(With Adam and Franz at Jamestown and Samuel at Powhatan's camp in 1609, all three being German carpenters.) Even though John Smith had been shipped back to England, relations between the English and the Indians were not improved. Powhatan invited Captain Ratcliffe and thirty men to come and trade copper for corn. At first, they met in the village of Pumunkey where Samuel, Spelman, and Savage also attended. The latter two were English who were also living with Powhatan. The negotiations went overnight and the men stayed with Ratcliffe. The next day, when trading resumed, a dispute arose between the Indians and the English. Powhatan left the scene and took the three men with him. A war party which had been hiding in the woods then killed almost all of Ratcliffe's men.
Spelman said that Powhatan sent him and the Germans to Yawtanoone, an Indian town about sixteen miles away. Though Powhatan seemed outwardly friendly toward the three men, they began to be afraid of him. When the King of the Potomac came to visit the great Powhatan, he showed such kindness toward the three that they resolved to go away with the King of the Potomac. Spelman went on to say that when they did leave, that Savage returned to Powhatan and informed him of what was happening. Powhatan sent people to command Spelman and Samuel to return but they declined. One of Powhatan's people waited for a while and then struck Samuel with an ax, killing him.
The winter of 1609 -1610 was very hard on the colonists due to a lack of food. During this starving time, Adam and Franz returned to Powhatan. They perhaps had not known the fate of Samuel. On June 7 of 1610, the English boarded a ship and were leaving when they heard that Lord Delaware was arriving with supplies. Lord Delaware brought the Swiss German Volday who had gone back to England to report. Volday (or Waldi) later died of sickness at Jamestown.
When the English had proposed to leave, Adam and Franz and a few of the Poles were living with Powhatan and they did not go. With the encouragement of the new settlers and supplies, Adam and Franz decided to rejoin the Jamestown settlement, but Powhatan "caused his men to beat out their brains."
Thus, none of these early Germans left a permanent mark on Virginia. They could have created a positive atmosphere between the colonists and the Indians had they not fallen victim to poor planning and leadership for the new colony.
Another group of Germans in Virginia in 1714 was asked to investigate reports of silver above the falls of the Potomac. These later Germans never saw the Potomac but were diverted to a purported silver mine above the falls of the Rappahannock. These Germans and later Germans were successful in maintaining the peace with the Indians on the frontier.
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.