| Notes |
- THE PALATINATE
The Palatinate was made up of two states, one known as the Lower Palatinate and the other as the Upper Palatinate. The Lower Pfalz am Rhein, or Palatinate on the Rhein was situated on both sides of the river as was bounded by Wurttemburg, Alsace, Lorraine, Treves and Hesse. The Upper, or Ober Pfalz, on the east, was surrounded by Bohemia, Bavaria and Nuremburg.
THE GREAT "PALATINE" EMIGRATION OF 1709
"Historical background material on the Palatines has been found in the 17th and 18th century church books of the towns and villages where the emigrants resided. After recording a baptism, marriage, or burial entry in their church books, the pastors would comment on important matters of the day affecting their congregation. The church books often reflected the devastation and havoc caused by the repetitive wars fought on German territory - a major factor leading to the 1709 emigration.
The British government exploited the Palatines' dissatisfaction by waging an advanced and clever public relations campaign extolling the virtues of life in the new world which also fueled the fires of emigration.
The year 1709 began with such severe and cold weather and lasted such a long time that even the oldest people could not remember ever having experienced such a winter; not only were many birds frozen and found dead, but also many domesticated livestock in their sheds. Many trees froze, and the winter grain was also very frozen. About February or March 1709, large groups began leaving their German homes for Rotterdam and thence to England. The trip down the Rhein to Holland took anywhere from four to six weeks. The Palatines encamped outside Rotterdam were in a miserable condition, and shacks covered with reeds were the only shelter they had from the elements. The Palatines continued to arrive in Holland in increasing numbers at the rate of nearly a thousand per week.
The Palatines arriving in England beginning in May 1709 continued to have problems there. London was not so large a city that 11,000 alien people could be poured into it conveniently without good notice or thorough planning. Of the 13,000 Palatines who reached London in 1709, only an estimated quarter came to New York. The idea of sending the Palatines to New York sprang from a proposal sponsored by Governor-Elect Robert Hunter of New York, probably made originally by the Earl of Suderland. It was their thought that the 1709ers be used in the manufacture of naval stores (i.e. tar and pitch) from the pine trees dotting the Hudson Valley and thus earn their keep in the colony. Also a strong Palatine presence in the new world would act as a buffer against the French in Canada and strengthen the Protestant cause in British America.
Governor-Elect Hunter of New York accompanied the Palatines who boarded ships for New York in December 1709, but the convoy really never left England until April of 1710. The German emigrants sailed on eleven boats. The voyage was a terrible one for the Palatines: they were crowded together on the small vessels, suffered from vermin and poor sanitation, and were forced to subsist on unhealthy food. Many became ill, and the entire fleet was was ravaged by typhus which eventually caused the deaths of many passengers.
The Palatines who arrived in the summer of 1710 found that colonial New York was hardly the paradise proposed back in Germany. The New York City Council protested the arrival of 2,500 disease-laden newcomers within their jurisdiction and demanded the Germans stay in tents on Nutten (Governor's) Island offshore. About 470 Palatines died on the voyage from England and during their first month in New York. Many families were broken up at this time. Governor Hunter's record of his payments for the subsistence of the 847 Palatine families 1710 - 1712 survives today as the so-called Hunter Subsistence Lists.
On September 29, 1710, Governor Hunter entered into an agreement with Robert Livingston, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, to purchase a tract of 6,000 acres on the east side of the Hudson for the purpose of settling Palatines there to manufacture naval stores. In October, many of the Palatines began going up the Hudson River, clearing ground, and building huts on the Livingston Tract. The Palatines grew increasingly dissatisfied with their status, which bordered on serfdom, and strongly demanded the lands promised them in London. Their rebellion was put down by the Governor, who disarmed the Germans and put them under the command of overseers and a Court of Palatine Commissioners, who treated them again as the Queens's hired servants. Hunter lost financial backing in his efforts to support the Germans and had to withdraw the subsistence in September 1712. Having been left to their own resources, the more restless and adventurous of the Germans stole away in late 1712 to the Schoharie Valley, which at one time was a land considered for Palatine settlement. They bought lands from the Indians there. Seven distinct villages were settled in the Schoharie region. The Palatines had not been permitted to bring their Hudson Valley tools with them to Schoharie, so they fashioned ingenious substitutes: branches of a tree for a fork used in hay making, a shovel from a hollowed-out log, and a maul from a large knot of wood - examples of their determination and imagination. By the time of their naturalization in 1715, the 1709ers were spread out in colonial New York to a large extent.
