Col. Blakiston's letter to Alexander Spotswood, with the news that Spotswood had been obligated to pay the German miners transportation, reached Spotswood in March of 1713/1714, ahead of the ship bringing Albrecht and the miners. Blakiston had told Spotswood previously of the presence of the German miners in London but the decision to send the miners along at Spotswood's expense was reached by Blakiston alone. Travel across the Atlantic was so slow that it was impossible to conduct any action speedily. Spotswood had to pay only one hundred and fifty pounds sterling because the Germans paid a fraction themselves.
Spotswood wrote back to Blakiston expressing two emotions rather strongly. One was Spotswood's enthusiasm since he felt that Blakiston would not have done this had Blakiston not been assured that the question of the royal share of gold and silver mines was reaching a conclusion. The other emotion of Spotswood was one of concern because the miners were foreigners and their status was not clearly defined. Spotswood emphasized he would make the best of the situation since nothing could be changed now. He had not invited the Germans. That was Graffenried's work and he had been authorized by the Queen to settle them in Virginia. Furthermore, the Germans were Protestants. But still he was concerned since he was helping to pay their transportation.
Two years earlier, when Graffenried had investigated the possibility of moving his North Carolina group up to Virginia, Spotswood had had the same problem with regards to the status of foreigners. He tentatively put forward the idea that they could be settled on the frontier as protection (for the English) from the Indians. We have no information that the authorities in London ever responded, but Spotswood remembered his original idea. He did not regard this as an inappropriate thing to do.
The thing that influenced Spotswood's thinking the most was his silver mine which was beyond the frontier of English civilization. It needed miners and forty odd miners were coming. Therefore, Spotswood made his plans with two sets of reasons, a public reason that was quite different from his private reason. His public reason would be that the Germans could protect the frontier. His private reason would be that they could work in his silver mine.
There were two minor problems. The Germans were not here yet but that should be minor. The bigger problem was that no determination had been made of the royal share of gold and silver mines; however, the Germans could be put in place. Surely, Blakiston would not have sent the miners along unless he had reason to believe this question would be settled soon.
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.