USA > Virginia > Orange County > Orange County > A History of Orange County, Virginia > Part 5
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Yet a good many people did actually take up their abode in this frontier county while it was still a part of Spotsylvania, and some of their names are household words to-day; Spotswood, Chew, Cave, Madison, Moore, Willis, Taliaferro, Thomas, Barbour, Scott, Smith, Taylor, Waugh, Porter, Head, Fry, Lightfoot, and
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many more; the general narrative must be looked to to learn who they were, and what they did. They all appear covetous of great landed possessions, but they appear also to have been resolute and public-spirited citizens, an ancestry of which their descendants may well be proud.
Far and away the most ancient and most historic settlement was Germanna, "in the peninsula formed by the Rapidan." Indeed there are few places in all Virginia, which is to say in all America, that surpass Germanna in historic interest during the colonial period; Jamestown, Williamsburg, York, and a few more ; yet to-day Germanna constitutes not much more than a name and a memory, rich as are its associations with the past, with the beginnings that foreshadowed Orange at its zenith.
It is first mentioned in a statute, that somehow escaped the vigilance of Hening when compiling that vast treasure house of Virginia history, the "Statutes at Large." In the State library is an old volume entitled "Acts of Assembly passed in the Colony of Virginia from 1662 to 1715," printed at London in 1727.
About the last Act in it is one to exempt certain German Protestants from the payment of levies for seven years, and for erecting the parish of St. George, passed in 1714: "Whereas certain German protestants. to the number of forty-two persons or thereabouts, have been settled above the falls of the River Rappa- hannock, on the southern branch of the said river, called Rapidan, at a place named Germanna, in the County of Essex, and have there begun to build and
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make improvements for their cohabitation, to the great advantage of this colony and the security of the frontiers in those parts from the intrusions of the Indians, " it is enacted that they shall be free from the payment of all public and county levies for seven years, as should be any other German Protestants who might settle there, always providing, however, that they did not leave Germanna and settle elsewhere.
The next section creates the parish of St. George, extending for five miles on each side of the town, exempts it from all parish levies from the Parish of St. Mary, in Essex, and from the cure of the minister thereof, and "from all dependencies, offices, charges and contributions" of the same, and of "all levies, oblations, obventions and all other parochial duties whatsoever" relating to the same.
Here are disclosed some interesting historical facts : that Germanna was in Essex County at that time; that a special parish was established of which the eccle- siastical historians have taken no note whatever, the St. George parish of subsequent years being a wholly distinct one, though embracing the original parish of that name; and, most of all, that these "Strangers in a strange land" were placed there as a sort of buffer against the Indians, a rather cool and somewhat cruel thing to have done.
These German Protestants who came in 1714 were in fact the "First Settlers" of Orange, then a part of Essex, afterwards of Spotsylvania, and not called Orange until 20 years later; and as such their names ought to be chronicled, and something of their history narrated. In brief it is as follows :
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GERMANNA, FIRST GERMAN COLONY.
Three German colonies came to Virginia during the administration of Governor Spotswood and settled at or near Germanna. The first consisted of 12 families numbering 42 persons, as shown by an Order of the Vir- ginia Council passed April 28, 1714. This Order pro- vided that a fort should be built for them, that two cannon and some ammunition should be furnished, and a road cleared to the settlement. The Order also shows that the colony had only recently arrived in Virginia. They were the first actual settlers in what is now Orange County, and this was the beginning of Germanna. Mr. Charles E. Kemper, of Staunton, Va., a lineal descendant of one of the families, in an article contributed to the April number, 1906, of the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography (Vol. XIII., pp. 367-70) gives their names as follows:
Jacob Holtzclaw, wife Margaret, sons John and Henry; John Kemper, wife Alice Kathrina; John Joseph Martin, wife Maria Kathrina; John Spillman, wife Mary; Herman Fishback, wife Kathrina; John Henry Hoffman, wife Kathrina; Joseph Coons, wife Kathrina, son John Annalis, daughter Kathrina; John Fishback, wife Agnes; Jacob Rector, wife Elizabeth, son John; Melchior Brumback, wife Elizabeth; Till- man Weaver, mother Ann Weaver; Peter Hitt, wife Elizabeth.