Troubles with the New York colonial government continued as Hunter made plans to clear the Palatines from their Schoharie settlements. Finally, in 1722/23, Hunter's successor, Governor William Burnet, purchased land in the Mohawk Valley for some of the Palatines. About this time, fifteen families left the Schoharie Valley to settle in the Tulpehocken region of present-day Berks County, Pennsylvania. (Note - Johann Michael Emerich was in this group) Others continued to follow, and by 1730 the 1709er emigrant families were found in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Connecticut, and the Carolinas. (Source - The Palatine Families of New York by Henry Z. Jones, Picton Press, Camden, Maine, excerpts from the Introduction Section)
"The German Element in the United States", Albert Bernhardt Faust, 1909, contains a history of the 1709 flight of the Germans in the Palatinate to England. Estimates vary from 13,000 to 30,000; 3,800 went to the Province of Munster in Ireland, 600 went to Carolina in America where they founded Newbern near the mouth of the Neuse River and 3,000 went to New york.
JOHANN MICHAEL EMERICH IN NEW YORK
"The Palatine families of New York were recorded alphabetically in the Ledger Section of the Hunter Subsistence Lists; on these rolls, each family was assigned a certain number from 1 to 847. Johann Michael Emerich was assigned number 165.
Johann Michael Emerich made his initial appearance on the Hunter Lists October 4, 1710 with two persons over 10 years of age in the family. (The Palatine Families of New York, Volume II, by Henry Z. Jones, Jr., page 1169 quotes a file in the Wiesbaden Archives, about 331 R 3, Hessen-Darmstadt, that 'several emigrants who eventually found their way to colonial New York were Henrich Emrich's widow {mother of Johann Michael Emerich} from Delkenheim, along with Georg Henrich Stubenrauch, paid 20 G. for freedom from serfdom in 1709. Additionally, The Registers of Reeds's Church by Frederick S. Weiser and Vernon Nelson, states 'It is believed that Johann Michael Emerich, commonly called Michael was a native of the Commune of Epstein, Darmstadt and that he was the son of the widow, Anna Maria Emerich, who in the winter of 1710, lived somewhere on the west side of the Hudson River with a daughter, age between nine and 15 years of age.) The household diminished to one person over 10 years of age September 29, 1711, was noted with two persons over 10 years of age and one person under 10 years on December 24, 1711, (Johann Michael married Elisabetha on December 18, 1711. Did she have a child with Conrad Krantz?) and then was registered with two persons over 10 years of age for all of 1712. Jho. Michel Emrich: 1 man and 1 woman were in Ulster County in 1710/11 (West Camp Census).
Johann Michael Emrich and Elisabetha with two children were at Neu-Ansberg (Hartmans-dorf) about 1716/17 in the Mowhawk Valley, New York according to the Simmendinger Register, by Ulrich Simmendinger, 1934, Reprint, Baltimore. According to the listing of their children in Family Tree Maker file there were three children born before 1717. (Note to File by J.P. Rhein)
The Book of Names - Kocherthal Records, page 43, shows a marriage performed by Joshua Kocherthal on December 18, 1709 of Johann Michael Emerich of Delkenheim, commune Epstein Darmstadt and Elizabetha Krantz, widow of the late Conrad Krantz of the commune of Zigenheim in Hessia. (The Evangelical Church of Ziegenheim, Germany say they have no record of a marriage of Conrad Krantz.) Page 24, in the year 1712 shows a baptism on December 18, of Anna Catharina, born December 16, child of Johan Michel and Elizabetha Emmerich; sponsors Wilhelm Kuester and Anna Catharina Stubenrauch.
