"We [Michel and friends] soon reached Manakintown." [Michel recognized at once a man from Aargau (a Canton in Switzerland) that he knew. The next morning, Michel met two French Swiss. The head of the place was a surgeon from Switzerland.]
"Conditions at Manakintown were different from other places in Virginia. The fruit grew here in such abundance that Englishmen came from thirty miles away to get some of it. The gardens are filled with all kinds of fruits. The cattle are fat because of the good pasture. The soil is not sandy, as it is in most of Virginia, but it is a heavy, rich soil. Each family takes land that is 50 paces in width and extending back (from the river) as far as he wants. [Other writers have said the allotment was 133 acres.] Much land around here was cleared because the Indians used to have a town here. The wild grapes have immense vines. They make a good wine and efforts have been to graft tame varieties. It is much healthier than it is toward the coast and there is plenty of game and fish. About sixty families live there."
"The area around Manakintown was created into a separate parish [King William's] and the residents were exempted from paying the usual tithe for seven years." [Michel decided that he wanted to settle in this place. He went back to where he had stored his goods and rented a sloop to take some of his goods up to Falling Creek. Then he used horses and carts to bring the goods to Manakintown. He did not have money to set himself up properly as a farmer with at least two slaves so he decided to explore the land and to gain a better knowledge of trade so he would be better prepared in the future.]
[After he had stayed for several days on this second visit, he took his leave and left by himself. Though he did get lost for a while, he went back to his rented house near Williamsburg where he had the goods he needed to return to Europe and the goods he planned on selling. The time had been fixed for the sailing back to England so Michel sold much of his stock of goods at the house and the rest at Williamsburg. Most of the money consisted of Spanish piasters.]
[About the middle of May, a small French frigate from Ireland arrived with the news that King William had died. A few days later, some warships came with the same news and told us that Queen Anne was the new monarch. The Governor had the news read at church and called the militia of the six nearest counties to come to Williamsburg about the 18th of May. The Governor made ready with a memorial service for the King and a proclamation announcing the new Queen. He even asked the Indians to send a delegation. There was to be fireworks show which the sailors were to do. Grandstands were erected before the college.]
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.