There is a good short discussion of these issues in John K. Nelson, A BLESSED COMPANY: PARISHES, PARSONS, AND PARISHIONERS IN ANGLICAN VIRGINIA: 1690-1776.
In summary:
In the early decades of the 18th century, elite Virginians faced two competing goals: on the one hand, they wished to promote economic development in the colony, and sought to recruit German Protestants to settle in the Virginia piedmont; on the other hand, they also wished to promote development of a stable, properly ordered society in the colony, and in part for this purpose, laid out Church of England parishes that served a crucial role in local government. They resolved this tension by granting particular communities of German Protestants temporary exemption from parish levies.
Thus, for example, Nelson notes "Foreign Protestants in Spotsylvania and Brunswick Counties who were able to secure and willing to support a minister of their own persuasion were granted a ten-year exemption from parish levies [in 1720]." (Nelson, p. 283) Nelson mentions several such exemptions--each apparently negotiated on a congregation by congregation basis. He also notes, however, that "the evidence is unclear whether they took advantage of this exemption," and he implies that in most cases, these congregations eventually were "brought within the Anglican parish system." (ibid.)
Nelson is frustratingly vague on the expanding German Protestant settlements in the Valley after 1730. Understandably, he is more concerned in his book with the evangelical revivals among New Light Presbyterians in the 1740s and 1750s, and later the Baptists in the 1760s and 1770s.
Two people you might wish to get in touch with. Stephen Longenecker, Chair, Department of History and Political Science, Bridgewater College, is a specialist in the religious history of the Virginia German immigration. Charles Irons, a professor of History at Elon College, North Carolina, has conducted extensive research on the late 19th century evangelical revivals in late 18th century Virginia. You should be able to locate contact information for both easily enough.
I hope this is helpful!
All best,
Kevin
Kevin R. Hardwick, Ph.D.
Department of History
James Madison University
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