According to Spotswood, he set the Germans at Fort Germanna to looking for iron ore about the time the Second Colony came. More likely, the First Colony did not have to "look", as they probably had some good ideas about the location of the ore. In fact, I believe they were the ones who brought it to Spotswood's attention.
Jacob Holtzclaw and John Justus Albrecht made testimony, recorded in a courthouse, that they worked at mining and quarrying, which ended in December 1718. In other testimony, Spotswood said he had spent upwards of sixty pounds on this work. I believe the Germans were proving there was a good body of ore, which could support a furnace for many years.
What happened in December of 1718? The four years that the Germans had agreed to work had been finished the previous summer, and it was now four and one-half years after they had arrived. Their service for Spotswood was ended. In line with the end of their service, they had agreed to purchase 1800 acres, more or less, from the Northern Neck Proprietor, in 1717. Moving to this land in the summer of 1717 would not have been a good idea. They had been through such an experience once. It is too late in the year to clear any ground for crops. By staying at Fort Germanna, they could grow another crop there. Then, leaving there the next January, they could move to their land and clear ground for the next growing season.
That is what I believe they did. In January of 1719 (by the new style calendar), they moved to their land, which became known as Germantown. With this, they commenced their life on their own. Essentially, now they had no one to answer to except themselves.
With proven iron mines, Spotswood had to find financial help to help build the furnace. Apparently, some of this help came from England, and some may have been in Virginia. The most likely sources were the trading houses and merchants in England. These were very powerful people. Labor to build the furnace came from England, most likely. By 1721, the furnace was smelting iron, but it was having problems. It was not until about 1723 that it was producing iron on a consistent basis.
In Spotswood's account of his activities, his time table does not always agree with the statements of some other parties. For example, Spotswood said that he set the Germans to searching for the iron about the start of 1718. More likely, the Germans had been working some on the ore before this time. But Spotswood probably wanted to disguise when he and the Germans had started the effort.
His approach to iron was cautious because of the known opposition to iron manufacturing in the colonies. England wanted the colonies to ship raw materials back to them, where they would be worked up into finished goods, and shipped back to the colonies. Wool was to be sent back to England, where it would be worked into clothing and blankets. Lumber was to be shipped to England, where furniture would be made. The colonies were not to do any finish work.
(16 Apr 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.