In 1724 these Germans were proving their importa- tions in the Spotsylvania County Court in order to take up lands under the Head-right Act, and stated that they had arrived in Virginia in April, 1714.
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GERMANNA AND THE FIRST SETTLERS.
All these first colonists belonged to the German Reformed Church, the great German branch of the Presbyterian family of churches. They were natives of the old principality of Nassau-Siegen, now a part of Westphalia, Germany, and their homes were in and near the city of Siegen and the town of Muesen. They organized, at Germanna, the first congregation of the German Reformed church in the United States, and John Fontaine records in his Journal the first descrip- tion of a religious service in America conducted by the adherents of this denomination. They removed from Germanna in 1721 and settled on Licking Run, about eight miles south of Warrenton near present Midland station, where they first acquired lands. The locality was then in Stafford, later Prince William, and is now Fauquier. Their new home was known as Germantown.
Rev. Henry Haeger was their pastor. He was a man of much erudition, lived to a great age, and died in 1737. These colonists were induced to leave their homes in Germany by the Baron de Graffenreid, acting for Governor Spotswood who was then making prepa- rations to develop his iron mines in the vicinity of Germanna, and this business enterprise of the Governor was the sole cause of their coming to America and Virginia.
SECOND GERMAN COLONY.
The second colony, which came in 1717, was entirely distinct from the first; in fact, when leaving Germany its destination was Pennsylvania, and not Virginia, and it finally reached Virginia through force of circum- stances for which they were not responsible and which
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they could not control. This colony was composed chiefly of Lutherans. It numbered about eighty per- sons, comprised in twenty families, coming from Alsace, the Palatinate and adjacent districts in Germany.
In 1719 a third colony, also mostly Lutherans, con- sisting of forty families, came to Virginia and settled in the vicinity of Germanna. Comparatively nothing is known of the antecedent history of this last group of Germans. The colony of 1717 became involved in litigation with Governor Spotswood, of whose treat- ment they more than once complained.
The records of Spotsylvania show their names as follows: John Broil, Frederick Cobbler, Christopher Zimmerman, wife Elizabeth, children John and Andrew; Henry Snyder, wife Dorothy ; Michael Smith, wife Kathrina; Michael Cook, wife Mary; Andrew Kerker, wife Margarita, daughter Barbara; William Carpenter, wife Elizabeth; Christopher Pavler, (or Parlur) wife Pauera; Jacob Broil; John Broil, wife Ursley, children Conrad and Elizabeth; Nicholas Yeager, wife Mary, children Adam and Mary; Philip Paulitz; Robert Turner, wife Mary, children Christo- pher, Christianna, Kathrina, Mary and Parva; Conrad Auberge, Balthaser Blankenbaker, Michael Clore, An- drew Ballenger, George Sheible, George Meyer, Michael Kaffer, Matthias Blankenbaker, Michael Holt, Zere- chias Fleshman, Hendrick Snyder, George Utz.
Quite a number of them proved their importations at Germanna in 1726 and 1727, and their names are given in the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, April No., 1906
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The colonists of 1717 and 1719 seem to have remained at Germanna, or in that neighborhood, until 1725 or 1726, when they removed to the Robertson river section (in Madison County), where they had acquired lands.
In the same magazine, Vol. XIV. pp. 136-170, Rev. William J. Hinke, of Philadelphia, contributes a num- ber of valuable documents relating to the German element of Madison County, which, with Mr. Hinke's notes, constitute the most valuable sources of history of these two colonies, and tell best the story of their early fortunes in Virginia. Many of these names are familiar in Madison to-day, and the list last given sounds like an echo of the roll-call of the Madison Troop in the Confederate war. Hebron church, near the Robertson River, remains a monument of their devotion and Christian character.
The history of these Germans is very interesting, and has been written at large by several authors, the best and most comprehensive account of them being the "Kemper Genealogy," which treats of the earliest colony, that of 1714. Gen. James L. Kemper, Governor of Virginia soon after the war, was a descendant of one of these colonists; and their descendants are to be found not only in Virginia, but throughout the South and West.
