In the last note, a series of letters spread over two years time indicated that the proposal or petition submitted by George Ritter had not been accepted by the Queen. George Ritter wrote to Mr. Stanian, the English envoy to Bern, and said that if Parliament was unwilling to naturalize the whole colony, the directors of the colony, namely Francis Louis Michel, John Rudolf Ochs, and George Ritter, could be naturalized. Other suggestions were made, but in all cases, the ideas originated and were forwarded from Bern. There was no one in England who was actively promoting the plan.
Michel wrote Ritter from Virginia in 1708. He notes that he had done the work which had been assigned to him and that he had never drawn any money from his associates. But he advised Ritter that he was going to draw two hundred pounds sterling payable in London. Thus Michel was announcing his return from America to Europe.
Very late in the year of 1708, again from America, Michel wrote to Ritter urging action now. He suggested the previous proposals be withdrawn and that commissioners be sent to London with the full power to negotiate. He said nothing could be done at a distance. He gave the names of some people in London who could be counted on to help. He asked Ritter to send a letter (to his attention in London) outlining the project and he, Michel, would see what he could do when he was in London.
No letters have been maintained which tell us exactly what happened. What we do have is Christoph von Graffenried's memoirs which start shortly after this time. Apparently Michel returned to Bern early in 1709 where he met Graffenried.
Graffenreid wrote, "Of late I received a more accurate report of the American countries from a citizen of this city, who had been in America for five or six years. He informed me what a glorious country it is, how cheap, what liberty, what large growth, good business, rich mines and good things it has. He told me especially what beautiful silver mines he had found and discovered."
Life would never be the same for Graffenried. He was deeply in debt and saw no opportunity to improve his condition in Switzerland. The prospect of opening up silver mines was very attractive to him. It is not surprising that he accepted "the beautiful propositions of the above-named citizen". These propositions were to the effect that Graffenried should conduct a Swiss colony to the banks of the Potomac River where Michel had claimed to take up land. Graffenried drew up a map which illustrated this colonization scheme with two settlements, one below the falls and the other above.
While the approach of Ritter, Michel, and Ochs seems almost leisurely, Graffenried supplied a measure of energy to the project of resettling Swiss in America. But had it not been for Michel's explorations in America, Graffenried would not have taken up the cause. Graffenried's motivation lay in the prospect of silver mines which would rescue him from his debtors.
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.