Personal Note: I, Jody Gray, wrote this story for my personal Ancestry and for my Family; therefore, there are references to individuals linked to myself and my siblings; e.g. Henrich Felix Merckel (our 8th Great Grandfather). If you are a descendant of Edgar Cephrenus Merkley, this is also your lineage but you will have a different sequence which will unfold as you add your ancestors to your personal Family Tree. When I add a new surname branch to my tree I always begin with those I know and build backwards from there as I verify the information.
Their story similar to an Epic Screenplay. I'm sure you've seen some of them about peasant people being attacked and villages burned by armies sent by regional rulers, for example, Braveheart, starring Mel Gibson. And, movies featuring slave ships; I recently saw one called, The Book of Negroes, the conditions I saw on the slave ships were the same as the conditions I read about in the journals and ledgers of those who wrote about the conditions on the ships that transported the German Palatine refugees from England to America -including references to deceased loved ones being tossed overboard.
In these, stories of the Palatine Refugees, I include both Merkley and Casselman Ancestors because when I told you The Merkley Story, Part 1, Germany to NY, I lacked a lot of information that I learned while researching our Casselman Ancestors.
THE STORY: 1709 Mass Exodus -German Palatine Migration -the largest single group of people to ever immigrate to another land
The Story begins in the 1600's, with our ancestors, Henrich Felix Merckel (our 8th Great Grandfather), and, Johann Kasselmann (9th Great Grandfather); both born in Germany, they lived and raised families during the period of The Thirty Years War when the 'powers that be' were trying to exterminate the protestants. They were the fathers of our immigrant ancestors: Johann Fredrich Merckel (our 7th Great Grandfather), and, Hans Dietrich Casselman (our 8th Great Grandfather)...
THE CAST (Leading Men): Our Immigrant German Palatine Ancestors
Henrich Felix Merckel(our 8th Great Grandfather),
born in Germany (marriage and death information, unknown)
Johann Fredrich Merckel(our 7th Great Grandfather)
our immigrant ancestor, arrived on American soil in 1710.
Johann Kasselmann(our 9th Great Grandfather)
born and died in Germany
-lived and raised his family during the period of the Thirty Years War
Hans Dietrich Casselman(our 8th Great Grandfather)
our immigrant ancestor, arrived on American soil in 1710.
*family lineage reminder
Some members of both of these families (Merkley and Casselman) ended up in Canada after the Revolutionary War because they were Loyalists; but, they shared a common bond of common experiences, beliefs and ethnicity from the time they left their homeland in Germany: they made the same journey to Holland and England; they left for America in the same group of ships. Most likely they did not know each other in Germany because they lived in different villages. They were passengers on different ships to America but the horrible experiences due to the conditions would have been the same for all the immigrants of this mass migration. All of them spent time in quarantine after arrival. The Merkley's and Casselman were relocated to different camps, consequently, they ended up in different places. Our Merkley Ancestors stayed close to their original West Camp relocation in Ulster Co., NY (Kingston). Our Casselman Ancestors were relocated to East Camp those men were designated to take part in the Tar Making Experiment.
Both families had men who enlisted in the (UEL) United Empire Loyalists militia, Canadian records list several of the Cassleman men with leadership appointments. Here's where we first see their names listed together, at the relocation camp that was set-up in Canada after the Revolutionary War, specifically for United Empire Loyalists.
Michael Fredrick Merkley(4th Great Grandfather) was the first Merkley to marry a Casselman, he married Nancy Casselman (4th Great Grandmother), of daughter of William (Wilhelm) Casselman (5th Great Grandfather), William served in the King's Royal Regiment of New York
the son of Michael and Nancy, William Ira Merkley (3rd Great Grandfather), married Elizabeth Cassleman (3rd Great Grandmother), daughter of (Major) Sephrenes Casselman Casselman (4th Great Grandfather), he served in the King's Royal Regiment of New York
the son of William Ira and Elizabeth, Edgar Cephrenus Merkley(2nd Great Grandfather), married Matilda Wiley, their daughter, Stella Gertrude, married John Adams (our Great Grandparents)... the son of Edgar and Matilda, Loren (William), married Linda Clara Zach (our Great Grandmother), making Loren Merkley both our our blood-related Grand Uncle, AND, through marriage-related, our Great Grandfather
Palatine Germans -Origins of the Name, Palatine Germans; the ruling government / titles of their officials; geographical information
[2] Werner Dygert
The name of the Palatine German was bestowed upon these Germans because of where they originated. The Palatinate or German PFALZ, was, in German history, the land of the Count Palatine, a title held by a leading secular (church) prince of the Holy Roman Empire.
