The dates given by Spotswood to Col. Harrison (see Note 16) do not exactly agree with other statements. Johann Justus Albrecht made a statement, and Jacob Holtzclaw confirmed it, which is recorded in the Essex Co.,VA Deeds and Wills, v.16, p.180, that Spotswood put 11 men to work under him near Germanna on March 1, 1715 (which by the modern calendar would be 1716) and that the work continued until December 1718. The statement said the work consisted of mining and quarrying. This must correspond in a general way to Spotswood's search for iron oar on which he said upwards of sixty pounds (money) was spent.
Thus it appears that the Germans were not working for Spotswood for almost two years after they arrived at Germanna. Then the better part of the next three years were spent in a search for iron ore and, probably, in developing the ore beds into a productive mine. It doesn't suffice to locate ore; one must prove that there a depth and extent to the ore in order for it to be useful. Probably most of the sixty pounds was spent on black powder for blasting purposes.
Since an iron furnace cost in the thousands of pounds, it would seem that by December 1718 that no attempt had been made to build an iron furnace. Spotswood had not even patented the iron mine land by then. Based on his character, he would not have invested any money until all of the legal factors were cleared up.
Probably the Germans moved to their new home, away from Germanna, shortly after December 1718, probably in January of 1719 (modern calendar). By this time they would have been at Germanna for over four years. Four years was the period of their indenture by which they secured their passage. These four years would have been up in the summer of 1718 but that is a very poor time to relocate since time is needed to clear ground to be ready to plant crops. So they stayed a while past four years at Germanna.
During the summer of 1718, they did buy land in the Northern Neck so they were anticipating a move. Jacob Holtzclaw in his naturalization papers (to be found in the Spotswood Co. records) which were executed in 1722 stated that he had been a resident of Stafford Co. for several years. This would be confirming of a move about January of 1719 (modern calendar).
So while the First Colony Germans were at Germanna, they spent most of their time on farming including clearing of ground for that purpose. Later they spent some time in searching for iron ore but this activity was only a part time endeavor as they still had to farm to supply themselves with food. They had left for their new homes long before the iron furnace was built and therefore they had no part in this activity. Historians have erred in crediting them with this work. They did put Spotswood into the iron business as they did find the ore and probably they were even the ones that brought it to his attention.
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.