Johann Michael Emerich would have been about 28 years of age in the year 1710 and probably was married at that time. Does the initial reference on the Hunter Lists of October 4, 1710 refer to his wife and a child of which we have no further evidence or does it refer to his mother who would have been about 57 years of age and his sister Christina Elizabeth Emerich, who would have been about 18 years of age at that time? Did his mother then die prior to September 29, 1711? What happend to his sister; was she the individual appearing on the December 24, 1711 list or was this a child of Elisabeth and her deceased husband Conrad Krantz?)
In the DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF NEW YORK by E. B. O'Callaghan, Page 569 shows the following:
"Statement of heads of Palaten familes and number of persons in both towns on ye east side of Hudson's River."
Winter 1710
John Mchel Emrich I man I woman
Ana Mar Emrichin I woman & I maid 9 to 15
COLLECTION OF THIRTY THOUSAND NAMES, EMIGRANTS IN PENNSYLVANIA by Prof 1. Daniel Rupp, Page 446
"Names of male Palatines above 21 years old in Livingston Manor, N. Y. in the winter 1710 and summer 1711
John Michael
From THE BOOK OF NAMES by MacWethy
"Palatine Heads of Families from Governor Hunters'Ration Lists"
Emmerich, Johan Michael
Emrichin, Anna Maria Both West Camp
Page 123
Statement of Heads of Palatine Families on West side of Hudson River Winter 1710
Johann Nfichel Emrich - he is listed as
1 man
1 woman
Total of 2 persons
Emrichin, Anna Mar - listed as
1 woman
1 maid 9 to 15
Total 2 persons
From EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PALATINE EMIGRATION by Knittle (page 284)
New York Subsistance List
17101712
Emmerich, Johannes3 adults 2 adults &
I child under 10
Emmerich, Johannes Michael2 adults 2 adults
JOHANN MICHAEL EMERICH IN PENNSYLVANIA
"In 1722, when visiting Albany, Governor Keith of Pennsylvania invited the Schoharie Palatines to move to his province. Early in 1723, 15 families of about 50-60 people cut a trail from Schoharie about 40 miles to the headwaters of the Susquehanna River; there they made canoes (probably dug out of chestnut logs) and rafts and shoved off on their hard, exciting journey, past arrow-shooting Indians to the mouth of Swatara Creek, where Middletown now stands below Harrisburg; then up that creek and a trek across a gravel ridge into the Tulpehocken Valley, then in Lancaster County and later Berks County. Their horses and cattle were driven by a shorter overland route (too difficult for women and children), down the Delaware River and then across to Tulpehocken. When this first group moved, the outstanding leader to the little party in the spring of 1723 devolved largely from the five Rieth brothers, particularly the eldest, John Leonhart" (Source - Reed Pioneers - Dressler-Tressler Family History Genealogy, Loysville, Pennsylvania)
Pennsylvania Deeds Book A, Volume 2, page 241 dated 10 October 1752 notes that Michael Emerich died leaving Children, Johann Jacob, (eldest son), Balthsar, Leonhard, Johann Adam, Johannes and Catharina Margaretha who married Andrew (or Peter) Creister. Balthas, Leonhard, Johan Adam, and Johannes Emrich confirmed together Quasimodogeniti: 1745 (Tulpehocken Church book)
"From 1708 to 1709 there was a large Palatine migration from Germany, via England, to New York, settling principally in the Schoharie and Hudson Valleys. But conditions in the New York Province were unsatisfactory, and in 1717 first a small group, then in 1723 a larger group of Palatines moved from the Schoharie region to Pennsylvania and settled in the Tulpehocken Valley in what is now Berks County. they were joined by 50 families in 1729, led by Conrad Weiser, and 33 families in 1733." (Source - Pages From the Past, Palatines to America Publications Plus, 1992, Number 2)
"In the year 1709, December 25th, about 1,000 Germans left their country and arrived in New York on June 14, 1710. In the following winter about one-half of them perished and about 150 families left late in autumn or the fore-part of winter for Schoharie Valley, to escape the certainty of perishing in the year 1712. They pushed their way through a trackless wilderness and snow, carrying their belongings and used sled which they pulled themselves. They were three weeks making the trip to Schoharie Valley, where they located and stayed until the year 1723.