Geographically, the Palatinate was divided between two small territorial clusters: the Rhenish, or Lower Palatinate, and the Upper Palatinate.The Rhenish Palatinate included lands on both sides of the Middle Rhine River between its Main and Neckar tributaries. Its capital until the 18th century was Heidelberg. The Upper Palatinate was located in northern Bavaria, on both sides of the Naab River as it flows south toward the Danube and extended eastward to the Bohemian Forest. The boundaries of the Palatinate varied with the political and dynastic fortunes of the Counts Palatine.
[9] Golden Book, xmission
The word palatine comes from the Latin term palatinus or palatium meaning palace. In Roman times, the title of comes palatinus (meaning companion (or count) of the palace) was given to high-ranking officials authorized to conduct business in the name of the king. The title of count palatine or simply palatine designated the king's officer. Over time, some of the counts palatine were sent to specific regions to act as governor or ruler of the area, thus, a palatinate identified the administrative boundary under the rule of a specific palatine. Related words in German arepfalz (palatinate) and pfalzgraf (count of the palace).
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the palatinate was an area in southwestern Germany that had been defined earlier as part of the Holy Roman Empire. The lower or Rhenish Palatinate was located around the Rhine river, and included current-day German areas of Mainz, Treves, Lorraine, Alsace, Baden, and Wurtemberg. Personal Note: Ancestry Family Trees may use, location names relevant to the period in which the person was born or they may use the current location name -this can be confusing.
In the 17th through 19th centuries, strictly speaking, the term palatine identifies a person from the Rhenish Palatinate. When speaking of early immigrants to America, however, the term has also been applied to French Protestants (Huguenots) and Calvinists from the Netherlands that ended up in the Palatinate region during that time period. The term was more broadly used as well to identify any German-speaking immigrant,regardless of the specific area from whence they came. Personal Note: for The Story of Our Ancestors, they are referred to as the Palatine Germans of the Mass Migration from Germany to America (NY).
1600's Born in Germany: Profiles of Ancestors -Merkley
Merkley Surnames: this information was included in The Merkley Story, Part 1, Germany to NY. The name was originally spelled Merkel or Merckel, in Germany; after arriving in America there are many variations of the name: Merkle, Mirckle, Marical,
Heinrich Felix Merckel (our 8th Great Grandfather): was born in Germany; he married unknown (unverified), his time and location of death are unknown (unverified). According to 'The Descendants of Heinrich Felix Merckel, 2nd Generation' he is the father of Johann Friederich Merckel(our 7th Great Grandfather).
Johann Friedrich was born, 1669, Hassloch, Pfalz, Germany. Married (1st wife) Anna (unknown), in Germany; (2nd wife) Anna Barbara Alman, 9/16/1710, shortly after arriving, in West Camp, NY. Some Ancestry Family Trees list them as married in Germany (unknown date) sometime before boarding the ship for America. I have found no historical records or stories about Johann's life in Germany. For the Merkley Story, I used, Coming to America -The Merickel Family Migration and Name History -Descendants of Heinrich Felix Merckel, Second Generation; which I found on Ancestry.com.
Thankfully, when I researched our Casselman Ancestors from Germany, I came across a Casselman Historian, [6] John Cassleman, he wrote a couple stories (as a result of his research) that I'll be including in this combined Merkley-Casselman Story of The German Palatine Immigrants -he introduces us to the Kasselman family living in Germany in the 1600's prior to leaving in 1709 on the journey to that would take them to America. I have been corresponding with John Casselman; since his retirement, he's been able to visit all the places our Cassleman immigrants lived. He's taken many pictures during these visits and posted them on his Ancestry Family Tree pages along with his reflections.
While doing my research, I also came across two other German Palatine Immigrant families, [1] Johannes Miller, and [2] Werner Dygert, who are fortunate as to have had family historians with excellent resources. Using these resources, I was able to build an easy-to-follow, more detailed history that relates through shared experiences to all German Palatine Refugees (although it gets complicated when they part ways due to circumstances that split them up, beginning with the relocation Camps after their arrival to America).
Titles of their Stories
[1] Johannes Miller – The Journey to America by Richard Miller
[2] Werner Dygert -to America by Clint Dygert
[6] John Cassleman -The Golden Book by John Casselman
1600's Born in Germany: Profiles of Ancestors -Casselman
Casselman Surnames: The old German spelling of the name was both Kasselmann and Cassellman. In America it was usually spelled Casselman or Castleman.
