WHY DID the Rhine and Palatinate peoples want to leave their ancient homes and come to America? The complete story would constitute virtually a history of Europe from the time of the Romans onward, for the Rhine Valley may truly be said to be the cock-pit of western civilization. The 1935 plebiscite in the Saar, watched by the whole world and representing one more bitter struggle between France and Germany, disrupting and dividing the population, was but the familiar continuation of the ancient heritage of the people of this section. So was the World-War struggle to recover Alsace- Lorraine, which, like the Saar basin, was part of the ancient home of the Pennsylvania Dutch. Ever and always the Rhine Valley and environs have been the arenas in which Europe's clashing ambitions met head-on-but always at the cost of the quiet farmers and villagers of this lovely region. It was a war prize for Celt, Cimbri, Hun, Teutons, Romans, Gauls, Germans, French, and a constant battleground of clashing religions as well.

The Pennsylvania Dutch are direct descendants of the Hermunduri tribes, which existed directly to the north of Rome in early Roman times, and which a little later became the Alamanni tribe, taking in a few others (Alamanni means "all men"). These others were Bucinobantes, Lentienses, Juthungi and Suebi. The Alamanni were admittedly the most formidable and competent of the Germanic tribes of the time, establishing even then a reputation for independence and rebellion against oppression. About 200 B.C. and earlier they had faced the in- vasion of the Cimbri and other Teutonic hordes, 20,000 of whom poured southward over their land and invaded and defeated not only the Hermunduri, but also proud Rome-the first serious defeat it had known. The Alamanni or Hermunduri had to give way before these same "barbarians" from further north, superior in number and desperate. It was also the fate of the Hermunduri to face as next-door neighbors the older and far better organized Mediterranean civilization - the Romans in the heydey of their power. These Romans had for centuries learned all that the very ancient Eastern peoples could teach about war and civilization. Rome was supreme and powerful- and Rome wanted in particular to possess the lovely valley of the Rhine where the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch lived.

So we see the ancestors of the Dutch begin their struggle, centuries before Christ was bom, to keep the storied Rhine Valley for themselves. Doubtless they had struggled for thousands of years prior to that, from the very dawn of human life. Therefore, history tells us how the Alamanni were "in constant conflict with the Romans." We must use our imaginations to realize what this meant; the long-experienced Roman legions battling the uncultured Alamanni in the famous Black Forests of the Rhine Valley and along both sides of that notorious fated river, for at that time Alsace-Lorraine and other French sections were all part of the Alamanni territory. They suffered a mighty disadvantage, but they fought the Romans so valiantly that the Romans coveted them as soldiers for their own army. The Alamanni had Theodomar for a chief, whose valor was recognized by the Romans.

Back and forth the Romans and the Alamanni rocked in battle; the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch time and again striving to hold on to their Rhine Valley. Sometimes they won, but then again they lost. They could not throw off for long the Roman will to conquer, the strongest the world has ever known. The Romans early began establishing military camps, forts and fortifications and villages in the Rhine Valley, and operated armed galleys on the Rhine River. The Alamanni resisted every step of the way, but were outnumbered; the Romans having a total of eight legions stationed in the Rhine Valley. Finally the Alamanni, were decisively defeated by Julian (who later became Emperor of Rome) at Strassburg, in 375 A.D. Their Alamanni King, Chonodomarius, was captured.

However, in all these years of intimate association with the Romans, the Alamanni learned from them considerable about efficiency in war. Being oppressed by the Roman occupation of the Rhine Valley after the Strassburg defeat, they undertook a little expansion of their own, about fifty years later (425 A.D.) after the Roman power waned. They conquered Alsace and also a goodly section of Switzerland; the Swiss leader, Helvetius, having also arrogantly invaded their territory. For this reason, the Pennsylvania Dutch are today a unique mixture of Alamanni, Frank and Swiss, even Swabian (the modem rendering of Suebi). They set up a new kingdom which lasted until 495 A.D., occupying the territory between the Vosges and the Rhine and around Lake Constance. It was their most prosperous period, but it lasted only 70 years. Their ambitions then fatally clashed with the historic Clovis, King of the Franks.

The Franks now assumed the role of the Romans in subjugat- ing the Rhine Valley peoples. Again the valley became a battle- field, and it was an historic and storied battle that these ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch fought with this great king. Clovis had remained a pagan during all this time that Christianity was growing. In the midst of the battle, however, realized how hard was the resistance the Alamanni were putting up, so he swore that if the Christian God would grant him victory over them, lie would be converted to the religion of his wife (the Burgundian princess Clotilda). He succeeded only in part in vanquishing the pagan Alamanni, but Clovis took this victory as divine fulfilment of his wish, and submitted to baptisement as a Christian at the Cathedral of Rheims, together with 3,000 other Franks. This was a high point in mediaeval history, a very colorful occasion. There was a legend later that a phial of holy oil had come down from heaven in the mouth of a dove, to he used for Clovis' baptism (which had great historical importance in Europe).

