From a report to the Lords Commissioners of Trade, 21 July 1714:
“. . .I have placed here [the frontier] a number of Protestant Germans, built them a Fort, and finished it with 2 pieces of Canon and some Ammunition, which will awe the Stragling partys of Northern Indians, and be a good Barrier for all that part of the Country. These Germans were invited over, SOME YEARS AGO [emphasis added], by the Baron de Graffinreed who her Majesty's Letter to the Governor of Virginia to furnish them with land upon their arrival. They are generally such as have been employed in their own country as Miners, and say they are satisfied there are divers kinds of minerals in those upper parts of the Country where they are settled, and even a good appearance of Silver Oar, but that 'tis impossible for any man to know whether those Mines will turn to account without digging some depth into the Earth, a liberty I shall not give them until I receive an Answer to what I represented to your Lordships concerning your Ascertaining her Majesty's Share, which I hope by your Lordship's interposition be speedily signifyed.”
From a letter to Col. Blakiston of 1 Dec 1714:
“I desire you will be pleased to accept my [gratitude] together with my repeated acknowledgments for your endeavour in relation to the Affair of the Mines. At the same time I hope you will please to renew your instances to His present Majesty, with whom, (as being a Prince of more knowledge in the nature of Mines than I believe any in Europe,) it may be much easier to prevail, and perhaps to obtain as moderate Terms as the Adventurers in his own Territorys of Germany had. It may be also some Consideration with his Majesty that these Mines are to be wrought by persons of the same Nation and Religion, as I am sure it ought with us; and they will be a vast charge without any prospect of benefit till they can be set to Work. I have obtained for them from the Assembly an Exemption of all Taxes for seven Years, which may be an encouragement to others of the same Country to come over, but I hope their passage will be at their own charge.”
[ Commentary: Though Spotswood is a relatively good writer, his language certainly is strange at times and a little hard to understand. This is not entirely his fault, as he writes in the style of the day. Spelling was optional and punctuation is not clear. Many of the sentences are too long and sometimes the same sentence speaks of entirely different subjects.]
Queen Anne has died at the time of the second letter above and George has been chosen to be the new King. He was a first cousin of Anne, and, while he might not have been the closest relative of Queen Anne, he was a Protestant, which Parliament demanded. His knowledge of English was minimal and during his reign the office of Prime Minister came into being.
(05 Sep 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.