Names and dates from original records of the Lutheran Church in Adelshofen, Germany, which begin in 1655. Adelshofen is located about 25 to 35 miles SE of Heidelberg. The archives collected all the old original books, filmed them and placed them in their safe. Only the film is available to the public. Birth data was also published by Henry Z. Jones, Jr. (1985). Source: (my Ancestry Profile Page, Hans Dietrich Casselman), different spelling of surname.
I also came across this: Casselmann surname was found in Adelshofen, Germany as early as 1605. This was Hans Cassleman Sr, the grandfather of Hans Dietrich Casselman. He was listed in Count Neipperq's tax and stock ledger dated 1605. The early 1600 Casselmann's were manufacturers of glassware and pottery, and for generations later on, shoemakers. Source: (my Ancestry Profile Page, Hans Dietrich Casselman), Origin of Casselman name. Personal Note: This appears to be a different lineage, I don't have a verifiable father for Johann Casselman and the only reference I have to our immigrant ancestors' profession is that they were farmers; passing on their land and their profession for generations.
Johann Cassleman (Kasselman) (our 9th Great Grandfather): born, 1615, in Adelshofen, Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany; he married Anna Hirtz, he died, 1680 in the same place where he was born. He is the father of Hans Dietrich Casselman(our 8th Great Grandfather).
Hans Dietrich: born, 1662, in Adelshofen, Heidelberg, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany; married, 1687, Anna Elizabeth Rinderin.
[6] Golden Book, Chap 1 by John Casselman
Hans Dietrich Kasselman(our 8th Great Grandfather): was born, 11/13/1662, Adelshofen, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany; he married Anna Rinderin, 1687, Lutheran Church, Adelshofen. Anna was born in Switzerland in 1664, her family emigrated to Adelshofen in the 1680's. Hans was a husbandman; growing wheat and other grains. He had inherited the land from his father under a system called "partible inheritance" which meant that the father's property was equally divided at his death among all his children. Hans Dietrich and his brother, Hans Jacob, were the only living survivors of the family in 1709. Hans Jacob did not leave Germany.
Heritage
The Kasselmann men were "bauers":farmers who owned a heritable, salable lease" with property rights. This privileged them with the ability to own draft animals, have a voice in local government and to be appointed to a local political office. Citizens of this "bauer" class were considered the most prosperous of the peasantry but were a diminishing population mainly because of a change in the ability of most to subsist on a farm-only income.
German peasant farmers lived in farming villages, the men walked or rode out to their fields from their village home unlike most American farmers of later times who built and worked from individual dwellings and barns in the midst of their fields.
Traveling Companions
Han's nephew, Christian Kasselmann, his wife, Anna Maria Judith (Hirtzen) and their two young boys left Germany with Hans and his family. Their first born child Anna Maria died when she was only 2 in 1705. Two boys, Johanne Dietrich and Johanne Michael succeeded her in 1705 and 1707. Christian was both a husbandman and vine dresser (grew wine grapes). He turned 37 on the third of October 1708.
These two families left Adelshofen together: Hans Dietrich and Anna Elizabeth's children: Anna Barbara 21; Anna Elizabetha 19; Elizabetha Greta, 13; Andreas Ludwig, 11; Johannes Dietrich, 3; and their baby girl, Anna, born in November; and Christian and Maria Judith's two very young boys Hans Dietrich, 4 and Michael, 2. [6] Golden Book
Most young children died before their family reached America.
A Mother's Story: this insert shows that for our ancestors living in Germany in the 1600's / 1700's death was a constant part of their lives.
Anna, mother of Hans Dietrich(our 8th Great Grandfather), gave birth to her first child when she was 20 years old and her last child when she was 53 years old. What follows is a summary,according to any records I have located.
During the period of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648) Anna gave birth to her first four children; she was 20 years old when her first child, Johannes Hans was born (1635). 5 years later (1640), Hans Frantz was born; 3 years later(1643), Bernardt; 3 years later (1646), Friedrich; at 31 years of age, Anna was beginning the 2nd decade of children; 11 years had passed since the birth of her first child.
5 years later, in 1651, when Anna's first daughter, Anna Barbara, was born, the Thirty Years War had ended and the family had had 3 years to recover from the devastation of an on-going war in their homeland. It appears that 4 years later (1655) her next daughter, Margaretha, was stillborn, Anna was 40 years old; 20 years had passed since the birth of her first child.
