Christoph von GRAFFENRIED was a citizen of Switzerland who had plans similar to Franz Michel in that he also proposed to establish colonies in America for Swiss. Graffenried, who styled himself also as Christopher de Graffenried, had a contract with the Bern city fathers to take a number of Anabaptists to America. These political prisoners were being expelled from Bern. Graffenried at the time had no place to put these individuals and he went to London in an effort to find a home for them in America.
In London, Graffenried met Michel and compared notes. They both decided that looking for silver was more profitable than colonizing lands in America. Graffenried joined forces with Michel's organization and became, in essence, the general manager. They withdrew the pending application for colonization in the Shenandoah Valley and submitted a revised application which was so well worded that they received approval. The (Lt.) Governor of Virginia was instructed to issue land on the Shenandoah River to the enterprise. But first Graffenried had to fulfill his commitments to the Bern city fathers. The large influx of Germans in 1709 to England created an opportunity for him in that the proprietors of North Carolina were anxious to obtain some of these Germans. The proprietors would provide ships if Graffenried would lead a contingent of the Germans in addition to his group of Swiss Anabaptists. So the plan became that the colony would be established in North Carolina while the minerals would be located in the Valley of Virginia. Then the Shenandoah colony would be established.
To prepare for the mineral enterprise which would involve mining, Graffenried and Michel decided to recruit miners in Germany. They hired Johann Justus ALBRECHT to procure the workman and tools. About 1710, Albrecht went to the town of Siegen where there was a very active iron mining and processing activity.
The proprietors of North Carolina, being very anxious to settle families on their land, offered the title of "Baron" to anyone who purchased 5,000 acres. This was an opportunity that Graffenried could not refuse. He purchased the necessary land and thereby became Baron Graffenried. This lent some credibility to the recruiting effort in Siegen.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.