USA > Virginia > History of the German element in Virginia, Vol I > Part 7
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Some dark shadows fall upon the glorious early history of the German colony in Madison county. Rev. Stoever had been very successful in the money collecting in the old Father- land, and after the erection of the "Hopeful Evangelic Luth- eran Church," etc., a considerable surplus was left, which was invested in the purchase of 700 acres of land and a number of slaves. This is one of the rare cases, wherein Germans de- parted from their dislike of the institution of slavery. - Soon after confessional differences displaced harmony. Count Zin- sendorf, the head of the Herrenhuters (Moravians), came to Virginia and he tried to convert the Lutherans and Reformists. Some members of the Hebron-congregation commenced to waver and Rev. Stoever was obliged to defend his young parish with
72 ) "History of the Valley of Virginia," by Samuel Kercheval, p 260 Va., 1850 .
Woodstock,
energy. Some wandering preachers like Kurz, Goering and others caused similar disturbances, and from 1740 to 1796 the "infamous" Karl Rudolph, as Rev. H. M. Muehlenberg73) called him, persuaded members of the churches at Madison and Germanna to join the Baptists. A community of Dun- kards (Tunker) was organized by the side of the Lutheran, but in 1780 they emigrated to Pennsylvania under the leadership of their preacher, Johannes Tanner. It is doubtful if Tanner was the correct name of the man. Some believe74) that his real name was Danner or Gerber.
These disturbances induced Rev. Stoever to look for sup- port and by his influence the German Lutheran communities, which had been organized successively at Fredericksburg, New Market, Strasburgh, Winchester, Woodstock, etc., joined the "Lutheran Synod of Pennsylvania."
The Hebron church in Madison still exists and possesses antique, sacred vessels, which it received from friends in Ger- many,-but the greatest ornament and the pride of the church is the German organ, imported a hundred years ago and trans- ported from Philadelphia to Madison on ox-drays.
Rev. Wm. Zimmermann anglicized this old German church and translated and changed also his own German name to "Carpenter." However a loving and proud remembrance of their German origin still exists among the members of the Hebron community, but the use of the German language has died out. He, who at the present time attends the service in the old Lutheran church, will meet there the descendants of the brave pioneers who immigrated into this Virginia wilderness nearly 200 years ago. Most of these German-Virginians are wealthy and highly respected people. Several of them have held the highest offices in the county and have represented it in the Legislature.
About the middle of the eighteenth century many Ger- mans settled in Orange, Culpepper, Rappahannocauquier, Loudon, Prince William, Page, Green, Albemarle, and Louisa Among the many German emigrants, who came to counties.
73 ) Compare : "Hallesche Nachrichten," p. 264.
74 ) Compare : "Deutscher Pionier," No. 12, p. 68.
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America in the early period of the eighteenth century, were Andrew Waggener with his five brothers. 75) Edward with another brother settled in the present county of Culpepper in 1750. They joined Col. Washington as volunteers in his ex- pedition against Fort Du Quesne in 1754 and marched with the First Virginia Regiment to the fatal scene of Braddock's defeat, where Edward fell among the dead. Andrew again took part in defence of the frontier against the Indians, was commissioned Captain and placed in command of Fort Pleas- ant. In 1765 he purchased land at Bunker's Hill, then in Frederick, now in Berkeley county, where he dwelled until the outbreak of the Revolution, when he once more entered the army and served to the end of the war. He bore a ma- jor's commission and was in the battles of Valley Forge, Princeton, Trenton, and Yorktown. Major Waggener was a personal friend of General Washington and a frequent guest of the first President.
It is an erroneous though commonly current belief that the above named counties are of exclusive English constitution. The names of German settlers and of their homes have been frequently changed, their origin has been forgotten and the Germans now living in the State know very little about it and often admire as the result of English "smartness" what has often been the fruit of German labor. This may be illustrated by the following.
In 1886 the author bought his farm in the north-west corner of Louisa county, adjoining Albemarle and Orange counties-and in former years and particularly during the late war, he had noticed many traces of German life in this sec- tion of Virginia. The name of the real estate agent who sold him the farm was Yaeger (Jaeger), one of his nearest neigh- bours, named Crittenberger, was a descendant of a Hessian taken prisoner in the War of Independence, his butcher calls himself Schlosser, his provision dealer Scholz, his dry goods mer- chants Baer and Marcus, etc., and it was therefore but natural to conjecture, that Germans had already participated in the first settlement of these counties. To ascertain the facts he went to the county seat Louisa and asked the county clerk,
75.) "History of West Virginia," by Virgil A. Lewis, pp. 499 and 500. Philadelphia, Pa. 1889.
