The first group of Germans had been looking around in the district surrounding Germanna. They found iron ore and brought it to Spotswood’s attention. At about the time the second group of Germans came, Spotswood received a letter from Sir Richard in England, who wanted Spotswood to search for iron ore with the objective of establishing an "iron works". This would have been about the beginning of 1718 (NS). Spotswood replied that he would have his Germans look, and, of course, it was not difficult to find something of which they were already aware. Still, Spotswood did not deviate from his main thrust which was to acquire land. He added iron as another possibility, but only as a possibility.
The first group of Germans left Germanna about January of 1719 (NS), to go to their own land in the Northern Neck, which became known as "Germantown". With money from partners, and with labor that probably came from England, Spotswood built an iron furnace, but it did not go smoothly. William Byrd could tell the Board of Trade in November of 1721 that iron could be cast in Virginia, but that they could not make bar iron. A small shipment of cast iron was sent to England in 1723, and a more significant shipment was made in 1724. By then, Spotswood felt confident enough that he could go to England to pursue the titles to his lands and to find a wife. Before he left, he gave instructions to his agents to continue the lawsuits against the members of the second group of Germans to recover the monies he had spent on their transportation. Spotswood remained in England about five years, while his iron furnace was sending a modest stream of iron to England.
Probably in 1725, the second group of Germans left their homes along the north bank of the Rapidan River, just above Germanna, and moved to land of their own. Most of them went to the Robinson River Valley, but a few moved only a few miles to the southeast of Mt. Pony. They obtained a generous quantity of free land, as a result of the legislation that had been by initiated by Spotswood to reduce his own costs of acquiring land.
By 1725, most of the Germans were living on land of their own, and were independent of Spotswood or others. They viewed one of their most pressing problems as that of obtaining ministers. While the first group had brought a minister with them, the Rev. Häger, the second group was located at some distance from him. Rev. Häger was old and the number of years remaining for him could not be many. So, all of the Germans felt the need for ministers. As there were few ministers in the colonies who could speak German, attention was focused on Germany. The second group went so far as to send two of their members to Germany to seek a minister, but they were unsuccessful.
Even before the second group had moved to their own lands, they were joined by friends and relatives, usually from the same villages from which the original second group had come. This same phenomenon occurred also with the first group, but it did not commence until later. Whereas the second group had been given as about 80 people in 1717/18, it had reached the number of 300 by 1733, due to the new people from Germany, as well as there being more births than deaths within the group. Apparently, both groups were feeling better about the situation in Virginia.
(23 Mar 01)
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.