The Palatines of New York are one of the earliest groups of German settlers in the British colonies of North America. Their story is in some ways tragic, but in others a testament to perseverance. First let’s look at some of the push and pull factors that let to the mass migration of 1709.
- Push factors
- Almost a century of war in the area where the Palatines lived, and with each war, they may have had their homes and livestock confiscated, entire villages burned, and even been conscripted to serve in battles that were not their own
- The Great Frost of 1709 – the winter of 1708-09 was the coldest in 500 years of European history. Many people starved, livestock died, trees and vineyards were damaged or destroyed.
- Religious and political oppression – as rulers changed, the official religion also changed. People who were reluctant to change to the religion of the current ruler were often persecuted. And rulers were always looking for more taxes from already impoverished peasants.
- Land hunger – the Palatine area practiced partible inheritance, which meant that all sons were given equal shares of land. Eventually, the divided farms became too small to adequately support a family.
- Pull factors
- Emigration propaganda, such as Joshua Kocherthal’s 1706 pamphlet A Complete and Detailed Report of the Renowned District of Carolina (also called the Golden Book), and Daniel Falckner’s 1702 volumes Interesting News of Pennsylvania, encouraged people to settle in America.
- In 1709, Britain passed the Foreign Protestants Naturalization Act, with the goal of encouraging emigration to the New World (and use the migrants as a buffer against the French and Indian interests in North America.
Unlike migrant groups to other colonies, the Palatines came from a wide range of rural towns, both in the Pfalz and in areas around it, even as far south as Württemberg. Over 3/4 of the emigrants were married, most with children. Men outnumbered women by 4 to 1. Although some were craftsmen, about 2/3 were farmers or vinedressers. In terms of religion, the emigrants were almost evenly split between Lutherans, Reformed, and Catholics.
As rumors spread that Queen Anne was giving away free land, more and more Palatines made their way to Rotterdam, to catch a ship from there to London. Rotterdam officials were overwhelmed by the sudden influx of emigrants, who stayed in rudimentary accommodations while they waited for transportation to England. Eventually, British troop ships were used to carry the hopeful emigrants to London.
London was no better than Rotterdam in terms of preparedness for the masses of Palatines who suddenly appeared. Refugees were housed in tent cities, warehouses, even barns, as they waited to passage to America. Numerous ministers helped to get donations for food and housing for the “poor Palatines.” Several censuses were taken between May and June of 1709, that record 6519 Germans, The censuses include details such as name, age, religion, family members, but do not record the town of origin in Germany. These census lists have been transcribed and can be found in numerous publications.
British officials struggled and debated what to do with these foreigners; estimates are that 13,000-15,000 Germans had found their way to London at some point in 1709. Eventually they sent a group of about 3000 to Limerick and Kerry in Ireland, but many eventually left. Another group of about 700 went to North Carolina and settled the town of New Bern. Some remained in London in domestic service, or even joined the British army. Almost 3000 Catholics were sent back to Germany because they refused to convert. Those who were too sickly or lacked a marketable trade were also sent back to Rotterdam.
At the urging of Governor Robert Hunter in New York, 3000 Palatines were sent there to begin a “naval stores” project. The British Navy had long been dependent on Sweden to provide tar, pitch, and resin needed for shipbuilding. Hunter suggested that the pine forests in New York could become an alternate source of naval stores, and the Palatines could be used to produce these materials. They would be provided 40×50 plots of land in camps along the Hudson River, so they could built themselves shelter and have a little land for farming. Once the men had produced enough naval stores to pay back the government for their transportation and subsistence, they would be free to move on to better farming land.
Numerous problems arose right from the start of the venture, the most serious being that the Palatines were farmers and knew nothing about producing naval stores, nor did they want to learn. Another problem was with the trees themselves – they were white pines, not yellow like in Sweden, and so would produce much less tar and pitch than the British had projected. The emigrants finally arrived on the Hudson in November, too late to begin the project, so they used the winter months to build shelters and begin to prepare their meager land allotments for spring planting. In the meantime, food and other provisions were brought up from New York, and distributed by “listmasters” appointed in each village.
When spring came, the Palatines were finally put to work making tar and pitch, a 2-year process. Children were put to work collecting pine knots, and women were left to take care of the livestock and crops. The men felt like they were reduced to serfs again, and rebelled at the work. Governor Hunter sent in soldiers to enforce the work, which made the Palatines even more restless and unruly. Also during this time, some Germans were recruited to fight with the British in Canada in Queen Anne’s War. By 1712, Hunter had run out of money to feed the Germans, and the project was officially disbanded in September of that year.
Told by Hunter to “shift for themselves,” about a third of the families decided to stay where they were, and became tenants on the Livingston estate and other local landowners. Many were able to buy their land over time, and became assimilated into the local community. A few dozen families returned to Germany, while others went back to New York City or New Jersey.
About 150 families moved west to Schoharie, where they felt they would have better farmland and larger farms to work on. They survived the winter with the help of the Mohawk Indians, and established cordial relations with the local tribes. Eventually the Palatines build seven villages in the area, and their agricultural efforts thrived. They thought they had purchased land from the Mohawks, but within 10 years, lost title to their properties when a syndicate of land speculators from Albany and Schenectady successfully filed a patent for 10,000 acres in Schoharie – the same land the Germans had settled on. They were told they could repurchase their land – at exorbitant prices – or sign leases and become tenants. This scheming so angered the Palatines that they wrote letters to friends and relatives back home, effectively halting German immigration to New York for decades to come.
Roughly half of the families chose to stay in Schoharie, but over 30 families moved west to Burnetsfield (German Flats), 27 moved to Stone Arabia, and 16 families moved south to Tulpehocken in Pennsylvania at the invitation of Governor Keith, who told them, “In Pennsylvania we treat Germans like citizens, not servants.”
The Palatine emigrants were surprisingly well documented, and there are numerous lists of names that were produced at the time –
- London censuses of 1709
- Governor Hunter’s ration lists (also called subsistence lists)
- The colonial census of 1710
- List of apprenticed children 1710-1714
- Palatines in the colonial militia
A sample of resources for further reading and research includes the following:
- Becoming German, by Philip Otterness; also YouTube videos by the author
- Volumes of Palatine immigrants by Henry Z. Jones, an authority on the subject –
- Early Eighteenth Century Palatine Emigration, by Walter A. