Backing up a bit to better understand Alexander Spotswood's motives, he was the Lt. Governor of Virginia under Lord Orkney who was Governor in name. They split the pay for the job and Spotswood did all of the work while Orkney remained in England. Though Spotswood had been in the army (he was now retired), he lived on a scale that suggested he had visions of grandeur.
For example, when he came to Virginia, he was accompanied by his doctor, his secretary, and fifteen servants. So he had to scratch a bit to find the money to pay his staff on his pension and half-pay. Therefore, a lot of his actions, both official and unofficial, bear the influence of how the outcome could benefit him. He was a good governor and he certainly did more than most governors to enhance and protect the position of the crown. At the same time, he always had his eye on enhancing and protecting the position of Alexander Spotswood.
An early venture was an Indian trading company. Legislation was passed in Virginia which made this a monopoly under the supervision of the colony. One of the objects was to regularize the trade with the Indians and to secure benefits for the colony. After it was set up, one of the investors in the enterprise was Spotswood, some of his friends, and his relatives. This particular law was not allowed in England and it was revoked.
In the first month after he arrived, Spotswood was hearing talk of iron ore, but he was several years away from taking a personal interest in this. For one thing, it was an expensive undertaking and he did not have a lot of spare cash. Also in the first months, Spotswood was talking to Graffenried who held a letter from Queen Anne saying the Governor of Virginia should allocate land to a colony which Graffenried proposed to establish. Graffenried was motivated in this endeavor by the belief of his partner, Francis Michel, that he had found silver in the back country, in the Shenandoah Valley in particular. Mining of precious metals did not seem to be as expensive as refining iron ore. So Spotswood was more attuned to talk of gold and silver than he was to iron.
This is why, when Larkin Chew patented land which was thought to contain silver, that Spotswood was an investor in the enterprise. Actually, of course, Chew was probably acting as agent for Spotswood and others. Other fractional owners were Graffenried and Orkney. Graffenried was probably included because of his or Michel's earlier work and because Graffenried might be useful. Graffenried admitted that he was already recruiting miners around Siegen. The inclusion of Orkney as a minor partner was probably to secure his support in England should that be necessary.
Even before Spotswood arrived in Virginia, Robert Beverley had been active in prospecting for land on the frontier. He had staked out a claim to 11,000 acres along the south side of the Rapidan River starting at a point beyond the site of the future Germanna. Beverley never applied for a patent on the land because it would have been required to pay the fees for the land. The land was a little too far out to find settlers for it so Beverley held on to his money.
The situation in 1713 above the fall line in the Rappahannock River was that the land speculators were looking and staking their claims. At the same time, Chew patented the silver mine land and took several partners into the enterprise. There was an active interest in the area.
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.