Alas! this major event of history merely meant that the Rhine Valley was to continue to be the cock-pit of Europe, and the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch the losers! Clovis returned and completely subjugated the Alamanni in 506, and then the dark period set in. There is little record of it, but between the Sixth and the Tenth centuries (the authentic "Dark Ages") the struggle of the small peoples of the Rhine must have been intense and tragic under the yoke of the Franks. The inevitable happened in these four centuries; the Alamanni turned from pagan to Christian, as had their conqueror, Clovis. The domineering Franks, once also pagan, and closely inter-knit racially with the Alamanni, infiltrated the Rhine region. With Christianity all around them, in the period of history when the popes ruled supreme, t4ere was no other outcome possible. But the very independent religious character of the Alamanni was never to be really lost-it was later to express itself in vigorous fur- therance of the Lutheran Reformation, giving Luther the most bold and determined support he had; and also in the creation, later, of new and independent special religions. These new in- dependent religions were the real cause of the Dutch coming to America. Order came out of all the Rhine chaos only when the Alamanni tribes had finally lost their identity in these Dark Ages and had become loyal subjects to the French Catholic kings; and thus had attained some peace and recognition for their ability. Out of these ex-Alamanni rose a number of fine families, in particular, the great family of Hohenstaufer, which was to furnish kings and emperors, both of Rome and of Germany. (This family name must not be confused with Hohenzollern, to which the German ex-Kaiser belongs; an entirely different family). It was a Hohenstaufer, nephew of the first one, who was set up as the first "court Palatinate" over these people (945- 946); this being the first time that the term Palatinate was used in this region; a name it has kept in use ever since. The first court Palatinate" ruler was Hermann I, a Hohenstaufer. He had tasted imprisonment after battling with Henry the Lion. He had frustrated, with his hard-fighting band of Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, the attempt of Henry VI to seize Thuringia. He also was adventurer enough to go to the Holyland as a Crusader. Furthermore, he had a special fondness for the literary, which in those early days meant minnesingers; Walther von der Vogel- weide being one of the gifted minnesingers who was often at Hermann's castle of the Wartburg. Wagner's Tannhauser dramatizes Hermann as a poetic and valiant figure.

We might also incidentally speak of Hermann of Reichenau, scholar and chronicler (1040), who was of the same ancestry as the Pennsylvania Dutch (Alshausen, Swabia). Although crippled and a monk, he attained the very highest rank as a scholar and intellectual leader of his time. Mathematics, astronomy and music were his specialties; and in astronomy he was to be followed (in America) by Kelpius, and James Lick (who helped build the great Lick Observatory in California).

Frederick Hohenstaufer in 1079 was rewarded by Henry IV of France, by granting him a dukedom in Swabia and uniting with him his daughter in marriage. The ruins of the Hohenstaufer family castle still exist in Wurttemburg, near Lorsch. Frederick's son Frederick II and Conrad, later became kings of Germany.

Another descendant (Frederick II) became Emperor of Rome and of Sicily, and also of Jerusalem, and was one of civilized culture's greatest progenitors. We have Dante's own word for it that Italian poetry had its birth in Frederick's highly cultured court of Sicily. (Pierre delia Vigna wrote there the first sonnet). Frederick knew six languages, wrote poetry himself, founded the University of Naples, patronized medicine, architecture and zoology. Men of his court introduced the Arabic numerals to Europe (a mathematical event of first-class importance). Translators of Aristotle, Jews and Moharnmedans were welcome at this first great liberal court. His sense of humor was notorious, and his jests and his skeptical quips are authentically called the forerunner of the humanistic, scientific temper of centuries later; making a vivid contrast with the narrow, illiberal, crude courts of Europe of that time. He rebelled openly against the pope, even starting an expedition against Rome, saying that the Church was at the time corrupted with great wealth, as is now admitted even by Catholic scholars to have been the truth. He made Sicily prosperous, cultured and contented-his laws there being called the best since Charlemagne. Legends grew around him, and he shed lustre upon the name of Hohenstaufer, already a name to conjure with.

I give as much space to the Hohenstaufers (of whom there were many other important historical members between 1139 to 1254), because in this family many of the best and staunchest qualities of the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch came for- ward in marked degree. "Stubbornness" is very often today ap- plied to the Pennsylvania Dutch, either as an epithet or as a compliment. What else than stubbornness could have kept these ancestors of the Dutch alive in the cock-pit of Europe for 2,000 years? They are not now and never have been a subservient people, and have always stubbornly resisted every form of tyranny, particularly religious tyranny. Frederick II's defiance of the tyranny of the popes, it must be realized, was in a time when that sort of thing was not only novel and startling, but tremendously dangerous; and the espousal of Luther's cause sev- eral centuries later was not very much less dangerous. The famous town of Worms is close to the very center of the district from which the Pennsylvania Dutch came, and as these people took their cue from the Hohenstaufers in religious liberalism, they were well prepared for Luther's advent. It was they who, at the famous Diet of Worms, when Luther was under fire by the Church, formed a protective ring around him with their bodies, lest he suffer harm, and escorted him to his quarters. Most of the Pennsylvania Dutch have ever since been ardent Lutherans, and the many off-shoot sects were never very far from the Lutheran standard, and merely gave further evidence of the innate religious independence they possessed.

From 1294 to 1410, the Palatinate was parceled out, halved into upper and lower, bought, sold and bequeathed, as though it were privately owned land; and of course feudal customs prevailed, as well as the inevitable petty warfares connected with feudalism. There was, of course, also continued religious friction. One court Palatinate (Frederick III) was a Calvinist, and his son Louis VI a Lutheran, while in turn another son who succeeded him (John Cassimir) was again a Calvinistl Imagine then the constant religious difficulties of the people of this region! Frederick IV, who followed these men, added to the checkerboard religionism of the Palatinate by founding the Evangelical Union and quite aggressively combating Roman Catholicism (1592).