They had trouble with England concerning the titles of their land which they vacated that year and emigrated into Pennsylvania and settled in Tulpehocken Township and Bethel, settling that country 10 miles west of Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Among this number was Michael Emerick. In the year 1727, Christopher Leschner supervised the building of the first church known as Zion Lutheran Church or the old Reed church. It was built of logs and made strong, a place underneath to store arms and ammunition so as it could be a fort. In the year 1729, they petitioned the government at Philadelphia for a road out from this church and Michael Emerick's name is on the petition.
Michael Emerick bought 155 acres of land from Casper Wistar and his wife Catina on the 5th day of May 1742 which Caspar Wistar had bought in 1741, a year previous from Thomas Penn one of the five sons of William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania. Adam Christopher and John Reed (Rieth) in Germany donated seven acres of land for the church grounds and in addition another seven acres was given by the proprietor of Plumpton Manor, John Page, whose landed bounded Michael Emerick's on one side, according to Michael's deed, which shows that Michael's farm was not far from the old Reed church." (Source - Taken from notes prepared by Fred McKinney of Sligo, Clarion County, Pennsylvania. 1930's)
THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF JOHANN MICHAEL EMERICH
TULPEHOCKEN THE 10 OF JUNE 1743
In the name of God, Amen. Whereas I am yet in good health and perfect understanding. Considering I am a mortal man will therefore put my house in order as it shall be after I am dead.
First, I recommend my soul to my God and Maker and my body to the earth to a happy resurrection.
My will is that my wife Elizabeth Emerich and Michael Rith with Hennan Walborn shall be my Executors to execute what is herein written.
The same power I have had over what was mine the same power I give to my wife Elizabeth to do with as I have done as long as she continues unmarried but if she marries again she shall have her third part and no division shall be made till my youngest child is of age and then shall my wife have her third part if she continues a widow. And I will that all my children shall have equal share except my deceased daughter's child Catrina Leitner, I give her ten pounds because they took the child to them. If one of the children should be disobedient to the mother against the law of nature and the country, then the mother shall have the power to take that child's share and divide it among the rest. And my youngest son shall take possession of the plantation if he is able to pay the rest of the children and the mother their share and if the mother should like it to live with the son that has the plantation then she shall take her seat in the house and my two youngest sons shall have four pounds each more than the rest because the eldest had their assistance in improving their plantations. This is my last will and testament which I have signed and with my seal do certify.
Johann Michael Emerich (Seal)
Also signed by witnesses
Michael Sheffer
Johannes Forer
Johann Philip Meurer
in Tulpehocken in Lancaster County July 31, 1744 personally appeared Michael Sheffer and Johan Philip Meurer witnesses to the foregoing.
OTHER
The following excerpts were taken from an article in The New York Times, December 5, 1999, describe "The Good Life in Colonial Pennsylvania".
"From 1681, when Charles II of England granted William Penn the charter for Pennsylvania, to the mid 18th century, the region grew from a sparsely populated Dutch and Swedish settlement into a large, sophisticated mercantile community led by English Quakers. Penn lured tens of thousands of English and European immigrants to the colony with his promises of religious freedom and personal liberty. Pennsylvania was a very distinctive place, the scholar Richard S. Dunn writes '...because it was the only British colony in America founded on truly visionary principles'. It was the only pacifist colony, with no armed forces or military defenses, and it was the only colony committed to peace with the Indians.