Hans Jacob, was born 4 years later (1659); Hans Mathias, was born 2 years later (1661), he only lived 2 months; Hans Dietrich (our 8th Great Grandfather) was born a year later (1662); Geog, born 3 years later (1665), 30 years younger than his sibling, Johannes. 3 years later (1668) at 53 years of age, Anna gave birth to her last child, Anna Catherine; the 3rd decade of children born to Johannes and Anna Kasselman; already, they have lost two.
Anna was preceded in death by her eldest daughter, Anna Barbara in 1671, who was 20 years old when she died; in 1680, Anna lost her husband, Johannes (he was 65 years old), Hans Frantz died in 1687, he was 47 years old; her youngest child, Anna Catherina, died in 1688 at 20 years of age; Johannes Hans died in 1692, he was 57 years old; Bernardt died in 1693, he was 50; Anna herself died in December at age 78 -she outlived all but three of her children; Georg died the following year (1694) at 29 years of age. I found no records for the death of Frederich.
When Hans Dietrich left in 1709, only one sibling was living, Hans Jacob and he chose to remain in the homeland where his family had farmed land passed down from one generation to the next for as long as anyone could remember. Hans Jacob died in 1718, 9 years after Hans Dietrich left for America, he was 59 years old. Hans Dietrich, the only member of his family immigrant to America; he died in 1744, he was 82 years old, he had lived more than 30 years longer than any of his siblings.
An 'Old Wives Tales' ? : nursing as birth control
Not long after I began researching our family ancestry, I began to see what's known as an 'old wives tale' emerge that appeared to have some truth to it: nursing was a form of 'birth control' -nursing mothers were unlikely to get pregnant. In the 'Theory of Evolution' this would make sense -a baby would be more likely to survive, having less competition for nourishment, and, a mother's milk contains natural antibodies that make for a stronger immune system. It would have been common practice to nurse for 1 or 2 years, an obvious reason would have been 'free' milk for the child.
Truth to the 'tale': I notice children are most often 2 or three years apart, 1 year when there is a stillborn or death in infancy of the previous child (I don't think women got pregnant to replace the child they lost). In Anna's case, there were instances of 5 to 6 years between children; in some cases this could be due to unrecorded stillborn births or infancy deaths. Another possibility: women often stop menstruating when they are undernourished (esp. no red meat). No menstruation is a symptom of Anorexia. During Anna's lifetime the peasants of the Palatine often subsisted on (grains they grew) bread and gruel (a thin porridge) there would have been little opportunity for the consumption of red meat.
Other 'Theories' (Mine): Emotional Legacy
I believe that emotional traits are passed down from generation to generation; not only from what they witnessed in their lifetimes but from what their mother's witnessed and felt while they were pregnant.
This emotional legacy would be passed on for generations far beyond the time when wars were fought in the community where they lived and cures were found for the diseases that caused epidemics amidst them.
Looking back over my own life, beyond the things I believed because of what I was told by family or other authority figures; I've realized there were many things I believed that I don't remember ever being told by anyone, verbally or through reading.
The Rhine River Valley: Geography
Today, the Rhine area is a beautiful river valley, with great forests and hillsides dotted with hundreds of small villages. However, in the time that our immigrant ancestors lived there it was located between the rival powers of France and German states, the Palatinate was a dangerous borderland, and the scene for constant hostilities. [1]
1618 - 1648: The Thirty Years' War
In this combined German Palatine Refugee Story, I begin with The Thirty Years' War because Our 9th Grt parents lived and raised several of their children during the Thirty Years War.
The Thirty Years' War (1618-1648) began with an attempt to wipe out Protestantism in the Rhine Palatinate. The inhabitants were subjected over and over again to brutal and thorough pillage. The annihilation of the population was prevented because the residents fled from the armies at the rumor of their approach, taking only necessary belongings and what animals that could be hastily driven away. The population would return to their burned and pillaged farms, rebuild their homes and live a wretched subsistence until the next campaign came their way. During this time, due to death or emigration, the Palatinate would lose 75% of its population. [1]
1660's Bubonic Plague -would kill thousands. Some cities would lose half their populations to this disease. [1]
Personal Note: later, I researched the Bubonic Plague and found that it really wasn't an epidemic in the rural areas, this reference would more likely apply to densely populated cities, like England. However, most of our ancestors lived close to the Rhine River and as farmers selling grains they would have been in contact with the occupants of numerous trade ships, the occupants of these trade ships transmitted bubonic plague because the ships were often infested with rats and fleas that carried it.
1674: Louis XIV of France moved to take possession of the Palatinate...