After this bewildering religious whirligig, it was fatefully again the Palatinate situation which started the great ruinous "Thirty Years' War." The nearby Bohemians rose in revolt against Austria and chose as their king the Palatine elector, Frederick V, because of Catholic persecution-and then (1619) the fat was in the firel The Catholics leagued together and outnum- bered and defeated Frederick, the Palatinate who led the Bohernians. The Catholic allies, the Spaniards invaded the Palatinate in 1620--destroying all before them. A situation then arose very like our recent World War, for other countries were drawn into the fierce struggle-everywhere recognized as the Waterloo of the great Catholic-Protestant duel for mastery; the duel originally resulting from Luther's bold challenge at Worms. The heart of other Protestant countries bled with sympathy for the Palatinate peoples-now again the cock-pit of Europe.

Soon King Christian IV of Denmark threw himself into the struggle (1625) on the side of the Palatinates and Protestantism; then when he was defeated (1626), and other defeats came also. King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden thrust himself into the fight as Protestant leader. By this time all Europe was ringing with the challenge of Protestantism versus Catholicism, and the air was full of intrigues, as all readers of English and French history know. The King of Sweden won at Breitenfeld (1631) and at Lutzen (1632) -but at this latter battle he gave up his life to the cause. In 1635 Richelieu for France interfered for Protestantism; Spain meanwhile aiding the Catholics. Then followed more victories for Sweden and France, the murder of Wallenstein and years more of fighting ending finally in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648.

Now, let it be vividly engraved upon the memory of the reader that this terrible thirty years of butchery, burning, rapine and devastation, was largely in the territory of the ancestors of the Pennsylvania Dutch-and happened in the lives of the fathers and grandfathers of the Pennsylvania Dutch who first migrated to Ame'rica in 1683---only 35 years after the war was over. We of 1935 know and suffer something of what follows twenty years after a great World War, but only those whose own homes and fields and possessions have been ravaged can fully attest to its horrors. Not even the Westphalian treaty prevented the Spanish from another invasion of the Palatinate, in 1655.

All told, the heart-rending effect of the Thirty Years' War upon the Palatinate had been to reduce the population from 500, 000 to 50,000! Ninety percent decimation and lossl Such a devastation wrung the heart of the world. The university halls of fair Heidelberg had become barracks. The Palatinate Elector had stood one day on the high tower of his castle at Manheim and saw, simultaneously, six cities and 25 towns in flames! The fair, fertile, provinces of the Rhine Valley lay in ruins; the flower of the manhood of the region was spent and dead; and the future looked darker even than the past, for the warlike French King, Louis XIV, was already uttering threats. True, Protestantism, in general, was victorious and religious persecu- tion seemed at an end.

Consider now the state of mind of these Palatinates. They were in something of the same "disillusioned" state that people everywhere have been since the World-War (only undoubtedly more sol). They were stricken to the quick, and turned inward to religions of their own special choosing. There arose prophets like Spener, who urged pacifism and new, deeper religions of a kind which glorified the peaceful, pietist traits of these peoples. They were terribly, terribly fed-up with war and the unruly passions and ambitions of men. They had a powerful instinct to turn hermit; to be alone with their God; to cluster in little groups, intensely religious, deadly in earnest in seizing upon supernatural comfort, hope and communion, because they had so little material consolation or hope.

In this atmosphere the pietist cults flourished and made many converts. Menno Symons as early as 1561 had started such a pietist cult, and there were already a considerable number of "Mennonites." A remarkable array of others also existed-Amish, Crefelders, Dunkers, Schwenkfelders, Shakers, Moravians, Seventh Day Adventists, etc. Many thousands of the Palatinates and neighboring regions joined these pietist cults, and as neither the Catholics nor the regular Protestants liked them, they kept more and more to themselves; felt less and less at home.

The sympathy of England was very deep for the Palatinates. The Swiss-Calvinists were in 1671 still persecuting the pietist sects in Switzerland also, and as England had now its own powerful pietist sects (the Puritans and Quakers), there was a very real bond of sympathy between all of them. It is not generally known that William Penn of England made three visits to the Palatinate, out of his rich sympathy with their religious troubles--first in 1671, the year of the Calvinist persecutions, and twice more between then and 1677. He was already working out his dream of a spiritual haven in the New World which would give succor and shelter to the religiously persecuted, and he talked over this dream with the Palatinates. (Penn also made Quaker converts while in the Palatinate---one of whom, Andreas Huber, on going to America, became the ancestor of Herbert Hoover, President of the U.S.)

Thus, thanks, to the great Quaker, Penn, a brilliant hope rose in the breasts of the Palatinates. William III of England, and Queen Anne following him, were exceedingly eager to help them. In 1681 Penn was given his historic grant in Pennsylva- nia, and then the dream began to take shape. The first Palatin- ates to go embarked on the ship Concord on October 16, 1683, with 13 Mennonite and Crefelder families on board.

Then, just about that time, Louis XIV said to Meloc "ravage the Palatinate!" Once again--so miserably soon after the Thirty Years' War-the Palatinate again held true to its fate as the cock-pit of Europe. Louis' troups ravaged the fair Rhine Valley so faithfully that 100,000 more were murdered and 1200 small towns pillaged.

