The Palatine or German Immigration to New York and Pennsylvania

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THE

PALATINE OR

GERMAN IMMIGRATION TO

NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA.

A PAPER READ BEFORE THE

WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY BY REV.

SANFORD OF ALBANY,

H.

COBB,

N. Y.

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY. WiIvKES-Barre, Pa. 1897.

R.

Baur & Son Print, WILKES-BARRE.

This paper, prepared and read at the request of the

Wyoming

Historical

and Geological Society,

statement of the more important facts contained larger manuscript, entitled,

An

Episode

in Colonial

"The Story

is

a brief

in a

much

of the Palatines.

History," which the author hopes

soon to publish in book form, with maps and numerous quotations from original documents and authorities.

SAN FORD Albany, N.

Y.,

1897.

H.

COBB.

"1

THE PALATINE, OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION TO NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA. That part

early

influx

of

to

the

American colonies, in the 18th century, which is spoken of the

under the name of the

many

Immigration,

Palatine

features of unique experience

of record and memory, that one acquainted with

can but wonder that so

Most of the

of

little

Some

it

as though

unworthy of extended

at

all.

so

its

story

generally known.

it is

historians of our colonial period

mention of

has

and so many worthy

refer to

it

in

very

notice.

make no

.brief terms,

Others make

bold to add to such brief mention remarks of a very dis-

paraging nature, as though these Palatines were of miser-

Thus Mrs. Lamb, in her history of the City of New York, gives to them but a short half page, in which she yet finds room to say that they bore the same relation to the other colonists of that day, as the Chinese of our time bear to the Americans on the Pacific slope. The co-temporary English historians, Burnet and Mortimer, speak of them in far more respectful terms. Indeed, Mortimer attributes to their sturdy and thrifty able and low character.

virtues the superior condition of the province of Pennsylvania. Macaulay, in our own time, describes them as worthy burghers of the Rhenish towns, whom undeserved calamity had reduced to poverty and exile, and whose

stalwart

virtues blessed

an asylum.

every land which afforded them

Miserable indeed they were, in

the

earlier

years of the exodus, but by no default of character of their

own, but by an excess of

people have been called to

afflictions

endure.

such as

few

THE PALATINE,

6 Their

home

across the sea was the

or the Palatinate of the Rhine, that noble river,

Palatinate,

between Bavaria and

Elsass, and extendabove the City of Spires northward to near

ing from

Cologne, the Palatinate was as

can show. chants.

Lower

Situated on both sides of

The burghers

Its fertile fields

petence and comfort to

fair

a land as

all

Europe

were wealthy merand vine-clad hills, brought com-

its

of

its cities

people, and sent abundance of

corn and wine to other countries of Europe.

Religion and knowledge were so well diffused that there was no other

people of their day,

to

Palatines stood second.

whom The

the highway from France into

together with

its

beauty and

these

in

respects

the

situation of the Palatinate,

the

heart

fertility,

made

of it

Germany, a Naboth's

Louis XIV,

whose ambition was colossal, ill brook denial, and whose rapacity recoiled from no extreme of cruelty. His schemes and plots made life a burden to the Electors Palatine, Charles and his son Charles Louis. The death of the latter in 1685 without issue, ended the Zimmern succession passed to line of the Electorate, and the Frederick, of the house of Newburgh. The moment of He at transition seemed to Louis auspicious to his plans. vineyard to

whose absolutism

could

once laid claim to the Palatinate brother,

who had married

in

the

name

the sister of Charles Louis.

of his

The

claim was opposed by Holland, Austria, Bavaria, Prussia and other smaller German states, which, under the leadership of the great William, organized the Grand Alliance Louis to be beforehand, with the and prepared for war. double purpose of wreaking vengeance on the Palatinate a vengeance made more bitter by the asylum there given to the Huguenots, whom the Revocation of Nantes had and also of making the country driven into exile,

—

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

7

foes, sent an army of 50,000 men, with commander to ravage the province with fire and sword and to make the land a desert. The invasion took place in winter. The French went through the

untenable by his

orders to

length

burning

its

and breadth of the country, destroying villages, stripping the

cities,

people of their possessions,

compelling them to pull down their walls, to stand by and see

their

endeavored to save anything from the driving

such as

wealth perish in the flames, killing

them

ruins,

and then hunger

into the fields to there perish with

or cold. In the following Spring the peasants were forced to

plow under mourning.

The whole land was

their crops.

Many

thousands were

starved or frozen to death.

killed.

filled

with

Many were

In one day the Elector, stand-

ing on the wall of Manheim, counted twenty-three villages in flames.

The

ferocity of the

war and the

To

the people cannot be adequately described.

remain their monuments give so

much

in the

sufferings of this

day

ivy covered ruins, which

of beauty and charm to the

hills

among

which flows the Rhine. It is needless to follow the course For a few years the people had rest, and then of the war. in 1693 another invasion brought on another wave of widespread misery. Then it was that the great castle of

Heidelberg was reduced to that condition which makes

it

the greatest and most picturesque ruin in Europe.