Most of what has been written is about the 1760's, the Revolutionary War period and after, Jack L. Lindsey, Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum said. 'I wanted to examine the tradition of early patronage in Philadelphia.' Mr. Lindsey traces the development of the arts in Philadelphia and the surrounding Colony of Pennsylvania (which included part of what is today Delaware and New Jersey). First he tracked the colony's phenomenal growth. In 1681 four ships arrived with 1,200 people. By 1690 there were 3,000 people. by 1705 the population was 8,000; by 1720, 45,000. By the 1720's Philadelphia was the second biggest city in the colonies.
Penn did not stay in the colony for long, but it thrived without him. Philadelphia had everything needed to be a mercantile community, Mr. Lindsey said; good land, a tidal river and a deep port. It had oak to build ships, excess wheat and livestock, and an industrious populace. The Quakers were conservative, savy business people who saw the colony as an investment. Philadelphia's first major wharf, which was 300 feet long, was built in 1681. By 1690 there were 30 such wharves, Mr. Lindsey noted. The city's merchants would go to Jamaica and Barbados and sell grain, flour and preserved pork. There they bought rum, sugar and mahogany and sailed to England, where they bought textiles, fine furniture, silver and porcelains to sell in the colonies. It was,an enormously lucrative system. Ships could sell their contents and realize a seven-to-one profit, Mr. Lindsay said.
By 1690 Philadelphia already had a reputation as a good place for artisans to find work. Most emigrated from Europe, some from colonial ports like Boston or New York. Mr. Lindsey found records of 172 woodworkers active between 1730 and 1761. He said there were 60 silversmiths there by 1740.
Pennsylvania was the fastest growing colony in 18th century North America, Mr. Dunn, writes. The Scotch-Irish from northern Ireland (James Galbraith arrived in 1718), the Catholic Irish from southern Ireland and the Germans from the Rhine region (Johann Michael Emmerich arrived in Colonial New York in 1710 and came to Colonial Pennsylvania in 1723). More than 40,000 Germans and 30,000 Irish sailed to Philadelphia between 1726 and 1755. There seemed to be plenty of work. All the immigrant groups farmed and worked in shipbuilding. The Germans wove linen and wool and became ironsmiths. The highly trained French Huguenots, who fled France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685, fashioned silver services.
Prosperity and expansion set the stage for widespread support of the arts at almost every Ievel of society. The desire for stylish luxuries fueled the demand for imported goods and inspired both urban and rural artisans to develop the skills to rival foreign craftsmanship.
The settlers' ingenuity was impressive. Casar Wister, a German immigrant who was endly with Benjamin Franklin, opened a brass button factory in 1717, then created a glassworks in 1739. In 1730 William Branson established a furnace to make cast-iron stoves, and firebacks. Furniture makers apprenticed with Englished cabinetmakers from Boston or London. learned how to combine fancy mahogany from the West Indies with local, humbler woods like poplar, cedar or pine. They made document boxes , spice boxes, chests for textiles, high chests, dressing tables, tea tables and, eventually, tall case clocks. There were a few makers of ceramics. Potters made red ware for cooking and storage vessels, as well as some stoneware. (Note to file by J.P. Rhein)
The following paragraphs contain accounts of the Palatine emigration by other authors and researchers and I have elected to enter them here in order to preserve as complete an analysis of that emigration and our ancestors part in it. (Note to file by J.P. Rhein)
The first home of many of the 1710 Palatines was on the land of the Livingston family which is in now Columbia County. From here many left for the Schoharie and Mohawk River Valleys, which is in now Ulster County. Many of the 1710 Palatines settled on the West side of the Hudson River.
