Graffenried's adventures in America started in 1710 in North Carolina, and lasted until 1713, when he was discouraged by the lack of support from Switzerland. He returned home in the Summer or Fall of 1713, and, after he was home, he wrote three similar manuscripts explaining why the failed enterprise was not his fault. We would wish that he had given us more detail, because, of all the people, he perhaps knew the most. These manuscripts were not generally available to the public until the North Carolina Historical Commission in 1886 published major parts.
We are indebted to John Fontaine for the most complete description of Germanna, but this was not available to us until 1853. Therefore, the reports from two of the men who knew the most and who wrote about their experiences were inacessible for more than a hundred years. Today, of course, we have access to their writings which are highly recommended.
The First Germanna Colony, as we have come to know them, hired Jacob Christopher Zollikoffer to raise funds in Europe for their benefit. Usually it is said that this appeal was made jointly by the First and Second Colonies, but anyone who has read the original appeal signed by Haeger, Merdten, and Richter would see that it was an appeal by the Reformed members of the First Colony. (The language of this appeal was translated by Andreas Mielke and published in Beyond Germanna on page 818ff.)
The petition that is usually cited is taken from the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts (SPG) Minute Book. It is hard to recognize any similarity between this and the actual original petition. Someone, perhaps Zollikoffer himself, changed the original petition ( rewrote it for the Minute Book), and made it into an appeal that referenced both the First and Second Colonies, which were referred to as 12 Reformed families and 20 Lutheran Families . At the same time, it was stated that the Germans wished to have the benefit of the Anglican rites. Most people have very correctly doubted this clause. Their doubts did not go far enough, though, as the two petitions, the original written at Germanna and the one submitted to the SPG, have hardly any points in common.
When Zollikoffer had gone on to Germany, he had printed an appeal in Frankfurt. The
12 Reformed families and the 20 Lutheran Families
have now been joined by 40 other families! This was the origin of the
Third Colony
theory. Once we see how the idea of forty more families came about, we should doubt the figures. Yes, there were people who came in 1719, but in numbers they fell far short of forty, and they probably were not organized into any group. Whether these false reports, the petition in London, and the statements in Frankfurt, should be blamed on Zollikoffer is uncertain, but he was the person on the scene at both locations. We must remember, though, that he was a businessman and no doubt doing this for a percentage of the money he raised.
(31 Jul 04)
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.