But a few years had elapsed, Palatines to retrieve their losses,

far too

when

few for the

the outbreak of the

war of the Spanish Succession dragged them once more between the upper and nether mill stones. This war, brought on by Louis, Spanish crown for

his

in prosecution

grandson

Philip,

of a claim to the

—a

claim opposed

THE PALATINE,

8

—

by the same Alliance with the addition of England, was begun in 1701 and drew out its miseries and cruelties for Most of its fighting was done in thirteen long years. and Germany, but the Palatinate came in for a full Spain share of tribulation.

Many

It

furnished both armies a pathway.

times they went back and forth, leaving wretched-

ness in their

At

trail.

an army to repeat, so

length in 1707 Louis despatched

twenty cup of misery was full, and at once began that remarkable exodus, which in the next four decades brought so many thousands of the Palatines to

years before.

With

far as possible, the rapine of

this the

America. It needs to be noted also that to these afflictions by war was added as an expelling power, a religious trouble, which in some instances amounted to the dignity of

persecution.

Early

in the

Reformation period the Elector

Palatine gave in his adhesion to the doctrine of Geneva, his country

became

a stronghold of the

Reformed

faith,

and under his patronage was published that best of all symbols of the Reformation, the Heidelberg Catechism. There was, however, a strange variation in the Electoral faith. For one hundred and thirty years no two successive Electors were of the

same

faith.

Lutheran and Reformed

princes succeeded each other in regular alternation

according to the

spirit of the age,

bring his people into that his

own

;

and,

each prince desired to

communion which had secured

adhesion.

The court religion was constantly changing from Geneva to Wirtemberg, and back again, while many annoyances and distresses to the people were the consequence. Finally, John William, the second prince of the house of Newburgh, the Elector at the time of the Spanish war,

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

9

deserted both Reformed and Lutheran, and adopted the ancient faith of the Church of piety,

disposition,

the

A

Rome.

man

he endeavored to constrain his people towards

Roman communion.

Thus were added

to the miseries

of war the afflictions of religious tyranny.

both

and

of devoted

but narrowness of mind, with a stern and saturnine

many

of the people looked about for a

for a land of

Because of

way

of escape,

peace and freedom.

There is not space to discuss the mooted question as It is sufficient to what turned their eyes to America. note that in 1708, the year after the last French invasion, to

the

movement began.

in the Palatinate,

Its first

note of record

is

found, not

but in the minutes of the British Board

of Trade in London.

This minute

is

a communication

from the Lords of Trade to the Queen, setting forth that certain

'

'distressed Palatines,

who had been

driven out of

the Palatinate by the cruelties of the French," forty in

number, with one Joshua Kockerthal, a Lutheran minister, for their leader, had made application to the Board for transportation to America.

Shortly afterward fourteen

would appear constituted a pioneer band, on

others were added to this number; and that the entire fifty-four

it

whose fortune and report depended the action of thousands of their countrymen.

The Queen and Council were pleased

to receive the

and order was taken both to relieve the necessities of the poor people, and to send them to New York in the same ship that carried Lord Lovelace to the government of that province the new governor being charged by the Queen to do all in his power "for the petition graciously,

;

comfort of the poor Palatines." the late

summer

of

1

Arriving

in

New York

in

7o3, the Palatines, the composition of

THE PALATINE.

IO

whose number had been very wisely chosen, as to ability and trades, for the founding of a new settlement, were planted sixty miles up the Hudson, at the place where the Quassaic, now Chambers, Creek empties into that river. This is the site of the present city of Newburgh, to which it

may be

supposed,

the family

name

in the

absence of contrary proof, that

of the reigning house of the Palatinate

its name. Here were given to the Palatines 2000 acres of land, and the community by patent from Gov. Hunter was erected into the Palatine Parish of Quassaic. There is here no space to recount their fortunes, save that in the next thirty years, being crowded by English and Scotch settlers, and thinking that more

furnished

fertile

lands were to be found in Pennsylvania, a large

number sold their holdings on countrymen

in the

having

Kockerthal,

the Hudson, and joined their

province of Penn.

Newburgh, returned

at

settled

this

pioneer band at

once to the old country, that he

might report as to their favorable fortunes and the gracious disposition of the English government,

and might organize

a much larger emigration of the people on the Rhine. The success of his efforts was very soon made evident to the astonished eyes of the English government and the

people of London.

The

roads leading northward from the

Thouswarmed with the moving multitudes. sands of them arrested their journey in Holland, and there settled to add their numbers and virtues to those of that Other thousands crowded across sturdy little republic. the channel and flocked in upon London like an invading 'Here we horde, in effect saying to the English people, are. What are you going to do with us?" It was a most Palatinate

4

embarrassing question,

answer not

less

which,

be

it

said,

noble than in our times

received

an

we have seen

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

I I

given by Christian philanthropy to the cries of starving Ireland and slaughtered Armenia.

