This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Classification: Query Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/Xl.2ADI/191 Message Board Post: INTRODUCTION !!!!! Who Is a Germanna Colonist? (In other words, who is a descendant of a Germanna Colonist?) In 1713, forty-odd Germans left their homes in Nassau-Siegen expecting to mine silver in the New World. In 1717, about eighty Germans left their homes in southwest Germany expecting to go to Pennsylvania. Neither of these groups fulfilled its expectations. Instead, they became guardians of the frontier in Virginia and a vanguard in the westward expansion of English civilization on the North American continent. How did this come about, especially when the Germans themselves had no expectations of serving in these capacities? Reviewing the events prior to the coming of the Germans, the Colony of Virginia had settled Huguenots on the James River as a buffer between the English and the Indians. Franz Michel in Switzerland wondered if the Swiss might not do the same thing in Virginia and establish colonies where they could send people, including Anabaptists whom they did not desire in Switzerland. Michel went to Virginia where he explored the possibilities. He liked what he saw and heard. Back in Bern, he reported to his partners who unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a concession for a Swiss colony from Queen Anne of England. Michel, meanwhile, returned to America for several years of further exploration. The Swiss entrepreneurs were approaching this venture as an opportunity to earn money. There were no altruistic motives. The reports of Michel inflamed Christoph von Graffenried of Bern who was looking for a way to restore his status and financial health. Graffenried was especially intrigued by Michel's report that he had found silver mines. Graffenried joined Michel's company (Georg Ritter and Company) and provided the necessary spark to ignite action. Though colonization was the primary objective, silver mining was promoted to equal importance. By a coincidence, this was the year, 1709, when so many Germans were in London expecting that Queen Anne would provide transportation for the emigrants who wanted to go to the English colonies. The proprietors of North Carolina had obtained permission to send several hundred of the thousands of Germans in London to their colony. These proprietors agreed to provided transportation for an initial group of Swiss if Graffenried would be responsible for the Germans they were sending over. Believing he could pursue the dual objectives of colonization and silver, Graffenried agreed to lead the several hundred Germans and a smaller contingent of Swiss to North Carolina. The silver mining was pursued by hiring Johann Justus Albrecht to purchase tools and to recruit German miners. To find the miners, Albrecht went to Siegen where there were iron mines. Graffenried thought that the North Carolina colony could be set up rather quickly and then he could devote his attention to the silver mines in Virginia. Graffenried's company had obtained the Queen's approval for land in Virginia for a Swiss colony. There was no intention now to use Swiss citizens since the German miners were to live there. In America, many misfortunes befell Graffenried. He was even lucky to escape what seemed like a certain death at the hands of the Indians. The German/Swiss colony did not prosper in these early years. Graffenried and Michel had a disagreement before Michel had shown Graffenried the location of the silver mines. Graffenried went to Virginia to see if he could find a site where he could relocate the remainder of the North Carolina colony and to see if he could find the silver mines. While he was there, he aroused the attention of Lt. Gov. Alexander Spotswood. Spotswood even invested significantly in what seemed to be a silver mine. Graffenried had to give up in America as the colonization enterprise was bankrupt. He returned to Europe in 1713 and when he passed through London he found that Albrecht was there with forty-odd people from the Siegen area who were expecting to have the balance of their trip to the colonies financed by Graffenried. No report tells us clearly why the Germans had been motivated to go to London at this time. Graffenried, being broke, could only advise them to go home. They did not feel they could do this as they were citizens without a country. Instead, the Germans agreed to pay a part of their transportation costs and to work four years to pay for the balance. The agent for Virginia in London obligated Spotswood to pay this balance even though Spotswood himself knew nothing of the agreement. This agent in London, Nathaniel Blakiston, was very much aware that Spotswood was interested in precious metals. He appeared on Spotswood's behalf before the Board of Trade and before Lord Orkney who was the nominal governor of Virginia. He pleaded for a resolution of the question of the royal percentage if precious metals were found. Because of Blakiston's knowledge of Spotswood's interest in these precious metals, he