Lester J. Cappon, of the University of Virginia, wrote a note on Spotswood's iron furnace in 1945, entitled " Iron Works at Tuball ":
"Spotswood's inclination toward private investment, taking advantage of his strategic position in high public office, was demonstrated soon after his coming to America. His interest was a combination of land speculation, with iron mining and manufacturing. Only after ten years of persistent planning and opportunism stemming mostly from frontier circumstances, did the iron venture begin to show some favorable results. Even then its success remained in doubt for some time and brought better returns to his children and grandchildren."
Cappon displays no understanding of the motivation of Graffenried and his interest in silver. He ascribes the recruitment of the first Germans as a favor of Graffenried for Spotswood and overlooks the statement of Graffenried that he advised the Germans in London to "go home".
Cappon also makes the mistake of Dodson in confusing the years. They both say the Mine Tract Patent was issued in 1719, when a much better statement would be 1720. Cappon also says that Spotswood imported seventy Palatine Germans to serve as indentured servants and to replace the German Swiss, who left to occupy lands of their own in [now] Fauquier County. The use of the word "Swiss" harks back to earlier writers and confuses the various groups that were associated with Graffenried. To accept that the second group of Germans replaced the first group requires ignoring the statements of Rev. Jones and of Spotswood himself.
Cappon says, " It is not definitely known when Tubal Furnace, built of rough stone, a few miles below the confluence of the Rapidan and Rappahannock, was put into operation. " But, he immediately adds the statement of Drysdale in 1723 that the furnace was working, without offering any counter evidence.
In 1725 the Iron Mine Tract, with six plantations, houses, furnace, dams, and other improvements was appraised by county officials at about seven thousand pounds. The year before, Spotswood had returned to England where he stayed about five or six years. During this time, his furnace operation was mismanaged and failed to produce the output of which it was capable. It was not until the 1730's that the Tubal furnace reached a sustained and profitable output.
Cappon fails to add anything new to what Dodson had written, except to give the details of the lease on the Tubal furnace that Spotswood offered in 1739. Before a lease was executed, Spotswood died and the furnace remained in the family for many more years as the cornerstone of the family's fortune.
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.