The limitations of this book preclude the following up of their fortunes, but the truth of history impels the statement that the colonists of 1714 were the real first actual settlers of Orange. And if Governor Spotswood were in fact the "Tubal Cain of Virginia," it was these Germans who won that title for him. In the "Kemper
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Genealogy" it is stated with emphasis that the colony of 1714 was not a Palatinate Colony. "They did not leave their homes not knowing where they were going, nor because they were compelled to. They were engaged to go, and knew where they were going, and what they were to do. They came from one of the thriftiest and most intelligent provinces of Germany ; they were mas- ter mechanics, and were an intelligent, progressive set of people."
The Rev. Hugh Jones, in his "Present State of Vir- ginia, " published about 1724, thus describes Germanna : "Beyond Governor Spotswood's furnace above the Falls of Rappahannock River, within view of the vast mountains, he has founded a town, called Germanna from the Germans sent over by Queen Anne, who are now removed up further. He has servants and work- men at most handicraft trades, and he is building a church, courthouse, and dwelling house for himself; and with his servants and negroes he has cleared plan- tations about it, proposing great encouragement for people to come and settle in that uninhabited part of the world, lately divided into a county, " that is Spot- sylvania.
This would seem to fix the date of the first English settlement there as about 1724; and incidentally to dispose of the rather incredible statement made by Mr. William Kyle Anderson, in his "Taylor Genealogy" that "Bloomsbury," the former home of Col. James Taylor, now owned by the Jerdone family, about three miles below present Orange courthouse and some twenty above Germanna, was built so early as 1722.
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A subsequent chapter, "The Progress to the Mines," is the best extant description of this historic old place. That there was a "palace" there, with a terraced gar- den connected by an underground passage with a fort, there is no reason to doubt. Indeed, the terraces remain to this day. It was certainly the county seat of Spotsylvania, as the statute shows. In May, 1732, a statute was passed, "Whereas, the place for holding courts in the County of Spotsylvania, is appointed and fixed at Germanna, and it is found by experience that great inconveniences attend the justices and inhabi- tants of the said county and others whose attendance is required or who have business to transact at the said courts, for want of accommodation for themselves and their horses, which by reason of the fewness of the inhabitants for many miles round the said place cannot be had, " and enacting that these courts be held only at Fredericksburg from the ensuing first day of August.
Then began, no doubt, the decadence of this historic hamlet, which has continued till now. But "a merry place it was in days of yore," where the gentry were feasted at the palace, and "Miss Theky" dispensed other beverages than coffee that would not give a man the palsy. But it ought never to be forgotten that at Germanna began that great adventure, the tramon- tane ride of the "Knights of the Horseshoe," the first body of Englishmen to cross the Blue Ridge and discover the Goshen beyond ; and hence, it may be truly said, the "star of empire began its westward course," nor stopped until the Mississippi had been passed and the Golden Gate to the Pacific had been reached. In
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later times, mighty armies crossed and recrossed the Rapidan at Germanna, and the thunders of Chancellors- ville and the Wilderness shook its ruins to their foun- dations. Ichabod! The glory of Israel is departed ; let the memory of it remain forever!
CHAPTER XI.
Progress to the Mines.
The following sketch of a visit to Colonel Spotswood and his mines in 1732 by Col. William Byrd is inserted with full knowledge of the proverb that "comparisons are odious. "
A just consideration of the rights of the readers of this book impels its insertion, the cost of the Westover Manuscripts, from which it is extracted, rendering them practically inaccessible to the average reader.
Colonel Byrd was one of the commissioners to run the boundary line between Virginia and North Carolina, and also a commissioner on the part of the colony to define the southwestern limit of Lord Fairfax's grant, report- ing strenuously and conclusively that the modern Rappahannock River was the true boundary; which report, however, did not finally prevail.
He held many positions of dignity and trust in the colony and, it is said, was the friend of Addison, and an occasional contributor to the "Spectator." He amassed the finest private library which had then been seen in America. Born March 28, 1674. Died August 26, 1744.
