John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 13

The forty-two Germans that we have been talking about were called, in the course of time, the First Colony or the Colony of 1714.  Their general history has been distorted badly at several points.  Largely this arose because of the following observations which are true:

1. Spotswood was eventually into iron mining, smelting and refining.
   

2. The Germans came from a region in Germany which was well known for its iron mining and processing.
   

3. The Germans worked for Col. Spotswood.

Well meaning individuals tried to put this all together and they came up with a number of erroneous conclusions:

1. "Spotswood recruited the Germans." We have seen that the Germans were on the sea and almost on his doorstep before he knew they were coming.  So it stretches one's imagination to say that he recruited them.

2. "Spotswood had Graffenried recruit the Germans." Actually Graffenried started the process of recruiting before he had met Gov. Spotswood.  Furthermore, Graffenried was recruiting for the purpose of the company he worked for, not Spotswood.

3. "The Germans were recruited to mine iron." Actually the Germans were recruited to mine silver.

4. "Spotswood had found iron on his property and needed someone to develop it." Spotswood did not own any property in his own name until a couple of years after the Germans came.  His earlier and partial ownership of a tract of land was for the purposes of extracting silver.

5. "The Germans built the first iron furnace for Spotswood." We have not discussed this yet, but the iron furnace was not built until after the First Colony had left the employment of Spotswood.

When the First Colony was settled in Fort Germanna, their first task was to clear land and ready it for farming.  They had to support themselves by their own efforts.  They probably received assistance in limited ways.  Spotswood had a practice of loaning cattle to people who raised them and bred more.  At the conclusion of the contract, the equivalent of the original cattle plus one-half of the increase were returned to Spotswood.  The second way assistance was provided was by the ban on hunting in their neighborhood by everyone except the Germans.  Some flour was probably granted them in the initial setup.

Though the Germans wanted to dig in the ground to assay the silver potential, Spotswood said no to this.  (He never resolved the precious metal question as far as the Crown was concerned.)  Until this was settled, development of the silver mine was verboten.  So, for about two and one-half years, the Germans were engaged in farming but no mining.  This must have been frustrating for them; they had a very bad year in getting to America.  Once here, they were denied the opportunity to perform the functions for which they had been hired.