Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:18:44 -0700 From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> Subject: [IRELAND] Migrants from Palatinate region of Germany - Sir Thos. SOUTHWELL/Rathkeale, Co. Limerick To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> SNIPPET: The July-Aug 2004 issue of Dublin's "Ireland of the Welcomes" magazine has an interesting several-page article with text and colorful illustrations by Dan BARRETT, a retired postman/freelance writer living in Co. Tipperary. And a good resource for researchers is the Rathkeale, Co. Limerick Irish Palatine Heritage Centre. Some of the surnames associated with the Irish Palatine experience: SHIER, HECK, RUTTLE, JACOB, SPARLING, LAURENCE, BOWEN, STEEPE, COOKE, BARKMAN, CRONSBERRY, TESKEY, YOUNG, MILLER, BAKER, REYNARD, COLE, LOWE, BOVENIZER, LEGEAR, BENNER, ALTON, STARK, GILLIARD, MEE, PIPER, ST. JOHN and SWITZER. It was a SWITZER, from neighbouring Co. Tipperary that founded the famous Dublin fashion house of the same name. You might want to read a recent work, "People make Places," by Dr. Patrick J. O'CONNOR, which deals comprehensively with all aspects of the Irish Palatine odyssey. Photographs in the IOTW magazine include: (1) Typical dress worn by Palatines in the 18th century, costumes presented to the IPA at a gathering of Irish Palatines from around the world recently held in Germany. (2) The Irish Palatine Heritage Centre, Rathkeale, Co. Limerick. (3) Embury and Heck Memorial Methodist Church at Ballingrane built by the Irish Palatines in 1766; renovated in 1885, still used by members of the Methodist community in Co. Limerick. Its name commemorates those who brought Methodism to America - Philip EMBRY, a Rathkeale Palatine created Methodist preacher and cousin Barbara HECK, who sailed for America in 1760 where they established a Methodist community. (4) Castle Matrix, built as a Desmond stronghold in the middle of the 15th century, it became the home of the SOUTHWELL family in the early 1600s and was converted into a manor house. (5) Holy Trinity Church of Ireland in Rathkeale, where many Palatine names are recorded on the gravestones. Clever drawings by the author include Palatines arriving in Ireland and superior farming techniques which the Palatines bought to Ireland. Read more about the early Palatines departure to the New World, and during the Spring of 1709 about 11,000 people comprising several different families arriving in London from Rotterdam, the second leg of their proposed journey to America. Learn more about misfortunate Palatines essentially being stranded there, the camp settlements in London, solutions to the "indigent crisis," Irish landlord classes asked to encourage people onto their estates to bolster Protestant presence and because they were skilled agriculturists ..... Palatines arrived in Ireland in the early days of September 1709. Although subsequently experiencing poor treatment in Dublin,as had been the case in London, some settlers left for England again circa 1711. . During the years following their arrival in Ireland, the Palatines who for the most part were Lutheran and Protestant by persuasion, slowly became lukewarm in regards to religious practice, possibly due to lack of preachers and religious direction. As time progressed they enthusiastically embraced Methodism. Eventually -- "The county of Limerick, and to a lesser extent, the counties of Wexford and Carlow would become the major centres of a Palatine presence. In Limerick, Sir Thomas SOUTHWELL, with vast estates around Rathkeale took in innumerable displaced German families and settled them on his lands. Unlike nearly all of the other landlords who had taken in immigrant families only to lose them again within a very short time, SOUTHWELL .... treated his settlers with equanimity. With the British government stalling as regards funding, he wasn't afraid to use his own resources when it came to solidifying a Palatine existence. He assigned each family approximately eight acres of land, and at rents much lower than those demanded of local tenants ... When it came the planting