In his petition Spotswood mentions iron in the briefest of possible ways. There were reasons for this approach. Iron was a hot potato. The trade laws might fall down on him and prevent him from continuing this enterprise. So he did not want to make a big issue of it. When he did mention it, it was in connection with the naval stores program and the support that it could provide for the defense of England. Also, he had not shipped much iron to England by 1726. It appears that only a trial lot(s) had been sent to England to see if it met the test of the more experienced workers in England. He claimed, in the petition, that it had been tested by the iron-masters and found to be good.
The Indian conference of three months duration was the one that Spotswood attended in Albany, New York. This was in 1722 and when he returned he found he had been replaced as Lt. Governor. It was during this conference that the Five Nations of Indians yielded their claim to the land between the Potomac and James Rivers. So the Germans had been living on land to which the Indians had some pretense, especially since it was beyond the frontier of European civilization. But it was a credit to the Germans that peace had been maintained on the Northern frontier while they were the dominant European element there.
The agreement with the Indians was important to Spotswood in more than one way. As governor, it was his job to make the frontiers safe. As a citizen, he could not fail to note that much of his 85,000 acres of land lay in an area to which the claims of the crown were weak. Since his title would be held from the crown, it was important to secure the rights of the crown there.
In his petition, Spotswood certainly makes it appear that being governor was a burden on his private purse. If it was, there is a question to be answered. Where did Spotswood get his money? His business enterprises took thousands of pounds. He makes it appear that being governor was a net loss. As Lt. Governor, he had to share the salary with the Governor, Lord Orkney. Spotswood's personal expenses were heavy. He came to Virginia with a personal staff of about fifteen servants. In the years around 1720, he had the added expense of his home, his iron venture, and his naval stores project. I have never heard a good explanation of where he obtained his money.
The petition to the King did result in Spotswood getting a clear title to his 85,000 acres if he paid something for the land. But it was a few years before he filed a patent on some of the larger tracts. This may have been a stalling action waiting for the money to become available. In part, he paid with the headrights of forty-eight Germans from the second group (whose names have thereby been recorded though with a few mistakes in spelling).
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.