John Moses Vest was born in Warendorfer Landkreis, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany in 1650.

What many people don’t realize was that Europe had been struggling with wars, class issues and many people who did not have ample methods of staying fed or advancing into society.

Over 95 percent of the people in the many countries were considered lower middle to low class and they were struggling to make a life for themselves.  The new world “United States Colonies” was a means to the end for some people.  While most were farmers, many occupations would come to the new world seeking fortune only to find areas needing to be settled and a lot of hard work ahead of them.

There were four reasons people would come to the new world.  One was for fortune and fame, the second was due to being a criminal, third was due to indentured service and the remaining reason was for religious freedom.  Criminals were given a choice to die or to be sent to the states for a new life.

The major European countries sending Colonists were England, France, Spain and the Dutch and Germany, who followed closely with the Dutch.

John Moses Vest is my seventh great grandfather and he came to the states before 1679, where his son John Valetine Vest was born in Chesterfield, Virginia 1679.  John Valentine Vest would marry Elizabeth Hope (Ray) Vest in 1705 in Virginia and will be topic of additional blogging in the near future.

There is not a lot of information about my great grand father Moses but history shows that a large contingent of German settlers who were sick of war and the lack of ability to farm or achieve success at home came to the Chesterfield area to farm.  Since ocean voyage was more for hearty travelers, young Moses would have come to Virginia in his early twenties.

Moses would marry Elizabeth Inu, who was a native Virginian and was was born in 1640.  After the birth of their son, John they would move to the Jamestown area and live.  Jamestown is the oldest English settlement that was founded in 1607.  Many people are not aware but of the 104 settlers to come and establish the settlement, only 35 would make it through the first winter.  Many scholars believe the people were not prepared for the harsh winter and were spending their time looking for ways to make money.  The lack of focus created low food stores and poor housing that led to the demise of unwary settlers.

When Moses and Elizabeth came to the area, it was almost a 100 years after that first poor start.  By then Jamestown was better established and the mistakes of the past were gone.

Elizabeth would pass way in 1710 and Moses would pass away in 1735 and both were living and buried in Jamestown, Virginia.

Originally posted 2018-02-04 00:17:23.