[Alexander Spotswood advised William Byrd] that a number of specialized people were necessary in the iron operation, viz., a founder, a mine-raiser, a collier, a stock-taker, a clerk, a smith, a carpenter, a wheelwright, and several carters. The cash salaries for the named occupations would be about five hundred pounds a year, according to Spotswood. The head collier headed a large crew of people, who made the charcoal. Labor for all of the duties was supplied by slaves.
To ship a ton of iron to England, and to pay customs there, would take about 27 shillings per ton; but, that the merchants were always finding new ways of adding to the charges, was the complaint of Spotswood. Together, the expenses in Virginia, plus the cost of getting a ton to England ready for sale, amounts to about three pounds per ton. This was the "cost of the goods", and the overhead in Virginia for lands and servants had to be paid out of the selling price of about six pounds per ton.
The group (the Spotswoods, her sister, and Byrd) ate a goose for dinner, and spent the afternoon walking over the area around Spotswood's home. Byrd noted it was a peninsula, but he erred badly in the size of it, as he estimated it contained about 400 acres. It would have been much closer to four times this amount. The Germanna patent was for a still larger quantity, but about half of the land was on the other side of the Rapidan River. In passing, Byrd noted that the Rappahannock River forked downstream from Germanna, with the northern branch, called the Rappahannock, being larger than the southern branch, the Rapidan. Therefore, the Northern Neck did not include the land between the Rapidan and the Rappahannock Rivers. [Byrd may have been correct about the larger river, but the Northern Neck proprietors prevailed in their contention that the Rapidan was the southern boundary of their grant.]
On the fourth day, the group took to their horses in the morning, forded the Rapidan, and rode upstream about six miles. [ IF this were along the Rapidan River, it would have been over the area where the Second Germanna Colony had initially lived.] They found some ginseng plants, which Byrd believed had wonderful healing properties. In return for telling Spotswood about its virtue, Spotswood allowed Byrd to take all the samples that he wanted. Byrd had been surprised to find it growing on level ground, as he had always been told that it grew on the north side of a stony hill. Byrd was very pleased to have the samples, and he took them back to the house, where he washed and dried the roots. After all of the exercise, the group was eager to eat dinner. In the afternoon, the ladies showed Byrd their domestic animals, which served the dual purpose of pets and food. As a consequence, the animals sometimes won a reprieve from the dinner table. That night, the men omitted their discussion of iron and talked politics, a subject in which they both had experience.
On the fifth day, the men talked about many things, and attended to the ladies. The ladies were no doubt very pleased to have company at Germanna. It was probably not often that they entertained anyone.
(06 Nov 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.