This emigration began in the early spring of 1709, and before the end of April about five thousand reached London. Each month of the following summer brought additions to their number, until by October the aggregate

had amounted incoming of

London

no

to

The than fifteen thousand. number of people was to the The mere most serious matter.

less

large

this

of that day a

question of accommodation was a grave one.

There were

not inns enough to lodge them, and had these been found,

money

the people had not

The

pay the reckoning.

to

A thougovernment had to take very active measures. sand tents from the army stores were pitched on Blackheath and the Surrey side of the

for the shelter of a

Others were lodged in empty warehouses some of the suburbs houses were built for

large number.

and barns.

Thames

In

them, and to this day, or until very recently, four such

houses

have remained,

had

to

the

vicinage

as

the

Besides this matter of lodgement, the

Palatine houses. authorities

known

to take order for the subsistence of this

With few exceptions the people were abjectly poor, having lost their all by the ravages of the French. Unless fed by English charity they would starve to death The Queen in council allowed from in London streets. army.

the public purse six pence per day to each Palatine, and issued

briefs

kingdom,

to

the

calling

benevolence.

It is

for subsistence in

and

for the

for

Churches

in

many

offerings

to

the

parts

of

the

support

of

this

estimated that this Palatine business

London,

for transportation to

maintenance of

many

America,

of them in this country

during the following two years, cost the English govern-

ment and people

the,

for

that

day,

enormous sum of

THE PALATINE,

12

Considering the state of Christian culture of and the prevalent ideas as to the claims of

£135,000. the

time,

may be challenged to produce an instance of charity more munificent than that.

humanity, the records of history

a committee

composed of the highest the Arch bishop of Canterbury and the Lord Chancellor, was charged with the question of the future disposition of these people and Meanwhile,

personages of the realm,

among them

the supervision of whatever measures should be devised.

London

people

the

Confessedly,

Beyond doubt the America, get

could

any great length of

for

but

not

objective of

all

one-third of the

fully

The

beyond England.

be

maintained

in

time.

the emigrants was

number did

not

pressure of their poverty, and

work and service caused at least Many five thousand to give up their original purpose. enlisted in the English army and others distributed them-

opening opportunities

selves

for

throughout the kingdom.

In August of suggestion

1709 twenty-eight hundred,

Lord

the

of

transported over

St.

at

were

George's Channel and settled

in the

of

north of Munster, founding there a settlement, which this

day of marked In

the

the

Ireland,

Lieutenant

virtue, thrift

following

is

to

and prosperity.

September the Lords of Trade

received a proposition from two Swiss adventurers, Baron

de Graffenreid and Louis Michell, to settle seven hundred upon the lands between Cape Fear and

of the Palatines

the Neuse, to which they had obtained a patent from the proprietaries

of

embraced the

offer

Carolina.

The

authorities

eagerly

and made a contract with the Swiss and care of the Palatines,

leaders, for the transportation

which was very advantageous on paper

to that people,

and

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION. onerous to the

rather

13

October

In

adventurers.

this

company, with a smaller number of Swiss emigrants, embarked for Carolina, and after a prosperous voyage reached the Neuse, and not many miles from its mouth Berne, from the native city of their leaders.

name The

not be detailed.

For

founded their of

New

first

settlement, to which was given the

fortunes of this settlement

some years they had

need

afflictions.

An

Indian

destroyed about one hundred of their number.

who

in

The terms

by De some way had ousted Michell and

of the contract giving them lands were not Graffenreid,

massacre

fulfilled

seems to have designed founding a barony or manor, with the emigrants as serfs or tenants.

He

Landgrave and, to the Indians, But his tenure was short-lived. hopes, he mortgaged the great estate and

called himself

King of the Not realizing

Palatines. his

retired either to Virginia

Some

or Europe.

wards the Palatines received their

titles

years after-

from the Legisla-

ture of Carolina.

Later in the the Palatines, but

Autumn of 1709, another detachment of how large in numbers is not known, was

when he came to assume the governorship of that province. He settled them on the upper reaches of the Rappahannock, giving to the settlement the name of Germanna. It was suggested

sent over to Virginia with Spotswood,

to

Spotswood by the Lords of Trade that he might make

the Palatines useful in the manufacture of wine from the

wild

grapes,

with

which

Her

Majesty's

Virginia was said to abound, and thus lished

We

province

"a trade be

which might be very beneficial to

this

of

estab-

kingdom. "

hear nothing of attempts to follow out this suggestion.

Spotswood seems

to

have regarded these Palatines as his

THE PALATINE,

14

He opened

iron mines for their

employment and built among them a lordly mansion, to which he retired at the end of his term of office, and there spent the rest of his days. The history and topography of Virginia have abundant testimony of the permanent and sturdy special wards.

qualities,

which these people brought

to the regions of the

Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah.

