The 1738 Immigrants to Virginia from Nassau-Siegen

An excerpt from:

Benjamin Clark Holtzclaw (1894-1986). Ancestry and Descendants of the Nassau-Siegen Immigrants to Virginia 1714-1750. Germanna Record; No. 5. Harrisonburg, Virginia: Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia, 1964. Pages 11-13.

A colony of about 50 persons left Freudenberg, in the western part of Nassau-Siegen in March, 1738, to settle in Georgia, and their names were inscribed by the pastor at the end of the Freudenberg Death Register in the church. This colony is described in Dr. Wilhelm's Guethling's history of Freudenberg, published in 1956, and a list of the names is given in the "Siegener Zeitung" of March 16, 1961. Dr. Guethling states (p. 73): "The travelers went down the Rhine to Rotterdam and on to England. On May 8 the emigrants put to sea from Southampton and after a voyage of 134 days [29 September 1738?] reached Savannah in Georgia. When further news meets us, because of the unhealthy climate they had later moved north, where they settled in the place Bethlehem" (i.e., Bethlehem, Pa.). There may be some confusion in the above statement about this colony, with a Moravian colony which went to Georgia in 1735, and moved almost immediately to Bethlehem, Pa. However, it is practically certain that this 1738 colony, too, moved away from Georgia almost at once and joined their fellow-countrymen in North Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. I have corresponded with several experts on the German settlements in Georgia, and they have been able to find no trace there of an permanent settlement of this 1738 colony from Nassau-Siegen, indicating that they followed the example of the 1735 colony. The transitory stay of the Georgia settlers was known to the people at Germantown, Virginia, who in 1743 told the Moravian missionaries, Schnell and Hussey, about a group of very pious people who moved to Georgia with their minister, Mr. Spangenberg, but had not liked the place and had removed to Pennsylvania "to Zinzendorf" (Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 13, pp. 376-8). This probably refers to the 1735 colony of Moravians, but may also have some reference to the 1738 colony from Nassau-Siegen to Georgia. At any rate, the 1738 colony disappeared completely from the Georgia records, and most of them probably moved to Pennsylvania. However, the names of 5 of the 1738 colonists appear only a year or two later among the group from Nassau-Siegen who were settled at the Little Fork in Culpeper Co., Va, making it practically certain that they had not gone on to Pennsylvania, but had stopped in Virginia. Henry Huffman, who was a member of the 1734 group from Nassau-Siegen, was also from the Freudenberg parish, and it may have been due to his influence that these five men settled permanently in Virginia.

The names of the five men were as follows:
(1) Hermann Bach, b. 1708, his wife Anna Margaret Hausmann, b. 1712, and their daughter Anna Ella, b. 1737.
(2) Johann Friedrich Mueller, b. 1711, his wife Anna Maria Arnd, and their son, Matthias, b. 1738.
(3) Hermann Mueller, b. 1716, brother of Johann Friedrich, came over as a bachelor. He later married Elizabeth, daughter of Jacob Holtzclaw, the 1714 immigrant. The Muellers or Millers were descended from Fishbach family.
(4) Georg Weidmann, bachelor, b. 1703, almost certainly identical with George Wayman of the Little Fork group. Weidmann or Wayman was a cousin of Hermann Bach.
(5) Johannes Hofmann of Dirlenbach, bachelor, son of Johannes Hofmann. This John Huffman was probably a cousin of Henry Huffman of the 1734 group. He moved to the Little Fork community and died there, apparently still unmarried, in 1741, Henry Huffman being the administrator of the estate.

The "Siegner Zeitung" gives the list of the 1738 emigrants from Freudenberg and vicinity as follows:

"From Freudenberg: Tillman Seelbach and his wife Anna Berta, his son-in-law and daughter, Gerlach Waffenschmidt and wife Anna Maria, and the latter's four children; Henrich Ernstorff, wife Anna Cathrin, and three children; Hermann Bach, wife Anna Margaret, and one child; Johann Friedrich Mueller, wife Anna Maria and one child; Hymenaeus Creutz and his wife Elisabeth; and the following bachelors: Georg Weidmann, son of Henrich Weidmann, decd.; Tillman Steinseiffer, son of Johann Henrich Steinseiffer, decd.; Johannes Hofmann of Dirlenbach, son of Johannes Hofmann; Johann Henrich Schmidt, son of Christian Schmidt; Johannes Klappert, son of Johann Klappert, former chief justice of the District Court; Tillman Gudelius, son of Christopher Gudelius; and Hermann Mueller, son of Hermman Mueller, associate justice of the District Court.
"From Plittershagen: Johannes Halm, his wife Anna Cathrin and two children.
"From Bueschen: Johann Heinrich Schneider, wife Maria Cathrin and two children; Johann Georg Hirnschal, wife Anna Cathrin and one child, and his father Tillman Hirnschal, who had emigrated before, returned, and was emigrating again.
"From Anstoss: Heinrich Schneider, wife Anna Margaret and two children; Hannah, widow of Johann Schneider, with her son, Johannes Schneider and wife (all born in Hadamar), four children."

