Germans have trickled into North American colonies…

Germans have trickled into North American colonies since their earliest days.

The first mass migration, however, had begun in 1708.

Queen Anne's government has sympathy for the Protestant Germans and has invited them to go to the colonies and work in trade for passage.

Official correspondence in British records shows a total of thirteen thousand one hundred and forty-six refugees traveled down the Rhine and from Amsterdam to England in the summer of 1709.

More than thirty-five hundred of these are returned from England either because they are Roman Catholic or at their own request.

Henry Jones quotes an entry in a churchbook by the Pastor of Dreieichenhain that states a total of fifteen thousand three hundred and thirteen Germans left their villages in 1709 “for the so-called New America and, of course, Carolina.”

The flood of immigration has overwhelmed English resources, resulting in major disruptions, overcrowding, famine, disease and the death of a thousand or more Palatines.

It appears the entire Palatinate will be emptied before a halt can be called to emigration.

Many reasons have been given to explain why so many families had left their homes for an unknown land.

Knittle summarizes them: “(1) war devastation, (2) heavy taxation, (3) an extraordinarily severe winter, (4) religious quarrels, but not persecutions, (5) land hunger on the part of the elderly and desire for adventure on the part of the young, (6) liberal advertising by colonial proprietors, and finally (7) the benevolent and active cooperation of the British government.” (Knittle, Walter Allen. Early eighteenth century Palatine emigration. A British government redemptioner project to manufacture naval stores. Philadelphia (PA), 1937.)

No doubt the biggest impetus had been the harsh, cold winter that preceded their departure.

Birds had frozen in mid-air, casks of wine, livestock, whole vineyards had been destroyed by the unremitting cold.

With what little was left of their possessions, the refugees had made their way on boats down the Rhine to Amsterdam, where they had remained until the English government decided what to do about them.

Ships were finally dispatched for them across the English Channel, and the Palatines arrived in London, where they waited longer while the British government considered its options.

So many arrived that the government had created a winter camp for them outside the city walls.

A few were settled in England, a few more may have been sent to Jamaica and Nassau, but the greatest numbers are sent to Ireland, Carolina and especially, New York in the summer of 1710.

They are obligated to work off their passage.

The Reverend Joshua Kocherthal had paved the way in 1709, with a small group of fifty who settled in Newburgh, New York, on the banks of the Hudson River. (A census of these villages on May 1, 1711, shows eleven hundred and ninety-four on the east side and five hundred and eighty-three on the west side. The total number of families is three hundred and forty-two and one hundred and eighty-five, respectively.)

About three hundred and fifty Palatines had remained in New York City, and some settled in New Jersey.