of 1864. by Andrew Reed
THE URQUHARTS AT GERMANNA MILLS Owners of the mill, gravest of the doctor who treated John Wilkes Booth at his death. Cemetery off west end of GCC parking lot. No papers currently.
GERMANNA IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY The Gordons, the mill, genealogical research. No papers currently.
GERMANNA IN THE TWENTIETH CENTURY Gold mining, the Germanna Foundation, the Founding of Germanna Community College 1970, the Fredericksburg Campus 1998. The new visitor's center being built next door. No papers currently.
RELATED GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH Descendants of the three German colonies, of Spotswood, of other families from the area. No papers currently.
RELATED LINKS TO GERMANNA HISTORY A listing of links about local history in Culpeper, Orange, and Spotsylvania counties. A list of links is below.


LIST OF RELATED HISTORY LINKS:
THE GERMANNA FOUNDATION
(Est. in 1956 to promote knowledge about the descendants of the three Germanna Colonies
at Fort Germanna--1714, 1717, and 1719--and to adminster a 600-acre tract of land
that includes GCC at Locust Grove, which was donated to the State in 1969.)
MARY WASHINGTON COLLEGE'S DEPARTMENT OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION
(They own and administrate the 60-acre Fort Germanna and Enchanted Castle Site opposite LGC)
THE ORANGE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
THE JAMES MADISON MUSEUM (in Orange, Virginia)
THE CULPEPER MUSEUM (on Main Street in Culpeper)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT GERMANNA HISTORY
LIST OF HISTORY RESEARCH LINKS FROM WILLIAM AND MARY'S HISTORY DEPARTMENT
SUMMER ARCHAEOLOGICAL DIG AT MONTPELIER BY JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY
MONTPELIER, HOME OF JAMES MADISON, IN ORANGE, VIRGINIA