felt that the Germans were a good opportunity for Spotswood to obtain the labor he might be needing. After the Germans were in Virginia, Spotswood welcomed them in the hope that they could be put to work in the projected silver mine of which he was a quarter owner. This mine was about fifteen miles beyond the western extent of English civilization so Spotswood obtained the concurrence of the Virginia Council to build a fort from the public monies for the Germans. The official explanation was that the Germans were to be the guardians of the frontier to protect the English from the Indians. They did serve in this capacity. From the land plots, one can see that the mine which seemed to have silver was only about four miles from the German settlement. As with many of Spotswood's actions, it is hard to distinguish between the public policy which he was helping to formulate and his personal interests. Because the status of foreigners was uncertain, Spotswood was afraid that his actions might be held against him. Perhaps the naming of the fort as Germanna was a subtle appeal to Queen Anne who was favorably inclined toward Germans. Spotswood would not allow the Germans to work in the mine until the legal title to precious metals was clarified. Therefore, the Germans did no mining for two years while instead they farmed and guarded the frontier. Eventually an attempt was made to locate silver ores but the mine was abandoned because none could be found. Spotswood was looking for a means to insure his economic future which, as Lt. Governor, was not secure. Observing how other people in Virginia had prospered, he decided on a course of land acquisition. Most of the land in the Tidewater region had been taken up and the large tracts were all in the Piedmont to the west where there were no settlements and no roads but there were Indians. This was the best available land in the period from 1710 to 1720, especially in large tracts. This land had never been patented to private owners by the Crown and it was available relatively cheaply. Once a private individual took up the land, he had to make improvements and to settle a certain number of people. The western lands could be raided easily by the Indians which would discourage settlers. No one wanted to be first and risk his own safety. Spotswood saw that the answer lay in obtaining a large number of people who could be settled at the same time. Their safety would be provided by their own numbers and they would provide the settlers to make a valid claim to a large tract. The Fort Germanna Germans had done a good job in keeping the peace without creating any problems for the Virginians. Spotswood envisioned that the people he wanted and needed could be Germans. In conversations with the captains of ships, he let them know he wanted a whole shipload of Germans. One of them, Andrew Tarbett, when he was back in England, agreed to take about eighty Germans to Pennsylvania which was where they wanted to go. Instead, he took them to Virginia on the ship Scott where he sold them as servants to Spotswood and his partners. They were settled on a tract of 40,000 acres of land (40,000 acres was the official description but the tract was closer in size to 65,000 acres) starting to the west of Germanna. The Germans in the fort had been the western- most point of English civilization on the Atlantic seaboard. After the second group came, they were the most western point of English civilization even though, in both cases, the language and customs were German. The first group of Germans, the "miners" from Nassau-Siegen, lived in the fort and worked about four years for Spotswood. During the first two years they cleared land and farmed, then for about two and half years, they worked in mining and quarrying, first at the silver mine and then with the iron ores which they had discovered. Early in 1719, they moved north to land they had purchased in the Northern Neck, just south of today's Warrenton. Before they left the employment of Spotswood, they had found and developed iron mines but they did not build an iron furnace for Spotswood. This group, which became known as the First Germanna Colony, was German Reformed by religion. The Second Germanna Colony came from many different villages which were mostly south and east of Heidelberg with a few from outside this area. They worked seven years for Spotswood and his partners in naval stores projects and in vineyards. When they did move, they went about twenty-five miles farther west to land in the Robinson River Valley at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains. This again was an extremely exposed position but they chose this general region because land there was free at the time and there were few or no English settlers which gave them space for expansion. By religion they were predominantly Lutheran. In 1740, they built a church which is still being used today as a Lutheran church (it is now the oldest building in the Americas still in use as a Lutheran church). Even before the Germans had left the vicinity of Fort Germanna, more Germans were