The question has been asked as to how land was transferred from the Indians to the settler. I had mentioned that some of the Germans in New York had purchased land directly from the Indians. This was not a normal sequence of events.
Generally, the colonial governments and the English crown took the attitude that the land belonged to the Indians. There were flaws in their thinking because the English King claimed authority over all of America north of Florida up to the French in Canada. There were recognized Indian nations.
In Pennsylvania, it was a major point that the Colony would only allow settlement on land that the Colony had purchased from the Indians. In the later periods at least, New York followed a similar policy. In Virginia, there were treaties which recognized boundaries between the Indians and the Europeans. Because there were "considerations" in these treaties, they might be considered as purchase agreements.
In 1722, Gov. Spotswood sailed to Albany, New York, to attend a major conference with the Indians. There were representatives of Pennsylvania and New York at this meeting which lasted for many weeks. As a result of this, the Six Nations of Indians agreed to stay to the west of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia, while the Europeans were permitted to travel on the west side along the Warrior's path, but the Shenandoah Valley was not to be settled by the whites.
This is often the story of westward expansion. Lines were drawn which were to be the limit of white settlement. Many times the King or the colonial governments tried to enforce this. But invariably the settlers went ahead of the land purchases from the Indians. This left the government with the task of procuring the land from the Indians which the Europeans had already settled. It was embarrassing to the colonial government because of the violations of the treaties. They also wanted to enforce the idea that the Indians sold to the colonial governments, and they in turn sold to the settlers. (As a part of these sales, quit rents were collected indefinitely.)
I mentioned that the Germans along the Hudson River in New York purchased land directly from the Indians at Schoharie. This land had not yet come under the control of the New York colony. It upset them very much and they threatened the Germans with eviction, and the Germans could not obtain a title through the colony.
Among these Germans was the Weiser family. Young Conrad Weiser, a teenager, went to live with the Indians for a while. He learned their language and came to appreciate their way of life. Later the Weiser family moved to Pennsylvania. He was trusted by both the Indians and the whites and he was present at all major conferences to aid in presenting the case of each side. (One of Conrad's daughters became the wife of Henry Melchoir Muhlenberg, the great Lutheran leader.)
It is my feeling, but not buttressed by any extensive research, that the Germans accepted the Indians as equals and could live harmoniously with them.
Incidentally, when Gov. Spotswood returned from the conference at Albany, he found that he was no longer governor. He moved from Williamsburg to his new home at Germanna where he was planning to develop his vast empire of more than 100,000 acres, most of which lay to the west of Germanna in the region which the Indians had just conceded to Virginia.
If anyone else can add to or correct the story here, please speak up.
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.