Meanwhile, the government and London were growing weary of the burden imposed

by the

The

Palatines.

times were hard, work was scarce and bread was high

;

much discontent and murmur London, who accentuated their outcries

circumstances which caused

among

the poor of

with the bitter complaint that charities, which ought to alleviate the

to a

wretchedness of English poor, were diverted

horde of lazy and worthless foreigners. In the following year these

ment with shall

murmurs got

into Parlia-

and disgraceful results, which For the present, it is evident that the desire and inventive genius of

certain disastrous

soon be noted.

they added urgency to

the government to find some proper disposition for the

Hence

balance of the Palatines.

also probably

thought that whatever was done for be with a purpose also ensure

to,

this

came the

remainder should

not only relieve the Palatines, but

some return

to the

government

for

its

outlay.

The apparently happy solution of the perplexing problem was suggested by Col. Robert Hunter, who in November, 1709, had been appointed governor of New York, to succeed Lovelace, the

latter' s

tenure of office

having been cut short by death after but few months. In

some

respects Hunter was the best of

Governors

in the colonies,

other sent by

the

crown

all

the

and certainly superior to

the government

royal to

of

any

New

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION. York.

Intelligent,

executive

ability,

15

loyal, of strict honesty,

ready to

with

much

sacrifice himself in the discharge

of his difficult duties, and for the most part actuated

by

principles of exact justice, he so acquitted himself in his office,

that the only blemish

found

in his

upon

his administration is

conduct towards the Palatines,

after

the ex-

periment he proposed and instituted with them proved to

be disastrous.

The

proposition

made by Hunter

to

the Lords of

him to and employ them

Trade was

to the effect that he should take with

New York

the balance of the Palatines,

in

the manufacture of naval stores

—

—

tar, pitch,

turpentine

and rosin, in the vast pine forest of that province. It had long been both a great expense and a humiliation to the English government, that for such supplies its navy, which affected to be mistress of the Seas, should be dependent upon the

forests

of Russia and

Scandinavia.

The papers of

the Board of Trade abound in urgencies upon the colonial governors to do their utmost towards the production of such stores in America. It was taken for granted that the pines of the colonies were full of resinous gums, needing only a sufficient number of workmen, with ax, bucket and kiln, to not only make the royal navy independent on foreign supplies, but even to make London the chief market of such stores to all the rest of the world. Care was ordered to be taken that these interests should be conserved, and that the colonial forests should not be despoiled of such trees as were fit for masts, spars and knees for the use of the Queen's ships.

The

proposition

of

Hunter

was

welcomed

with

enthusiasm by the Lords of Trade, who at once represented to the

Queen

the

immense advantages

it

promised.

Steps

THE PALATINE,

i6

were

at

once taken to put the scheme into

was a new thing

in the

effect and,

what

experience of the Palatines, a formal

made between them and the Board of Trade. In the shipment of the Carolina company of Palatines the contract was between the government and the two Swiss adventurers, who were explicitly bound to consult the comfort and do all things for the interests of contract for the business was

"poor Palatines, " while the Palatines themselves were bound to no service and only required to repay, after seven the

years, the

But selves

money advanced

in the contract

were the

under Hunter the Palatines themof the second part, and bound

party

themselves to service

for the stocking of their farms.

among

the American pines in the

production of naval stores, under the direction of the governor.

They were to be fed and clothed by the government, and should labor at the stipulated work until they had repaid the expenses of transportation and maintenance. Each man was

to receive

£5 and

forty acres of land at the

time of settlement, and was not to leave the place on which the Governor should settle

them or

fail

to labor faithfully,

without his consent.

Meanwhile, another circumstance occurred, of which the government

made but

little,

but which the Palatines

considered of great importance, and which exercised upon their after-fortunes a great

and determining influence. While

these people were in London, waiting the disposition of the government, there arrived a notable embassage from

America.

The people

of the province of

New

esteeming that the mother country did not use

all

York, proper

energies to protect the province from the inroads of the

French from Canada and the

hostile Indians,

sent Co%.

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

Mayor

Peter Schuyler,

17

of Albany, and Col. Nicholson of

the provincial army, to represent their needs in person, as

was thought, more any written appeal.

effectively

it

Col.

mission, conceived the

induce some

planning

in

his

happy thought that, if he could accompany the embassy, their

Indians to

would

presence

than could be done by

Schuyler,

arouse

public

and

interest

influence towards the success of his errand.

have

an

With some

he persuaded five Mohawk chiefs to go to England with himself and Nicholson, and found that he had not rashly discounted the influence of his dusky companions. Both government and people were intensely interested, and the former engaged to furnish all the

difficulty

assistance asked, a promise not fulfilled.

The

story runs that these Indians observed the poor

moved with pity for their Queen 20,000 acres in the of Schoharie, on which to settle them. Of this offer

Palatines in

London

and, being

destitute condition, gave to the

valley

there

no record

is

coming ment. similar

in the

official

documents, the report

to us only through the avenue of Palatine stateIt is certain,

was made

;

however, that either

this gift, or

that before the Palatines left

was understood among them that Schoharie was destination at

first,

;

all

it

their

that the authorities entertained the intention

of settling them in that valley

midst of

one

London

;

and that

in the

the tribulations of the people, during their

first

three years in America, Schoharie was the goal of their

hope, and the watchword of their rebellion.

