John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes
Note 1
Though the Germanna Colonies are often said to have started in 1713, the history commences many
years earlier. The incident which was important to there being a locality called Germanna was
the decision of Franz Louis MICHEL, a citizen of Bern, Switzerland, to go to America and
investigate conditions there. He left Basel on 8 Oct 1701 and arrived in Yorktown, Virginia, on
8 May 1702. He remained only a short time but was impressed enough to return home where he
encouraged friends to join him in forming a joint-stock company to go into the business of
recruiting and transporting emigrants to America.
Very soon afterwards, Michel left again for America where he visited several of the colonies
including the Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. This time, his explorations were
in more depth and included a long trip to the Shenandoah Valley which he mapped. (His map still
exists today and his exploration of the Valley was in considerably more detail than Spotswood's
later and very hurried trip to the Valley.) Michel decided that the Valley would be an excellent
place to settle the colonists which he hoped to obtain.
He and his partners petitioned the Crown in 1705 with a plan of colonization for the Shenandoah
Valley which received only a lukewarm reception in London. The plan was kept alive until 1709
though. When Michel returned to Europe in 1708, he met an individual whose own plans were
similar to Michel's. Important to their future relationship was the fact that Michel thought
he had found mineral wealth in the Shenandoah Valley in the form of silver.
(06 Jan 1997)