The writer of the family history mentioned here recently quoted the Summer 1997 issue of " Germanna " (published by the Germanna Foundation) as saying that the pending departure of the First Colony from Germanna was causing Spotswood's mining and furnace operation to slow down. This would have been about 1717. The " Germanna " article goes on to say that Spotswood had an agent in London named Von Graffenried. It is claimed that Spotswood sent urgent messages to this Graffenried to recruit more help. It is furthermore claimed that Graffenried talked a boatload of Germans into going to Virginia.
Even the author of the family history found this hard to swallow and expressed some doubt about it. Of course, he was correct to do so. According to Spotswood, he did not start the mining operation until about the time of arrival of the Second Colony. The furnace was even later, after the First Colony had moved to Germantown. Spotswood did not have an agent in London named Graffenried. The Graffenried, who had initiated the action leading to the First Colony coming to Virginia, had gone to Switzerland in the fall of 1713, and he never left Switzerland again.
The author of the family history quotes, erroneously, the statement that some of the Germans came " with Capt. Scott ", but this is because he quoted the Germanna Foundation and not the original document.
It is furthermore stated that Spotswood employed these Germans (the Second Colony) in his iron mines near Germanna, and they did a little farming. In fact, though, they never were engaged in the iron mines, or at the furnace. There was a brief episode in which they produced charcoal, but they were too far away from the furnace for the charcoal to travel without damage. They were engaged in a naval stores project primarily, and in securing the 40,000 acre Spotsylvania tract for the investors (eventually only Spotswood).
Our family history writer concluded there was no Third Colony , and even cited a printed publication of the Germanna Foundation, which had arrived at this conclusion; however the web page for the Germanna Foundation says, "Another group arrived at Germanna in 1719 of approximately forty families."
Among the reasons cited by the family author for the First Colony moving from Germanna was the statement from the printed publications of the Germanna Foundation that they could obtain free land elsewhere. This is simply not true, as they purchased their land from the Northern Neck Proprietor. It is not noted that the four years they had agreed to work for Spotswood were up and they were under no obligation to stay longer. They could not buy land from Spotswood so they went to the Northern Neck (they could also have patented land from the colony of Virginia).
(14 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.