THE SAXONS WHO NEVER CAME TO VIRGINIA
By KLAUS WUST
When Herrmann Schuricht compiled materials for a history of the
Germans in Virginia some ninety years ago, he still had access to two small
books on Virginia which were published in the Saxon city of Meissen about
the middle of last century. From his brief description it was evident that
both publications were issued in connection with a scheme to bring a con-
siderable number of Saxons to Virginia.¹ No copies of either booklet seem
to have found their way into an American library. It was only after
some effort by the Search Section of German Libraries in the GDR that
both were located among the holdings of the Sächsische Landesbibliothek
in Dresden: ²
Geyer, Carl Andreas
Virginien, physiko-geographische und statistische Beschreibung
desselben mit besonderer Rücksicht auf deutsche Auswanderung.
Meissen: Goed'sche Buchhandlung 1849. 34 p.
Mayo, Friedrich August
Vierzig Jahre in Virginien, oder Kommt nach West-Virginien.
Meissen: Klinkicht und Sohn 1850. 72 p.
These two items are of interest primarily because they are examples of
the promotional literature with which prospective emigrants were flooded.
Between 1845 and 1860 countless attempts were made to divert at least
a part of the immigration heading west to southern states. It is well known
that most of the southern projects for the settlement of European immigrant
groups ended in failure. Even though organized colonies were established
in Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas and other states and subsequently achieved
a moderate success, the fact remains that immigrants, particularly Germans
and Swiss, sought their new homes in the Midwest unless they remained
in or around the port cities where they landed. Among the unsuccessful
endeavors was the "Saxon Colonization Project" of 1849/50, aimed at
attracting Saxon craftsmen and workers to Virginia. Saxony with its in-
dustrious but largely impoverished population was seized by immigration
fever in the late 1840's, just prior to the uprisings of 1849. The authorities
were torn between a desire to retain trained and capable workers, so indis-
pensible for future industrial development, and the temptation to rid
themselves of a proletariat that was rapidly and keenly becoming aware
of its worth. While revolutionary activists agitated even in the smaller
textile and mining towns for a radical change, the more sedate elements
of the lower bourgeoisie thought of emigration as the solution for releasing
the tremendous pressures which were building up in the populous kingdom.
Emigration societies were organized in many towns.³ They eagerly sought
contact with trustworthy correspondents in America who would offer
advice. Often such societies were founded by men who had some knowledge
of far-away lands and, as was to be expected, sought their own personal
gain in emigration schemes. The Virginia Saxon Colonization Project
[52]
received its impetus from two men who would certainly be completely
forgotten now were it not for two rather intriguing booklets which they
produced in pursuit of their plan: Carl Andreas Geyer of Meissen and
Friedrich August Mayo of Richmond.
Search in local sources in Virginia has not produced much to enlighten
us about the two organizers and their supporting "societies" in Meissen
and Richmond. The project was brought to the attention of the Virginia
legislature during the 1848/49 session when Delegate Hugh Sheffey of
Augusta County presented a letter from Charles Andrew Geyer, dated
Meissen, November 20th, 1848, to Frederick A. Mayo of Richmond "rela-
tive to Eisenmenger possessions of land in the counties of Grayson, Monroe,
Montgomery, Tazewell and Wythe." The emigration from Germany was
to be made in 1849 and Geyer, as agent for the prospective emigrants,
inquired about the above tract and about the chances for German immi-
grants in Virginia in general. The House of Delegates ordered the publica-
tion of the letter. 4,500 copies seem to have been printed and distributed
as an addition to the Annual Report for 1848.
4
The puzzling item in this document is the reference to "Eisenmenger
possessions of land" which feature also in Geyer's and Mayo's books. A
check in the records of some of the counties mentioned showed no entries
for Eisenmenger. Some might have been mere options or mineral rights.
Mayo was seemingly in possession of important papers left by the mysteri-
ous Eisenmenger whose death must have occurred quite a number of years
before to judge by the use of obsolete county designations in Mayo's
listings. The same is true in a full listing provided by one S. J. Shermerhorn
of Albany, New York, who in turn claimed that the rights were transferred
to him by Gray and Osborne in 1845. Moreover, Geyer admitted in his
pamphlet that of a total of 272, 242 acres only some 80,000 acres had sure
titles at best.
5
Mayo claims to have traveled into the western country
with Eisenmenger. Mayo was no doubt preoccupied with ore deposits
because he cites his large mineral collection.
6
There was, indeed, a Lewis
Eisenmenger in Richmond who invented a gold washing machine back in
1830. According to the Richmond Whig, Lewis Eisenmenger died in January
1833 at the residence of Bernard Fauth in Portsmouth, Virginia, aged 63,
a native of Wurtemberg who came to Viriginia in 1825.
7
Next, we have tried to identify the two authors. Carl Andreas Geyer
(1809-1853) was the president of the Emigration Society in Meissen where
he published for several years a horticultural magazine, Chronik des
Gartenwesens for the local Natural History Society IRIS. He had previ-
ously spent twelve years in the United States, and in 1843/44 went as far
as the Oregon Territory. While traveling in the Mississippi Valley, he had
met F. A. Mayo. Geyer probably never visited Virginia. He died in
Meissen in 1853 at the age of 44.