In 1674, the French army retreating across the Palatinate inflicted terrible devastation. The Rhineland was reduced to a desert to prevent the enemy's army from finding anything on which to subsist.
After a period of rebuilding, Louis XIV of France moved to take possession of the Palatinate, which caused a new war between France and the allied nations of Spain, England and Germany. The French army moved into the Palatinate to prevent it from becoming a source of supply for the allied armies. Fire was set to everything, every hamlet, every country seat.The grain fields were plowed under and the orchards cut down, castles and churches were all destroyed. [1]
*Personal Note: The Palatine refugees would find themselves exposed to this same military strategy during the Revolutionary War when they had their homes and families in the fertile lands of New York.
1704: the War of the Spanish Succession
After a short reprieve, the War of the Spanish Succession began. In 1704, the Duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene led the English, Dutch, Danes and Germans through the Rhineland to the Battle of Blenheim. [1]
1707: French invasion
Three years later the French, under Marshall Villars, drove their opponents up the Rhine and occupied the country as conquerors. Beginning in 1707, his armies swarmed across the Palatinate destroying homes, barns and villages and demanding contributions from each town. [1]
1708 Extreme Winter
To make matters worse, the winter of 1708 was one of the coldest winters in over 100 years. Barrels of wine and other spirits froze, wood would not burn out doors, and birds, cattle and human beings froze to death. The mills would not function and this caused a shortage of bread everywhere. [1]
Reasons for leaving -the Palatines left mainly due to poverty.
In his book, Becoming German: The 1709 Palatine Migration to New York (2004), Philip Otterness makes the case that while continual warfare and brutal weather were certainly factors, the Palatines left mainly due to poverty.
The principalities carefully regulated migration requiring people to petition the government before they could leave. In the petition, they are required to state the reason for leaving. Several of these petitions still exist and 62 from the villages of Nassau-Dillenburg are located in their archives. "The sixty-two petitioners invariably listed Armut – poverty – as the reason they wished to emigrate, defining it as the inability to feed their families." The petitioners did not mention warfare or bad weather as causes...
This is an important distinction, because some historians see the Palatines as pitiful refugees, escaping the brutality of war, while others see them as peasant opportunists bent on acquiring free land. (Personal Note: I've long noticed that the information given has to do with the 'purpose' of the writer / researcher)
Often, their petitions were approved because they were so poor and in debt, that they were not able to pay their taxes, and therefore not a benefit in the eyes of the government.Conversely, officials would often not approve the petitions of productive citizens *(Personal Note: those who paid their taxes) and if those people wanted to leave, they would have to leave secretly. [1]
1708: The Palatine Migration-1st wave: 58 people lead by Rev Kocherthal, left Germany
The migration of the Palatines from Germany to America occurred in three separate waves. Personal Note: our ancestors, Johann Frederich Merckel and Hans Dietrich Casselman participated in the second wave of the migration; I include the first migration because stories of it's success influenced the second and largest migration of any in colonial times.
The first group of people left Germany in 1708, under the leadership of Reverend Joshua Kocherthal, and included only 58 people. Because of their small numbers, the first wave occurred without much notice. In a very organized manner, they traveled to England and petitioned the Queen for mercy from their oppression. When they arrived in London, the refugees were described as, in a deplorable condition, having suffered under the calamity which happened last year in the Palatinate by the invasion of the French...poor Lutherans, come hither from the Lower Palatinate, praying to be transferred to some of your Majesty's plantations in America...
Reverend Kocherthal's petition received approval from the Queen, and on May 10, 1708, they were made British subjects, and he was ordered to settle them on the Hudson's River, where they can be made useful in the production of Naval Stores and as a frontier against the French and Indians.
With support from the Queen, they sailed for New York in October 1708 on the ship "Globe," arriving in New York City after nine weeks at sea (2 months, 1 week or 63 days) . The first Palatine settlement in New York was at the mouth of the Quassaick Creek, near present Newburgh, New York. Governor Lovelace, on behalf of the Queen, allotted 500 acres of land for church purposes, 200 acres for Reverend Kocherthal's family, and 50 acres to each additional person. [1]
Personal Note: later, while doing research, I discovered a Petition filed by Reverend Kocherthal, June 28, 1718 (10 years later), that revealed this order given by the Queen had not been completed.
1709: Rev Kocherthal returned to England
After successfully settling his first company of emigrants in America, Reverend Kocherthal returned to England, and in 1709 began organizing a second group of Germans to make the trip to America. [1]
*Personal Note: I remember reading that Rev Kocherthal returned to England to ask for more assistance; because his group had arrived just before winter they weren't able to plant crops, consequently they ran out of supplies.