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Mr. Porter : "Do you know if any Germans have been among the earliest settlers?" - The clerk, with a smile and some emphasis, replied : "No Sir, - Louisa county is an entirely English county." - Upon the writer's request Mr. Porter showed him the Land Registers and he himself opened the oldest volume, beginning with the year 1742. After .looking with surprise at the peculiar law style of the writing, the official remarked : "D ..... if that don't look Dutch !"- The first county clerk, an Englishman, was no penman, as his un- cultivated signature denotes - and very likely he employed a German assistant to do the writing. Among the first entries in the Register are the following German names, besides many of uncertain origin : I. Boesick, Robert Hesler, F. Hehler, Benj. Arndt, Armistead, (Armstaedt), Flemming, Kohler, No- ack, Brockman, Buckner, Starke, Spiller, etc., and in several cases "Fredericksville Parish" was mentioned as their place of residence. "Where is Fredericksville Parish located ?" in- quired the writer of the clerk - and after a little hesitation he was told: "That was a German settlement in your part of the county."
This occurrence and the fact that some German villages were founded in Louisa during the present century, about which some later chapter will report, illustrates how little is known about the true history of Virginia. No one will dis- pute that the Old Dominion is of English foundation, but it must be credited that German toil has materially assisted to make it vital and prosperous. The Germans themselves are to blame, if they are not duly credited for the part their ances- tors took in the furtherance of this English colony. Many disowned their German nationality and claimed English or Scotch parentage, expecting to improve their social recogni- tion thereby. This deplorable trait of character of many Ger- man immigrants has since disappeared, owing to the ascend- ance to a powerful united German empire, gaining the respect of all other nations, - but before 1870 it clouded the history of German emigration in Virginia and elsewhere .- The names of some of the oldest families in Fluvanna, Goochland, Pow- hatan, and Hannover, - although the English and French
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elements dominate in these counties, - indicate that Germans belonged to the first settlers.
In the year 1733 Col. Wm. Byrd from Westover founded the cities of Richmond and Petersburg. In his diary76) he reports, in his quaint manner : "When we returned home we laid the foundation of two large cities, one at Shacco's to be called Richmond and the other at the falls of the Appomatox river to be named Petersburg. These Major Mayo offered to lay out into lots without fee or reward. The truth of it is, these two places being the uppermost landing of James and Appomattox rivers, are naturally intented for marts where the traffic of the outer inhabitants must centre. Thus we did not only built castles, but also cities in the air."- Peter Jones 7 7) was one of the associate founders-and to him, as the proprie- tor of the land, Petersburg is indebted for its name. In the year 1742 the Assembly of Virginia passed "an act establish- ing 'the town of Richmond' and in 1769 the town of 'Man- chester.'' It is not known who built the first house in the State Capital, but different statements agree that the first sale of land by Col. Byrd was to a German and that the oldest building in the city: "the old stone house on Main street," still standing, was built by a German about 1737. Capt. Wm. Byrd, the son of Col. Byrd, sold the respective lot to Samuel Scherer, who afterwards deeded it to Jacob Ege, - and the property remained in the possession of this German family until a few years ago. - Another report is presented in "The Richmond Dispatch" of January 12th, 1896, as follows: "The 'Stone House' is, without doubt, the oldest building in Rich- mond, and its erection probably antedates the laying out of the town.
"In 1737 the half-acre lot No. 32, fronting on Main be- tween what are now Nineteenth and Twentieth streets, was conveyed by deed from William Byrd and wife to Samuel Ege, and from the amount of the consideration mentioned in the deed, it is presumed there were improvements then on the
76.) "The Westover Manuscript," Petersburg, Va, printed by Edmont & Julian Ruffin, 1841.
77.) "Richmond in By-gone-days," p. 14, - reminiscences of an old citizen, - Rich- mond, Va., 1856.
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lot. It is very probable that the. Stone House had been stand- ing on this lot long before the date of this deed. - - - It is reasonable to conjecture that Fort Charles was located on the present site of the old Stone House, and that the stones of the fort were used by Colonel Byrd in the construction of the house used as his quarters. If this be so, the old Stone House may be said to have existed in some shape for about 250 years."
"In 1687 Colonel Byrd patented 956 acres of land on the north side of James river, between Shockoe creek and Gillie's creek, the same land which was afterwards laid out as the town of Richmond. The quarters of Colonel Byrd were doubt- less upon this land, and were probably near the fort."
