A Virginia planter in the early eighteenth century made his living by growing tobacco, which was not always a certain road to wealth. The weather might seriously harm the crop resulting in a low quantity. Or the insects might eat the tobacco. Another year the weather might be just right and a large crop of tobacco might result which could result in a surplus on the market, with low prices.
Large planters were usually in debt to their London agents who bought tobacco from him, and bought goods for him. Small planters never had enough money to buy the things they wanted in life. What was the reaction of the planters to this series of problems? Generally, the decision was to grow more tobacco. Growing more tobacco meant obtaining more land and more labor, but especially more land to replace the land that was worn out.
From the beginning, settlement had been encouraged by a grant of fifty acres of land for every person imported into the colony. The custom very quickly became that the person who paid the transportation would get the head right, which could be sold, traded, or bargained. This head right applied to all people, regardless of sex, age, or race. Paying the transportation for a person from England would cost about six or seven pounds, and this made land fairly expensive. But in addition, the one who paid the transportation would obtain the services of those imported from England as servants for about seven years. Slaves were more expensive, but the period of servitude was indefinite.
About 1704, the law was changed so that, in addition to head rights, one could purchase land from the crown for cash. Surprisingly, the price of the land was set very low, at five shillings per fifty acres for the lands of the crown. This was about 3 percent of the previous rate. For someone who had the labor available, this was an inducement to buy land. So, in the early eighteenth century, a land boom started that was held in check only by the fall line, by the need for an accommodation with the Indians, and by the lack of roads to replace the rivers. The opportunities lay generally in the Piedmont region since, after one hundred years, the better Virginia tidewater lands were nearly all taken up. One had to think in terms of the western lands.
Progress in settling the Piedmont lands was inhibited by the reluctance of individuals to expose themselves to the dangers they perceived there. A breakthrough came in 1713, when Lt. Gov. Spotswood settled forty-odd Germans in a simple fort, about twenty miles beyond the existing line of English settlement. The Germans did a good job of maintaining peace at, and beyond, the frontier. Spotswood was very pleased with their performance, and he saw an opportunity to repeat this performance on a much larger scale. One problem was how was he going to get more Germans? They were not coming to Virginia.
(06 Jun 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.