About

the

first

of January, 17 10, the expedition

England.

The number

the

single

largest

colonial period.

left

of the Palatines was about 3000,

emigration

to

this

They were embarked

country

in ten ships,

in

the

two or

THE PALATINE,

i8

three of which were

The

duration.

war

and on one of which was

vessels,

The voyage was stormy and

Hunter.

Gov.

of long

ships were separated and driven about

adverse winds, so that the

to

first

New

reach

by

York, the

ship "Lyon," did not enter that port until the middle of

June.

The whole

As

later.

a

list

was not accounted

consequence of

crowded quarters, with

foul

dreadful mortality seized

and

air

for until a

month

voyage,

tedious

this

insufficient food,

in

a

upon the wretched emigrants.

Before they reached port one out of every six of their

company had been buried

in the sea.

All the ships arrived safely in

New

York, with the

exception of the frigate Herbert, which was cast ashore on either

The wreck

Long, or Block, Island.

of this ship

is

undoubtedly the origin of the Block Island legend, which

embalmed

Whittier has

By

Palatine." all

in his

charming

sight of the people, has given their

which

is

little

poem, "The

a curious heterophemy the legend, losing

name

to the ship,

described as a merchantman laden with goodly

cargo, which the wreckers have decoyed ashore

But the

beacons, have rifled and burned. ship

remains and

phantom of a

full

at

times

spirit

by

appears upon the sea, the

rigged ship on

fire.

"Behold, again, with shimmer and shine, Over the rocks and the seething brine The flaming wreck of the Palatine.

Now

low and dim, now clear and higher,

Leaps up the

terrible

ghost of

fire,

Then, slowly sinking, the flames expire.

And

the wise

Reef

their sails

Of the

false

of the lost

Sound Skippers, tho skies be when they see the sign

blazing wreck of the Palatine."

fine,

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

By

the middle of July, 17 10,

Palatines,

about 2400

in

island in the harbor of

all

19

the survivors of the

number, were encamped on that

New

York, which

is

now

Governor's Island, but was then named Nutten,

called

Here

they remained about four months, and for their regulation the governor appointed from magistrates, the chief of

whom

their

own number seven

in influence, if

not in rank,

was John Conrad Weiser, who for ten years thereafter Having settled the Palatproved to be their ruling spirit. ines on Nutten Island, Hunter at once despatched a commission to discover a proper place of settlement, in which the people could be

employed

at the destined occupation,

and it is significant that this commission went at once, under the Governor's orders, to inspect the valley of the Schoharie.

Pending the return of the prospectors, the Governor was compelled to resort to a measure which, however proper and just, entailed much bitterness of feeling among the Palatines. This was the apprenticing of Palatine children. Many children had been left orphans by the mortality at sea, and the measure adopted was the only thing possible. It is probable that some harshness was used, and that some families whose parents survived were invaded, as was the case with the family of Weiser, from which was taken a son, of whom from the day of his indenture the family had no knowledge whatsoever. One of these apprenticed children afterwards became famous and conferred upon his adopted country a blessing, the value of which cannot be over-estimated. This was John Peter Zenger, who was apprenticed to William Bradford, the New York printer. Twenty years after, Zenger had set up in the printing business for himself, and in 1733, during one of the periodical quarrels between the royal

THE PALATINE,

20

governor, at that time Governor Cosby, and the Assembly,

he started a newspaper

He

the people. caustic

little

result that

in the interest of the

comment on

the governor's party, with the

When

he was thrown into prison.

refused to indict him, a criminal against

Assembly and

used great freedom of discussion, with no the grand jury

was

information

who undertook

filed

New York

him by the Attorney General. The two

were thrown out of court by an angry and biased bench, and the friends of Zenger brought from Philadelphia the famous Andrew

lawyers,

Hamilton, then

over

defense,

his

eighty years

old,

The

possession of all his noble powers.

plea was, in the teeth of an adverse

but

the

in

result of

full

Hamilton's

charge, the

trium-

phant acquittal of Zenger, since whose day the Freedom of

Press

the

called

America

in

question.

in

It

is

been

never

has

interesting

to

note

seriously

the

that

foundation for this great bulwark of liberty was thus laid for

our country by the hand of a Palatine.

When

the prospectors returned from their trip to the

north, they reported to

of land and carriage

Hunter

while there was plenty

that,

of pine at Schoharie, yet the

of the

hoped

for naval

difficulty

was such

stores

of

as to

So the Governor was perplexed, until he fell in with Robert Livingston of the Manor, who proposed to him the purchase of 6,000 acres of his own lands on the Hudson, forbid the settlement of the people in that valley.

about one hundred miles

up the

The

river.