"In December 1709, several thousand refugees from the Palatinate region of Germany set sail from London, arriving in New York Harbor in the summer of 1710. This was the single largest migration to the New World in one sailing up to this time. Upon their arrival, the Palatines, many of them suffering from typhus, were quarantined on Governors Island. The colonial authorities erected huts to house the refugees, food was provided, and special courts of justice were established to safeguard their interests. Over 470 Palatines died either on the voyage or during the first month on the Island; more than 250 of them were buried there. These emigrants, fleeing war, hunger and the hard life of feudal Europe, first set foot in the New World on Governors Island. The Palatine refugees were later resettled on the estate of Robert Livingston, on the banks of the Hudson River, in what are now Columbia and Green Counties, New York." (Source - The Palatine Immigrant, Volume XXII, No. 3, ISSN 0884-5735, June 1997, page 120 - Capital University Box 101, Columbus, Ohio 43209-2394)
"That in the year 1709, the Palatines and other Germans, being invited to come into England about four thousand of them were sent to New York in America, of whom about 1700 died on board, or at their landing in that Province by unavoidable sickness. That before they went on board they were promised, those remaining alive should have forty acres of land and five pounds sterling a head, besides clothes, tools, utensils and other necessities to husbandry to be given on their arrival in America. That on landing they were quartered in tents, and divided into six companies, having each a Captain of their own nation, with a promise of an allowance of fifteen pounds per annum to each commander. That afterwards they were removed on lands belonging to Mr. Livingstone, where they erected small houses for shelter during the winter seasons. That in the Spring following they were ordered into the woods to make pitch and tar, where they lived about two years; but the country not being fit to raise any considerable quantity of naval stores, they were commanded to build, to clear and improve ground belonging to a private person." (Source - America On Line: ifinlaw, Pennsylvania Dutch Genealogy List, April 1997)
"Johann Michael Emerich married Elisabetha Krantz, widow of Conrad Krantz on December 18, 1711. (Source - The Palatine Immigrant,Volume XXII, No. 3, ISSN 0884-5735, June, 1997)
The following oaths, taken by Palatines in the Province of Pennsylvania, were copied from the book "Pennsylvania German Pioneers".
"We subscribers, natives and late inhabitants of the Palatinate upon the Rhine & places adjacent, having transported ourselves and families into this Province of Pennsylvania, a Colony subject to the Crown of Great Britain, in hopes and expectation of finding a retreat & peaceable settlement therein, do solemnly promise & engage, that we will be faithful & bear true allegiance to his present Majesty King George the Second, and his successors, Kings of Great Britain, and will be faithful to the Proprietor of this Province; And that we will demean ourselves peaceably to all His said Majesties subjects, and strictly observe & conform to the Laws of England and of this Province, to the utmost of our power and best of our understanding."
Declaration of Fidelity and Abjuration
"I....do solemnly & sincerely promise & declare that I will be true & faithful to King George the Second and do sincerely and truly profess
testify & declare that I do from my heart abhor, detest & renounce as impious & heretical that wicked doctrine & position that princes
excommunicated or deprived by the Pope or any authority of the See of Rome may be deposed or murthered by their subjects or any other whatsoever. And I do declare that no foreign prince person prelate state or potentate hath or ought to have any power jurisdiction superiority preeminence or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual within the realm of Great Britain or Dominions thereto belonging."
Second oath:
"I...do solemly, sincerely and truly acknowledge, profess testify & declare that King George the Second is lawful & rightful King of the Realm of Great Britain & all others his Dominions & countries thereunto belonging, and I do solemnly & sincerely declare that I believe the person pretending to be Prince of Wales during the life of the late King James and since his decease pretending to be and taking upon himself the style and title of King of England by the name of James the Third...has any right & title whatsoever to the Crown of the Realm of Great Britain. And I do renounce & refuse any allegiance & obedience to him, etc."
|
Search | Advanced Search | Search Families | Search Site
1682 - 1744 (62 years)
[1] 