USA > Virginia > History of the German element in Virginia, Vol I > Part 2
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2 ) "American History for Schools," by G. P. Quackenbos, p. 43. New York, 1877.
3 ) "History of the United States of America," by Ch A. Goodrich and W. Seavy, p. 31. N. Y. 1867.
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Mr. Cooke4) who lived in Virginia on the old homestead of his ancestors and who took an earnest interest in the history of his native State, describes the precaution with which the ships of 'the daring seamen approached the coast and the landing „of Newport's expedition as follows :
Before them was the great expanse of Chesapeake Bay, the " Mother of waters" as the Indian name siguified, and in the distance the broad mouth of a great river, the Powhatan. As the ships approached the western shore of the bay the storm had spent its force, and they called the place Point Comfort. A little further, at the present Hampton, they landed and were hospitably received by a tribe of Indians. The ships then sailed on up the river, which was new-named James River, and parties landed here and there, looking for a good site for the colony. A very bad one was finally selected, a low peninsula half buried in the tide at highwater. Here the adventurers landed on May 13th, 1607, and gave the place the name of Jamestown, in honor of the King. Nothing remains of this famous settlement but the ruins of a church tower covered with ivy, and some old tombstones. The tower is crumbling year by year, and the roots of trees have cracked the slabs, making great rifts across the names of the old Armigers and Honourables. The place is desolate, with its washing waves and flitting sea- fowl, but possesses a singular attraction. It is one of the few localities which recall the first years of American history, but it will not recall them much longer. Every distinctive feature of the spot is slowly disappearing. The river encroaches year by year, and the ground occupied by the original huts is already submerged."
Mr. Cooke gives in his pretty description a fair picture of the unfitness of the first immigrants, and also unintentionally shows a characteristic difference between the English and the Germans, that exists to this day. His complaint concerning the unmitigated decay of the mementoes of such an important event, as the first settlement in Virginia was, is fully justified and deserves honorable mentioning, but this demonstrates also how
4 ) "Virginia," A History of the People, by John Esten Cooke, p. 19. Boston, Mass., 1883.
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irreverent and little ideal the Anglo-Americans are in such matters in contrast with the Germans, who perhaps less smart and enterprising in the practices of life are of deeper feeling and reverence. Not until 1891 were the first steps taken . to preserve the few remaining ruins of old Jamestown to posterity. Congress appropriated ten thousand dollars to pre- vent the further destruction of the island, and an embankment with ripraps has been built along the northern end, but the work is badly done, and already the bank is beginning to be under- mined. Like "red tape" this characteristic difference between the two principal elements of the population is to be observed in the history of the Union and particularly of Virginia.
It is also not to be left unmentioned, that the oldest printed publication about Virginia is a German one. A chronological list of works up to Capt. Smith's death, 1631, published in " The English Scholar's Library," Birmingham, 1884, page cxxxii, names in the very first place: "1590-1650 Levinius Hulsius, A Collection of Voyages. In German-Frankfort." Furthermore, on page cxxxiv is stated, "In 1617, Hulsius, the German collector, translated Smith's description for his voyages and reengraved the map (drawn by Captain Smith); but the names in the lower corners were omitted, and Smith's title, the verses con- cerning him and some of the explanations were given in German. In regard to Capt. Smith's map, printed by Georg Low in London, is said in the same publication, "The original condition of the map bears in the lower left-hand corner, Simon Pasacus, sculpit," which appears to be a latinized German name.
Upon the banks of James river the colonists met with peaceable and hospitable Indians. Powhatan, the chief of the native confederacy, resided at Werowocomoco on the shores of York River. In the beginning friendly relations existed between the colonists and the savages, and Captains Newport and Smith in exploring the country up the James River and eastward to York River, frequently visited the kind-hearted chief in his wigwam. Capt. Smith5) reports also, " the savages often visited us kindly."
5.) ) "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations of Capt. John Smith. Vol. I, p. 151. London edition, 1629, and republished at Richmond, Va., 1819.
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In June 1607 Captain Newport sailed for England, leaving the smallest of his ships behind him and soon the colonists began to experience a variety of calamities. They were, as has already been stated, poorly fitted to struggle with life in the wilderness, neglecting to cultivate the soil and wasting their time in unsuccessful searches for gold. Among them, as stated in Capt. Smith's reports to the London Company, were only four carpenters and twelve laborers,6) and most of them were " Dutchmen."
