The signature of Johan Paulus Vogt

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Germanna

John Paul Vaught and his family may have been the first of our family in Virginia, but they were not the first Germans. The Colony of Germanna was truly in the wilderness (at it's start) in 1714. By the time John Paul Vaught and his family arrived in the area in 1735, the colony had expanded with and moved more towards the area where the Vaught's settled. This leads me to believe that Germanna had a pretty large influence in our ancestors daily lives.

The following site is the official web presence of Germanna today and it is fantastic. I highly recommend checking it out---maybe not for direct information on our family, but definitely for some very relevant background information on daily life in the area of Virginia where the Vaught's lived.

History of Germanna The memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia Inc.

Germanna casts a long shadow over 18th Century Virginia. John Paul Vaught and his family no doubt had fairly close ties to this group starting in 1735 when they moved to the Orange County homestead. Indeed, before the family moved west to the Great Shenandoah Valley in 1744, their youngest daughter Maria Catherina married one Christohper Moyers, son of George Moyer (aka Jurgen Majer) who with his family settled the second Germanna colony in 1717.

At the bottom of the above link, there is a reference to the Hebron Lutheran Church being built (just a few miles southeast of John Paul Vaught's land) in 1740. Maria Catherina (Vaught) Moyers was a communicant at the church with her husband until 1792 (Christopher until 1790).

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