Christoph von Graffenried, 1st Baron of Bernberg (15 November 1661 – 1743), from a Swiss patrician family, was the founder of New Bern, North Carolina, land speculator, and leader in the early Swiss and German colonization of America. Much of what is known of his life comes from his memoir, Relation of My American Project ( 1716), which recounts his experience as the Baron of Bernberg and Landgrave of Carolina. Early life Von Graffenried was born on 15 November 1661 in the village of Worb near Bern, Switzerland. He was the son of Anton von Graffenried and Catherine Jenner. His father was lord of Worb and a minor government official. Christoph studied at the universities in Heidelberg and Leyden and then visited England around 1680. While in England he came to know John Colleton and other Lords Proprietors of Carolina. In 1683 he returned home and on 25 April 1684 he married Regina Tscharner, with whom he had thirteen children. New Bern colony As his family grew, Von Graffenried found that his salary as a local government official and income from his estate were insufficient to cover expenses and growing debts. Around 1708, he became acquainted with the explorer-adventurer Franz Ludwig Michel who persuaded him to join an initiative to mine American silver deposits and establish a colony of Swiss refugees who were either poor or religiously persecuted. In 1709, Von Graffenried met with his former contacts in England and the Lords Proprietors of Carolina granted the Swiss venture 19,000 acres along the Neuse and Trent rivers in Carolina, including 5,000 acres purchased by Von Graffenried himself. As a significant landowner, Von Graffenried was named a “Landgrave of Carolina" and was later granted the provincial title, "Baron of Bernburg.” In addition, Queen Anne provided £4,000 to pay for the transportation of 100 German Palatine families that had fled to England to escape the War of the Spanish Succession. In January, 1710, Von Graffenried sent 650 Palatine settlers to Carolina under the leadership of John Lawson, the provincial surveyor general. Lawson had recently returned from Carolina in order to publish his book, A Voyage to Carolina. Lawson was knowledgeable of the country and promised to guide the settlers to the best sites for their communities. Their voyage was hindered by a series of winter storms and it was thirteen weeks before they landed in Virginia and then proceeded overland to Carolina.