A list of the "first planters " gives the following probably anglicized names of the four carpenters : William Laxon, Edward Pising, Thomas Emry and Robert Small, and in 1609, Adam and Francis, two stout Dutchmen, are mentioned. No distinction was made in those days between the appellations " Dutch " and " Deutsch or German." Germans and Hollanders came to England and America by way of the same Dutch harbors. However, Capt. John Smith, speaking of the natives of Holland in his "Description of New England," always calls them Hollanders and not. Dutch. From a recommendation to the Council of Virginia7) : "To send to Germany and Poland for laborers," it can safely be concluded, that those' carpen- ters and laborers were Germans, and that they have built the first dwelling houses in Virginia. This conjecture appears the more plausible, as the other immigrants were not skilled to this work. Furthermore Capt. Smith had travelled through Poland and Germany and knew the Germans as an industrious and reliable people. He also ordered three of his " German " carpenters as he distinctly calls them and as will be further related, to build a house for the Indian Chief Powhatan, and that he made great efforts to persuade them to return, when they preferred to remain with the natives.
In "Hening's Statutes at Large," Vol. I, p. 114-118; dated July 24th, 1621, instructions drawn up by the Council, also refer to the care to be taken of Frenchmen, Dutch, Italians and. others, and clearly indicate the presence of emigrants from various nations.
6. ) "The English Scholar's Library." pp. 94 and 130. Birmingham, 1884; and "Histor- ical Collections of Virginia, " by Henry Howe, p. 24. Charleston, S. C., 1849.
7.) "The English Scholar's Library," pp. 194, 195, 196, 197, 444 &c. Birmingham, 1884 ; and "The Three Travels," by Capt. John Smith. Vol. I, p. 202. Richmond, Va., 1819.
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The documents giving the names of the first comers are incomplete, but contain a number of German family names. In the letter to the Council, before mentioned, Capt. John Smith speaks with distinction of one Capitaine Richard Waldo and a Maister Andrew Buckler. The lists of the arrivals from 1607 to 1609, expressly confirm the presence of Dutch and Poles8) and contain. the following names of German sound : John Herd, Henry Leigh, Thomas Lavander, William, George and Thom. Cassen, Wm. Unger, Wm. May, Vere, Michaell, Peter Keffer, a gunner, Wm. Dowman, Thomas Feld, apothecary, Rose, Milman, Michaell Lowicke, Hillard, Nath. Graues, (probably Krause,) etc. In a list of the names of the adventurers of Virginia, con- tained in a printed book edited by the treasurer and Council in 1620,9) we meet also with names of German sound as, David Borne, Wm. Beck, Benjamin Brand, Charles Beck, George Bache, J. Ferne, J. Fenner, L. Campe, Abraham Colmer, John Franck- lin, Peter Franck, J. Geering, G. Holeman, J. Heiden, G. Herst, N. Hide, J. Harper, Christ. Landman, John Landman, H. Leigh, H. May, J. Miller, J. Martin, J. Mundz, Rich. Morer, Rich. Paulson, N. Salter, A. Speckhard, Henry Spranger, Dr. Wm. Turner, Rich. Turner, J. Treuer, J. Tauerner, R. and H. Venne, J. Weld, John Waller and many doubtful names.
Provisions were scarce and of poor quality, sickness spread among the settlers, and before the beginning of winter 1607 one half had perished. Worse than all these misfortunes, the neigh- boring Indians, alarmed by the intrusion and unkind treatment of the whites, became jealous and hostile and refused to furnish supplies of corn, etc.
Fortunately in this desperate position Capt. Smith proved to be the right kind of man to meet the emergency and so deserves the predicate given to him, "the father of Virginia." He suc- ceeded to quiet the savages, to persuade them to provide his starving followers with provisions and thereby saved the rest of the colonists from certain starvation.
However, upon his return to Jamestown, he discovered that President Wingfield was about to leave the colony with some of
8.) "The English Scholar's Library," pp. 108, 129 and 446. Birmingham, 1884; and "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations of Capt. John Smith. Vol. I, pp. 153, 172, 173, 181, 203 and 205, from London edition of 1629, republished at Richmond, Va , 1819.
9 ) The Generall Historie of Virginia" etc , by Capt. John Smith. Vol. II, pp. 43 - 56. Richmond, Va., 1819.