Related Information

Books

Title:         Immigrants from Great Britain to the Georgia colony. Morrow, Ga.
                 : Genealogical Enterprises, [1969?]
Description:   27 leaves ; 28 cm.
Notes:         Typescript.
Call numbers:  CSL   Sutro     F289 .G4

Author:        Jones, George Fenwick, 1916-
Title:         The Georgia Dutch : from the Rhine and Danube to the Savannah,
                 1733-1783 / George Fenwick Jones. Athens : University of
                 Georgia Press, c1992.
Description:   xi, 364 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.
Notes:         Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-336) and index.
Call numbers:  UCB  Main       F295.G3 J66 1992

Author:        Jones, George Fenwick, 1916-
Title:         The Germans of Colonial Georgia, 1733-1783 / George F. Jones.
                 Baltimore : Genealogical Pub. Co., 1986.
Description:   xiii, 129 p. ; 23 cm.
Call numbers:  CSL   Sutro     F295.G3 J6 1986

Author:        Urlsperger, Samuel, 1685-1772.
Uniform title: Ausfuhrliche Nachricht von den saltzburgischen Emigranten.
                 English.
Title:         Detailed reports on the Salzburger emigrants who settled in
                 America ... edited by Samuel Urlsperger. Edited with an
                 introd. by George Fenwick Jones. Athens, University of Georgia
                 Press 1968-c1995.
Description:   18 v. in 16 illus., map, col. plan (on lining papers) 25 cm.
Series:        Wormsloe Foundation publications ; no. 9-<12, 14 >.
Notes:         Translation of Ausfuhrliche Nachricht von den saltzburgischen
                 Emigranten, die sich in America niedergelassen haben, which
                 covers the period 1733-Mar. 1751, and Das Americanisches
                 Ackerwerck Gottes which begins with April 1751.
               Vol. 18 translated and edited by George Fenwick Jones and Renate
                 Wilson.
               Vol. 18 has imprint: Camden, Me. : Picton Press.
               Vols. 1-5 issued in series: Publications (Wormsloe Foundation)
               Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Vol 5 covers the year 1738

Title:         Rhineland emigrants : lists of German settlers in colonial
                 America / edited by Don Yoder. Baltimore : Genealogical Pub.
                 Co., 1985, c1981.
Description:   xii, 170 p. : ill. ; 26 cm.
Notes:         Includes indexes.
Call numbers:  UCSD  SSH       E184.G3 R44 1985

Ships arriving in Philadelphia

Philadelphia passenger ship lists.

1738 Jul 27.  The Catharine
1738 Sep  5.  The Winter Galley   Edw. Payntor, master; chartered by Hope firm; cleared at Deal
1738 Sep  9.  The Glasgow
1738 Sep  9.  The snow "Two Sisters"
1738 Sep 11.  The Robert & Alice
1738 Sep 16.  The Queen Elizabeth
1738 Sep 19.  The Thistle    John Wilson, Commander from Rotterdam via ?
1738 Sep 20.  The Friendship
1738 Sep 20.  The Nancy
1738 Oct 12.  The snow "Fox," Captain Charles Ware
1738 Oct 25.  The Davy
1738 Oct 27.  The brigantine "St. Andrew," 200 ton (previously "Pennsylvania Merchant")
1738 Oct 28.  The Thistle
1738 Oct 30.  The Elizabeth
1738 Nov  9.  The Charming Nancy
1738 Dec  6.  The Enterprise

Ships arriving in New York

1738 Oct 12  The pink "Amsterdam,"  Captain Joseph Willson, "upwards of 300 Palatines"
1738 Oct 13  The "Andrew Galley," Captain Christoph Ratsey
   or is it
             The "Anne Galley," Captain Christopher Ratsey
1738 Dec 27  The "Princess Augusta", Captain Andrew Brooks,
             destination New York wrecked at Block Island, Rhode Island

Ships arriving in Virginia

1738 Aug 23.  The Walpole, Whitehaven to Belle Haven; James Patton settlement in August, VA
1739          The bilander "Oliver,"  Captain William Wright (died in passage)
              destination James River, Virginia wrecked in Lynnhaven Bay, Virginia

Ships arriving in Georgia

1738 Sep 29.  The Union Galley
1738 Oct  7.  The Two Brothers, 150 ton

Ryan Stansifer <ryan@cs.fit.edu>
Last modified: Fri Dec 16 11:03:33 EST 2005