Kathleen,

This morning I looked up the Gemmingen "Departure List" on pages 24-25 of the Gemmigen Death Register. Your Nicholas Hammler and his family are listed along with those families that left Gemmingen on 12 July 1717 and ended up at Germanna however it notes the Hammler family left three months earlier.

Those Germans that ended up as part of the Second (1717) Germanna Colony reported that they had contracted with a ship's captain to be brought to Pennsylvania. During a layover in London he was thrown into prison for debt so the Germans were forced to spend some of their own money for additional provisions. Once he was finally free, the captain sailed the Germans to Virginia instead of the agreed upon destination of Pennsylvania and sold them to Alexander Spotswood as indentured servants claiming they had not paid the full passage.

Once their indenture was over, most of this group moved to present Madison Co, VA.

Another German family, the Raüser/Racer/Rasor family, lived in Sussex Co, NJ in the 1750s and 1760s before moving to present Madison Co, VA. In VA this family joined the Hebron Lutheran Church in present Madison Co. This church was built by the Second Germanna Colonists, the current building erected in 1740 but there was a log chapel (no longer in existence) prior to that date.

I wonder if your Hammler family had any communication with their Gemmingen acquaintances once all were in the Colonies or word through relatives and friends back in Germany. It would be so interesting to know!

Thanks for sharing! Cathi

PS I'm a Cathleen too. :>)