8
Frederick August Majo or Mayo was born ca. 1784 in Oederan, a small
Saxon town on the road from Chemnitz (now Karl-Marx-Stadt) to Frei-
berg, home of the famed mining academy. By 1808 he was established
as a bookbinder in the Shenandoah Valley as evidenced by his advertise-
ments in local newspapers. On his business card, recently found, he offered
in English and German to "neatly execute all kinds of Blank Books." The
record of Salem Lutheran Church at Mt. Sidney contains the birth and
baptismal entry of a son, Carl Friedrich Majo. The regimental book of the
Rockingham militia for 1813/14 was bound by Mayo in Staunton.
9
He
himself supplied this autobiographical note which contains, however, an
inexplicable error in dating his arrival in Staunton: " I myself have had
[53]
my luck and misfortune here. There are events in life which can hit a
man anywhere. All that I lost in America, I had gained here first. I had
nothing when I arrived here in 1809 as a sailor from the African coast,
poor and wounded. I began my business in 1810 in Staunton (in the
western part) and in 1813 in Richmond. Every year from 1817 to 1840 I
went to the western parts, partly for business, partly for health reasons.
I hope to move there soon for the rest of my life in order to contemplate
my earlier life with a certain satisfaction."
10
From other information, scattered throughout his book, it is evident that
he had been in the real estate business in Richmond since about 1834.
While his home had been in Rocketts near Richmond since 1819, he main-
tained his Land-Agentur und Intelligenz-Bureau in the Exchange Hotel
near the city post office. He advertised land sales, title search and transfer
and all types of legal work. Rocketts was the landing point for German
tobacco ships in the days of sailing vessels before the lucrative trade in
Virginia leaf was diverted to Baltimore. Mayo himself also owned some
land in the mountain counties, notably in Greenbrier.
11
Now we have established some sort of setting for the background of
the "Saxon Colonization Project" in Virginia. Back in Saxony, there was
Geyer, eager to return to America as the head of a colony of greenhorns.
In Richmond, Mayo was hoping for a sizeable coup in real estate just in
time before he would retire to western Virginia. A number of local people
were willing to lend their names and prestige to the scheme. Two prominent
German-born businessmen, A. W. Nölting, tobacco exporter and shipping
agent for the Bremen firm of D. H. Wätjen, and a pharmacist, O. A.
Strecker. The native-born prominence was represented by two local person-
alities, Robert A. Mayo (no relation to F. A. Mayo) and Robert H. Cabell,
and two lawmakers from the western sections, Hugh Sheffey and William
Kinney. Together they formed a committee which was to be the nucleus of
the "Society for the Advice and Aid to Saxon Immigrants." Another
Saxon in Richmond, Ernst Kurth, a designing engineer for railroads in
Virginia, was to serve as liaison to the railroads which had a keen interest
in immigrant traffic.
12
Despite a constant lookout over the years for evidence of any consider-
able migration from Saxony to Virginia (including West Virginia) we have
to agree with Schuricht's conclusion: "No visible traces .... are left of
any noteworthy results of this Saxon-Virginian colonization enterprise."
13
Remain only the two extant booklets on which we have already drawn for
some of the foregoing notes.
C. A. Geyer's Physico-geographical and Statistical Description of
Virginia offers far less than its title promises. It was a hastily compiled
product to provide a suitable vehicle for the publication of letters from
interested parties throughout western Virginia. Offers for land and services
had come in response to Geyer's inquiry which was circulated by the
House of Delegates. Among those who came forward were mostly land
owners and real estate promoters in what is now West Virginia: Lewis
Ruffner and H. Brown of Kanawha County; William F. Deakings, Preston
County; James Coleson, Nicollsville, Scott Co.; John B. Shrerer, Buchanan,
Lewis Co.; D. D. Russel, Ripley, Jackson Co.; D. C. Miles, Preston Co.;
Samuel Archbald, Doddridge Co.; John Sharff, Leetown, Berkeley Co. and
C. W. Burwell of Salem, Roanoke Co. Of course, Nölting and Mayo in
Richmond also added their comments and offers.
14
While cheap land was
promised by most letter writers, some gave sound and detailed advice.
Several stressed the need for trained craftsmen, stonemasons, carpenters
[ 54 ]
and cabinetmakers in particular. The virtual absence of slavery in the
western counties was generally emphasized, an important factor because
the existence of slavery was one of the main deterrents to the immigration
of European workers to the South. Mayo stressed another fact with which
he was familiar through his earlier residence in the Shenandoah Valley:
"I assume Saxon farmers have not been informed that the Valley of
Virginia, from the Potomac to Tennessee, is filled with descendants of
Germans who left their country in earlier times. The present generation
of Germans are educated, intelligent and sturdy people."
