Suszanne, How do you understand Hans Jacob's ancestor's connection to the Haardt Ironworks (Ancestry and Desendants ..Pg.230 ff)? I am not suggesting that the First Colonists were miners, just that ironworks appear to be a family business back several generations especially on the maternal side. Julie ----- Original Message Follows ----- > > I am not throwing Albrecht, Alexander Spotswood or de > Graffenried into the trash. I don't think John is > either-but he can answer for himself. > > Albrecht may be the only one who could have claimed to be > a miner. I doubt Spotswood ever did any mining work on > his own. No doubt he was looking for silver-but with > others supplying the labor. My understanding of John's > statements was that the First Colony people themselves > were not miners based on the known information about their > livelihoods before their arrival in the Virginia Colony. > > Speaking specifically of the Holtzclaw/Holzklau family: > Hans Jacob Holtzklau was a school teacher as were his > grandfather, father and brother Johannes. Going back into > the records at the Munster archives, it seems the > Holzklaus were farmers and/or overseers on land owned by a > Catholic convent near Oberholzklau, plus a few who were > beer sellers and bakers. The direct line ancestors seemed > to be in other jobs than smelting iron ore. > > Has anyone researched the amount of iron ore produced in > the Siegen area by year? It might be interesting to > discover when the ironworks were most active. > > Suzanne Colliins Matson > > > > > > > ________________________________ > From: Craig Kilby <persisto@earthlink.net> > To: germanna_colonies@rootsweb.com > Sent: Sunday, November 9, 2008 12:45:59 PM > Subject: [GERMANNA] First Colony Not Miners? > > Whoah! Back up the bus! > > I seem to recall John Blankenbaker, some years ago on this > same list, in one of his thousand + notes, gave a lot of > thought and research into this very topic, particularly > about Joseph Albrecht, Gov. Spottswood and the imposter > "Baron" de Graffenried, (the founder of New Bern, > NC)....are we now throwing all of this into the trash? > > Craig Kilby > > On Nov 9, 2008, at 3:00 AM, > germanna_colonies-request@rootsweb.com wrote: > > > Subject: Re: [GERMANNA] Miners in the First Colony? > > (Part II) To: germanna_colonies@rootsweb.com > > Message-ID: > > <510931.52431.qm@web59503.mail.ac4.yahoo.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 > > > Are the sources Willis Kemper used known? > > > > Rev. J. Silor Garrison gave the same information in his > > book History of the Reformed Church in Virginia, > > 1714-1940 which was published in 1948.? Rev. Garrison > did not give his sources. > > > Since no one has responded, perhaps there is no proof > > that they were miners. > > > > Suzanne Collins Matson > > > > > > > > > > ________________________________ > > From: "john.blankenbaker@comcast.net" > > john.blankenbaker@comcast.net Sent: Wednesday, November > > 5, 2008 6:48:05 AM Subject: Re: [GERMANNA] Miners in the > First Colony? (Part II) > > > Suzanne, > > Willis Kemper really started the ball rolling with the > > idea that the First Colony consisted of miners. > > > > -- > > John.Blankenbaker@comcast.net > > > > > > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > > > To contact the GERMANNA_COLONIES list administrator, > > send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES-admin@rootsweb.com. > > > > To post a message to the GERMANNA_COLONIES mailing list, > > send an email to GERMANNA_COLONIES@rootsweb.com. > > > > > > > __________________________________________________________ > > 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 email with no additional text. > > > > > > End of GERMANNA_COLONIES Digest, Vol 3, Issue 313 > > ************************************************* > > > ------------------------------- > 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 > > > > > > ------------------------------- > 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 bill and julie wallace

Julia, There is a connection to ironworking in the 1400's and 1500's through mainly the maternal line.  (I suppose you could say that in some cases the Holtzklau men married well.)  By 1714 when Hans Jacob Holtzklau emigrated to the Virginia colony, I don't think that ironworking was a major factor in the lives of the Holtzklau line from which Hans Jacob descended.  The church records give Hans Henrich Holtzklau's occupation as school teacher as well as his father Johann/Johannes Holtzklau.  I haven't researched the other children of Johann/Johannes Holtzklau and wife Hebel although BC Holtzclaw states that two of them were involved with ironworking. My opinion is that the First Colony group was not involved in ironworking, mining, etc., as an occupation in their homeland although there is information that supports their ancestors were involved in some way in ironworking or mining.  It seems that the Holtzklaus who remained in the Weidenau area were the ones who continued ironworking. I also don't believe that Gov. Spotswood was looking for miners.  Reference the April 28th 1714 report in the Executive Journals, Council of Colonial Virginia.  Gov. Spotswood reported to the Council that "sundry Germans to the number of forty two men women and children who were invited by Baron de Graffinried (sic) are now arrived,"  and he proposed to place them on the frontier as a barrier between the Indians and the English.  I would be interested to hear how others interpret the church records as well as what BC Holtzclaw has written on the subject. Suzanne Collins Matson   ________________________________ From: William and Julia Wallace <wwallace@muskingum.edu> To: germanna_colonies@rootsweb.com Sent: Sunday, November 9, 2008 10:41:51 PM Subject: Re: [GERMANNA] First Colony Not Miners? Suszanne, How do you understand Hans Jacob's ancestor's connection to the Haardt Ironworks (Ancestry and Desendants ..Pg.230 ff)? I am not suggesting that the First Colonists were miners, just that ironworks appear to be a family business back several generations especially on the maternal side. Julie