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his partisans and the most valuable stores on Capt. Newport's ship bound for the West Indies. He forced the treacherous President to stay, and Wingfield being disposed of, Capt. Smith was appointed to his office and restored order. He trained his English companions to swinging the axe in the woods and to till the soil, declaring that, "he who would not work, should not eat."
Soon new troubles arose with the Indians and Capt. Smith planned with Capitaine Waldo, (this name indicates that the Captain was a German or German descendant,) " upon whom he knew he could rely in time of need,"10) to subdue them. Not being very conscientious in regard to the means for accomplish- ing his design, he resolved to lurk the unsuspecting Powhatan into his power. In one of his reports he mentions, that he pro- posed to the Indian chief to erect for him a dwelling house after the European pattern and that he ordered three of his German carpenters and two Englishmen, " having so small allowance and few were able to do anything to purpose,"11) to do the job. He instructed these artisans to act also as spies and assist him to ac- complish his object to get the Indian chief in his power. But the Germans learned to esteem the Indians and particularly the well meaning Powhatan, and finally they gave warning to the chief and resolved to stay and live with the sons of the wilder- ness. It seems that these men had endured many privations amidst the English, for Capt. Smith says, "it would have done well, but to send them and without victualls to work, was not so well advised nor considered of, as it should have been."12) When Capt. Smith heard of this socalled treachery of the German workmen, he angrily remarked as " Fama " reports, " damned Dutch," and accordingly he ought to be looked upon as the author of the illbred predicate which is to this day in use by ill meaning people. Wherever different na- tionalities are mixed together, there will be some rivalry, and American life illustrates this fact from Capt. Smith's time to the present. It seems too, from the captain's statements, that the
10.) "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations of Capt. John Smith. Vol I, p. 204, from the London edition, 1629, and republished at Richmond, Va., 1819; and "The English Scholar's Library," pp. 130 and 447. Birmingham, 1884.
11.) Do. Vol. I, p. 205.
12.) Do. Vol. I, p. 193; and "The English Scholar's Library," p. 122. Birmingham, 1884.
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" Dutchmen " had "English " confederates13) and it is well known, that dissatisfaction and discord split the colonists in adverse parties.
The intrigue of Capt. Smith reawakened the suspicion of the natives, and the bad feeling was increased to bitter hatred by the following occurrence. The Indians14) had raised an abundant harvest, but to secure a portion of it was no easy task for the colonists. Smith, however, determined to undertake it and in company with five companions he descended the James as far as Hampton Roads, where he landed, and went boldly among the savages, offering to exchange hatchets and coin for corn, but they only laughed at the proposal and mocked the strangers by offering a piece of bread for Smith's sword and musket. Smith, always determined to succeed in every undertaking, abandoned the idea of barter and resolved to fight. He ordered his men to fire upon the unarmed natives, who ran howling into the woods, leaving their wigwams, filled with corn, an easy prey of the English, but not a grain was touched until the Indians returned. In a short time sixty or seventy painted warriors, at the head of whom marched a priest bearing an idol, appeared and made an attack. The English gave fire a second time, made a rush, drove the savages back and captured their idol. The Indians, when they saw their deity in possession of the English, sent the priest to humbly beg for its return. Smith stood with his musket across the prostrate image and dictated the only terms upon which he would surrender it; that six unarmed Indians should come forward and fill his boat with corn. The terms were ac- cepted, the idol given up, and Smith returned to Jamestown with a boat load of supplies, but leaving behind him enraged enemies.
Capt. Smith soon afterwards made several trips of explora- tion, thinking it possible to discover a passage to the Pacific. On one of these expeditions, while sailing up the Chickahominy river, he was attacked by a party of Indians and taken prisoner. His captors carried him before their chief Powhatan and after a long consultation he was condemned to die. The executioners rushed forward and dragged their victim to a large stone on which it
13 ) "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations of Capt. John Smith. Vol. I, p. 218, from the London edition, 1629, republished at Richmond, Va., 1819.
14 ) "History of West Virginia," by Virgil A Lewis, p. 29 Philadelphia, 1889.