coming. After the Germans had left the neighborhood of Fort Germanna, the newcomers moved directly to the regions where the earlier Germans were then living. These newcomers had a mixed background. Some of them had been in the English colonies for a few years and were relocating. Others came directly from Germany. Many were friends and relatives of those already here. This process continued until and after the Revolution. During the war, some of the British auxiliaries from Germany thought that farming in a German community was better than carrying a musket for the British. All of these people are called the Germanna Colonists even though the majority of them were never at Germanna and they were not members of any colony. Essentially, the common characteristic was that they lived on the east side of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The name Germanna Colonist is used because it was ! appropriate for the first of the Germans. The process of finding the Germans who lived in this general region is ongoing. New names are being uncovered. Work continues also in extending their history in Europe including locations in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Because many of the activities bearing on the early Germanna citizens were semi-official, there is considerable recorded history about them. Major sources of family information pertaining to the Second Colony people are their church records where there are baptismal records from 1750 to the early 1800's and communion lists from 1775 to 1812. There is a sense of community identity among all of the Germanna people which still exists. (The above is reprinted from "Beyond Germanna," volume 14, number 3 [May 2002] with the permission of John Blankenbaker.) (To see maps of the two Colonies' Land Patents, go to the Land Patents web page. The first map, drawn in 1729, is a plat of the land taken up by the 1st Colony in 1719, in the "Northern Neck", and is identified as "German Town". The second and third maps show Land Patents of members of the 2nd Colony, in the Robinson River Valley, and were originally drawn in 1740.) (The "1st Colony" arrived in Virginia in 1714; the "2nd Colony" arrived in 1717.) (To find out exactly which German emigrants are included in what are called the "Germanna Colonies", you should go to "John Blankenbaker's Germanna Notes", and search through the Notes for the surname you wish to find. One good explanation is in Note Nr. 176. You can also see a list of surnames of those emigrants who came to this country from the Baden-Württemberg area of present-day Germany on the Germanna Surnames page. Keep in mind that not all ZIMMERMAN's, or FLEISCHMANN's, or HOLTZCLAW's, etc., came from our area of Germanny, nor did all German emigrants with those surnames settle in the "Germanna area". When looking at the list of "Germanna Surnames", you must be aware that your specific German ancestors, just because they have the same surnames, may not be "Germanna Colonists".) This GERMANNA COLONIES Family History Web Site was first established, and maintained, for the descendants of the immigrant Johannes BREYHEL (or John BROYLES, Johannes BREUEL, and other variations of the name). Since the web site's inception, we were asked repeatedly to include other Germanna families on it. As we added links to more and more families, it soon became obvious that the site should really be about the "Germanna Colonies", both the 1st Colony of 1714, and the 2nd Colony of 1717. We have, therefore, renamed the site to its present name. The web site's purpose is to allow Germanna Colonies researchers to have a place to access contributions from other researchers, and have a place to deposit their own GEDCOM files. We would like for you to drop us an e-mail. Let us know if you find anything of value here. We have many links to GERMANNA families, and GERMANNA-related families on the pages of this web site. Just navigate through the links on the left to see what is available. (Note, as of 17 January, 2001: Since this page was started 3½ years ago, we have found that there is not a centralized web site for all the families of the 1st and 2nd Germanna Colonies immigrants. We have added many pages for families that have asked for them. If your family is not covered here, all you have to do is ask and we will add it to these pages. Space is NOT a problem! If you have GEDCOM files that you would like to place here, we will be glad to add them; if you have photos, we will add them also; regardless of the subject, or the size of the submission, we WILL accomodate you and add your contribution to this site. All you have to do is send an email to SgtGeorge, explaining what you want, and we will do our best to add it.) If you click on the "GEDCOM Databases" button at the top of this page, you will see the databases that we have added to date. If you want your's added, all you have to do is send it to us. If you click on "Germanna Links #1", "Germanna Links #2", "Photo Gallery", etc., you will also see links to articles, pages, photos, etc., of other Germanna Colonies families. One thing you don't want to miss is "Researchers' Web Pages" and "Reserchers' Email Addresses". These pages allow you to find others who are researching the same SURNAMES and lines/branches that you are researching. Index to Articles on This Page: The Story. The Researchers. Myths and Fallacies. GEDCOM Central. Credits and Authors. (If you EVER have any questions about these pages, have problems navigating around, find errors, etc., PLEASE let me know at [email protected] Where you see underlined references, you may click on them and navigate to pages dealing with these subjects.) