There is recorded testimony from both Spotswood and from the Germans as to their activity during the last half of the stay of the Germans at Fort Germanna. This work, it would appear, was some thirteen miles from Germanna so it is not clear where the Germans lived during these two years. A daily commute of thirteen miles would have been impossibly long.
According to Spotswood, a request was received from a well placed individual(s) in England who wanted Spotswood to look for iron. At this point, the Germans had probably told Spotswood that they thought there was iron. With the prospect of financial help from England, Spotswood was pleased to have a search made. But he had no commitment yet to iron. On the contrary, he was concentrating on land (by this time, he was probably discouraged about silver). Spotswood does say the search for the iron ore cost upwards of sixty pounds. From this figure, we know that the project went no farther than looking for and perhaps developing the mines. At this sum of money, no furnace could have been involved.
And the testimony of the Germans makes it clear that no furnace was involved for they said that the work involved mining and quarrying (probably to remove the overburden). Comparing the two testimonies, there is some difference as to when the activity started. On the whole, the activity probably consumed two years. From the German's testimony, the implication is clear that it went until December of 1718 which generally agrees with Spotswood.
When the date of December 1718 is compared to the time that the Germans were to serve Spotswood, it seems even more evident that this was the termination of the work. Probably they moved within the month to "Germantown" where they had purchased land from Lady Fairfax during the previous year.
Many of the people who tell the Germanna story say that Spotswood settled the Germans at Germanna because he had discovered iron there. In truth there was no iron there; Germanna was thirteen miles from the site where the iron mines were developed. Had iron been the motivation, the Germans would have been located closer to the mines. Furthermore had there been iron at Germanna, the Germans would have been working for Spotswood during the first two years. As it was, Spotswood said they did nothing for him. From his actions and words, it is clearer that he was interested in silver and land and for this purpose the location at Germanna was well suited.
One modern man saw the inconsistency of the position posited by many of the family historians pertaining to the reasons for existence and the site of Germanna. This was Brawdus Martin who decided that the original Germanna was located at the furnace site, thirteen miles down the river from the accepted site. He failed to convince others in spite of the fact that he manufactured false evidence to support his view. Not only was his scholarship flawed but his ethics were questionable. However, the original and erroneous story persists in the history books.
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.