15
Almost half of Geyer's booklet is taken up by such letters and testi-
monials. The remainder consists of a largely reliable account of historic,
geographic, economic and social information gathered by the author from
various contemporary sources, notably Bromme, Schneider and Fleisch-
mann.
16
There are two outright misrepresentations. One concerns the
number of Germans in Virginia which—at 193, 483—is vastly exaggerated.
There is no statistical basis for such a figure. A rough estimate of the
state's entire population of German descent (including the colonial stock)
could not have arrived at such an exact number. According to the 1850
census Virginia had only 5,547 German-born inhabitants. The other error,
willful or not, describes F. A. Mayo as a member of the Virginia House
of Delegates.
17
An important addition to the 30 page booklet is a good,
tinted print of C. Crozet's new map of Virginia which was drawn on
March 15, 1848.
F. A. Mayo's Forty Years in Virginia, or Come to Western Virginia is
much more substantial and has a certain historic value on account of the
personal observations by the author. Mayo finished the manuscript in
December 1849. Geyer lost no time translating it into German by March
1850. The author explains that he was no longer able to write German
fluently. The introductory chapter contrasts the eastern and western
portions of the state and, after a few asides on Nölting's shipping interests,
the good climate for Saxon sheep and Eisenmenger's land, Mayo gets down
to a well organized presentation of Virginia. About every practical subject
is touched upon—from the new state constitution to gun production. The
reader is given a truthful and positive picture of Virginia with no exaggera-
tions. Whenever he mentions Germans, his statements are measured and
factual. He refers to the only German church in Richmond and cites the
success of Pennsylvania-Dutch farmers who moved into western lands
two decades earlier.
This statement on slaves must have come as a surprise to his readers
in Germany: "There are many hundred Negro and Mulatto slaves here
in Richmond who are not only well dressed but also live better than the
working class in Germany."
18
Agriculture and natural resources are
described within various contexts. There is a human touch here and there,
particularly when he speaks of the simple pastimes of the western farm
folk. Apple pressing and applebutter boilings in autumn and other harvest
activities are given as examples for communal spirit "when neighbors
help one another, boys and girls, old and young get together and there are
merry and happy evenings which end in feasting and dancing."
19
Mayo
singles out ginseng roots from among the wild plants as having a particular
economic significance. Detailed revenue tables arranged by counties and
other statistics conclude Mayo's personal and factual account.
Geyer appended a lengthy and belaboring "epilogue by the translator"
which occupies pages 50 to 71. He sees Virginia's future as one largely
shaped by the Germans. Some of his remarks are no doubt addressed
[ 55 ]
indirectly to Saxon authorities, especially when he extolls a planned (and
subsidized) emigration as a solution to prevent "the breaking of damns
under the floodwaters of the proletariat." Virginians would have taken a
decidedly dim view of Geyer's enthusiasm for a belated Germanization
of the Old Dominion in his appeal to prospective immigrants to Virginia:
"Support generously German teachers in whose hands there as here lies
the future of your race. Large German school and church communities
will result in German legislators and lastly German laws and German
judges."
20
1
Hermann Schuricht, History of the German Element in Virginia (Baltimore, 1900) II, 53, 56.
2
Special thanks are due to the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Berlin, GDR, and the Sächsische
Landesbibliothek, Dresden, GDR for assistance in correspondence and for furnishing microfilms.
3
An excellent review of Saxon emigration can be found in Hildegard Rosenthal, Die Auswanderung
aus Sachsen im 19. Jahrhundert (Stuttgart, 1931). Saxon colonization in East Tennessee in the 1840's
is described in The Report, SHGM XXXI (1963) 21-45.
4
Journal of the Home of Delegates of Virginia, Session of 1848-49 (Richmond, 1849) 187, 204;
Geyer's letter was designated as 'Document No. 49'; See Earl G. Swem, A Bibliography of Virginia
(Richmond, 1917) 424.
5
Geyer, 30-1; Mayo, 7.
6
Mayo, 7, 10, 16.
7
Virginia Magazine of History and Biography XLV (1937) 235; Richmond Whig 31 Jan. 1833.
8
Gathered from issues of the Chronik des Gartenwesens in the Library of Congress; Geyer, 31.
9
Staunton Political Censor 28 August 1808; Kirchenbuch, Salem Lutheran Church, p. 24; John W.
Wayland, Virginia Valley Records (Strasburg, Va., 1980) 130.
10
Mayo, 36.
11
Mayo, 13, 46-8, 72.
12
Mayo. 3, 14.
13
Schuricht, 56.
14
Geyer, 21-32.
15
Geyer, 21.
l6
Geyer's main sources were: Traugott Bromme, Neustes vollständiges Hand- und Reisebuch für
Auswanderer (several editions); J. C. L. Fleischmann, Plan für deutsche Auswanderung und Ansiedlung
in den Vereinigten Staaten (Stuttgart, 1848); Ernst Schneider's report in the Allgemeine Auswanderungs-
Zeitung (Rudolstadt) No. 32 (1849).
17
Geyer, 7, 19, 31.
18
Mayo, 12.
19
Mayo, 32.
20
Mayo, 71.
[ 56 ]
 |