Hi All, This came through on the GGraffenreid mail-list. Thought you all might like to read it of course. > > Subj: From Berne to New Bern Date: 98-06-25 13:39:07 EDT From: MsDeG@pangaea.kgs.ukans.edu (Jo Anne DeGraffenreid) Reply-to: msdeg@pangaea.kgs.ukans.edu To: DEGRAFFENREID-L@rootsweb.com Hello group! This is designed particularly for newcomers and "friends of the Baron" (note that Baron Christoph von Graffenried is also referred to as the "Landgrave") and is in reponse to queries that have appeared on DeG-L or that I have received personally in the last few days. For those who have the patience to read through that which follows, and who may rather be described as "Feinde" of the Baron (that's "enemies" in case your German is a bit rusty), I've included bits of an invective discourse by Tom Lincoln <lincoln@RAND.ORG> posted in 1993 which you may read in its entirety in the USGenWeb archives (file: logm9308b.txt). Those interested in the history of the de Graffenried family (primarily in the US, but including also its European foundation) and its connection to the town of New Bern, North Carolina, should refer to the following works as a start. You may read them with a grain of salt, of course, if your distrust of historicism extends as far as that of John Blankenbaker, who dismisses Baron von Graffenried's own accounts as "extremely self-serving": ********** de Graffenried, Thomas P., 1925, History of the de Graffenried Family – 1191 AD to 1925: Vail-Ballou Press, Binghamton and New York, 282 p. de Graffenried, Thomas P., 1950, The de Graffenried Name in Literature: The William-Frederick Press, New York, 32 p. de Graffenried, Thomas P., 1958, The de Graffenried Family Scrap Book 1191 – 1956: University of Virginia Press, Charlottesville, 270 p. Fiske, John, 1897/1899, Old Virginia and her Neighbours, in Two Volumes: The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston and New York, Vol. I, 318 p., Vol. II, 421 p. Todd, Vincent H. (ed.), 1920, Christoph von Graffenried's Account of the Founding of New Bern: North Carolina Historical Commission, Edwards & Broughton, Raleigh, N.C., 434 p. ********** Other interesting reading includes: ********** Perdue, Theda, 1985, Native Carolinians – The Indians of North Carolina: Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Historical Commission, Raleigh, 73 p. Walser, Richard, 1980, North Carolina Legends: Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Historical Commission, Raleigh [10th printing, 1990], 76 p. ********** The following article, written by yours truly, is reproduced from 1710 SOCIETY(c) - Newsletter of the Descendants of Baron Christopher de Graffenried; for information contact newsletter editor, Judy DeGraffenreid <JDegraf203@aol.com>: ********** QUARTERLY HISTORY LESSON Thomas P. de Graffenried's "History of the de Graffenried Family from 1191 A.D. to 1925" contains "The Landgrave's Own Story" (pp. 74–140), a translation by University of Illinois Prof. Julius Goebel of Baron Christopher de Graffenried's German manuscript: "Relation of my American Project, Written on Account of Certain Persons Who Complained That I Had Undertaken This Colony Imprudently, to the Disadvantage and Ruin of Many People--a Charge Which is Easily Cleared Up." Most of us will be inclined to accept Baron Christopher's words as true. Among many adventures and misadventures, his fascinating account contains the following two incidents. In January 1710, German and Swiss refugees (but all referred to as "Palatines" and making up part of Baron Christopher's charges) embarked from Gravesend, England, to America in advance of the ship bearing Christopher himself, who awaited a contingent of settlers from Bern, his provincial home in Switzerland. It was a long, arduous crossing and many didn't survive or succumbed to illness upon arrival. One ship experienced what Christopher referred to as "the first misfortune." The one ship which was filled with the best goods and on which those in best circumstances were traveling, had the misfortune, at the mouth of the James River, in sight of an English man-of-war, which however lay at anchor, to be attacked by a bold French privateer and plundered. [Note that this occurred in Virginia.] After regaining its strength, the colony removed to Albermarle County in North Carolina where ships were provided by Col. Pollock to cross Pamlico Sound. A settlement was established on a point of land between the Neuse and Trent rivers. "This place called Chattoka is where the city of New Bern was afterwards founded" (p. 77). The industrious Palatines initially had great success, "inside of 18 months...they had made more advancement than the English inhabitants in four years" (p. 79 ff), but fell upon hard times through treachery, greed, and misled Indians. Christopher sought aid from Gov. Hyde (p. 95 ff). Securing a sloop, he had it filled with provisions (corn, powder, lead, and tobacco) and sent it to New Bern—thus provoking another misfortune among the many which finally convinced the Baron to return to Switzerland: "The good people in their extreme distress waited in vain for it. For when the sloop was clear past the Sound and far from the mouth of the river, the people on the ship drank too much brandy, so that they all went to sleep...but because they had not entirely put out the fire in the kitchen, a