The German Protestants who came in 1714 were, in fact, the “First Settlers” of Orange County, Virginia, then a part of Essex, afterward of Spotsylvania.*
Three German colonies came to Virginia during Governor Spotswood’s administration and settled at or near Germanna.
The first colonists consisted of twelve families, numbering forty-two persons, as shown by the order of the Virginia Council passed on April 28, 1714, which provided that a fort should be built, two cannons furnished, and a road cleared to the settlement.
https://yesterday.substack.com/p/first-virginiapioneers-from-germany
