The Second Colony Story
They wanted a better life. In July, 1717, 25 or more German families left their homes in southwest Germany to travel down the Rhine to Rotterdam, where they found a ship to London. In London, they arranged to travel with other Germans to Pennsylvania. But the journey did not turn out the way they planned….
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Second Colony Family Names
Were your German ancestors among the brave band of Virginia colonists who lived on the very edge of civilization in the early part of the 18th century?
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Hebron Lutheran Church
Isolated and alone in Anglican colonial Virginia, the Second Colony families, bound together by their common travails, in 1740 built a Lutheran Church in the wilderness. The congregation later played an important role in the election of James Madison to Congress. The church still stands today in Madison County, Virginia, a memorial to the courage and tenacity of our German ancestors of the Second Colony. It is the oldest continually operating Lutheran Church in the United States.
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Research and Resources
Where to go for more information about the Germanna Second Colony: websites and books.
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Germanna Yagers
The Yagers were different. They did not travel from the Baden-Württemburg area as their fellow travelers did, but rather, from a mountain in Pfalz. Find out more about our ancestor Nicholas Yager and his son Adam.
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