This statement differs in several points with that first men- tioned,-but both agree: that the property came in the possession of the German family: Ege, at the time of the foundation of Richmond. - In 1782 Richmond numbered 1,031 inhabitants, of whom 563 were whites, - but it cannot be ascertained how many were Germans. - The oldest land records of the city of Petersburg in Dinwiddie county date back to 1784, and among the first entries from 1784 to 1786 sales to the following Ger- mans are recorded : W. Steger, A. Grammer (county clerk,) Fritz Ott, Edw. Stoller, Lewis Starke, Th. Walke, Ch. Seder, Henry Sadler, Joseph Weisiger, Dr. Balmann, John Fischer, Wm. Stab- ler, Robt. Massenburg, Rich. Gregory, V. Maick, W. Maynard, W. Steinbeck, Daniel Fisher, Frederick Adler, Th. Matthes, etc.
It is claimed also that the first owner of the land, upon which the city of Lynchburg in Campbell county was built, was a German Quaker and that from him John Lynch, an Irishman, in whose honor the city received its name, bought the property.
In order to complete the historical reports the following is here placed, although it does not refer to Middle Virginia, but to the Tide-water district.
The cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth, situated on the western and eastern shores of Elizabeth river, were founded in the beginning of the eighteenth century. There is no doubt but that the German element was represented at both places at this early period. French Huguenots and German Reformists
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arrived and settled in Norfolk county during and after the reign of Queen Anne,-and several transports of. Germans from the Pa- latinate were landed at Hampton roads. Some of these immi- grants stayed in the coast district-and others, as Hugh Jones confirms, penetrated into the interior to the neighborhood of the Blue Ridge. In 1705 Norfolk was recognized as a town and Portsmouth in 1752. German merchants prospered in both places, which count to the best harbors on the Atlantic coast, - and they kept pace with the development of commerce to the present day.
The founders of Smithfield, in the county "Isle of Wight," were Germans. In 1772 they built a Lutheran church, which was continued until 1836, - and it has lately been restored and consecrated.
From 1735 to 1740 another German Swiss immigration from North and South Carolina, Georgia and Switzerland, settled along the southern line of Virginia, on Dan and Roanoke rivers, in the counties of Pittsylvania, Halifax and Mecklenburg. A small book78), probably printed at Basel in Switzerland in 1737, shows that some speculative, unscrupulous Swiss had induced hundreds of their countrymen, especially from the cantons Bern, Appenzell and Neuenburg, to emigrate and settle in unwhole- some, sterile sections of Georgia and the Carolinas. The book describes the mean deception and sufferings of the unfortunates and it invites them to come to Virginia. It appears that the "Helvetische Societaet" had purchased 30,060 acres of land, lo- cated in a curve of the Roanoke river under 36° 30' north lati- tude and 78° 15' west longitude, and it gives a highly colored description of the "Eden," thereby arousing suspicion : that this enterprise was also of a speculative kind. The aforementioned district enjoys the fertility, climate and other conditions neces- sary to the highest development and invited immigration. In- formation concerning the number of Swiss settlers near the Roa- noke is no longer accessible, but a statement made in the book is · of interest: "that there gained considerable wealth in a short
78 ) "Neu gefundenes Eden, oder ausfuehrlicher Bericht von Sued und Nord Caro- lina, Pennsylvania, Maryland und Virginia." - In Truck verfertigt durch Befelch der Helvetischen Societaet 1737. - Republished in "Der Westen," Chicago, Ills , November 6th, 1892, to January 29th, 1893.
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time a few Swiss and some Frenchmen - by cultivating hemp and flax." - Col. Byrd, in his "Journey to the land of Eden," on Roanoke river79), confirms what has been said of the charac- ter of the land. - It is also confirmed by the publication of the Helvetian Society : "that many French Reformists, respectively people from Alsace and Loraine (now : die Reichslande), owned large plantations along James river, particularly above the James- river-falls (Powhatan and Goochland counties), who had left France fugitive on account of their religious faith."
79 ) "Richmond in By-gone days," p. 52 Richmond, Va , 1856
CHAPTER VI.
SETTLEMENT OF THE NORTH WESTERN MOUNTAIN REGION OF VIRGINIA BY GERMANS AND
GERMAN-PENNSYLVANIANS.