That settled the matter for thousands. They wanted with a desperate yearning to come to America. The stream of emigrants began, after favorable reports came back from those who had already gone to America. It was not to stop for over a century, and it was to provide not only succor for themselves, but vital aid to the colonizing of America, to the Revolution and to the future character of the new country.

They could not know-but they could guess--that the. Palatinate and its neighboring regions, the Saar and Alsace-Lorraine, were to continue until 1935 to be the cock-pit of Europe in the Nineteenth century-Napoleon dividing it and France and Germany fighting bitterly over it in 1870 and in the World War.- This was apparently its quite fixed fate; as it may be for centuries more, who knows?

Historians now agree (as for instance Prof. Marcus Hansen) that in the past American historians have neglected the Old-World backgrounds of the provincial settlers and that our American scene needs to be re-interpreted in the light of these old backgrounds. No more striking evidence for this contention is to be found, perhaps, than the facts about the Pennsylvania Dutch, as assembled in this book. The American frontier was shaped and molded by the Old World backgrounds of these people, and not vice versa, as contended by Turner.

Six weeks after this three ships arrived in Greenwich haven with 1328 Germans, who had to go into the Middle camp by the wholesale, because they looked somewhat slovenly and had a good many Catholics among them.

About eight days before Michaelmas, (Sep. 29) the number of Germans was again increased by 4003 souls, part of whom took up their march at once to Ireland, partly because it was getting colder. (We have not taken into account the 3060 men, women and children who were buried at Blackheath.) They were in the meantime lodged in St. Catherine's and in the Royal Brewery. At last, three days before St. Martin's day(Nov. 11) the camp was removed. the beginning was made with the Rittercamp, because the Lord Commissioners had sought out the best lodgements for them. More than one hundred wagons were sent to take our beggarly property from the camp, so that no one had to incur expense. For eight days we had to take up our quarters in the Redhouse, until the rooms at Charles Cox's warehouse were cleaned. During the following eight days, while we were standing outside the Rittercamp at the Redhouse, two other ships arrived with 945 souls, who were at once directed to take up winter quarters in the above named warehouse.

Two ships were driven out of their course by a storm and these did not arrive until the second Sunday in Advent, and then only with 540 persons. The above named were sent to westforth in order to have good quarters and not to further suffer as they had Christmas week there was a report that some of the very richest men in Germany came to England, but in truth they were only corrupted Swiss and a few from Nassau-Siegen. They had a few old horses, which I believe they would have eaten because of their great hunger.

There were 288 souls scattered about the streets by the Tower, where 168 large pieces of cannon were placed, which, as was customary, were fired when ships coming across the sea arrived in harbor.

At New Year 72 souls came over land about 100 miles, they having been deceived and brought hither on Holland coal ships. After these arrived by packet boat at one time 20, at another 30, now more, now less, until the total number of Germans was 32,468* souls.
*This number is high by 30-50 per cent.

In order that I may take up again my former thought, I desire to inform the reader how it fared with the rest of these in the camp in the taking of winter quarters. First, the Catholics in the remaining camps were separated from the Lutherans and Reformed, and for a few days they were encamped by themselves. Then the gracious will of the Queen was made known to them. If they would enter the Protestant fold, they would secure the royal favor and protection, but if they decided to cling to their idolatrous religion, they might as well make up their minds to return to the Fatherland at once. They should have their freewill in the matter, because, inasmuch as the English people were alarmed at the growth of the Papacy, they were obliged to be on their guard lest it should get too much power; they could hardly do otherwise. Whereupon 3584 catholics resolved to return to their homes again. After this resolution was made known, each of these persons received ten reichs gulden as expense money on their way, and were placed on eight ships that they might be carried to Holland. The 520 Catholics who remained in England, became Protestant; 322 becoming Lutherans and the rest Reformed.

