The partnership of Alexander Spotswood and Robert Beverley, and probably a few other minor partners, became active when the ship " Scott " arrived with seventy-odd Germans, in either late 1717, or early 1718 by the modern calendar. The figure of seventy-odd Germans was Spotswood's accounting; the Germans put the number at eighty, and the two numbers are not that much dissimilar. We know that Spotswood paid the transportation of forty-eight of these people. Since the partnerships were often based on "halves" such as one-half, one-quarter, one-eighth, etc., we look to see what fraction Spotswood could have had. If he had five-eighths, the number of Germans could be placed at seventy-eight. So Beverley and the other partners might have three-eighths.
Whereas the names of the Germans, for whom Spotswood paid the transportation, are known, the names of "Beverley's" Germans are unknown, except for George Moyer. That we even know George Moyer's name comes about because Robert Beverley had died by the time that Spotswood sued some of the Germans. Spotswood bought out the inherited interest of William Beverley, Robert Beverley's son, and thereby acquired the interest in the German's contract. George Moyer was sued, and William Beverley was called to testify at the lawsuit. The reason that William Beverley would have been involved was that his father originally had paid Moyer's transportation.
Since William Beverley put up his original 13,000, acres and the tract was extended to 40,000 acres, it might be argued that William Beverley was a one-third partner and Spotswood was a two-thirds partner. This ignores the smaller partners. Conceivably, Beverley had paid the transportation for up to about twenty-four of the Germans. It would be good to know these names. Perhaps combing the Spotsylvania County Court records might disclose other cases where William Beverley testified.
After the Germans were settled, Beverley encouraged the Germans to grow grapes for wine. We get this bit of information from Rev. Jones. At the same time, Spotswood was encouraging the Germans to work on naval stores, but much difficulty was encountered in this work. It is unknown who was the active leader of the work of the Germans. Someone would have been giving them directions on a frequent basis.
Basically, Beverley lived his life quietly at Beverley Park, graciously entertaining all who came that way. When Fontaine was staying a few days with Beverley, in 1715, a Sunday came to pass and they all rode by horseback to church, at a distance of seven miles. Though Beverley flouted some of the conventions of his classes, he observed the proprieties of religious worship that would have been expected of a country gentleman. He did advocate temperance in all things, while praising friendship, hospitality, and being a good neighbor.
Fontaine's account of his visit to Beverley Park would suggest that hunting was a major activity, but Beverley himself said he was a "small sportsman", who did, on occasion, hunt ducks, turkeys, deer, and, perhaps, bears. The most exciting of his hunts was to ride after wolves through the woods. He actually seems to have enjoyed fishing more than hunting. On the whole, Beverley enjoyed the outdoors, and envied the Indians.
(21 Oct 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.