The Golden Book
With the expectation of attracting another group similar to the first, he printed up a small book, to be referred to by the Germans as "the Golden Book", which detailed the benefits of America, how the Queen had paid for their passage, how they had been given their own land, and how well they had been received in America. [1]
*Personal Note: he had previously published this book in at least 2 additions before gathering people together for his first exodus out of Germany.
1708 - 1709: distribution of The Golden Book
In the winter of 1708-9, this book was read or discussed by most of the people in the Palatinate. At the same time, other pamphlets were distributed inviting the Palatines to come to the Carolinas. Also, William Penn made two trips through the region, trying to persuade the Palatines to immigrate to his new province of Pennsylvania. And, other English-American agents of Colonial landlords also solicited immigrants for their overseas plantations in America. [1]
*Personal Note: it appears from the research I did that Rev. Kocherthal wrote and published his own pamphlets encouraging migration to So. Carolina and, when they left their homes in Germany, that's where the German refugees thought they were going. Later, they heard of a Mohawk Chief who offered the Queen some of his land in the Schoharie Valley (in America) for the refugees and that became their destination and their dream.
Leaving Home *Permission: Johannes Muller did not have Permission. (see, above: Reasons for leaving -The principalities carefully regulated migration requiring people to petition the government before they could leave.
Personal Note: Although, Johannes (Muller) Miller is not an ancestor, I included this because I thought this was an interesting refugee story.
In February 1709, 21 year-old Johannes Muller left his home in Rittershausen, and began the trek down the Rhine valley towards Rotterdam, Holland. While some of the refugees had secured approval from authorities to leave their homeland, Johannes did not. He left the Palatinate without permission, as stated in the Nassau-Dillenburg Petitions, "Joh Muller, Joh Muller's widows 2nd son, unmarried and without release, emmigrated from Rittershausen in Amt Ebersbach in 1709"
In the spring of 1709, thousands of fellow Palatines were leaving as well, traveling down the Rhine, sneaking through the dark to small, open boats that carried them away from their homeland. Some of them built rafts of logs to sail down the Rhine to Rotterdam, a voyage that would take four to six weeks, with fees and tolls to be paid along the way. They worried constantly about being stopped and detained or turned back by the authorities. The Hollanders along the route to Rotterdam, many of them distantly related, were also sympathetic and contributed food, clothing and money. [1]
Spring of 1709: From Germany to Rotterdam, Holland -the Story
As the ice began to break up on the Rhine River, 15,000 people from hundreds of villages throughout Germany
sold or gave up whatever they owned including birth rights some left without permission and risked arrest
left their homes and families and started traveling to Rotterdam with the intent of joining Reverend Kocherthal's next group
Most of them made this commitment being too poor to afford the journey to America. [1]
Spring of 1709 Arrival in Rotterdam, Holland: (Johannes Muller's Historian lists March as the month of his arrival)
"The emigrants did not leave gradually in small groups, waiting for news from the first arrivals before others prepared to leave. Instead, the migration was sudden, large and concentrated over only a few months." Eventually, about a thousand people a week were arriving at Rotterdam. Some of them died along the way, but enough survived the trip to fill the streets of Holland with lean and squalid beggars.
The port of Rotterdam was where the Palatines believed that Queen Anne would help them secure passage to London as she had done for the first group.
With the first group, the Queen felt it her Christian duty because the oppressed Palatines were mostly Lutherans, the same faith as her husband, Prince George of Denmark, who died in Oct. 1708, around the time that Rev Kotheral petitioned her help in transporting his small group of refugees. The second group, being a mass exodus, presented the Queen and her government with a difficult challenge. [1]
Spring of 1709 -Arrival: Rotterdam, Holland *Conditions
While waiting for an English ship to take them across the North Sea and English Channel, the Palatines camped in miserable conditions on the levees of Rotterdam. The shacks they made, covered with reeds, were the only shelter they had from the elements. The Burgomaster of Rotterdam took pity on them and appropriated 750 guilders for distribution among the destitute. [1]
Burgomaster of Rotterdam, Holland (origins of the future title, Mayor)
Wikipedia: Bürgermeister (literally: 'master of the citizens'), in German: in Germany, Austria, and formerly in Switzerland. In Switzerland, the title was abolished mid-19th century.
Burgemeester in Dutch: Belgium a party-political post, though formally nominated by the regional government and answerable to it, the federal state and even the province. Mayor and president of the municipal council. In the Netherlands nominated by the municipal council but appointed by the crown. In theory above the parties, in practice a high profile party-political post.