spark sprang...into the tobacco leaves....A fire started, and at length the smoke wakened the shipmen, who, out of fear that the powder cask would catch, tried to save themselves, got into the canoe...and left. Before they came clear to land the fire got into the powder, and the sloop went up in flames." That which follows is neither fact nor fiction, it's a folk tale which appears in "North Carolina Legends" (Walser, Richard, 1980; 10th printing, 1990. Raleigh, NC: Division of Archives and History, North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 76 pp.). Legends, it would seem, must be based on historical occurrences. Does Baron Christopher's narrative contain the basis for the legend recounted by Walser (1980, pp. 10–12)? The Ship of Fire (Reprinted by Permission) On a certain evening every year, at the mouth of the wide Neuse River, a large bright object speeds into view. It looks like a sailing ship being destroyed by fire, its deck and masts in blazing outline. The apparition disappears, then reappears, then again disappears for another year. It burns furiously but is not consumed. It is the ship of the Palatines. The Palatines were a group of German Protestants who left England in 1710 to settle New Bern. As the vessel crossed the Atlantic, the prosperous Palatines, pretending to be poor, hid their gold coins and silver dishes from the eyes of the ship's sinister captain and crew. When the Palatines caught sight of the shore which they believed to be their future home, so excited were they that up from the hold and out from hiding places came all their belongings in preparation for landing. Unwisely displayed on the deck was their precious wealth, all of it in full view of the corrupt captain and his first mate. Quickly the captain formed a plan. He announced to the passengers that no landing could be made until the morrow. The disappointed Palatines once more hid their valuables and lay down to a sound sleep in anticipation of soon landing at their destination. When all was quiet, the captain gathered his crew together and revealed to them his plan. They would murder every Palatine aboard—the young and the old, the women and children as well as the men—then gather together the gold and silver, set afire the ship filled with its dead, and escape in the lifeboats. The strike was sudden. Many Palatines were knifed before they awoke and in a very few moments every one of them was dead. As planned, the ship was set afire, and the murderers pushed off in the small boats. From a distance they looked back at the ship. It burned brighter and brighter, the brilliant blaze of the fire shooting into the air, but the vessel did not sink into the water. And then the thing began to move. "It continued to burn all night," according to an old account, "--speeding on with the wind, --now passing out from sight, and anon, visible, flaming forever, back again, on the very spot where the crime had been committed. With the dawn of day, it had ceased to burn, --but there it stood, erect as ever, with the spars, sails, masts, unconsumed, --everything in place, but everything blackened, charred." At sundown the flames leaped up again-- "a ship on fire that would not burn!" The frightened murderers could bear no more. They abandoned their boats on the bank of the river and fled into the forest. There they and their descendants lived on their "ill-gotten spoils." To this day the crime has not been avenged, and so every year on a certain evening the burning ship appears off New Bern, and so it will continue to appear till the blood of the Palatines has been paid for in kind. ********* Okay, detractors. Here's what Tom Lincoln has to say, in part, about "Count von Graffenried" [which Count(s), I'm not sure; I leave it to you true historians to check out the dates (Louis XIV reigned 1643-1715) and the branch: Burgistein? surely not Worb!?] in response to the query "One of my ancestors on my mother's side [is] named Degraffenreid [sic]...his group arrived [in] North Carolina from Berne, Switzerland and established a new town--New Bern.... How can I find information?": ********** "Do I know the Count von Graffenried! His castle looked down on the village of Wattenwyl, Canton Bern, a parish 26 kilometers from Berne on the road to Thun. The Count recruited my ancestor, Heirich [sic] Zimmerman (b. 7 Sep 1673) from the village to enrole [sic] as a mercenary soldier for Louis XIV of France. "...Heinrich was probably mustered out in 1696 at 23 [he studied medicine and got married].... "By 1706 the Zimmermans had two children, Emanuel and Gabriel. Once again he [Heinrich] participated in an unsuccessful uprising ['...against the ruling large land owners, including the Count Von Graffenried'], and was forced to flee....pursued by two of Graffenried's Hussars on horseback [NB: A Hussar on foot would be a sorry thing, indeed! JAD], armed with sabers and spears.... [Heinrich] dropped behind and held them off with a cudgle [sic]...while the family gained a boat at the edge of the lake. As he tried to join his family in the boat, one of the Hussars caught up to him..., but Salome [Heinrich's wife, born Rufner, bapt. 28 Dec 1675, d. 1742] felled the pursuer with a well place [sic] blow from an oar, and they made their escape....[to] Philadelphia." ********** FAC RECTE NEMINEM TIME MsDeG > > Sue in CA