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had been decided his head should be crushed. His head already rested on the stone, still shown at the old Mayo farm near Rich- mond, and the two warriors had raised the club to strike the fatal blow, when Pocahontas, the favorite daughter of the chief, threw herself upon the captive and implored her father to spare the life of the prisoner. Powhatan yielded to the maiden's prayer. Smith was released and in a few days concluded a bargain with the old chief, by which he was to receive a large tract of country in exchange for two cannon and a grindstone, which were to be sent from Jamestown. Accompanied by a guard of twelve men he arrived there after an absence of seven weeks, and under the pretext of instructing the Indian guardsmen in the use of the cannons, discharged them into the trees, at which the savages were so frightened, that they would have nothing to do with them. The grindstone proved so heavy, that they could not carry it, and finally they returned with only a number of trinkets.
Pocahontas, a girl of thirteen years of age, loved the captain dearly. She afterwards embraced the Christian faith and was baptized Rebecca. After the return of Smith to England in 1609, a young English settler, John Rolfe, assured her that Smith died and persuaded her to marry him. Three years later the couple visited England and she was received with great ceremony at the royal court. There she met with Captain Smith and it is said, that she died heart broken finding herself the victim of deceit. She left one son, who was educated in England and who then re- turned to Virginia, where several of the most prominent families claim to be his descendants.
The poetical Pocahontas tale has been related here in full, to prove the correctness of the assertion made previously in re- gard to the lack of devotion to the memoirs of history on part of Anglo-Americans. No prominent American poet has taken hold of this admirable story, but the German-American teacher, Johann Straubenmueller, published in German in 1858 at Balti- more, Md., a poem entitled : "Pocahontas or the foundation of Virginia." It is an astonishing fact, that more German-Ameri- can, and even German poets, as for instance, Friedrich von Schiller15) and Nicolaus Lenau, 16) have selected American
15 ) „Nadowessier's Todtenlied,“ by Friedrich von Schiller.
16.) ,,Der Indianerzug,“ „Die drei Indianer,“ etc., by Nicolaus Lenau.
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myths and Indian life for their poetry and saved those precious pearls from falling into oblivion, than native American poets. The original painting of Pocahontas, a picture which has long been sought for and which is now ascertained to be in Norfolk, is probably too the work of a German artist, Nicolaus Locker. 17)
After friendly relations were again reestablished between Smith and Powhatan, the captain tried to induce the German carpenters sent to the Indian chief to return to Jamestown. He granted them full pardon and detailed a Swiss, by name William Volday, to persuade them, but his messenger also preferred to stay with the Indians and only one German, named Adam, availed himself of the captain's offer.18) Capt. Smith then charged the Dutchmen, - or the cursed country- men of the Swiss Volda or Volday, as he called them, - to have conspired with the Spaniards to destroy the colony. In an interesting historical publication, "Die unbekannte neue Welt oder Beschreibung des Welttheils Amerika, by Dr. O. D., Amsterdam, 1673," of which a copy is in possession of Rev. Eduard Huber, Baltimore, Md., the unwise and oppressive treatment the Germans suffered by the English and their con- sequent enmity, is confirmed. On page 161 of this Dutch book is stated, "They (the Englishmen) had also many trou- bles with the High-Germans (Hochdeutschen,) which having been badly treated, joined the Virginians (the Indians) to de-
stroy the English settlement." Thus it appears, that the grievances experienced, induced the German colonists to actions of a hostile character and that in those early days of the colony a want of harmony created a deplorable national ca- lamity, which has continued in some degree to this day.
Being unable to induce the German mechanics to return to Jamestown, Capt. Smith persuaded Thomas Douse and Thomas Mallard "to bring the Dutchmen and the inconstant savages in such a manner amongst such ambuscades, as he had prepared, that not many of them should return from the peninsula."19) But Douse failed to accomplish his design.
17 ) "The English Scholar's Library," page 136. Birmingham, 1884.
18 ) "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations by Capt. John Smith. Vol I, pp. 231, 232. Richmond, Va., 1819.
19.) "The English Scholar's Library," page 477. Birmingham, 1884.
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In the spring and again in the fall of 1608 Capt. New- port arrived with provisions and new immigrants. Among the newcomers were a number of Poles and Germans, brought over with the purpose to manufacture pitch, tar, glass, sope-ashes, etc., but most of the new settlers were of the same sort as their predecessors, who in spite of the remonstrances of Smith, wasted their time in search of gold. Capt. Smith complained of the habits and character of the men sent out and entreated the council, "when they send out again, rather to send but thirty carpenters, husbandmen, gardeners, fisher- men, blacksmiths, masons and diggers of tree roots, well pro- vided, than a thousand of such as they had." The bad state .of affairs continued and after two years of existence, there were but forty acres of cultivated land in the colony.
