The German-American Heritage Society of Greater Washington, D.C.
Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
Waren Deutsche auch dabei?
Although Williamsburg, the 18th century capital of Virginia, is basically British,
there are a few German connections. For one thing, it wouldn't exist in its
present resurrected form without John D. Rockefeller, Jr., whose ancestors
spelled their name Roggenfelder.
A street named after the German Duchy of Nassau crosses Duke of Gloucester
(or Main) Street between Palace Street and the College of William and Mary.
Williamsburg was named after King William III of England, who was of the German
House of Nassau. In the Governor's Palace hang the larger-than-life portraits of
King George III of the House of Hannoverand of his wife Queen Charlotte of
Mecklenburg-Strelitz. (It was she, incidentally, who introduced the Christmas
tree to Great Britain.) The coat of arms of the royal family with the German motto
"Ich Dien" greets the visitor to the Palace Hall.
One of the first descriptions of the buildings, the daily life and the leading
personalities of Williamsburg was written in 1703 by the Swiss German Frantz
Ludwig Michel as Kurze Americanische Reißbeschreibung (Robert A. Selig,
"Wilhelmsburg: Frantz Ludwig Michel came 'to seek out unknown things' and
found much to write about--and illustrate--in Virginia's new capital," in Colonial
Williamsburg, Summer 1998, pp. 23-31).
The men and women from Nassau-Siegen who established the first German
settlement in Virginia at Germanna on the Rapidan arrived in Williamsburg
in the spring of 1714.
The first paper mill in Virginia, which supplied paper to the Virginia Gazette, the
first newspaper in the Colony, was built in 1744 just outside Williamsburg by
Johann Conrad Scheetz [Schütz] of Pennsylvania. The remnants of the Paper
Mill Dam may still be seen today along the Colonial Parkway.
A model of the American Longrifle that played such an important role in the
hands of American Revolutionary soldiers and pioneers is on display in the
Wallace De Witt Gallery. This famous rifle "was first produced in America
during the 1730's by gunsmiths of Germanic descent," state the curators.
"From1730 to 1770, an American-style rifle evolved in Pennsylvania, Maryland
and the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The pre-Revolutionary rifles that
survive indicate that they developed from the German hunting rifle." A
model may also be seen in the Gunsmith's Shop at the corner of Francis and
Blair Streets.
Three members of the House of Burgesses that met in the Capitol at
Williamsburg were descendants of Justus or Jost Heidt or Heide, who had
led German settlers from Pennsylvania into the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia
in 1732. Abraham Hite, Jost's fourth son, represented Hampshire County in the
House of Burgesses; he was a captain in the 8th Virginia (German) Regiment
during the Revolutionary War. Thomas Hite represented Berkeley County from
1772-74, and John Hite the same county in 1775.
Major Isaac Hite, Jr. (1758-1836), a grandson of Jost and the builder of Belle
Grove near Middletown, VA, graduated from the College of William and Mary;
he was one of the first members of the Phi Beta Kappa Society founded in
Williamsburg in 1776. During the Revolutionary War he was an aide to General
Johann Gabriel Peter Muehlenberg (1746-1807). Isaac married James
Madison's sister Nelly.
The first American troops to march into Williamsburg in preparation for the
decisive Battle of Yorktown were the battle-hardened veterans of the
Pennsylvania Line. Many of them were of German extraction. They were
quartered behind the College of William and Mary.
Before and after the nearby Battle of Yorktown, many American and French
troops were quartered in Williamsburg. (Dr. Robert Selig, contributing editor
of German Life, estimates that about one third of the "French" troops were
German speakers.) General Muehlenberg commanded three Virginia regiments
during this battle, including the German 8th Virginia. General Friedrich von
Steuben, who trained and commanded American troops during the Battle of
Yorktown, stayed at the Kings Arms Tavern on Duke of Gloucester Street; he is
said to have run up an unpaid bill of 300 Spanish dollars, partly for feting his
fellow officers, a duty of a general officer. (No doubt he was paid in Continentals,
which the tavern keeper would not accept.)
A few of the German soldiers in the French service who died in Williamsburg
after the Battle of Yorktown are included in the commemoration of French soldiers
in a large marble memorial on the walls of the Wren Building; they were members
of the Regiment Royal Allemand de Deux-Ponts--Königliches deutschesRegiment
Zweibrücken. This tablet in the original building of the College of William and Mary
was dedicated by Marshall Petain.
The Christmas tree was introduced to Williamsburg in 1842 by Karl Minnigerode
(1814-1894) of Arensberg in Westphalia. He studied jurisprudence at the University
of Giesen. He took part in the movement to establish a democratic Germany in the
1830's and was imprisoned for several years. In 1839 he immigrated to America, and
in 1842 he became professor of classical literature at the College of William and Mary.
He decorated a tree as it was done in his homeland for the children of his fellow
professor Nathaniel Beverley Tucker in their home on Market Square. The house--or
rather five connected structures--is still standing on Nicholson Street facing Market
Square (adjacent to the Palace Green). It is called today the St. George Tucker
House, after the father of Nathaniel, a noted jurist and professor of law at the College.
The building serves today as the reception center for Colonial Williamsburg donors.
The Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Collection exhibits some German-American folk
art including decorated Taufscheine or baptismal certificates and the painting, "Baby
in Red Chair." It also has a large collection of German toys, which are usually shown
around Christmas time. The Folk Art Collection is located on South England Street
across from the Williamsburg Lodge.
By Gary C. Grassl