John Blankenbaker's Germanna History Notes

Note 51

History has a lot to say about the Germanna Colonists and iron in Virginia and much of it is incorrect.  It is not entirely clear where some of the erroneous facts originated.  One early source, but perhaps not the earliest, is W.W. Scott in his book, " A History of Orange County Virginia " published in 1907.  His credentials have misled others into believing he was an authority on the subject.  The man was a member of the State Historical Society and for ten years the State Librarian of Virginia.  But let him speak for himself,

"These colonists [the First Germanna Colonists] were induced to leave their homes in Germany by the Baron de Graffenried, acting for Governor Spotswood who was then making preparations to develop his iron mines in the vicinity of Germanna, and this business enterprise of the Governor was the sole cause of their coming to America and Virginia".  [page 81]

There are errors in this statement.

  1. "Graffenried was not acting for Governor Spotswood."  Graffenried, in his memoirs, makes it very clear that he was recruiting miners for his own purpose of developing a silver mine in Virginia above the falls of the Potomac and into, or toward, the Shenandoah Valley.  Toward this end, he and Franz Michel presented a petition to the Crown and won Queen Anne's approval for land to be assigned to the silver project.

  2. "Spotswood had iron mines in the vicinity of [what was later] Germanna at the time the Germans were recruited."   The recruiting effort began in 1710 and Spotswood had no iron mines until almost 1720.  There is a ten year error here.  Spotswood's first land, entirely in his own name, was not acquired until 1716, a full six years after the recruiting of the Germans commenced and this property was taken up, not because it contained iron, but because it had been developed ("seated") by the Germans and was proven land.  This is the land on which Fort Germanna was built.

  3. "The iron mine business of the Governor was the sole cause of [the Germans] coming to America and Virginia."  The Germans were recruited to mine silver for the company of which Graffenried was the field or general manager.  When the Germans left Germany, they expected to be mining silver for Graffenried and Albrecht (the general manager and the "head-miner") within a few months.

Scott may have erred due to the writings of Willis Miller Kemper and Harry Linn Wright who published " Genealogy of the Kemper Family in the United States " in 1899 [referred to in short as Kemper].  Kemper noted many facts correctly including several facts that he "uncovered".  But at the same time he invented facts out of thin air.  He says, "It was not long [after Spotswood's appointment as Governor in 1710] until he discovered evidences of iron ore in the districts toward the Blue Ridge."  It is true that Spotswood was writing back to England about iron ore in Virginia within three months of his arrival.  But this was not newly discovered iron ore; the existence of it had been known for over 120 years and it was considered quality ore.  The ore had actually been tested in England and found to be quite excellent.

The general plan here for a few notes will be to develop the history of iron in Virginia and correcting some of the errors.  In contrast to the historians who copy other historians, and these are the most numerous kind, the attempt will be put original quotations or sources before you.  And, you can read what the people at that time said, not what people two hundred years later said.

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.