Paula S. Felder wrote " Forgotten Companions " which was published in 1982. The book is subtitled " The First Settlers of Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg Town ", which gives a good clue toward what it is all about. The book makes excellent reading, but, unfortunately, it is now out of print. The good news is that Paula is at work again and, should you see future books by her, investigate them with a view toward purchase. I consider a few of the statements in Forgotten Companions to be in error but Paula is no worse than the general historian and probably better. She is certainly more entertaining. She has been very gracious to me in some of my writings.
Spotsylvania County had its origins in Col. Alexander Spotswood who was appointed Lt. Governor of Virginia in 1710. To gain some idea of the scale on which he operated, we have the letter of 31 March 1710, from the four Lord Commissioners of the Admiralty, who signed an order to the Captain (Robinson) of the "Deptford" to carry Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, Alexander Spotswood, Esq., together with Mr. Cocke, his physician (who was distinct from Mr. Cocke), and 15 servants to Virginia from Spithead, giving the Lieutenant Governor the best accommodation the ship will afford. As Lt. Governor, Spotswood had to split his salary with the Governor of Virginia, Lord Orkney who remained in England. According to Paula, the split was 1800 pounds to the Governor and 1200 pounds to the Lt. Governor. Living on the scale that he did, it is no wonder that Spotswood occasionally needed partners who could help with the financing of his enterprises. The trip to Virginia must have started soon after Capt. Robinson had his instructions, for Spotswood wrote a letter to Robinson of the "Deptford" from Williamsburg on 30 June 1710 thanking him for the "Civilitys received from you during my Voyage."
Not long after Spotswood took up his duties in Virginia, the Earl of Dartmouth, Secretary of State, wrote from Whitehall to him, on 14 April 1711, to the effect that the Council at St. James confirmed that land in Virginia should be granted in the future as provided by the Charter and Laws of Virginia with care being taken to insist that every patentee should be obliged to cultivate three acres in every fifty within three years of his grant, under penalty of forfeiture of that land. The Assembly of Virginia was to be permitted to embody these provisions into a law for which Her Majesty's confirmation was promised.
We see that Virginia had considerable independence to set their own laws. The inhabitants were aware of this and were becoming accustomed to thinking of themselves as a law unto themselves. They were thinking, "There is an English way and there is the Virginia way." Spotswood, who came as the agent of the Queen, found himself in conflict with the locals who thought of themselves before thinking of the Queen. We also see that Virginia legislation was subject to review and possible rejection by the Crown though the Crown did not reject many of the legislative acts.
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.