When the Second Colony members were sued by Col. Alexander Spotswood, they attempted first to obtain a copy of the contract which had, in theory, been made with them when they came. There, of course, was none, except in Spotswood's mind. [This is the way that he worked.] Apparently, after the lawsuits had been instigated for some time, the Germans sought relief from Williamsburg. From the Virginia State archives, there is this document:
1. In pursuance of the advise of the honorable Major Holloway have wee desired Colonell Spotswood to give us the Copy of the Covenant which we at our arrival made with him, but he will not give it.
We have desired the Justices of Spotsylvania Court to assist us and to be our witnesses that the Colonell will not deliver above mentioned covenant, but they refuse to have anything to do with it, therefore wee humbly ask further advice.
2. Colonell Spotswood hath arrested above 25 of us, wee not knowing wherefore we are arrested, therefore humbly ask your honour's advice if it is proper to give in a petition to the Gentlemen of the house of burgess' to assist us and order one who might plead for us in forma pauperis.
3. Wee design to go to England and from thence to germany to bring in a Minister for us high germans who are here, to humbly ask if it is proper to desire the governour to give us an attestation & passport to witness that we are inhabitants here, the Burgesses from Spotsylvania County know that we are by the rest of our Countrymen sent in that behalf.
We who desire to go out our names are Michael Coock, Zerachus Flishman.
There are several points of interest.
Note the number who were arrested is above 25. Is there a distinction to be made between arrested and sued? Did the Germans understand the word "arrested", and did it have the same meaning as today?
Who was Major Holloway?
There was a better reception in Williamsburg, than in Germanna where the Justices of the Spotsylvania court sat. In Germanna, the justices held their position by appointment from Spotswood, the most important man in the county. In Williamsburg, the new administration was anti-Spotswood.
Who wrote this? The shortness of it and the reversed subject and verb in the first sentence suggest that the Germans may have written it themselves. It would be fun to obtain a photocopy of the original document to see the actual formation of the letters. The Germans did know the Latin letters for writing, which is surely the style of the writing used, but there might be a few clues in the writing. My source for the document, The Virginia Historical Magazine , did not say where the document was to be found in the archives, but it would probably be in the 1724 time frame. Can anyone cite where the original is to be found?
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.