In the year 1609 the London Company obtained a new charter, granting enlarged territory and putting the manage- ment of affairs of the colony in the hands of a governor as- sisted by a council. Lord Delaware was appointed governor, after Capt. Smith, by the accidental explosion of a bag of gun- powder, had been wounded and obliged to return to England. Besides Jamestown, that was strongly palisaded, containing some fifty or sixty houses, he left five or six other forts and plantations. It was an unlucky day for the colony when Capt. Smith departed, - his actions had not always been free of harshness and' cruelty, - but the circumstances that sur- rounded him may serve for his excuse, - and when he had left, disorder, sickness and famine ensued. The winter of 1609 to 1610 was properly termed "the starving time." Of the 490 persons whom Smith left, only sixty survived, and it may safely be accepted, that most of the survivors belonged to the industrious, sober working class from the European continent, while the English fortune seekers, carrying on a dissipate life, perished. Capt. Smith stated,20) "the adventurers never knew what a day's work was, except the Dutchmen and Poles, and some dozen others. For all the rest were poor gentlemen, tradesmen, serving men, libertines and such like, ten times more fit to spoil a commonwealth, than either begin one, or but help to maintain one."
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20 ) "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations. Vol. I, p. 241. Richmond, 1819.
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The Indians, no longer afraid, began to harass the unfor- tunates, who concluded to desert the settlement and to sail to Newfoundland. Nearing the mouth of the James river, they descried a fleet entering Hampdon roads. It was Lord Dela- ware with new colonists and provisions, and the disheartened fugitives were persuaded to return to the abandoned James- town. The new arrivals were of a better class and by the ju- dicious management of the governor the future of the colony wore a brighter aspect.
Among the new settlers were many Dutch and Germans, they plowed the soil, corn was raised in abundance and no further famine again endangered the lives of the colonists. Tobacco and cotton were extensively cultivated for export, and tobacco was used as money, being worth about 75 cents a pound. Capt. Waldo, before mentioned and highly esteemed by Capt. Smith, went to England and persuaded the merchants to com- mence mining in Virginia. But the mines he had found did not prove rich and he was treated as an impostor and died most miserably.21) The remains of an iron furnace22) are found in Chesterfield County, five or six miles below Rich- mond, described by Berkeley in his History of Virginia as be- ing worked in 1620. Very likely these iron works were estab- lished by Capt. Waldo. In the Price-Lists of 1621 iron is marked at twelve pounds sterling per ton, but in 1622 the Chesterfield furnace was broken up by the massacre of the Indians under the chief Opechancanough.
Ill health soon obliged governor Delaware to give up the administration of the colony and he was succeeded by Sir Thomas Dale. The last act of governor Dale marks an era in the history of Virginia. Ever since the foundation of the colony all property was held in common, the settlers worked together and the products of the harvest were deposited in a common storehouse and distributed by the council. Governor Dale now introduced the policy of assigning to each settler a few acres of land to be his own, and the advantages of this system soon became apparent in the general improvement.
21 ) "The Three Travels." Adventures and Observations. Vol. I, p 241. Richmond, 1819.
22.) "The Hand-Book of Virginia," p. 64 Fifth Edition Richmond, Va , 1886.
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In the year 1611 the colony counted 200 inhabitants and the settlements extended on both sides of the James. In sev- eral of the reports to the London Company the presence of Germans is confirmed and they show, that the administration appreciated diligent labor and endeavored to encourage immi- gration from France, Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. The intolerance of the clergy and of the worldly rulers in Europe furthered the realization of this plan.
Before 1619 the colonists had no part in the making of the daws by which they were governed, but in that year, un- der the administration of Sir George Yeardley, a representative government was established, and in order to further ensure the permanency of the colony through the establishment of family life, one hundred and fifty agreeable young women, poor but respectable, were brought over. They were sold to the planters in marriage bound at the cost of their transportation expenses, at the price of one hundred pounds of tobacco, and the demand exceeding the supply, other transports were fur- nished and the price advanced to 150 pounds. This almost comnic transaction proved of the highest merit, as domestic and moral life was its result and even the restless adventurers re- linquished the fondled hope of returning to the mother land.
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