1709 (May) -Departure, sent by ship across the North Sea to London, England
[1] Johannes Muller's Historian lists May as the month of his departure and May 27 as his time of arrival in Walworth, England.
May 1709 -First arrivals in London. 13,000 refugees (ended up in England)...
By the end of June their numbers amounted to an unmanageable seven thousand people. A group of several hundred were immediately sent off to plantations in Ireland (up to 4,000 ended up in Ireland), several hundred more were taken to North Carolina, Virginia and the Caribbean. Some of the refugees found employment on English farms and permanently settle in England. The Catholics among them were given the opportunity to convert to Protestantism, and those that would not (about 1,500), were sent back to Germany. The thousands of returning Catholics finally put an end to the flow of emigrants. Upon their return, they let others know that Catholics were not welcomed in England, and were able to describe the deplorable conditions in the London camps.
On June 14, 1709, James Dayrolle, British resident at the Hague, informed London that if the British government continued to give bounty to the Palatines and encourage their migration, "half of Germany would be on their doorstep"; by late July the overwhelmed British refused to honor commitments to support the German arrivals. [1]
June 1709 - Jan. 20, 1710: Waiting (6 months) in London
The Palatine refugees arrived in London; then waited several months for a ship to cross the Atlantic. Queen Anne, in order to deal with this influx of impoverished people, issued them 1,600 tents for their use at encampments formed at Blackheath, Greenwich and Kensington and Tower Ditch, and allowed nine pence each day for food. Despite the generosity of the crown, the Palatines continued to have problems sustaining themselves; some of them were reduced to begging, a task usually carried out by the married women. During these months many children died. [1]
Personal: I remember the Merckel immigrants were said to be at the tent encampments of Blackheath.
1709: the reactions of the people of London, England
At first, Londoners found the Germans and their customs interesting, and trips to the German camps on the outskirts of town became a popular pastime. But, the longer the Palatines waited in England, the worse their condition became; the upper classes became alienated from them, fearing they were spreading disease and fever. The poor of London regarded them as competition for food and wages. A charity drive started to help the poor Germans "filled the London poor with great indignation". Unfortunately, anger and resentment escalated to the boiling point andmobs of people began attacking the Palatines with axes, hammers and scythes.
The perceptions people had of the German emigrants had changed from one of "industrious workers fit to populate the colonies", to "vagrant destitute people living off the charity of the Queen". [1]
1709: Mohawk Indians in London *land in Schoharie
Legend has it that while the Palatines were encamped in London, Peter Schuyler, then Mayor of Albany brought five Mohawk Indian Chiefs to London to meet the Queen (one died on the voyage). During one of their daily tours of London, the Chiefs "saw and pitied the wretched condition of the people." One of these Chiefs, unsolicited and voluntarily, presented the Queen with a tract of his land in Schoharie, New York, for the use and benefit of the distressed Germans.
Later on, the Palatines would insist this story was true and that this generous gift became their dream. They had a place with a name on it that they could call their own and from then on, they would be "on their way to Schorie" as they pronounced Schoharie. [1]
Discussion: what to do with the refugees
England had been searching for new sources of "Naval Stores" (tar and pitch used to seal ships hulls) for its vast number of ships; Sweden had a virtual monopoly on the production of tar and pitch and they were able to charge very high prices. [1]
England was sending a new governor to the NY colony, governor Hunter. He proposed 3,000 Palatines be sent to NY and employed making pitch and tar for English ships from the plentiful pines. [3]
A deal was struck, and a contract was drawn up, whereby the Palatines would be transported to America, and they would, "settle in such place as was allotted to them", and they would engage in making "turpentine, rozin, tarr and pitch" for the English Navy. The profits from their work would be used to pay back the government for the cost of their transport to America. After their labor had repaid the government, "they would be given five pounds each and forty acres of land for each family". Cobb, The Story of the Palatines [1]
Jan. 20, 1710: Ships boarded and leave London port... (about 2 ½ month later) April 10, 1710: actually set sail for America
A group of over 2,800 refugees who were crowded aboard 10 small ships and finally set sail for America on January 20, 1710. Or so they thought. There were problems with compensation of the owners of the vessels, and the ships sailed back and forth, from port to port, until the ship owners were finally paid; the fleet was able to set sail for America on April 10, 1710. [1]
Variation of the story (the historian of Werner Dygert's ancestry): 12/24/1709, 10 ships left England, delayed for two and a half months in the English Channel until the weather broke.