and harvesting of potatoes the Palatines were ahead of their time, as they were the first agriculturists to use the horse and plough in the process, leaving the native Irish entirely dependent on the spade and shovel. The Palatines were also highly skilled in apple culture and were expert cider producers ...During the harsh famine days, the Palatines, due to their superior skill, methods in working the land and raising livestock, escaped the worst ravages of the great hunger and were known to help their less well off neighbours." Read about the eventual dispersal of several families away from Rathkeale circa 1730-40s and on to other landlord estates in Co. Limerick and to a lesser degree, Kerry and Tipperary, and emigration to the New World, etc., after SOUTHWELL's death. Learn more about changes in culture the 19th century brought with it - lessening of enmities existing between German and Gael, acquisition of English and other languages, lessening of the earlier more or less taboo against intermarriage. Per article -- "P. W. JOYCE, the famous historian and collector of Irish music and song was actually brought up in the Palatine village of Glenosheen in South Limerick, and anything he had to say of his German neighbours was always positive." ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:19:20 -0700 From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> Subject: [IRELAND] German Palatines - Strong Association with Limerick from 1709 To: <IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com> SNIPPET: A wall plaque, Palatine Centre, Rathkeale Co. Limerick reads "Irish Palatine Heritage Center (Das Irisch-Pfalzische Museum), in 1709 several hundred families of German origin settled in Ireland. Known as the Palatines, they established roots mainly in the Rathkeale area of County Limerick." A foreign group with particularly strong association with Limerick from 1709, are the refugees from the German Palatinate who were settled mostly around Rathkeale in the centre of Limerick, but also near Kilfinane in the southeast. Just like their Irish neighbours, some Palatines adapted to English phonetically while others adopted an existing English name. Unless family tradition has preserved the origin of the name in particular families, it can be very hard to realise that one belongs to this community. Not only does the German form of the names direct one's attention towards Germany; the English guise in which many of them appear hides their origin even further. (Be sure and consult an Irish surname book for the ones you are researching, as surnames may have more than one origin.) Palatine names include: Altheimer (Altimes, Alton) Barkman (Bateman) Becker (Baker) Benner Boin, Bohea (Bowen) Bubenheuser (Bovenizer) Cornelius (Corneille) Daub (Doupe, etc.) Dolmetsch (Dolmage, Delmege) Fischel (Fizzell) Glaser (Glazier) Heck Imberger (Embury) Jung (Young) Koch (Cooke) Krebs (Crips) Lang (Long) Lieger (Legear, etc.) Lohs (Lowe) Lorentz (Laurence) Meyer (Myers) Mueller (Miller) Pfeiffer (Piper) Ruckel (Ruttle) Ruebel, Rappell (Rapple) Scheir, Scheuer (Shire) Schmidt (Smith) Schumacher (Shoemaker) Schweitzer (Switzer) Sohn (St. John) Stieb (Steep) Teskey von Sperling (Sparling) -- "Irish Roots" magazine, pub. Cork ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2007 01:57:46 -0700 From: "Jean R." <jeanrice@cet.com> Subject: [IRELAND] Peter YOUNG -- History/Palatine Families To: <IrelandGenWeb-L@rootsweb.com> Cc: IRELAND-L@rootsweb.com PALATINES: Prior to 1871, what is now Germany consisted of a number of separate states such as Wurttemberg, Prussia, Bavaria, etc., whose boundaries changed frequently as a result of war and other causes. The Palatinate was one of these states, and was located along the Rhine, roughly corresponding to the modern German state of Rhineland-Pfalz. In 1709 several hundred Palatine families settled in Ireland. A combination of economic hardship caused by war and a severe winter led to the exodus. Queen Anne received them in England and sent some to Ireland to the estates of sympathetic Protestant landlords. They established roots, mainly