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTICE !!!!! In May, 2000, and again in May, 2002, John and Eleanor Blankenbaker traveled to Germany and Austria to visit some of the home villages of our Germanna ancestors. They took many photographs of these villages and have agreed to have some of them published here for all of us to enjoy. You may visit each of these villages by clicking here for the Index Page. We have posted photos for many villages, and a page of maps showing the location of most of the villages from which our ancestors immigrated. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (PLEASE NOTE: Even though we have converted the original BROYLES/BRILES Family History web site to the GERMANNA COLONIES Family History web site, we still have data here on the home page relating to the BROYLES/BRILES family. Shortly, we will replace that data with data relating to the Germanna Colonies, and the BROYLES/BRILES family will have it's own sub-page, as will all other Germanna Colonies families. Please bear with us as we make the necessary changes.) The Story Johannes Breyhel, son of Conrad and Margaretha (Schelling) Breyhel, was christened 1 May 1679, in Dußlingen (Dusslingen), Württemberg (Wuerttemberg), just south of Tübingen (Tuebingen) in present day Germany. For reasons unknown he moved about 50 miles away to Ötisheim (Oetisheim), probably around 1700, where on 6 Nov 1703 he married Ursula RUOP, daughter of a local grave digger. It is in Ötisheim that they raised their family. A number of their children died as infants: Conrad (who was a twin to Hans Jacob), Mattheus, and probably also Jerg Martin. In the tradition of the times they used the name Conrad again for their fourth child. Johannes and family emigrated to Virginia in the summer of 1717, with about twenty other families from nearby villages. Gov. Spotswood of Virginia, who paid their passage in return for an indenture of seven years, settled them at "Germanna" where he had located an earlier group of German immigrants in 1714. (Germanna is located where Virginia Rte. 3 crosses the Rapidan River west of Fredericksburg.) (Added Note: The "2nd Colony" arrived in Virginia on the ship, "Scott", whose Captain was Tarbett.) Johannes proved his importation to America on 2 May 1727, as John BRYOLL. It was about this time that many of the Germanna immigrants moved to present day Madison Co., VA, took up land, and founded the Hebron Lutheran Church. John's son Jacob (Hans Jacob) was the progenitor of the BROYLES family, and son Conrad was progenitor of the BRILES family, while his daughter Catherine, through her marriage to Adam WILHITE, is a "grandmother", to a major portion of all the WILHITE/WILHOIT descendants in America today . It is believed, though not proven, that Johannes and Ursula had additional children after arriving in America. They were certainly young enough. Based on the records of land sales, it is certain that Adam WILHEIT's (WILHITE's) wife Catherine was a daughter of Johannes and Ursula. She would have been born circa 1720. One probable son, "Christley Browel", is mentioned in the 1739 tithable list of Orange Co., VA. From this it would be expected that he was born circa 1718. He must have died or left the area by 1744, the year Jacob and Conrad sold their part of their father's farm. Based on the order of tax taking and comparing it to the Carpenter map of original land patents in Madison Co. (nicely updated in a recent Beyond Germanna), Christley seems to have been living with Matthias Smith, or nearby. Go Back To Index. The Researchers Pioneering work on the families of the second Germanna Colony, including the BROYLES/BRILES lines, was done by Dr. Arthur Leslie Keith, and published in several issues of the William and Mary Quarterly, early in the 1900s. Dr. Keith was also the author of a full typewritten manuscript on the entire BROYLES/BRILES family. Running to hundreds of pages, a copy of this work is found at the Mormon Library in Salt Lake City, and it is available on microfilm from the Library of Congress. You may also obtain a recently published text version of the "typescript" from Ken Broyles, who is the recognized expert on BROYLES/BRILES genealogy. In 1990, Johni Cerny and Gary Zimmerman, of Lineages, Inc., Salt Lake City, located the ancestral homes of many of the Germanna colonists. They did this by searching the German church records of villages surrounding the known home of one of the immigrants. Fortunately for us, they found Johannes and Ursula! Booklet #6 