Alexander Spotswood clearly tells how and when the iron mine came into existence. He told his story in a letter to Col. Nathaniel Harrison, the Deputy Auditor of H.M. Revenue. This was written in 1724:
"In Feb. 1717 [since he wrote under the old style calendar, this would be February of 1718 by our calendar] Sr. Richard Blackmore writes to Mr. Secretary Cock to engage me to favour a design, which he, with several considerable men at home, had to set up iron works in Virginia, and desires people might be imply'd to find out the oar, and some thousands of acres taken up for that purpose. Accordingly I set my Germans to work to look for such oar, wch. search cost me upwards of three score pounds. But about two years afterwards I recd. a letter from Sr. Richard telling me he had at length considered that he was advanced in years, that his health was of late impaired, and that the undertaking was at too great a distance, and therefore he was determined to drop the project. Whereupon, rather than enter into a contention for my reimbursements, I chose to joyn in with several Gentlemen here, who were willing to carry on the project, and bear their proportion of the charges I had already been at; and so the mine tract, consisting of 15,000 acres of land, was in 1719 [by the modern calendar, early 1720] taken up by nine or ten Adventurers."
This statement, by the main actor in the play, is the best starting point that we have. Still, there are minor points where it appears that Spotswood's memory might have been faulty. He did make the letter from Sir Richard and the arrival of the Second Colony be "at the same time" [at another point in the letter to Harrison]. Since the Second Colony could only have arrived in late 1717 or early 1718 (NS), the formal search for the iron ore must have started about when he said. Spotswood said that Sir Richard dropped out in about two years. By this time the Germans had probably left for Germantown, since that move looks as if it took place about January of 1719.
Another clue in his statement is the amount of money that was spent on the project before Sir Richard dropped out. This was upwards of sixty pounds. Anything in this range would have been totally insufficient to have built a furnace. The goal that was reached by the Germans was the development of the mines without any furnace. The Germans left Spotswood's employ before the iron furnace was built and they had no part of the iron furnace.
Spotswood did not have an iron mine when the Germans came. He did not even let the Germans work on the silver at first. The Germans were busy farming. Clearing ground, planting, and harvesting kept them very busy. They also had to build roads so they had plenty to do. Still, in their off time, I believe that they explored the country side and found iron, which they told Spotswood about. He perhaps let them do a little work on the prospective mines. I believe, that by the time Sir Richard wrote his first letter, Spotswood knew he had excellent prospects for iron. By the time the Germans left, the mines were in good shape.
(11 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.