After this separation, the Middle camp also broke up and moved into the Redhouse, where the first ones had just quitted their quarters and sailed on the Thames to Battle Bridge to the warehouse of Mr. Charles Cox, with all their property. It was indeed a most excellent opportunity to pick out the Germans among them. The above named camp on Blackheath followed the Middle one into the Redhouse and then there were in all 17,000 souls to spend the winter together. In order that they might get along well, an overseer selected from their number belonging to a noble German family was given complete authority over them. He was made a general sanitary inspector and supervisor of the cooking booth.
Continuous envy and contention arose among the women while cooking. One would say to another in a threatening tone,"you wicked beggar, get out of this place, this is my hole and you shall not cook here." then they would seize hold of each other by the hair and strike each other so that frequently the soup, meat and vegetables were spilt upon the ground, and it was evident that an overseer was needed. He took charge of the apartments of the women and put an end to their contentions.
The Straw commissioners gave these poor people fresh straw every two weeks on which to lie down. He was also a coal distributor, since, as it was somewhat rainy about Christmas, the Queen allowed a distribution of coal by the ship load to the poor people, that they might warm themselves.
The last of the camps to break up was the Camberwell which moved to Retriff. A few of them, as in the case of the Redhouse, stopped in seventh street, and several hundred in St. Stephen. Those who had some provisions, remained here and there in London after their own pleasure, since they could stop comfortably with their own people.
Reaching the place of their entertainment, they were all so treated and accomodated, that no one could with reason complain of anything. Two hundred thousand pounds sterling or five millions, (?) the most gracious Queen Annie gave to us poor people.
Upon reaching the ship which was going to Rotterdam, we were taken in the best manner from England, at the expense of the Queen, with bread, beer, butter, bacon and cheese and as God himself soon brought us over the sea, the Lord Commissioners were dispatched in the name of the Queen and the whole Parliament to congratulate us. After wishes of good luck had been given, each man recieved a nine pound loaf of bread, white as snow, and also a Reich gulden in money. We were then ordered to camp in the field and received weekly so much that every man could live respectably.
All this they received from the Queen, besides what the princes, counts, barons, merchants and rich citizens daily spent for us. On many days thirty and even more wagons loaded with bread and cheese were brought into camp, where, there being no purchasers, these things were freely distributed.
Besides this, many rich gentlemen broght 60 or 80 pounds or as many Reichsthalers and distributed them among the entire German people, and while doing so, said very modestly, "take this now, with my sympathy."
Many thousands of naked, and also such as out of greed locked up their own clothing in their chests, and went about in rags, were clothed anew. A single business man, a Quaker, had for eight days cut up many wagon loads of cloth, for the naked ones. Another one bought out nearly all the shoemakers; even before, he had bought 32,000 pairs of shoes which he gave to the people. And still another distributed 18,489 shirts so that those who were ill-clad might go better dressed. It would be hard to say how much the court preacher, now an inspector at Magdeburg, John Tribekko, spent in behalf of Germans.
On the whole our weak tongues can never tell the excellent deeds of charity which we Germans in England enjoyed. But sighing, we can only pray to God, that he may return it to them a thousand fold. And likewise, as pure wheat is never entirely without weeds, or seldom a herd which has not one sickly member, so also among these many rich benefactors there were at times wicked outcasts who made it all the more bitter for the Germans. But the trouble came mostly by means of those Catholics who we previously had with us. At one time, while we were still camping in the fields, there came more than 1800 English people, on a dark night, with scythes and other weapons to our camp, who desired to cut down all the Catholics. This, indeed, without doubt would have been accomplished had they not been with the Lutherans and Reformed. To this day, on December 4 (1711) the pope is burned in effigy in all the streets of the City of London, and in all England, showing thereby how favorable they must have been to the Catholics!
Among the other dissolute outcasts there was a Presbyterian, born of the devil, a clerical, one devoid of all common sense, who had run away from Switzerland, and was now seeking to make it very bitter for these Germans. He represented to the Queen and to the Parliament as wearing blue-stockings and declaring that they should be allowed to perish like dogs. As he received but little attention, he placed himself behind the recruiting officers, and as if he had Royal authority, took away the finest and youngest boys as soldiers on the men of war and in other military service. he indulged in beer, tobacco, beer and whiskey from morning until night, and had like Sminderides for 20 years, or so long as he had been in England, never seen the sun rise or set, sober. In such prolonged carousal he pleased all the poor Englishmen. he took away the children from the poor Germans, and played with them as a Jew would do. For when a poor Englishman obtained a child to whom he promised to teach his profession, the Queen gave him five pounds sterling: when they had the money they supported the child for a week or two, but after that gave him blows instead of bread, so that because of his extreme hunger he was forced to run away.

Finally, after such religious malice was discovered, it was made known to the public and upon the knowledge of this pharaoh-like oppression, there began the German emigration from England to other countries and islands, bringing them to dire distress. the beginning of the movement was made by those who went to Ireland, numbering 3688 persons. They were badly accomodated. they had to endure hunger and cold, keep several fast days per week, as they had nothing to eat. No one ever received anything he could call his own. He might go wheresoever he would, but he must remain, together with his own people, a slave and a bondsman.

First those in Liverpool followed those who had gone over into Ireland at the breaking up of the camp. Or rather 30 families or 126 persons of those in Liverpool followed after them. They were excellent people, and artisans but were so well supported by their hard labor, that after they had consumed their own provisions they could drive away hunger. Sixteen families went into Sunderland, 120 miles from London, to a Prince who promised them so much ground, but did not keep his promise. instead, he made day laborers of them and at last even went so far as to make those who did not escape in the night, slaves, sending them to jamaica. Ten families proceeded to the West Country, otherwise called Plymouth, to earn their bread in the Alaunen mountains. They received plenty of work but little pay. Now an Englishman in those days received a Reich gulden for his days wages, but the Germans got only a half Kopfferstu:cke. thereupon they all turned their faces towards London, so that they might go back to Germany again.

Two families or fourteen people went to a gentleman 40 miles from London, at a place called Northumberland, who received only one pound of salt weekly among them, and daily they received half a pound of bread. Besides this they received neither meat nor vegetables of any kind. One family numbering eight was taken to a certain gentleman in the country,who promised them golden mountains, but in reality compelled them to herd swine. the head of the family was a hunter and an excellent man of the Reformed religion, and whose name I could give for the information of his friends. But he has escaped with his wife and children, and with the others, who perhaps were not allowed to return to the Fatherland, went to New York.

