Continued: Singularly enough the orders to the surveyor to lay off these lands were not issued until May 30, 1729. Some of these orders, at least, were not issued in the name of the colonists; possibly they were assigned, and quite likely to Spottswood, for he really brought in these emigrants, and the patents will some day be found with the head rights all recited in them. Why these colonists who wanted land made no application for it, until 10 years after they came to VA is as yet unexplained. The writer thinks, the applications were made at the instigation of Spottswood, who really paid the passage of these immgrants, and that the orders were assigned to him. In this connection it will be noticed that no affidavit was made by Mr. Hager, although he and his wife were still living, and were just as much entitled to land as anyone else. Can it be that Spottswood did not dare ask the old minister for his affidavit? There are other affidavits, similar to the above in the Spottsylvania Will Book, but those here given are the only ones which say the signers came in April 1714, so "Our Colony" was the first German colony to come to America. These affidavits mention 29 persons as being in the colony, and Mr. Hager and his wife make 31. DeGraffenried says he found in London the "Master miner and 40 other miners." Spottswood's answers to his detractors say "at Germanna, there are about 40 Germans, men women and children"; the act of 1715 says "Certain German protestants to the number of 42 persons or thereabouts"; while the petition to the London Missionary Society says the colony of 12 families "consisted of about 50 persons"; yet here the names of every man, woman and child in the community is given and including Mr. Hager and his wife there are only 31 persons. There seems to be a mystery here, which has not yet been explained. The writer thinks that the colony was larger when it left Germany than when it reached VA and that there was a considerable defection of its members in England. The disappearance of the chief miner ALBRECHT has already been noticed. HOLTZCLAW and COONS each had 2 children, WEAVER was unmarried, and RECTOR had one child, who was born at Maidstone; the other 8 all "brought their wives with them," according to the affidavits, but they had no children. They were evidently young married couples. Where did they get their wives? John Fishback and John Kemper were not married about Siegen. (TETOF NOTE: THIS IS LANGUAGE - "NOT MARRIED ABOUT" - AS DIRECT FROM THE PAGES OF THIS BOOK) It is sure that 8 unmarried young women did not start alone with this colony from Germany. Of course, it is possible that these 8 young men found wives among the Palatinate population then in England. But the writer is of the opinion that when the colony left Germany there were several families with it, with marriageable daughters, and perhaps other children, that the older preferred, like Albrecht to remain in England rather than brave the dangers of the wilderness, but the daughters were persuaded to go with a wedding ring. No doubt deGraffenried stated in his letters to Spottswood, as he did in his autobiography, that there were 40 people in the colony, and Spottswood in his documents without counting noses, referred to the colony as containing about 40 persons, which was quite likely the number when they left Siegen. True, de Graffenried says there were "40 miners" and strictly this would mean 40 men, but Spottswood always says "men, women and children," it seems this was what deGraffenried intended. Until a better explanation is given the writer thinks this is the true explanation of this discrepancy. It only requires 5 other marriageable young women, for Fishback, Hoffman and Rector married daughters of Pastor Hager. It is now apparent how important it is to ascertain where these marriages took place, for the record would contain the maiden names of these women. TO BE CONTINUED