in the Rathkeale area of County Limerick, Ireland, where about 1,200 of them settled on the estate of Thomas Southwell. Other colonies were set up in Old Ross and Gorey, County Wexford and in Counties Cork and Dublin. Thought the Limerick Palatines spread out to other areas, particularly north Kerry and Tipperary, Rathkeale remained an important focal point. At Killaheen the site of the old Wesleyan Chapel where the Palatines worshipped may be seen today, also some of the old Palatine houses. A most interesting item is an old Palatine well. It consists of a trench cut into the ground deeper than the water table. The sides and the top are lined with stone and 18 stone steps lead down the clear cold water. Several such wells are to be found in the locality but some have been partly filled in for safety purposes. At Courtmatrix, the earliest of the original colonies, the present occupiers of a house built in the Palatine style - long and low - which once longed to the Teskey family can be found with the interior which has been kept as close to its original condition as a modern lifestyle will permit. Behind the old Teskey home a carved stone cider press is still in position under an old tree, an interesting validation of the fact that the Palatines brought stone-cutting and winemaking skills with them from Germany. The third of the parent colonies, Ballingrane, is the place where the most famous Irish Palatines lived. Barbara Heck and Philip Embury were the founders of Methodism in the USA, a denomination which now has a following of several million. Barbara Heck's old home is (1996) occupied by the family of Walter Ruttle, a Palatine descendant and a member of the Irish Palatine Association. Nearby can be found a pear tree under which John Wesley used to preach and a plaque marking the site of Philip Embury's home, long since demolished. A visit to Embury and Heck memorial church contains a horn blown by the burgermeister or Palatine leader to summon general meetings in the early days of the colony. Castle Matrix is the home of Thomas Southwell, the landlord who brought the Palatines to Limerick. This ancient Fitzgerald castle has been completely restored and is occupied by the O'Driscoll family. Some of the German-speaking people that came to North America did not come directly. Some Palatines spent time (from a few months to a few generations) in other countries, including Ireland. Palatine families living in the Rathkeale area circa 1720 included: Altimes/Alton, Baker, Barkman/Bartman, Barraban, Benner, Bickerin, Bonus, Bovenizer, Bowen, Bower, Bredhour, Brough, Cave, Cole, Cooke, Corneille, Cripps, Cronsberry, Delmege, Doupe, Embury, Everett, Filme, Fitzelle, Folker, Grouse, Guier, Hartwick, Heavenor, Heck, Hibler, Hifle, Hoffman, Hoopf, Hoost, Laurence, Legear, Lodwick/Ludwig, Lowe, Lower, Lowes, Mick, Miller, Modler, Neazor, Piper, Poff, Richardt, Rodenbecker, Ruttle, Rynard, Ryner, Schmidt/Smyth, Shallas, Sheafer, Shearman, Shimmel, Shire/Shier, Shoemaker, Shoneweiss, Shouldice, Siebert, Singer, Smeltzer, Sparlng/Sparling, St. John, Steevell, Steepe, Stork/Stark, Stroud, Switzer, Teskey, Tettler/Detlor, Ushelbaugh, Young and Zigler. Palatine families in the rest of Ireland circa 1720 included: Altimus/Altimes, Ashbagh, Baker/Becker, Barklotine, Beever, Berg/Berge, Berner/Bearney, Bisherne, Boller, Crouse, Crow/Crowe, Fock/Fought, Fugenacht, Glazier/Gleasure, Golliday, Green, Hartwick/ Hartrick, Hess, Hoffman, Holbach, Hornick/Horn, Jacobus/Jacob, Jekyll/Jeakle, Johan, Kirkhover, Klein/Kline, Konig/Koning, Kough/Cooke, Lambert, Long, Ludolf/Ludolt, Meyer/Myers, Miller, Nichburne, Paul, Poole, Rapple, Real/Ruhl, Reessnagh/Rufenacht, Reuling, Rhinehart, Richardt/Richard, Rosine/Rosen, Ross/Rose, Ryling, Schmidt/Smyth, Schultz/Sultz, Sheafer, Snitzerling, Staler, Steeble, Stengel/Stingill, Strosser, Swartz, Tyse/Twiss, Walter/Weiss, Wise, Wentz, Wolf, Writer/Rieter, and Young. There is an Irish Palatine Heritage Centre in Rathkeale, (near Limerick and Adare),Co. Limerick, with extensive displays of artifacts, photographs, etc. associated with the Palatine families.