I continue with Willis Kemper’s Germanna History taken from his 1899 book, " Genealogy of the Kemper Family in the United States ". He writes (page 10) that de Graffenried abandoned his colony in North Carolina. That is not a fair statement. De Graffenried did go to Virginia from North Carolina for the purpose of finding an alternative home for the colonists. He spent some time searching for a settlement site and had one picked out. However, none of the people in North Carolina wanted to make the move. So rather than saying he abandoned them, it would be more correct to say he was trying to improve their lot.
Kemper says that Graffenried examined Virginia, at Spotswood’s request, with a view to locating mines. Graffenried did examine Virginia to satisfy himself concerning the silver mines and to find a home for the North Carolina contingent. But this was not at Spotswood’s request. Kemper might have asked himself why Spotswood would have asked Graffenried to find mines if he (Spotswood) had already found mines as Kemper said he had.
Kemper adds that, "...it is apparent that he (Spotswood) entered into some negotiations with de Graffenried, and authorized the latter to procure 'skilled workmen out of Germany to open mines in Virginia'." Now, when Kemper uses the words "apparent, evident, obvious", one should be cautious, for what it means is that he doesn’t have a shred of evidence. Spotswood did not authorize Graffenried to recruit workmen.
Almost three years earlier, Graffenried and Francis Michel had hired Johann Justus Albrecht to recruit miners in Germany. This had nothing to do with Spotswood or iron. It was for the purpose of developing the silver mines which Michel thought he had found. Kemper completely ignores the original motivation of Michel and Graffenried. This all started in 1710.
Kemper again reinforces the idea, on page 11, that Spotswood had iron mines in 1713. This is after he just said, on page 10, that Spotswood had Graffenried look for iron mines in 1713. And Kemper had said that Spotswood found iron in 1710, on page 9. Consistency is not a hallmark of Kemper’s writing.
Kemper summarizes his findings (page 11) as, "When de Graffenried’s relatives and agents were looking for 'skilled miners out of Germany' to work Spotswood’s iron mines, where were they more likely to go than to the mining district about Siegen . . .And when there, what is more likely than that they should go to the most celebrated mine in the district, to Müsen, and when there what is more likely than that they should seek to induce the eldest son of the man who had charge of the tools about this mine to go with the colony?"
More fiction. And add the word "likely" to the red flags.
(07 Jul 00)
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.