Willis Kemper made two statements in his book on the Kemper Family Genealogy that can be discussed together. He wrote,
"Spotswood authorized Graffenried to obtain skilled workmen out of Germany."
"Spotswood was expecting them [the First Colony]."
I have often wondered how Kemper could have made these statements because he was aware of what Graffenried had written. The manuscripts, three in number, that Graffenried had written and deposited in libraries in Switzerland, were known by the time that Kemper wrote his book. The North Carolina Historical Commission had published them in English in the 1880's, and Kemper makes reference to the material.
Graffenried, on returning to Switzerland, had passed through London, where he was surprised to see the Germans. He berates them, in his writing at least, for coming to London, for he says that he had written that they were not to come because the [silver] mines had not been located. Graffenried was, by this time, almost without financial resources, both in person and from his employer (George Ritter and Company). So Graffenried advised the Germans to go home. This would be a very strange thing for a recruiter to do.
The Germans felt that they could not go home, as they might not be readmitted to their homeland. Rev. Haeger added as a reason that the war prevented them from returning. They did not have enough money to pay their own way to America, but they volunteered to work in America for someone to make up the balance of their transportation costs. With this as a bargaining tool, Graffenried contacted Col. Blakiston, the agent for Virginia, who no doubt had been mentioned by Spotswood to Graffenried.
Blakiston was hard at work on obtaining approval of the share of silver mines that the Crown expected in Virginia. This was undefined at the time. Spotswood had already invested in property that was thought to contain silver, and he had been working with Blakiston to get the royalty approved.
Apparently, Blakiston was hopeful of approval. A petition had been sent to Queen Anne requesting her determination and she had "farmed" the question out to various subordinates to obtain comments, information, and recommendations. Blakiston saw the Germans as the labor that Spotswood might soon be needing, so Blakiston decided that Spotswood would pay the 150 pounds sterling that was needed to complete the cost of transportation. Once this was decided, Blakiston and Graffenried wrote to Spotswood and told him that the Germans were coming. This was a COD shipment, of which, at the time of the departure of the Germans, Spotswood was unaware. The Germans left in January, according to Graffenried, and arrived in April. Spotswood learned about their coming only a very short time, probably measured in days, before the Germans arrived. He was pleased, not about the labor, but that approval for the silver mine royalty must surely be forthcoming soon.
(05 Aug 04)
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