Earl

of

Lord Cornbury and Governor of New York, comments on Hunter's bargain with Livingston, History that the Governor " fell into very ill hands." Clarendon,

formerly

compels the verdict

that, despite the Earl's

against the Patroon, his

Livingston

was

one

judgment

in

of

ablest,

the

this

personal rancor

matter was shrewdest,

just.

most

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION. ambitious, covetous and unscrupulous

He

21

men

in the colony.

came out of a transaction with clean hands, but He was the only person he always brought them full. who took any advantage by this Palatine business, adding rarely

much

to an already large fortune

were reduced to

;

indescribable

while the poor Palatines misery,

and

the

over

Hunter

credulous Governor to bankruptcy and disgrace.

accepted Livingston's offer and before the winter closed settled

the

remained

Palatines,

New

in

except

York, some

1

in,

about two hundred who 200 on the Manor, and the

balance of them on the opposite side of the river in the

bounds of the present town of Saugerties. For awhile the two settlements were known as the East and West Camps, names which still survive. There

is

not time to dilate on the details of Palatine

experience on the Manor.

An

inclement winter

ill-clad.

Livingston,

sustenance, was

Their woes began promptly. fell

upon them unhoused and

who had taken

more

particular

the contract for their

about his percentages

than about the quality of food and clothes supplied.

two years the people suffered miserably, and were perpetual state of revolt against those as

The dream

oppressors.

charmed them

in

of

whom its

in

a

they regarded

Schoharie,

London, reasserted

For

which

had

attractive invita-

They demanded to be sent to the lands given to Queen for them, and on which the Queen meant that they should settle. They complained of their treatment as slaves, and of the folly of making tar where no tar could

tions.

the

On two

be made.

occasions the Governor sent soldiers to

put down their turbulence, and adopted such measures as re-

duced them lapse, the

beginning

to a state of serfdom. In

two years came the

complete break-down of the enterprise. it

was doomed

to failure.

From

col-

the

Hunter brought with

THE PALATINE,

22

him ;£8ooo

as the first installment of the

investment.

When

this

government's

sum was exhausted and

from London was delayed, the Governor personal fortune, drawing

bills

remittance

pledged

his

upon London in his own was sunk in the same sea.

name.

His wife's fortune also

He had

a child-like confidence that his English employers

would make good these advances.

But, because of the

penny beyond that first installment would the government bestow upon the Palatines, and the Governor, whose advances had been to the amount of ^"25,000, was left in such penury and debt that his office alone protected him from arrest and prison. So the funds failed and the work had to cease. But had money been plentiful, it was soon demonstrated that the effort was useless. The northern pines of America are not sufficiently resinous to make such a work remunerative. The whole outlay of the government and Hunter in this objections in Parliament, not another

business resulted

When

in less

than sixty barrels of

tar.

the funds thus failed the Governor sent orders

to arrest the

work and

to tell the Palatines to seek

from other sources,

for themselves

but,

still

work

hopeful that

Board of Trade would yet take up his paper and permit renewal, he charged them to remain within call, on But this they were the possibility of such resumption. the

They were weary

unwilling to do. villeinage

was

and had no

opportune

Schoharie.

Manor

settled

for

of both starving and

making.

their

in that

The moment

promised

third of their

permanently

of

neighborhood, progeni-

Germantown and contiguous

titles

land

number on the

of this third went south of the Manor,

Livingston refused

them

seeking

About one

tors of the citizens of

Some

faith in tar

villages.

because

to their lands, wishing to

keep

in tenancy, and founded the town of Rhinebeck.

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

The

others

on the Manor,

two

about

They

determined for Schoharie.

23

of

thirds

all,

sent a delegation of

first

whom John Conrad Weiser was

their so-called "chiefs," of

the leader, to visit the valley of their choice and bring

back a of

1

71

This mission was accomplished

report.

and the

2,

returned with enthusiastic

chiefs

scriptions of a spot,

which

surpassed by any region

in the fall

beauty and

for

in

the state of

New

fertility is

York.

de-

not

They

reported also that the Indians of the neighborhood had received them kindly, and had given a deed for the land.

At once preparations journey through deep

mountains undertaken.

for removal were begun, and the snows and over forest-covered Early in March, 171 3, the two

companies into which the emigrants had been divided, There is were united again in the valley of their hope.

much

that

pathetic in the accounts preserved of their

is

experience on the Manor, and of the disappointment which

overwhelmed them, when their afflictions

For

Schoharie they found that

in

had not ceased. disappointment they had to thank Gov.

this

Hunter, whose attitude towards them had already begun to be that of

an oppressor.

The Governor was

intensely

angry when he learned that the people had taken their

way

to the Schoharie, to

which

for

obscure his usual sense of

from the

field

justice.

of the workers

months they had been

He

clamoring he should send them.

by

allowed his anger to

Seeing the departure

whom

alone he could

hope, by a possible resumption of the work, to retrieve his

broken fortunes, and smarting under the wrongs received from the English ministry, whom he could not touch, he determined to revenge himself upon the poor Palatines,

who

equally with himself were victims of the government's

THE PALATINE,

24

broken or

by

faith.

force,

Unable to bring them back by proclamation he was resolved that, wherever else they went,

the beloved Schoharie should not be theirs.