I took my leave about ten, and drove over a spa- cious level road ten miles, to a bridge built over the river Po, which is one of the four branches of Matapony,
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about forty yards wide. Two miles beyond that we passed by a plantation belonging to the company of about five hundred acres, where they keep a great number of oxen to relieve those that have dragged their loaded carts thus far. Three miles farther we came to Germanna road, where I quitted the chair, and con- tinued my journey on horseback. I rode eight miles together over a stony road, and had on either side con- tinual poisoned fields, with nothing but saplings grow- ing on them. Then I came into the main county road, that leads from Fredericksburg to Germanna, which last place I reached in ten miles more. This famous town consists of Colonel Spotswood's enchanted castle on one side of the street, and a baker's dozen of ruinous tenements on the other, where so many German fam- ilies had dwelt some years ago; but are now removed ten miles higher in the fork of Rappahannock, to land of their own. There had also been a chapel about a bowshot from the Colonel's house at the end of an avenue of cherry trees, but some pious people had lately burnt it down, with intent to get another built nearer to their own homes. Here I arrived about three o'clock, and found only Mrs. Spotswood at home, who received her old acquaintance with many a gracious smile. I was carried into a room elegantly set off with pier glasses, the largest of which came soon after to an odd misfortune. Amongst other favorite animals that cheered this lady's solitude, a brace of tame deer ran familiarly about the house, and one of them came to stare at me as a stranger. But unluckily spying his own figure in the glass, he made a spring over the tea table that stood under it, and shattered the glass to pieces, and falling back upon the tea table, made a terrible fracas among the china. This exploit was so sudden, and accompanied with such a noise, that it surprised me and perfectly frightened Mrs. Spotswood. But it was worth all the damage to show the moderation
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and good humour with which she bore the disaster. In the evening the noble Colonel came home from his mines, who saluted me very civilly, and Mrs. Spots- wood's sister, Miss Theky, who had been to meet him en cavalier, was so kind, too, as to bid me welcome.
We talked over a legion of old stories, supped about nine, and then prattled with the ladies till it was time for a traveller to retire. In the meantime I observed my old friend to be very uxorious and exceedingly fond of his children. This was so opposite to the maxims he used to preach up before he was married, that I could not forbear rubbing up the memory of them. But he gave a very good-natured turn to his change of sentiments, by alleging that whoever brings a poor gentlewoman into so solitary a place, from all her friends and acquaintances, would be ungrateful not to use her and all that belongs to her with all possible tenderness.
28th. We all kept snug in our several apartments till nine, except Miss Theky, who was the housewife of the family. At that hour we met over a pot of coffee, which was not quite strong enough to give us the palsy. After breakfast the Colonel and I left the ladies to their domestic affairs, and took a turn in the garden, which has nothing beautiful but three terrace walks that fall in slopes one below another. I let him understand that besides the pleasure of paying him a visit, I came to be instructed by so great a master in the mystery of mak- ing of iron, wherein he had led the way, and was the Tubal Cain of Virginia. He corrected me a little there, by assuring me he was not only the first in this country, but the first in North America, who had erected a regu- lar furnace. That they ran altogether upon bloom- eries in New England and Pennsylvania, till his exam- ple had made them attempt greater works. But in this last colony, they have so few ships to carry their iron to Great Britain, that they must be content to make it
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only for their own use, and must be obliged to manu- facture it when they have none. That he hoped he had done the country very great service by setting so good an example. That the four furnaces now at work in Virginia circulated a great sum of money for provisions and all other necessaries in the adjacent counties. That they took off a great many hands from planting tobacco, and employed them in works that produced a large sum of money in England to the persons con- cerned, whereby the country is so much the richer. That they are, besides, a considerable advantage to Great Britain, because it lessens the quantity of bar iron imported from Spain, Holland, Sweden, Denmark and Muscovy, which used to be no less than 20,000 tons yearly, though at the same time no sow iron is imported thither from any country, but only from the plantations. For most of this bar iron they do not only pay silver, but our friends in the Baltic are so nice, they even expect to be paid all in crown pieces. On the contrary, all the iron they receive from the planta- tions, they pay for it in their own manufactures, and send for it in their own shipping. Then I inquired after his own mines, and hoped, as he was the first that engaged in this great undertaking, that he had brought them to the most perfection. He told me he had iron in several parts of his great tract of land, consisting of 45,000 acres. But that the mine he was at work upon was 13 miles below Germanna. That his ore (which was very rich) he raised a mile from his furnace, and was obliged to cart the iron, when it was made, fifteen miles to Massaponax, a plantation he had upon Rappa- hannock River; but that the road was exceeding good, gently declining all the way, and had no more than one hill to go in the whole journey. For this reason his load- ed carts went it in a day without difficulty. He said it was true his works were of the oldest standing: but that
