Franz Ludwig Michel Travels to America Michel left a report on his first trip which has been translated and printed in The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. The report is rather long but starts in Vol. XXIV, No.1, (January 1916). It is a very interesting story. His much longer second trip is not so well reported. One must gather what is known from several sources. He did leave a map of the Shenandoah Valley which he drew about 1706 or 1707. The original of this is in the Public Record Office. There are some other documents there that pertain to his explorations. Other bits of information are to be found in some unlikely places such as the correspondence of William Penn. Michel did think he had found silver mines in the Valley. This was the event which led to the First Germanna Colony. Germanna history fails to recognize the importance of Michel to the existence of the Germanna Colonies. Had there been no Michel, there would have been no First or Second Germanna Colony. -- John.Blankenbaker@comcast.net

Michel's second "trip" lasted several years and allowed him to visit and explore several English provinces in America: Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania. You may quote me: Michel discovered the Shenandoah Valley (at least for the Swiss). John errs in referring to Penn's correspondece as one of supposedly "unlikely places": Michel knew and contracted with Penn personally. He also met Gov. Evans in Pennsylvania, Gov. Nicholson in Virginia, [likely] Gov. Spotswood in Virginia, and landgrave Christoph von Graffenried et al. in North Carolina; he is the co-founder of New Berne. An article on Michel is to appear in the Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, this year, the same journal that dedicated an entire volume to Joshua Kocherthal (October 2008), the pioneer pastor whose book on Carolina directed a wave of Palatines to England exactly 300 years ago. Andreas Mielke on 1/22/09 8:36 AM, john.blankenbaker@comcast.net at john.blankenbaker@comcast.net wrote: > Franz Ludwig Michel Travels to America > > Michel left a report on his first trip which has been > translated and printed in The Virginia Magazine of > History and Biography. The report is rather long but > starts in Vol. XXIV, No.1, (January 1916). It is a > very interesting story. > > His much longer second trip is not so well reported. > One must gather what is known from several sources. > He did leave a map of the Shenandoah Valley which > he drew about 1706 or 1707. The original of this is > in the Public Record Office. There are some other > documents there that pertain to his explorations. > Other bits of information are to be found in some > unlikely places such as the correspondence of > William Penn. > > Michel did think he had found silver mines in the > Valley. This was the event which led to the First > Germanna Colony. Germanna history fails to recognize > the importance of Michel to the existence of the > Germanna Colonies. Had there been no Michel, there > would have been no First or Second Germanna > Colony. > > -- > John.Blankenbaker@comcast.net > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > GERMANNA_COLONIES-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message