The Voyage *Conditions 5-6 months on the ship / at sea. Some ships lost at sea.
The trip was longer than usual... due to disease and starvation, many of the passengers died during the trip. Almost daily, they witnessed the bodies of deceased friends and family members being cast overboard into the sea... they would take us up to the church place [the deck of the ship] to toss (bodies) into the sea. The young children died in great numbers.
Probably because of the low fee paid for each passenger, the ships were overloaded with people to make the trip profitable for the captains: The people are packed into the big boats as closely as herring...not counting the immense amount of equipment, tools, provisions, barrels of fresh water, and other things that occupy a great deal of space.
Soon, the fleet was ravaged by "ship-fever", now known to be typhus, which was transmitted by fleas and body lice. "there are so many lice, especially on the sick people, that they have to be scraped off the bodies". [1]
Conditions on the Ships -Journals & Letters
During the journey the ship is full of pitiful signs of distress- smells, fumes, horrors, vomiting, various kinds of sea sickness, fever, dysentery, headaches, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, mouth rot, and similar afflictions, all of them caused by the age and the highly-salted state of the food, especially of the meat, as well as by the very bad and filthy water, which brings about the miserable destruction and death of many. Add to all that, shortage of food, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, fear, misery, vexation, and lamentation as well as other troubles. All this misery reaches its climax when in addition to everything else one must suffer through two to three days and nights of a storm, with everyone convinced that the ship with all on board is bound to sink. In such misery all the people on board pray and cry pitifully together.
Some were just rising from their berths for the first time since leaving Liverpool, having been suffered to lie there all the voyage, wallowing in their own filth...
Among those who are in good health impatience sometimes grows so great and bitter that one person begins to curse the other, or himself and the day of his birth, and people sometimes come close to murdering one another. Misery and malice are readily associated; so that people begin to cheat and steal from one another...
Children between the ages of one and seven seldom survive the sea voyage... parents watch their offspring suffer miserably, die, and be thrown into the ocean, from want, hunger, thirst, and the like... It is also worth noting that children had either measles or small pox usually (infected) on board the ship and for the most part perish as a result... the water distributed in these ships is often very black, thick with dirt, and full of worms... spoiled biscuits full of red worms and spiders nests [1]
Arrival: Ships from this fleet begin to arrive in June 1710.
When at last after the long and difficult voyage the ships finally approach land, when one gets to see the headlands for the sight of which the people on board had longed so passionately, then everyone crawls from below to the deck, in order to look at the land from afar. And the people cry for joy, pray, and sing praises and thanks to God. The glimpse of land revives the passengers, especially those who are half-dead from illness. Their spirits however weak they had become, leap up, triumph, and rejoice within them. Such people are now willing to bear all ills patiently, if they can only disembark soon and step on land. [1]
The first ship, to arrive, the Lyon, sailed into New York harbor on June 13, 1710. Governor Hunter's ship and several others arrived the next day. One of the ships, the Hubert, which carried the tents, tools and weapons, tragically ran aground on the east end of Long Island on July 7th. The passengers all made it safely to land, but the stores and provisions were all lost. The last ship did not arrive until August 2nd.
For most, the journey from their home to America had taken about 15 months. Family members died during that journey and they didn't have the benefit of time or place to grieve their loss; they had no comfort of burial place.
A letter from Governor Hunter dated October 24, 1710, states that of the 2,814 Palatines who had started the trip, 446 had died before the end of July, however, thirty babies had been born on the way. Personal Note: This is probably his 'reporting' back to the Queen letter and possibly contained 'the Hunter List.'
This is the End of Part 1, Palatine Refugees, Germany to New York: 2800 Palatines left, 2400 survived. Some ships were lost at sea during the voyage [2] Werner Dygert.
After arrival, they were Quarantined on Governor’s Island for several months; this is where we will find them when the story continues in Part 2, Palatine Refugees in America
Resources:
[1] Johannes Miller/Muller -The Journey to America *Mohawk Valley *Schoharie Valley
-The author used many resources which are listed at the end of the document
[2] Werner Dygert -To America *Stone Arabia
-The author used many resources which are listed at the end of the document
[3] Mohawk Valley -The Mohawk Valley and Its People by Barth Lefferts
[4] Mother Jones - Refugees of Time -The Conscience of Place: Stone Arabia
[5] Newspr/Stone Arabia History *Churches included
[6] Golden Book *John Casselman
[7] Lanaii -The German Palatines and Kocherthal's Golden Book
[8] James I Good - History of the Reformed Church in the United States
[9] xmission - Palatine Migration
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