of the series Beyond Germanna contains the information they found. To find out more about the Beyond Germanna, send an email to John Blankenbaker. He will be able to tell you how to purchase this Booklet, or any other Booklet you might be interested in. Steve Broyles has verified and extended the work of Cerny and Zimmerman. Be sure to check this out. Here you can see copies of the original church records of our ancestors, in the original German, and translated into English. John Blankenbaker is the recognized expert on Germanna History, for both the 1st Colony and the 2nd Colony. There is no other researcher, or scholar, in the country today that knows more about Germanna than John. Be sure to check out his "Germanna Notes" on this web site. Go Back To Index. Myths and Fallacies The road to truth in genealogical research is seldom a straight course. Over the years a number of mistakes and mis-interpretations have been made, some of which persist despite the presence of new information. Some genealogies have John's wife as Ursula BLANKENBAKER. This error was the result of undocumented conjecture by an elderly researcher, who has since passed away and her errors have been corrected. Some researchers claim that a second John BROYLES proved his importation in November 1719. James E. Brown has debunked the "second John Broyles" story in a recent article in Beyond Germanna (v.7, n.5, Sept. 1995). He has given the results of his studies of the importation records, in which he tried to find the supposed 1719 importation of John 2; he couldn't find a second John. Instead, he did find a JOHN BELL that sort of looked like JOHN BROYLES. This was apparently misread as a John Broyles, and led to the John 2 theory. (Another erroneous myth hopefully dispensed with, once and for all.) Still one other mystery, concerns a name, or names, found on the Tithe Lists for present-day Madison County, VA (then Orange County). On the 1736 Tithe List, there is listed a Cotley Broyle. On the 1739 Tithe List, there are listed Christley (Christian?) Browel and Cortney Browel. Some researchers think this is evidence of a heretofore unknown Broyles; however NO other written documentation of such a person has ever been found. To further the mystery, Johannes Breyhel (John Broyles) had two known sons, Hans Jacob and Conrad. A Jacob Broyle is listed on the 1739 Tithe List; Conrad does not show up. Is it possible that the "Cortney" or "Christley" or "Cotley" Broyle/Browel is, in fact, Conrad Broyles? Update on the Cotley/Christley/Cortney BROYLES Mystery: Thanks to Steve Broyles, some of this mystery has been cleared up. Here is an extract from a post Steve made to the GERMANNA_COLONIES Mailing List on 14 December 2000: "It turns out that the name Curt is a nickname of Conrad. This may be surprising to us English speakers, but it is no more strange than Dick being a nickname of Richard, or Bill being a nickname of William. "Little Curt" is Curtle/Curtli and the like. English speakers use a variation of this idea by adding an 'ee' sound to the end of a name, e.g., Billy, Stevie, Bobby, etc. The name Curtli could be rendered any number of ways by English speakers. Courtley is certainly among them, and it's only a tiny leap to get to Courtney or Cotley. "Christley, on the other hand, is a distinct name. I've examined the tax list handwriting and it is clearly Christley, and not some other name. Christley looks to be a nickname for Christian, but I have not confirmed this. In any case, I've assumed that Christley Browel was a son of Johanne and Ursula, born in VA after their arrival, probably 1718, based on his appearance in the poll list of 1739 when he was 21. Ursula would have been in her 30's when he was born, and, generally speaking, we'd expect them to have had children on this side of the pond. Christley's birth, c. 1718, also explains the fact that he doesn't show in earlier lists. What happened to him is not known. I'd love to know if he is found on any tax lists after 1739. "Jacob and Conrad, sons of John Broyles, sell 200 acres of John's estate in 1744. Since John appears to have owned 400 acres at his death, we might expect that he had four heirs. One is certainly daughter Catherine. The other is unknown, leaving room for a son such as Christley." Steve Broyles Go Back To Index. GEDCOM Central! We'd like to know which GERMANNA COLONIES family you are researching, and which branches/lines. If possible, we would like to have your contributions in the form of a GEDCOM file. You may attach the GEDCOM to an e-mail to us and we will convert it to an HTML and add a link to it on this web site. Please include in your e-mail any information you would like to appear in the description for the link to your GEDCOM, e.g., your name, address, e-mail address, branch of the family, personal information, etc. For your convenience, we have provided the "Guest Book" so that you may sign-in and we may get to know you. (Any information you provide here will come directly to me, George W. Durman, and will not appear anywhere

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