From the Siegerland to Germanna: Trupbach’s Virginia Emigrants 1712-1734

In 1712, a group of German miners and smelters from the Siegerland set out with their families to help sett­ ing up iron ore processing in North America. A total of 42 people, 21 of them from Trupbach, reached the then English province of Virginia in April 1714 and founded the Germanna colony. These Siegerland experts in iron production had decided to emigrate because the living conditions in the Siegerland were at a historical low point and the barren soil of the Siegerland could hardly feed the growing population … This book describes the early emigrants’ origins, since they formed the largest contingent of the emi­ grants. Accompanied by lots of pictures from now and then, it is intended to give the descendants of these emigrants, who are now living in the USA, an over­ view on how people lived in the Siegerland in the past and what made them decide to leave everything be­ hind