Christoph von Graffenried (1661-1743) led a group of Swiss and Palatine Germans to North Carolina in 1710, and later authored Relation, an account of this unsuccessful attempt to settle in the New World. Events January 6 - The fifth monarchy men unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. ... // Events February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handels oratorio, Samson. ... Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, c. ...

Graffenried was born November 15, 1661 in Bern, a German-speaking Canton of Switzerland, the eldest son of Anton von Graffenried (1639-1730) and Katharina Jenner (? -1669). The Graffenried family lived in Bern, Switzerland; they were a well-to-do, noble family. November 15 is the 319th day of the year (320th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 46 days remaining. ... Events January 6 - The fifth monarchy men unsuccessfully attempt to seize control of London. ... Location within Switzerland The city of Bern, English traditionally Berne (Bernese German Bärn , German Bern , French Berne , Italian Berna , Romansh Berna ), is the Bundesstadt (administrative capital) of Switzerland, and is the fourth most populous Swiss city (after Zürich, Geneva and Basel). ... The twenty-six cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. ... Events January 14 - Connecticuts first constitution, the Fundamental Orders, is adopted. ... Events Pope Clement XII elected September 17 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed III (1703-1730) to Mahmud I (1730-1754) Anna Ivanova (Anna I of Russia) became czarina Births May 13 - Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. ... // Events Samuel Pepys stopped writing his diary. ...

In April of 1684, Graffenried married Regina Tscharner (1665-1731). Regina came from a very ancient and noble family. In twenty years, Regina and Christoph had four sons and seven daughters. Graffenried had a hard time keeping his family fed, so in 1702, when he was 41 years old, he acquired the position as bailiff of Yverton. He did not enjoy his job very much. Events France under Louis XIV makes Truce of Ratisbon separately with the Empire and Spain. ... Events March 4 - Start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. ... Events 10 Downing Street becomes the official residence of the United Kingdoms Prime Minister when Robert Walpole moves in. ... Events March 8 - William III died; Princess Anne Stuart becomes Queen Anne of England, Scotland and Ireland. ... A Bailiff in a United States courtroom Bailiff (from Late Latin bajulivus, adjectival form of bajulus) is a governor or custodian; cf. ...

After a few weeks, Graffenried met Franz Ludwig Michel who had discovered silver mines in Virginia and owned land in the New World. He told Graffenried what glorious places North Carolina and Virginia were and he advised him to move to North Carolina. With the idea of paying off his debts and making money on the cheap land in North Carolina, Graffenried left his debts to his father and secretly departed for London so that he could see this New World. State nickname: Old Dominion Other U.S. States Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Governor Mark R. Warner (D) Senators John Warner (R) George Allen (R) Official languages English Area 110,862 km² (35th)  - Land 102,642 km²  - Water 8,220 km² (7. ... Carte dAmérique, Guillaume Delisle, c. ... State nickname: Tar Heel State Other U.S. States Capital Raleigh Largest city Charlotte Governor Michael Easley (D) Senators Elizabeth Dole (R) Richard Burr (R) Official languages English Area 139,509 km² (28th)  - Land 126,256 km²  - Water 13,227 km² (9. ... The clock tower of the Palace of Westminster, which contains Big Ben London is the capital city of the United Kingdom and of England. ...

When in London, Graffenried had met with John Lawson who was publishing a book entitled "A Voyage to Carolina". Lawson was the Surveyor General of North Carolina. Lawson promised to show Graffenried and his settlers a perfect place to establish a community. Graffenried then met the proprietors who gave him the title Baron of Bernberg, after the settlement he was supposed to found. Consequently, Graffenried gathered a group of Germans from the Palatine region and Swiss immigrants. They had faced hardships in their own countries and wanted to start over in North Carolina. He sailed to North Carolina in 1710. On the sea, the settlers were attacked by Turkish pirates who stripped them of everything they brought. They took tools, building materials, clothes, food, and even their second ship. John Lawson (1674-1711) was an Englishman who became the first Surveyor-General of North Carolina. ... Baron is a specific title of nobility or a more generic feudal qualification. ... The Rhenish Palatinate (Rheinpfalz, sometimes Lower Palatinate or Niederpfalz) occupies rather more than a quarter of the German Bundesland (federal state) of Rhineland-Palatinate (Rheinland-Pfalz) and contains the towns of Ludwigshafen, Kaiserslautern, Neustadt an der Weinstrasse, Pirmasens, Landau and Speyer. ...

Once in the New World, the settlers sold everything that remained, except the clothes on their backs. John Lawson took them to a site at the junction of the Trent and Neuse Rivers, which they named New Bern. The first season, the settler's crops did not do well. Graffenried returned to Europe to get supplies and additional settlers. He returned to the colony unscathed. World map showing location of Europe When considered a continent, Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ...

In addition to a lack of food and supplies, there was great tension between the settlers and the Tuscarora Indians of the Neuse River Region. Unknown to the settlers, their new settlement was on the site of an old Tuscarora Indian village. In 1711, Graffenried and the settlers evicted a group of Tuscarora from nearby lands without payment, and Graffenried assumed the title "Landgrave of Carolina." Retaliatory raids by the Tuscarora, under a leader named Hancock, led to deaths and damage to the settlement. A bridge over the Neuse River. ... The Tuscarora are a Native American tribe originally in North Carolina, which moved north to New York, and then partially into Canada. ...

During the summer of 1711, Graffenried, along with John Lawson, took a trip up the Neuse River. Graffenried wanted to crossbreed European grapes with wild, native grapes and start a vineyard. The Tuscarora Indians took Graffenried and John Lawson (as well as the slaves carrying the baggage) captive. While in captivity, John Lawson and Graffenried were given three separate trials, each in a different Tuscaroran village. One found the men not guilty; the other two pronounced them guilty of wrongful crimes against the Native Americans. The Tuscaroras decided to kill them, but the elders talked and decided Graffenried would be released. He wore such fine clothes they mistook him for the governor of North Carolina. They thought if they let the "governor" go, the colony would let the incident pass. They informed him they were planning an attack on all the settlements in North Carolina (this came to be known as the Tuscarora Indian War). The next day, Lawson was killed and Graffenried was allowed to return to his settlement, which he found abandoned and in flames. // Events February 24 - The London premiere of Rinaldo by George Friderich Handel, the first Italian opera written for the London stage. ... A governor is also a device that regulates the speed of a machine. ... The Tuscarora are a Native American tribe originally in North Carolina, which moved north to New York, and then partially into Canada. ...

Graffenried had lost his fortune and returned to Bern, Switzerland in 1714. Graffenried was penniless and owed a great deal of money to the people of North Carolina. He sold his part in the North Carolina town to Thomas Pollock for 800 pounds. In an attempt to pay off his debts, Graffenried soon wrote a book entitled "Relation" as an apology and explanation as to why his settlement failed. He included several documents, among them a letter written to the governor of North Carolina and a layout of the settlement of New Bern. An artist, he included sketches of early colonial North Carolina. Graffenried also talked about how Lawson brought his death upon himself. He said that Lawson was a money grubbing land speculator and that he thought Lawson wanted the colony to fail because he was the one that told them about the land. Graffenried died unhappy and in debt in 1743. New Bern is a city located in Craven County, North Carolina where the Trent River and the Neuse River converge. ... // Events February 14 - Henry Pelham becomes British Prime Minister February 21 - - The premiere in London of George Frideric Handels oratorio, Samson. ...