The method pursued was as cruel as it was perfidious. must be noted that when the Palatines entered the valley not a claim was made by any white man to a single Obtaining a deed from acre of its upland and meadow. It

the only owner, the Indian, they set themselves to building

houses and breaking the

soil.

But by reason of

their en-

trance there had gone abroad a rumor of the great beauty of these fertile to seek all

flats,

and there were men of sufficient cupidity

from the governor patents to the

too ready to grant them.

occupancy, one

He was

valley.

Six months after the Palatine

Adam Vrooman

of Schenectady received

a large section by patent, and within the next four years

two patents were granted to five gentlemen of Albany and two of New York, covering all the rest of the land which the Palatines had occupied, or to which they laid claim through their own purchase from the Indians. The grantees of these two patents entered into agreement of

union and were spoken of as "the seven partners."

This

action on the part of these gentlemen was simply a land

speculation to force rent or purchase

people already it

was pure

in possession.

On

money from

vindictiveness, to distress those

who were

wise responsible for the ruin of his scheme.

he showed no relenting, and had the duplicity to London the Manor

to represent, that the Palatines in

the poor

the part of the Governor in

no

Afterwards in reports

had gone from

a tumultuous fashion and taken possession of

lands "already granted to certain gentlemen of Albany."

The the

story of the struggle between the Palatines and

Patentees,

with

many amusing and many

pathetic

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION. passages

is

too long for recital here.

It

25

continued for ten

years, a constantly losing battle for the people with

power of the Governor and

No

against them. after 1720,

Hunter

all

opening for escape appeared

left

all

the

the authority of the courts until,

the province and was succeeded

by

Gov. Burnet.

The

new

difficulties,

Governor

set

himself

to

appease

the

but found that the legal rights of the patentees

and the stubborn sense of wrong in the Palatine breast admitted, for the most of them, of removal to a new For this purpose he issued location as the only remedy. a grant, buttressed

Mohawk,

by an Indian deed,

stretching

for

twenty

to lands

upon the

westward

miles

from

Canajoharie and reaching north and south of the river "as far as the settlers

wished."

About

the same time as the

Albany a great

issuance of this grant there occurred in council

with

governors of

the

chiefs

New York

of

the

Six Nations and the

and Pennsylvania.

Gov. Keith of

Pennsylvania, while attending this council, learned of the

them an asylum in his them of secure houses and kindly treatment, instancing also the happy fortunes of a small band of Germans, who had recently come to Philadelphia and had settled about 60 miles west of Philadelphia. Thus two avenues were opened. But each involved a third removal and the surrender of all the labor of ten

troubles of the Palatines and offered province,

assuring

years.

About one-third of the people, concluding that to compound with their oppressors was better than such removal, made terms either by lease or purchase of the lands which already were their own. The remainder were about equally divided, one part for the

Mohawk and

the

THE PALATINE,

26

for Pennsylvania. The former settled themselves along that river and for years constituted a strong frontier

rest

against Indian and French attack, and founded flourishing

communities,

and German

whose names, such

Flats,

pioneers,

who

wrong.

Out of

ized

nine

still

loved liberty and their

military

companies,

which

number

defence of the province.

refused

Sir William

companies, rendered

Herkimer, Palatine

as

memory of those sturdy

preserve the

known

submit

the

Palatine

service

when

to

Johnson organ-

as

invaluable

Afterwards,

to

the

in

the struggles of

the Revolution began, Sir Guy Johnson endeavored to swing these Palatines to the side of the crown. But they

were not

to

be seduced from their love of freedom.

constituted a large portion of the force

They

which General

Herkimer, himself the son of a Palatine emigrant, led to the battle of Oriskany, a battle characterized by Fiske as

"the most obstinate and murderous of the Revolution."

was a technical defeat indeed, but yet a defeat that

It

was

equal to a victory, demolishing the plans of the British

campaign, sending

St.

Leger back

Oswego and

to

deliver-

ing Burgoyne into the hands of Gates.

Of

those

his father, fruitless

of

much

who made

choice of Pennsylvania, Conrad

During the Schoharie struggle John Conrad, had gone to England to make a

Weiser was

easily the chief.

appeal to the crown. suffering,

broken

He

returned after five years

and

in health

twelve years old

was educated by

when

the Palatines

his father,

spirit,

and the son

Young Conrad was

Conrad, succeeded to the leadership.

left

their native land,

who had been

a magistrate in

the Palatinate, and early showed the possession of qualities

of a high order, quick intelligence, a deep religious sense, a logical mind, a strong

executive

ability.

will,

sound judgment and great

In his youth

at

Schoharie he spent

'

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

much

27

time with the Indians, learned their language and

secured their friendship.

wards of immense

This familiarity proved

benefit

Pennsylvania,

in

became intimately associated with

provincial

after-

where

he

and

affairs,

in

all dealings with the Indians was the counselor and agent of the Governor. He was also associated with Franklin in educational and other colonial interests, and took a leading

part in the founding and extension of the Lutheran in

Pennsylvania.

Church

There are indeed few names in the more worthy of honor

colonial history of that province

than that of Weiser.