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his long absence in England, and the wretched manage- ment of Mr. Greame, whom he had entrusted with his affairs, had put him back very much. That, what with neglect and severity, above eighty of his slaves were lost while he was in England, and most of his cattle starved. That his furnace stood still a great part of the time, and all his plantations ran to ruin. That indeed he was rightly served for committing his affairs to the care of a mathematician, whose thoughts were always among the stars. That nevertheless, since his return, he had applied himself to rectify his steward's mistakes, and bring his business again into order. That now he had contrived to do everything with his own people, except raising the mine and running the iron, by which he had contracted his expense very much. Nay, he believed that by his directions he could bring sensible negroes to perform those parts of the works tolerably well. But at the same time he gave me to understand, that his furnace had done no great feats lately, because he had been taken up in building an air furnace at Massaponax, which he had now brought to perfection, and should be thereby able to furnish the whole country with all sorts of cast iron, as cheap and as good as ever came from England. I told him he must do one thing more to have a full vent for those commodities-he must keep a shallop running into all the rivers, to carry his wares home to people's own doors. And if he would do that, I would set a good example, and take off a whole ton of them. Our conversation on this sub- ject continued till dinner, which was both elegant and plentiful. The afternoon was devoted to the ladies, who showed me one of their most beautiful walks. They conducted me through a shady lane to the landing, and by the way made me drink some very fine water that issued from a marble fountain, and ran incessantly. Just behind it was a covered bench, where Miss Theky
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often sat and bewailed her virginity. Then we pro- ceeded to the river which is the south branch of Rappa- hannock, about fifty yards wide, and so rapid that the ferry boat is drawn over by a chain, and therefore called the Rapidan. At night we drank prosperity to all the Colonel's projects in a bowl of rack punch, and then retired to our devotions.
29th. Having employed about two hours in retire- ment, I sallied out at the first summons to breakfast, where our conversation with the ladies, like whip silla- bub, was very pretty, but had nothing in it. This it seems was Miss Theky's birthday, upon which I made her my compliments, and wished she might live twice as long a married woman as she had lived a maid. I did not presume to pry into the secret of her age, nor was she forward to disclose it, for this humble reason, lest I thould think her wisdom fell short of her years. She contrived to make this day of her birth a day of mourning for having nothing better at present to set her affections upon, she had a dog that was a great favorite. It happened that very morning the poor cur had done something very uncleanly upon the Colonel's bed, for which he was condemned to die. However, upon her entreaty, she got him a reprieve; but was so concerned that so much severity should be intended on her birthday, that she was not to be comforted; and lest such another accident might oust the poor cur of his clergy, she protested she would board out her dog at a neighbour's house, where she hoped he would be more kindly treated.
We had a Michaelmas goose fordinner, of Miss Theky's own raising, who was now good natured enough to for- get the jeopardy of her dog. In the afternoon we walked in a meadow by the riverside, which winds in the form of a horse-shoe about Germanna, making it a peninsula, containing about four hundred acres. Rappahannock forks about fourteen miles below this place, the northern
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branch being the larger, and consequently must be the river that bounds my Lord Fairfax's grant of the Northern Neck.
30th. The sun rose clear this morning, and so did I, and finished all my little affairs by breakfast. It was then resolved to wait on the ladies on horseback, since the bright sun, the fine air, and the wholesome exercise, all invited us to it. We forded the river a little above the ferry, and rode six miles up the neck to a fine level piece of rich land, where we found about twenty plants of ginseng, with the scarlet berries growing on the top of the middle stalk. The root of this is of won- derful virtue in many cases, particularly to raise the spirits and promote perspiration, which makes it a specific in colds and coughs. The Colonel complimented me with all we found in return for my telling him the virtues of it. We were all pleased to find so much of this king of plants so near the Colonel's habitation, and growing too upon his own land; but were surprised, however, to find it upon level ground, after we had been told it grew only upon the north side of stony moun- tains. I carried home this treasure with as much joy as if every root had been a graft of the tree of life, and washed and dried it carefully. This airing made us as hungry as so many hawks, so that between appetite and a very good dinner, it was difficult to eat like a philosopher. In the afternoon the ladies walked me about amongst all their little animals, with which they amuse themselves and furnish the table; the worst of it is they are so tender-hearted, they shed a silent tear every time any of them are killed.
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