With the Germans on the sea headed for Virginia, let's direct our attention to the sequence of events by which they had been recruited for this adventure. A few documents have been preserved but some things are left to the imagination, guided only by the final outcome.
When did Graffenried and Michel decide to hire German miners? It would seem that the decision to do so would not have been reached until after they had secured the letter from the Queen which told the Governor of Virginia to allot land for a Swiss colony in the forks of the Shenandoah. It would also seem that the recruiting would have started before they left for North Carolina in 1710.
Graffenried does make a statement that Michel went to Holland to see the head miner. As with many of his statements, it is difficult to tell what he had in mind as the time of this event. Some people have thought this occurred while Graffenried was in America but it seems that Michel's location was known in America or there was a complete lack of information about his whereabouts. In other words, there is no evidence that Michel returned to Europe from America. I believe that Graffenried's statement referred to the initial recruiting of Johann Justus Albrecht, the "head miner". This would have been in the 1709 to 1710 time frame. Albrecht was to go to German mining areas to procure mining tools and miners. At this time, Graffenried and Michel were thinking that it would only be a matter of months until the North Carolina colony was settled. So Albrecht would have been under some pressure to secure the tools and miners quickly.
Albrecht had problems recruiting people. He was inclined to make very bold claims for himself which might have seemed dubious, e.g., calling himself "Inspector of Mines". Even more bombastic, he said he had been appointed to develop mines and smelters for gold and silver on behalf of Her Majesty of Great Britain and the proprietors of Carolina, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. (These claims were similar to those being made by Graffenried and Michel.) Graffenried tells us that his actions roused the suspicions of agents of the German emperor who arrested him. The English envoy had to intervene to secure his release. But still, Albrecht needed help in the recruiting effort.
In order to build good will in the town of Siegen where he was recruiting, Albrecht signed a donation contract for the benefit of the three Reformed ministers in Siegen in which he promised them an annuity of 350 rix-dollars in perpetuity from the proceeds of the American mines. This was in 1711. This helped in his efforts at recruiting for Albrecht left Siegen and went to London where he was in May of 1712. Presumably he had the initial commitments of several miners to go to America by then. The date and the events of 1711 show that recruitment must have commenced by 1710, even before Michel and Graffenried had left for America.
Readers wanting additional information might consult Klaus Wust's article, " Palatines and Switzers for Virginia, 1705-1738: Costly Lessons for Promoters and Emigrants " in the YEARBOOK OF GERMAN-AMERICAN STUDIES, vol. 19, 1984, pp. 43-55 . As usual, Mr. Wust gives an extensive list of reference material, much of which is from European archives.
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.