Yes, Linda: When I was researching my husband's Palatine Nellis family (who landed in NY in 1710), I was contacted by a descendant of an Irish 'O'Nellis' family. He had been certain the name was truly Irish, but learning that it was a Palatine name planted a seed of doubt, and indicated the need for further research. Although we didn't maintain contact, I feel pretty sure the family was part of that mass exodus, and that at least one group of the Nellis family chose Ireland over any part of the "New World". Pretty extensive records of the Palatine émigrés to this country were kept. Their story has been researched extensively, and a number of excellent books about them have been published. When their proposed job of supplying pine pitch for the British Navy proved unworkable (the trees were the wrong kind - a classic bureaucratic boo-boo), many left the camps where the English had housed them, "squatted" on land in the Mohawk Valley & eventually gained title to it. They were America's first large group of non-English speaking immigrants and their participation in earlier wars (Queen Anne's, 1812, French & Indian) greatly impacted events that led to the Revolution. While most of them joined the colonists during the Revolution, some stayed loyal to the English, and many Palatine names are also found in Canada. This era and these people are depicted in the movie "Drums Along the Mohawk", starring Henry Fonda, whose ancestors WERE Palatines from this area. Fonda, Montgomery Co. NY was named for them. I found margin notes signed by a Fonda descendant in some of the books in the Montgomery County Heritage & Genealogical Society there - one was a correction of information about my husband's family. Virginia -------------- . . . in looking for a second hand copy of "The Irish Palatines in Ontario" (and finding none, but the first edition is in the Family History Library.....), I did find this lecture entitled "Desperation genealogy or What the Rest of Us Can Learn from Irish Family History Researchers" . . . if anyone is wondering what is a Palatine -- it is a group of people who lived in the Palatinate area of what is now Germany, Protestants, who migrated in the 1700s. Some went directly to the New World while some went to England and Ireland. At the time various Irish estate owners were looking for Protestant tenants. The largest number were settled in Limerick. Many then joined the migration to the New World. Some of us think our ancestors were Scotch Irish and they were not: they were Palatines, so we're looking in the wrong end of Ireland for them. So check the list of surnames of Palatines. Some are listed on the web here: http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/general/resources/101185 .htm The names include Adamson, Baker, Bowen, Brown, etc -- names that don't seem German at all. The Limerick people began coming to the Americas in large numbers in 1709 -- before the Scotch Irish -- and they founded American Methodism. Linda Merle ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I should know but I don't -- what does the word "palatine" refer to in this context please? I associate that word with Palestine - is that related? Thanks, Karen ----- Original Message ----- From: "Virginia Beck" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, February 27, 2010 6:09 PM Subject: Re: [S-I] Palatines Yes, Linda: When I was researching my husband's Palatine Nellis family (who landed in NY in 1710), I was contacted by a descendant of an Irish 'O'Nellis' family. He had been certain the name was truly Irish, but learning that it was a Palatine name planted a seed of doubt, and indicated the need for further research. Although we didn't maintain contact, I feel pretty sure the family was part of that mass exodus, and that at least one group of the Nellis family chose Ireland over any part of the "New World". Pretty extensive records of the Palatine émigrés to this country were kept. Their story has been researched extensively, and a number of excellent books about them have been published. When their proposed job of supplying pine pitch for the British Navy proved unworkable (the trees were the wrong kind - a classic bureaucratic boo-boo), many left the camps where the English had housed them, "squatted" on land in the Mohawk Valley & eventually gained title to it. They were America's first large group of non-English speaking immigrants and their participation in earlier wars (Queen Anne's, 1812, French & Indian) greatly impacted events that led to the Revolution. While most of them joined the colonists during the Revolution, some stayed loyal to the English, and many Palatine names are also found in Canada. This era and these people are depicted in the movie "Drums Along the Mohawk", starring Henry Fonda, whose ancestors WERE Palatines from this area. Fonda, Montgomery Co. NY was named for them. I found margin notes signed by a Fonda descendant in some of the books in the Montgomery County Heritage & Genealogical Society there - one was a correction of information about my husband's family. Virginia -------------- . . . in looking for a second hand copy of "The Irish Palatines in Ontario" (and finding none, but the first edition is in the Family History Library.....), I did find this lecture entitled "Desperation genealogy or What the Rest of Us Can Learn from Irish Family History Researchers" . . . if anyone is wondering what is a Palatine -- it is a group of people who lived in the Palatinate area of what is now Germany, Protestants, who migrated in the 1700s. Some went directly to the New World while some went to England and Ireland. At the time various Irish estate owners were looking for Protestant tenants. The largest number were settled in Limerick. Many then joined the migration to the New World. Some of us think our ancestors were Scotch Irish and they were not: they were Palatines, so we're looking in the wrong end of Ireland for them. So check the list of surnames of Palatines. Some are listed on the web here: http://globalgenealogy.com/countries/canada/ontario/general/resources/101185 .htm The names include Adamson, Baker, Bowen, Brown, etc -- names that don't seem German at all. The Limerick people began coming to the Americas in large numbers in 1709 -- before the Scotch Irish -- and they founded American Methodism. Linda Merle ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message