The Pennsylvania contingent parties,

one

1722 and the other

in

left

Schoharie

in the

two

in

following year.

Following up the stream southward for a few miles, they struck an Indian

waters of the

trail

over the mountains to the upper

There

Susquehanna.

they

constructed

canoes and batteaux for the carriage of the most of the

company and

their goods, while

some of the men keeping

near the river drove before them their horses and

A

Schoharie legend recites

cattle.

that, in the following

twelve of these horses found their

own way back

year,

to the

Schoharie, their souls lusting after the rich clover of

its

Having made company embarked upon the peaceful river and quietly floated down its course through the wildness of lower New York, unpeopled, save by wandering Mohawks

meadows.

their boats, the greater portion of

the

and Delawares, through the beautiful Wyoming Valley, forty

years

before

Connecticut

of occupation and settlement

;

made

until just

its

first

beyond the

token site

of

the present city of Harrisburg, they entered the Swatara,

and so upward

Tulpehocken and the lands secured Here they founded Womelsdorf and Heidelberg, and in the next two decades, with to the

from the Indian Sassouan.

THE PALATINE,

28 their children

and thousands of

their

kinsmen from the

Fatherland, spread themselves abroad through the counties of

Lebanon and Berks. It

must be noted that previous

Schoharie, several companies of Pennsylvania.

save one

Most of them

to this migration

—indeed so

—were small bands of

from

Germans had come

to

far as appears, all

religionists,

whose peculiar

made life a burden in the old country. As early as a 1685 company of Mennonites settled at Germantown, giving the spot its name. About the same time Labadists from views

Friesland settled in

New

Castle County, Delaware, then a

Ten years after, Kelpins brought a and planted them on the banks of the band of Pietists Wissahickon while in 1719 a company of Dunkers settled in Germantown beside the Mennonites. About 171 another company of Germans came to Philadelphia and passed over into New Jersey, having New York as their objective, but were so charmed with the rolling lands of Morris County that they quietly took possession. Other part of Pennsylvania.

:

religious sects

were afterwards added

disciples of Ephrata, list

— the

New-born, the

and the Schwenkfelders

— closing the

with the large and beneficent incoming of the Moravians

which began It

is

in 1735.

impossible to connect any of these companies,

we may except that which settled in New Jersey, They came from other parts of Gerwith the Palatines. At the same time it is many and from diverse motives. reasonably clear that the immense tide of German immiunless

gration,

which

after

1720 set into Pennsylvania, was largely

Palatine and was controlled as to reports of kindly treatment received

the hands of the Quakers.

its

destination

by

its

by the

forerunners at

OR GERMAN, IMMIGRATION.

The movement was organized on

29

A

a large scale.

committee on transportation was formed at Rotterdam, between which port and Philadelphia the ships bringing increasing

constantly

numbers

plied

with

regularity of a ferry, through nearly every

the

summer down

amusing to observe that they avoided New Over that though it was the home of pestilence.

to 1750.

York

almost

It is

as

province,

in

Palatine

cruelty and sorrow. their ships,

hung the

imagination, In

cloud

of

the period noted but one of

all

compelled by storm, entered the mouth of the

Hudson on which vessel it needs to be mentioned, was the emigrant Erghimer, who gave his son Nicholas Herkimer to New York and to the nation. ;

So great and continuous was the stream of people from the Palatinate that the Elector became alarmed his

dominions should be depopulated,

death on any

had small

So

who

denounced

should attempt migration, a threat that

The people

effect.

was

great also

and

lest

the

influx

stole

to

away

as in the night.

Philadelphia that the

became alarmed, lest so large numbers of would corrupt the manners of the people of the colony, and perhaps "steal the province from beneath the authorities there

foreigners

sceptre

of His

subject caused

assembly,

till

immigration.

Sacred

Majesty

much and finally

This

a bill

King

George."

heated debate

bill

The

in the colonial

was passed forbidding the Governor vetoed on the

the

ground of its cruelty. As a sort of safe-guard a measure was adopted quite unique in colonial legislation. As every Palatine ship arrived, the names and

members

of

its

passengers were reported to the clerk of assembly, and

every one of them was required to subscribe the oath of

King George. To no other immigrants to America was accorded such a precautionary welcome, and

allegiance to

THE PALATINE.

30

of no others exists in the public archives the record of their

The original lists containing over 30,000 preserved at Harrisburg, and have been

coming.

names

are

still

published

in

XVII, and

also

There

the

is

Pennsylvania archives, 2d

series,

vol.

by Rupp. here no time

to

dwell on

the influence

exerted by these people on the State of their adoption.

goes without the saying that with their industry,

It

thrift,

tenacity of purpose and religious habitude, such influence

could not be otherwise than beneficent.

Many names,

such as Weiser, Muhlenburg, Heister, Heintzleman, and others, suggest

something of what strain of quality existed

in the Palatine blood.

Benjamin Franklin

testified before

House of Commons that no people in Pennsylvania had wrought more than these Germans for the prosperity the

of the province.

»