BOUT two decades after the foundation of the German settlements on the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers, a large emigration of Germans to the north western mountainous region of Virginia began, and it soon spread from the Maryland line to the Ohio river into the present States of Kentucky, and Tennessee and North Carolina. However, the main limit was the beautiful and fertile Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.
Tradition has it80) that a man by name John Van Matre, a Dutchman from the Hudson, was the first white man who traversed the South Branch Valley, the Wappatomica of the Indians. He was an Indian trader and made his headquarters with the Delawares, whence he journeyed far to the south to trade with the Cherokees and Catawbas. On his return to New York he advised his sons, if ever they should remove to Virginia, to secure lands on the South Branch, being the best he had seen in all his travels. Acting upon this advice Isaac Van Matre, one of his sons, visited the frontier of Virginia about the year 1727, and he was so much pleased with the lands described by his father, that in 1730 he and his brother John accepted from Governor Gooch a patent for 40,000 acres, which they located and surveyed the same year.81) But the Van Matre's did not undertake to cultivate their large territory.
80 ) "History of the Valley of Virginia," by S. Kercheval, page 46. Woodstock, Va.
81 ) "History of West Virginia," by Virgil A Lewis, page 59. Philadelphia, Pa , 1889.
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The greater part of the valley between the Blue Ridge and the little North Mountain has an extension of 45 miles from the Potomac, it was a blooming prairie, with the exception of some narrow fringes of timber bordering the creeks and rivers abounding in fish. Game was abundant : buffaloes, elks, deer, the bear, panther, wolves, foxes, beaver and wild fowl. It was, in fact, a tract of land inviting settlers, and the most exag- gerated reports concerning it were circulated in Pennsylvania. Still the German farmers in Pennsylvania would not have given up their homes in exchange for it, had not different circum- stances made them untenable; especially the frequent raids of the Indians in revenge of encroachments on part of the Eng- lish. They devastated the German settlements and forced the farmers to re-emigrate. In Rupp's collection of more than 30,000 names of immigrants in Pennsylvania, it is reported, that on May 10th, 1728, the settlers in Colebrook Valley in Pennsylvania petitioned Governor Gordon to protect them against the inroads of the Indians, who had already attacked the set- tlements near Falkner's Swamp and Goschenhoppen. But no help was granted, and the disappointment of the German farm- ers was intensified by religious intolerance and various oppres- sions on part of the English. The laws of Pennsylvania prom- ised religious freedom, and adherents of almost every sect and confession were settled there : Quakers, Mennonites, Dunkards, Moravians, Lutherans, Calvinites, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Inspireds, etc. The result of such a number of heterogeneous elements was jealousy and mutual hatred. The German settlers suffered the most, and the desire arose in their hearts : to live in a country where they might worship the Lord unmolested in con- formity with their conviction. They hoped to find such a place in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.
Justus Heid or Joist Hite, as his name is spelled in English documents, was one of the subscribers to the above mentioned petition to the Governor of Pennsylvania, and becoming highly disgusted by the indifference of the government, he gave rise to the first immigration of Pennsylvania-Germans to Virginia. He purchased a portion of the lands of the Van Matres in 1732, and he with his family, his sons-in-law: George Bowman, Jacob Chrisman and Paul Froman with their families, and W. Duff,
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Peter Stephan or Stephens with others,-in all sixteen families,- left York, Pa., crossed the Potomac, the "Cohongoruta" of the Indians, two miles above the present site of Harper's Ferry, and thence proceeding up the valley they halted near where Win- chester now stands. To Joist Hite therefore belongs the honor of having planted first the standard of civilization in the moun- tain region of Virginia. The Governor of Virginia confirmed his purchase of land, which afterwards was well known as "Joist Hite Grant," on account of a lawsuit which Lord Fairfax entered against Joist Hite and which continued in the courts for a period of fifty years.
Hite settled on Opequon, about five miles south of Win- chester. Peter Stephens and some others founded Stephans- burg or Stephensburg; George Bowman i. e. Baumann, made his home on Cedar Creek ; Jacob Chrisman i. e. Christmann, located near what has ever since been known as Chrisman's Spring, about two miles south of Stephensburg, and Paul Fro- man i. e. Frohmann, built his dwelling in Froman's Run, which derives its name from him. Within the next two years the following German pioneers arrived : Robert Harper, from whom Harper's Ferry derived its name; Thomas Schaefer viz. Shepherd, the founder of Shepherdstown ; Thomas Swearinger, James Foreman, Edw. Lucas, Jacob Hite and others. The his- torian Kercheval reports, that the first settlers of Winchester, in Frederick county, were Germans, but that in the year 1738 only two cabins had been erected. This statement appears to be contradicted by Klauprecht, the historian of the Ohio val- ley : he states that only two years later, in 1740, two German inhabitants of Winchester, named Thomas Mehrlin and John Salling, started on a bold trading-trip into the Indian country, and from this may be judged that Winchester was at that time a small village. Col. John Hite82) in 1753, a son of Justus Heid and distinguished by his bravery during the In - dian war, built near Winchester a house of limestone, which was at that time considered to be the most elegant residence west of the Blue Ridge, and still stands, preserved in good condition.