Eight hundred and forty-four poor persons from Switzerland were put on board a ship to sail to North Carolina, but were anchored for half a year at Portsmouth in the greatest hunger. 3086 persons were embarked on ten ships to be transported to New York(*note-Tulpehocken cousin ancestors), but they were already on the sea for eighteen weeks, from Christmas to Easter, and will leave port only with the fleet. it was their intention to enter some humble employment and if they could earn enough to buy property, they would become landholders. 1600 persons were packed on two ships to be go to the Scilly islands, but when the inhabitants of that place received news of their coming, they sent a woefully worded petition to Parliament stating they could not support themselves much less the Germans, who did not understand fishing and could not ward off hunger. After six weeks had passed they were set on land, and went to Germany again accompanied by their Lutheran pastor.

Three hundred and twenty two young people went into the English military service. The English bought 141 children, boys and girls. Fifty six young persons were used as servants, because these were other families here and there that no one knew of, because they went out of the company without leaving their names. Of these there came back into Germany again, the following:

I. 3548 on the 29th of September, 1708(1709?) went back to Fatherland again.
II. 1600 who were to go to the Scilly island went back again
III. The 746 who were to go ordered to go to Ireland, had to go to Germany.

IV. 800 from Ireland came also upon German soil again.

In a like manner all those who escaped from Plymouth, Sunderland and Liverpool, and other places were also sent out of England. In all, these numbered 6994 souls. To Ireland, North carolina, New York and other places 8213 were sent. This number must be added to those who had gone to Germany, making a total of 15,201. the whole number that came to England was 32,468, and subtracting from this total the before mentioned 15,201 there were in all 17, 261 who died in London and other parts of England, not taking into account the 200 who went down with the ship and those who were buried at sea and in Holland.

As long as the Germans were encamped, things went tolerably well in spite of the fact that most of the parents permitted their innocent children to become corrupt, and cared not if they died, not even going to their funerals. But there were other good people who buried them. To these funerals many hundred Englishmen went, both on foot and in wagons. Frequently the concourse made such a noise, both by the neighing of the horses, rattling of wheels and by their loud talking, that no one could hear the minister or schoolmaster who officiated.

As those still living here moved into quarters, a hundred or more together, and lodged there, one could see among other things what these wicked people brought from Germany, who left their own people without counsel, help or comfort, to die like cattle. they did not bury their children decently but permitted them to be dragged along like carcasses. Ordinarily, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a signal was given to bury the dead, by means of sheep and cow bells, whereupon the men, two by two brought the corpse of an adult, hanging from a sort of a carrying frame, and these were followed by the corpses of the small and half grown children, borne upon the heads of women to the cemetery at Dertforth. Perhaps half a dozen old women accompanied these funeral representations. (Weiber die mit in Engeland Wuertz naegelein in Carolin zulesan gekommen.) As soon as the procession reached the cemetery, the corpses were thrown into a hole in layers, like herring. First were laid the women and virgins; upon these men and young boys, and upon these were placed the children, lengthwise and crosswise, until the hole was full.

Frequently it happened that when they carried out the dead and there were no ditches ready, they were put into coffins made of old boards and placed behind the encampment walls, from which they were taken by the dogs and entirely devoured.[-gantzlich aus den Sargen heraus nahmen und von ihnen Speisten.]

Those who werein other quarters at the Redhouse, and remained with the Lutheran ministers, had it far better, for they were buried in a Christian manner, with beautiful hymns and a funeral panegyric. These services were usually conducted by Master George Hainer and the schoolmaster John George Tiltz. Rightly it was said of the Palatines, for so the Germans were commonly called in England, "you hit them but they do not feel it." For if the evil Spirirt choked and killed them, there was nothing but rejoicings and marriages among them. The before mentioned George Hainer himself joined 248 couples, and it is definitely not known how many were married by the others, namely by Master John Trebekko and Mr. Ruperti, before his arrival. 308 children were baptized by Mr. Hainer, five of whom were illegitimate, and thirteen were baptized at sea.

Nor should the remarkable marriage act be passed over in silence, which Mr. Hager accomplished after his ordination. Truly, he who could have seen this marriage ceremony performed as I saw it, would have laughed until his belly shook. In the first place, as Mr. hager took his position in front of an old barrel full of cobbler's wax, and had mumbled a few words, a bridegroom came up who was lame in his left foot, accompanied by his bride who was lame in the right foot. truly they looked like the children of Vulcan. Along with these came another couple, a very loving pair. The bride was more than 60 years old and had a hundred thousand wrinkles, in which foxes and hares could have hidden themselves; in other respects she looked much like a stuck calf. The groom was 18 or 19 years old, not yet dry behind the ears. He supported himself at the girdle of the bride, much like a child when it is learning to walk. The third pair, however, looked a little more graceful. The groom on account of sickness, was so weak he could hardly stand. The bride had a large eye and a small one, and was barefoot and ragged. Meanwhile, she would cast furtive glances upon her beautiful "Corydon" like a cat upon a mouse. This most honorable couple wound up the company as they were all gathered around the barrel. The minister spoke a few words and they were all joined. Whereupon they all went away from each other, like goats when they go away from their shepherd, each to his own place.

