John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 5

While Graffenried had been down in North Carolina, Lt. Gov. Spotswood had been busy reading the law on precious metals.  What he found was that the right of the Crown to precious metals was undefined.  It was customary for the Crown to reserve a percentage when they issued a patent for land.  In the Northern Neck there was such a reservation.

Spotswood was already anticipating a partial ownership in a silver mine but he did not want to invest in the development of the mine if there were a possibility that the Crown could retroactively claim a large percentage.  He sent many letters to London, to the agent for Virginia, Col. BLAKISTON, urging him to have this question resolved.  He let Blakiston know that he had an interest in a mine but no action would be taken until the question was settled.  From the urgency of the correspondence, one can deduce that Spotswood was beginning to taste silver.

In the land records of Virginia, we find that 3000 acres were patented in 1713 and distributed to several partners.  The largest owner was Spotswood, but others were Graffenried and Lord ORKNEY, Spotswood's nominal boss and the Governor of Virginia who never left England.  Graffenried makes it clear in his memoirs that the partners believed there was silver on the tract (to be found today in Orange Co.).

In the spring of 1713, Graffenried had fled from North Carolina and was preparing to go to Europe.  He could not sail from either North Carolina or Virginia because he was a debtor and debtors could not leave the colonies.  Eventually he escaped by going up to New York where he was not well known.  If the mine could be developed into something profitable, perhaps he could recover from his setback.  But there was little he could do.  Or was there something he could do?