Robert Beverley had his 13,000 acres laid out, and perhaps he had even had a surveyor go over the land and mark the boundaries. His next step would be to pay his fees to the colony at the rate of five shillings per fifty acres, or one shilling per ten acres. Thus, his fee would be 1,300 shillings or 65 pounds sterling. Then, he had to think to about where he was going to find people who would be willing to live on this land. This land was to the west of Fort Germanna, and the fort had not even been built yet. He very correctly came to the conclusion that he should hold on to his 65 pounds and wait until his chances of getting settlers would be better. (Meanwhile his markers would discourage anyone else from claiming the same land.) This was about 1710, or the time that Alexander Spotswood arrived to take up his duties as Lt. Gov.
Probably in the first year that Spotswood was in Virginia, Beverley approached him and discussed what they might do on the western lands. Beverley said that they might form a partnership with his land and some more land; however, this did not solve the question of where they were going to find settlers. The dangers of settling on the frontier were brought home with wars in North Carolina between the Indians and the whites in 1711. Indirectly, this led to a solution of where the settlers were to be found. Christoph Graffenried proposed to move his North Carolina colony to Virginia where it would be safer. Spotswood, on mulling this over, came up with the idea of settling these Germans and Swiss on the frontier to serve as a barrier between the Indians and the Virginians. When another group of Germans landed on his doorstep in 1714, he settled them at the place now called Germanna, which served two purposes. The official purpose was to be a barrier to the Indians in that part of the country. The off-the-record reason was his proposed silver mine, which was only a few miles from Germanna (and adjacent to the Beverly 13,000 acre tract).
Very quickly, Spotswood, Beverley, and all of the large planters in Virginia saw what the impact of the Germans would and could be. The land out to Germanna became very attractive and beyond was a possibility. In 1716 several of the people who were interested in land organized an exploration beyond Germanna. Again, there was an official reason, and there was an unofficial, or real, reason. To the people back in London, the reason given was to see the pass over the Blue Ridge Mountains. This was described as a measure of defensive action against the hated French.
The real reason for the trip was to scout for land to satisfy the appetite for it. The trip was barely over when Spotswood began having 40,000 acres of land laid out, land that stretched from near Germanna to beyond the present day courthouse in Culpeper County. (The 40,000 acre tract was an understatement, for, when plotted, it shows about 65,000 acres.) This included the 13,000 acres of Beverley. Spotswood claimed that other people had joined in the enterprise, though their names never seem to have been recorded.
Though the land was laid out, there were still no settlers for it. Within eighteen months, Spotswood had that problem solved.
(08 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.