Now, at last, when everybody was married that could go or stand, their hopes were disappointed because Parliament would not give its consent to what the Queen had promised. Upon this, the preachers were ordered by the committee to make known in sermons and at prayer-meeting, that those who desired to return to the Fatherland, should so decide and give their names, for each one was to receive a pound sterling for the expenses of the journey. Upon this more than 900 people gathered together and returned again to Germany. The rest who remained in England, thought they would stay there, as it was a country in which the earth was so fruitful, that in many respects it could be compared to the promised land. in a word, it was an earthly Paradise. yet good and excellent as the land was, in spite of it all, the Germans were forced to make room and go again upom German soil. But the most of these people went to Dantzig. How contented they all will be there, experience will tell us.

-finis-

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 palce 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., 1992)
   
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 farms of 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)

Among the movements which may be ascribed to these laws guaranteeing liberty of conscience, was the Mennonite emigration to the Pequa District in Lancaster County, between 1709 and 1717-- a branch from the Germantown settlement forming the beginning, which was greatly reinforced by recruits from Switzerland and Germany secured through the mission to Europe of Martin Kendig. Dunkards and other Mennonites are said to have reached Lehigh County not much later. Even before this(1704-12), before and contemporaneously with the Palatine emigration from New York, other of their countrymen, mostly Reformed and Lutheran, can be traced filling up the Oley region, with its center in Berks, although standing in the old records for a much more extensive territory than the township of that name. So also the District in Montgomery County about the headwaters of the Perkiomen was settled by the same people before the Palatines descended the Susquehanna. The Allens and the Wisters and other land speculators in Philadelphia had found customers among those who arrived at the port, and had sold them homes in Northampton. The Palatines from New York at Tulpehocken and Quitapahilla had attracted to this country many of their relatives and friends whom they had left in Germany"

"No more vivid picture could be drawn of the condition of the majority of the immigrants than a letter of Casper Wistar, already referred to. We quote from the 'Sammlung auserlesener Materian zum Bau des Reichs Gottes' (Leipzig), for 1733. where it is credited to the Leipzig 'Zeitungen' of May 22, 1733, having been written in Philadelphia, November 8, 1732.

'Being importuned daily by so many of our countrymen to relieve them from the great distress, into which they have come, partially through their own thoughtlessness, and partially by the persuasion of others, and it being absolutely impossible to help all, sympathy for the poor people still in the Fatherland, and who, before undertaking such a journey, have time to reflect, constrains me to give a true account of things in this new land. I make this particular request that these facts may be reported everywhere, that no one may have the excuse for learning them only from his own personal experience.

Some years ago this was a very fruitful country, and, like all new countries, but sparsely inhabited. Since the wilderness required much labor, and the inhabitants were few, ships that arrived with German emigrants were cordially welcomed. They were immediately discharged, and by their labor very easily earned enough to buy some land. Pennsylvania is but a small part of America, and has been open now for some years, so that not only many thousand Germans, but English and Irish have settled there, and filled all parts of the country; so that all who now seek land must go far into the wilderness, and purchase it at a higher price.

Many hardships also are experienced on the voyage. Last year one of the ships was driven about the ocean for twenty-four weeks, and of its one hundred and fifty passengers, more than one hundred starved to death. To satisfy their hunger, they caught mice and rats; and a mouse brought half a gulden. When the survivors at last reached land, their sufferings were aggravated by their arrest, and the exaction from them of the entire fare for both living and dead. This year ten ships with three thousand souls have arrived.

One of the vessels was seventeen weeks on the way and about sixty of its passengers died at sea. All the survivors are sick and feeble, and what is worst, poor and without means; hence, in a community like this where money is scarce, they are in a burden, and every day there are deaths among them. Every person over fourteen years old, must pay six doubloons (about 90 dollars**at time of the writing of this piece) passage from Rotterdam, and those between four and fourteen must pay half that amount. When one is without money, his only resource is to sell himself for a term of three to eight years or more, and to serve as a slave. Nothing but a poor suit of clothes is received when his time has expired. Families endure a great trial when they see the father purchased by one master, the mother by another, and each of the children by another. All this for the money only that they owe the Captain. And yet they are only too glad, when after waiting long, they at last find someone willing to buy them; for the money of the country is well nigh exhausted. In view of these circumstances, and the tedious, expensive and perilous voyage, you should not advise any one for whom you wish well to come hither. All I can say is that those who think of coming should weigh well what has been above stated, and should count the cost, and, above all, should go to God for counsel and inquire whether it be His will, lest they may undertake that whereof they will afterward repent."

"If ready to hazard their lives and to endure patiently all the trials of the voyage, they must farther think whether over and above the cost they will have enough to purchase cattle, and to provide for other necessities. no one should rely upon friends whom he may have here; for they have enough to do, and many a one reckons in this without his host. Young and ablebodied persons, who can do efficient work, can, nevertheless, always find someone who will purchase them for two, three or four years; but they must be unmarried. For young married persons, particularly when the wife is with child, no one cares to have. So also with old people and children. Of mechanics there are a considerable number already here; but a good mechanic who can bring with him sufficient capital to avoid beginning with debt, may do well, although of almost all classes and occupations, there are already more than too many. All this I have, out of sincere love for the interests of my neighbor, deemed it necessary to communicate concerning the present condition in Pennsylvania. With this I commit my beloved friend to the protection of God, and always remain

