This is the first of a multi-part post. It is from a presentation to the PA German Society made in 1898 by Henry Eyster Jacobs. It has been reprionted in many books or excerpted in articles about the Pennsylvania Dutch and the immigration of their forefathers. Introduction In 1608, the first German settlers arrived at jamestown , Virginia, thus marking the beginning date in German American history, and in 1683 group immigration began with the arrival of the first group of German immigrants, who established the first permanent German settlement in America at Germantown, Pennsylvania.(1) The stage was thereby set for the beginnings of the German immigration on a massive scale, and this occurred in the early 1700's with the immigration from southwest Germany, especially from the Palatinate. The significance of this immigration cannot be underestimated as it in essence became the core group of the entire colonial German element.(2) Although the core group of immigrants actually came from the Palatinate, most German immigrants were indiscriminately referred to as "Palatines" since most of them came, if not from the Palatinate, then from the neighboring regions of the southwestern German speaking area of Europe, which included southwest Germany, Alsace-Lorraine and Switzerland. The southwest region of German-speaking realm was frequently a battleground during European warfare. It was repeatedly attacked, pillaged, and devastated in a period ranging from the Thirty Years War for the next two centuries through the Napoleonic area.(3) The ravages of the Thirty Years war (1618-48) were particularly acute in this region. And after the war, the French burned the castle of Heidelberg and the city of Mannheim. The population was reduced to poverty-America appeared on the horizon as a ray of hope and the chance for a new life.(4) There are a number of causes and reasons which can be cited as leading to the first wave of immigration, but the single most frequently mentioned one was the devastation caused by the long history of warfare. indeed the southwest German-speaking realm may be referred to as a war zone. After the Thirty Years War the region was often the stamping ground for the armies of Louis XIV of France. It should be noted that the German states were not unified in a centralized state, but its neighbor, France, was, and after 1648 it conducted a foreign policy aimed at direct intervention in German affairs with two quite specific objectives in mind. First, it aimed at obtaining a frontier on the Rhine, which translated into French control of the German speaking province of Alsace-Lorraine. Second france aimed at the maintenance of a weak and divided Germany. As a result of the french drive to the east, Germany suffered continual territorial losses:Alsace was annexed by France in 1681; Burgundy was ceded to France in 1714, and Lorraine annexed in 1766. Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of baden remarked with reference to the French conquest of Alsace in 1681:"For France it is a door constantly open for war, through which she can invade German soil as often as she wished." And invade France did repeatedly, resulting ion the ruination of the southwestern German region, especially the Palatinate. Specifically the French devastated the province in 1674; 1688089 it was laid waste again; and in 1707, during the war of Spanish Succession, it was again plundered. All of this ruination, it should be noted, followed hard on the heels of the Thirty Years War, from which the region had not yet recovered in 1674, when it was plundered again. By the early 1700's there had been almost a century of intermittent warfare. When immigrants were asked about their reasons for immigrating they spoke mainly "of the French ravages in 1707." Hence the relationship between French military intervention in the German states and the beginnings of massive German immigration can best be answered by describing the two as cause and effect. Without the former, it is highly unlikely that the early 1700's would have witnessed the beginnings of the first massive wave of German immigration.(5) (**this goes back to a thread of a few weeks ago ie:poor vs. persecuted. I have yet to read or have anyone provide the list a source which makes a compelling argument for persecution as the motivator/cause of this effect) In 1708, the Rev. Joshua Kochertal applied to an English agency in Frankfurt am Main for permission to take a small group to England, where he applied to Queen Anne for assistance for the Palatines. he recited the cause of their plight as the French ravages and destruction in southwest Germany. "In the judgement of the immigrants, so severe was the destruction that they could not possibly attain sufficient means of livelihood during the hard times, which still continued."