Quite ironically, I have been cataloging to the Mary Ball Washington Museum's library internet site all of the articles from the Northern Neck of Virginia Historical Magazine, and just came across an article with the title "The Spotswood Iron Empire" by Col. Robert D. Burhans, in the 1971 issue of the magazine. The first sentence of the 4th paragraph reads "The Spotswood story of iron development is closely interwined with the early German immigrants to Virginia..." and continued much of our well known story. It could almost have been written by our own John Blankenbaker, as it correctly sums up the "many sided Spotswood" and his claims to his superiors in London that he was seeking silver, when in fact he was establishing an iron-making community at Germanna. If anyone would like copies of this article please contact me off list. Craig Kilby