'His sincere friend, Caspar Wistar'
"In the year 1719 some six thousand are said to have landed, in 1732 ten vessels with three thousand passengers, and Proud avers that in the year 1749 twelve thousand Germans arrived in the Province. Sypher claims that prior to 1727 fifty thousand people, mostly from the Rhine country, had emigrated to the Quaker colony. At the middle of the century the German population of Pennsylvania was about one-half the whole. Not until 1717 was any record of passengers kept, but as the stream began to flow in large mass the wise precaution of Lt. Governor Keith, requiring all immigrants to take the oath of allegiance and be registered in Philadelphia, furnished the historical data which the late Mr. I.D.Rupp has industriously gathered and embodied in his valuable Thirty Thousand Names. These lists of male immigrants over sixteen years of age began in 1727. It is possible they are incomplete. as there are gaps that may, and yet may not be explained, since these vessels all arrived at the same period of the year. Thus there are no records between October, 1727, and August 1728; September 1728, and August,1729; September, 1729, and August, 1730. In the last three weeks of 1732 no less than 1,500 people arrived, while in August and September, 1733. 1,369 are reported.
The Lutheran pastors, Muhlenberg, Brunnholtz and Handschuh, in reporting the religious condition of the German immigrants to Halle, in 1754 divide the history of the immigration into five periods. The first was from 1680-1708; the second, from 1708 to 1720. Of the later they say: 'In the years 1708, 1709, 1710 to 1720 when there was a great movement from the Palatinate to England, and a large number of people were sent thence to New York, under Queen Anne, not a few came from the same source to Pennsylvania also." They were largely people of a religious character, and brought with them Arndt's "True Christianity" and volumes of sermons and Prayer Books, besides the ponderous Bibles so familiar to their descendants among the heirlooms of their fathers; but, according to this report, their neglect to provide for themselves churches and ministers bore bitter fruit in the relative religious indifference of the next generation. Towards the close of the same period, they note the arrival of members of such communities as the Tunkers, Mennonites, Schwenckfelders, etc., of whom we have more accurate information elsewhere. The third period is from 1720 to 1730, with a large immigration from the Palatinate, Wurtemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt and other districts, as well as of many New York Palatines. Among them, there seemed more religious earnestness; but their extreme poverty prevented them from securing sufficient pastors. At the close of this period and the beginning of the next, from 1730 to 1740, a still more extensive immigration followed. This immigration moved in successive waves, representing different religious denominations. with some marked exceptions, it may be said that the communities composed of separatists from the State Churches came first; then came the Reformed; then the Lutherans; then the Moravians. The Reformed pastor Weiss reports in 1731 no less than 15,000 members of his church in Pennsylvania. Twenty years later Rev. Michael Schlatter estimated the entire population as 190,000, of whom 90,000 were Germans and 30,000 Reformed. Dr. J.H. Dubbs claims that up to the middle of the last century(1700's), the Reformed were by far the most numerous religious body in the Province. The Reformed Classis of Amsterdam in 1751, wrote the Pennsylvania was probably a Pella or Zoar, whence the godly might escape from the calamities threatening the Old World, and add that thousands of immigrants, chiefly from the Palatinate and Switzerland, and the majority of them adherents to the Reformed faith, have already taken refuge there."

"Welcomed at first, and their labor in advancing the general prosperity recognized, the extent of the immigration began as early as 1717 to occasion apprehensionb on the part of English settlers, which increased to positive hostility, as years brought no cessation of the stream. In 1728, Governor Thomas estimated the Germans as constituting three-fifths of the entire population. The words of Benjamin Franklin in 1751 may be recalled as a proof of the vastness of the movement:"Why should the Palatine boors be suffered to swarm into our settlements,and, by herding together, establish their language and manners, to the exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a colony of aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us, instead of our Anglicifying them, and they will never adopt our language or customs any more than they can acquire our complexion.

Dr. William Smith, the Provost of the University of Pennsylvania, thought it possible that the Provincial legislature would be forced to appoint an official interpreter, that one-half of the legislators might be able to understand the other half, and to save Pennsylvania from the threatened heathenism, organized a 'Society for the Propagation of the Gospel among the Germans!' Alarmists were constantly raising the cry of an imminent peril of an alliance between the Pennsylvania Germans and the French, on the west, that would be fatal to English dominance. Franklin was soon made to feel that he had committed a political blunder by his strongly expressed hostility to the immigrants, and tried to explain that the term "boor" he had employed, was only a synonym for 'farmer'; while he freely conceded the important contribution they made to the development of Pennsylvania. "Their industry and frugality are exemplary. They are excellent husbandmen and contribute greatly to the improvement of a country." In 1738, the Governor, in a message to the Provincial Assembly, had declared:"This Province has been for some time the asylum of the distressed Protestants of the Palatinate, and other parts of Germany; and I believe it may with truth be said that the present flourising condition of it is in great measure owing to the industry of these people."

When in 1729, Thomas Mackin, the Principal of the Philadelphia Academy, undertook to celebrate the growing prosperity of the Province, he both alludes to the numbers and the importance of our fathers in the words:

Twas hither first the british crossed the main;

Thence many others left their native plain;

And from Germania, crowded vessels come.

Hibernia's sons forsake their native home;

Since every stranger may partake a share.

Hence still more culture shall the soil receive,

And every year increasing plenty give.

Cleared from the woods more fruitful land they gain,

And yellow Ceres fills the extended plain.

Here bubbling fountains flow through every mede,

Where flocks and herds delight to drink and feed.

The marshy grounds improved rich meadows yield,

The wilderness is made into a field."



the end