The inhabitants of Ebenezer resumed the culture, which with them had
long been dormant, and its revival at that time was principally owing
to the influence of a very worthy man and magistrate, Mr. Wertsch,
who, sanguine himself of ultimate success, had imparted to the Germans
a portion of his own enthusiasm.

In 1770, they shipped two hundred and ninety-one pounds of raw silk,
the result of their own industry, and as the filature at Savannah
was discontinued in 1771, the Earl of Hillsborough, ever anxious to
advance the produce, warmly commended the zeal of the Saltzburgers,
and directed President Habersham to distribute "the basins and reels
that were left in the public filature, to such persons as Mr. Wertsch
shall recommend to be proper objects of that bounty;" and in the same
letter he promised that he would endeavor to procure for them, this
year, "a small sum from Parliament, to be laid out in purchase of
utensils for the assistance of the poor sort of people in your
province." This promise he redeemed.

So popular had the silk business become at Ebenezer, that Mr.
Habersham, in a letter dated the 30th of March, 1772, says, "some
persons in almost every family there, understand its process from the
beginning to the end." In 1771, the Germans sent four hundred and
thirty-eight pounds of raw silk to England, and in 1772, four hundred
and eighty-five pounds, all of their own raising. They made their own
reels, which were so much esteemed that one was sent to England as a
model, and another taken to the East Indies by Pickering Robinson.
The operations at Savannah were now totally discontinued, though Mr.
Ottolenghe still styled himself "Superintendent of the Silk Culture
in Georgia," and in consideration of his long and faithful service in
that office, received an annuity of 100_l_.

In a message of Sir James Wright, to the Commons House of Assembly,
19th of January, 1774, he says, "The filature buildings seem to be
going to decay and ruin; may it not, therefore, be expedient to
consider what other service or use they may be put to?" and the
Assembly answered, "We shall not fail to consider how it may be
expedient to apply the filature to some public use;" and henceforth
it was used as an assembly or ball-room, a place where societies held
their meetings, and where divine service was occasionally conducted:
more recently, it was converted into a dwelling-house, and was thus
appropriated at the time of its destr