When Alexander Spotswood, late Lt. Governor of Virginia, wrote to the Board of Trade on 16 June 1724, he enclosed a copy of a letter he had written to Col. Nathaniel Harrison, Deputy Auditor of H.M. Revenue. Paraphrasing his comments in this enclosed letter:
"Your letter of February 15 pertaining to the lands in the two new counties deserves a full answer. Others have taken aim at my possessions and say that it is in the interest of H.M. for a restriction on the size of grants. On the contrary I have abided by the laws. My primary purpose in taking up the lands has not been to raise a mighty landed estate for my own profit or pleasure but that I have been led into the possession thereof by motives of charity, or securing the frontier, or by a public spirit in promoting Naval Stores. I have also been drawn in some of the enterprises by incidents over which I had no control.Protestants"The first tract that I became possessed of was the 3229 acres called the Germanna tract from my seating thereon several families of German Protestants.
"These forty odd men, women, and children, who came over in 1714, brought with them a Minister and Schoolmaster. They were settled upon land in these parts by Baron Graffenried pursuant to an agreement he had made with them in Germany. But before their arrival, the Baron being nonplused in his affairs here and forced to return to Switzerland, would have left them deserted and liable to become servants had I not stepped in and took care of them. I paid 150 pounds sterling which remained due on their passage. The Council Journals will show that to my charity for them I joined the concern for the security of the country against Indian incursions by choosing to seat them on land twelve miles beyond the then usual course of our rangers. They served as a barrier in the most naked part of our frontier. So far from my thoughts was it, to take up the land for my own use, that during the six years they remained on the land I never offered to plant one foot of ground thereon.
"My next tract was for 3065 acres which was contiguous to Germanna. When the Germans showed that they wanted to have their settlements enlarged, I procured this land for them so they could lease it. But they were seduced away by greater expectations elsewhere and therefore the land was left on my hands and I was forced to purchase servants and slaves for seating land in this Colony."
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.