(6) Queen Anne therefore provided for their welfare and sustenance. Kochertal then asked if he could transport the Palatine Germans to America. It was decided that New York would be the appropriate place for them. In 1708, a small group arrived in New York. each person received 50 acres of land. Among this group were carpenters, smiths, weavers,and various skilled craftsmen. They established a settlement, Newburgh in New York. In 1709, there were some 13,000 Germans in England who were awaiting passage to America. in 1710, Kochertal returned to England and brought more of them to America; some of these early Palatine Germans, it should be noted, settled in Ireland but the majority made it to the New World. Perhaps the largest group, approximately 3,000, came to New York in 1710. Eventually, it is estimated that tens of thousands came in the colonial period to America, and settled in various colonies. Among these early German-Americans were some outstanding individuals, such as John Peter Zenger, the first champion of the free press in America. In New Jersey, two prominent representatives of this group were General Frederick Frelinghysen and Johan Peter Rockefeller. The formwer would serve in the American Revolution and become a member of the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and the U.S. Senate in the 1790's. Rockefeller of course, became the founder of one of America's most illustrious industrial dynasties.(7) In America, the Palatines established a variety of towns and villages with German names such as Weiserdorf, hartmannsdorf, Brunnendorf, Schmidtdorf, Gerlachsdorf etc. In times of peace, they were regarded as excellent farmers who provided grain and crops for the growing colonies. During the frontier wars and the American Revolution, they acted as a protective bulwark on the frontier, and also actively supported the War of American Independence. As the representatives of the first massive wave of German immigration to America, the Palatines occupy an important place in American as well as German-American history. Once underway the waves of immigration would bring a total of eight millions from the German-speaking countries to America(9) the next part contains the footnotes to the introduction notes 1. see Don Heinrich Tolzmann," The First Germans in America, With A Biographical Directory of New York Germans" ( Bowie, Maryland:Heritage Books, Inc., !992) 2. A contemporary journal, published in Columbus, Ohio by the Palatines of America Society, which deals with the history and heritage of the Palatines, is "The Palatine Immigrant" edited by Dr. John Terence Golden 3. Regarding the Palatine immigration, see Walter Allen Knittle, "Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration" ( Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co. 1976) 4. see Don Heinrich Tolzmann, "Germany and America, 1450-1700:Julius Friedrich Sachse's History of the German Role in the Discovery, Exploration, and Settlement of the New World" (Bowie, MD:Heritage Books, Inc., 1991) see especially pp. 143-68 for a discussion of "The French Wars of Conquest" 5. for further information on the background of the German immigration, see the editor's "Understanding the Causes of the German Immigrations: The Context of German History Before 1830," in:Don Heinrich Tolzmann, "Das Ohiotal-The Ohio Valley: The German Dimension" (New York:Lang, 1992), pp. 3-17 6. Knittle, p. 34 A history of the Palatines in New York notes with regard to the Palatinate, that after the Thirty Years War, war again broke out in 1668, and in 1673 Louis XIV of France began his marauding expeditions...destructive raids laid waste the Palatine countryside, and the ruthless pillage continued....when the French king himself entered the land 'to make it a wilderness,' as declared. As a youth of twenty years Kochertal heard of the burning of Heidelberg and Mannheim and in May of 1689 news reached him that Speyer and Worms had been set on fire. The villages, towns and farmsof the Rhine regions were pillaged and burned, their inhabitants tortured, ravished or slain." By 1705, England, Holland, Sweden and Prussia threatened intervention unless the carnage stopped which was then taking place during the War of Spanish Succession (1701-13). See lou D. MacWethy, "The Book Of Names, Especially Relating to the Early Palatines and the First Settlers of the Mohawk Valley ( Baltimore Genealogical Pub. Co., 1969), p. 53 7. See don Heinrich Tolzmann. "America's German Heritage" (Cleveland:German-American National Congress, 1976), pp.26-27. 8. For further information with regard to the American revolution, see Don Heinrich Tolzmann, German- Americans in the American Revolution:Henry Melchior Muhlenberg Richards' History" (Bowie, Maryland:Heritage Books, Inc.,1992) 9. For a General survey of German-American history, see LaVern J. Rippley, "The German Americans (Boston:Twayne, 1976) tbc- ==== PENNA-DUTCH Mailing List ==== Haven't found a post of interest? Why not generate one of your own?