82.) "Lord Fairfax von Virginien," historische Skizze von Andreas Simon in "Der Westen," Chicago, 1892.
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The Hite family soon gained high respect and compromised close relationship with the most respected Anglo-Americans. The widow of Jacob Hite, for example, was a sister of Col. J. Madison of Orange county, and the aunt of James Madison, Pres- ident of the United States.
Quite a large number of Quakers or Friends settled on Opequon and held regular meetings here as early as 1738. Kercheval reports: "An enterprising Quaker by name of Ross, obtained a warrant for surveying 40,000 acres of land along Opequon, north of Winchester and up to Apple-pie-ridge," and their numbers constantly increased.
German settlements were also established in the upper valley. In 1733 Jacob Stauffer or Stover, an enterprising Ger- man, as Kercheval calls him, received a land grant of 5000 acres on the south branch of the Gerando or Shenandoah river. Tradition says that in order not to forfeit his claim, Stauffer represented every animal that he possessed as a settler and as the head of a family, giving a name to each of them. On his land he laid out Staufferstadt, afterwards renamed through the influence of two inhabitants born in Alsace, Anton and Philip Mueller : Strasburgh. - Shenandoah and Rockingham coun- ties were prematurely settled by Germans from Pennsylvania, who were joined by trans-atlantic immigrants83) of the same nationality. They adhered to their vernacular dialect and sim- plicity of manners, still retained in some families. In the coun- ties of Warren, Page, and Augusta the German element was also largely represented from the beginning. Prof. M. F. Maury of the Virginia Military Institute says84): "This county, Augusta, as well as Rockingham, Shenandoah and Frederick, was settled up in a great measure by Germans, and the popu- lation has retained its German character." - One of the first settlers of Page county was a German named Ruffner, whose descendants will be mentioned repeatedly in this history. Dr. W. H. Ruffner, who was the first State School Superintendent
83.) "Virginia : Her Past, Present and Future," by Samuel M. Janney. Rep. of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1864, page 27. Washington, 1865.
84 ) "Physical Survey of Virginia," by Prof. M F. Maury, page 121. Richmond, Va., 1878.
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of Virginia and his son A. H. Ruffner at Lexington, Va., in- formed the author: "That the first Ruffner came to Virginia a hundred and fifty years ago and owned a large tract of land on the Hawksbill creek, near Luray. According to the family history he was the son of a German baron who lived in Han- over." The name of this pioneer is commemorated in "Ruff- ner's Cave," in close neighborhood to the famous Luray Cave .- Wm. Millars founded a settlement on South Fork, above Front Royal, in Warren county. Many other German pioneers found homes, in the Valley, as the Schmuckers from Michelstadt in the Odenwald, Jaeckly, Jung, Bender, F. Huber, Becker (changed to Baker), Westerhoefer, Kunz, Sauer (changed to Sower), von Weber; Casselmann, Hott, Fink, Funkhauser, Moler, Weier (Bernhard Weier or Wyer, a hunter, discovered in 1804 the beautiful Wyer's Cave), and the Koiners from Winterlingen in Wuertemberg. "Koiner's Church " is the oldest Lutheran meeting house in the valley and was built by Kaspar Koiner (originally Keinadt or Kunath), Martin Busch and Jacob Bar- ger (Berger). Michael Koinath and his wife, Margarethe, né Diller, are the ancestors of the well-known Koiner family in America and both are buried in the little grave-yard at Koin- er's church. £ Some of their descendants settled in Augusta county and several of them attained high honors in civil service and in times of war. The name Keinadt or Kunath has been anglicized in many different ways,-there are in Vir- ginia : Koiner, Koyner, Coyner, Coiner, Kiner, Cuyner and Cyner. This disfiguration of German names makes it very difficult to prove the German origin of many families. In Frederick county, for instance, the Kloess family was settled, that changed the name to Glaize, and Peter Kuntz of Win- chester called himself Coontz.
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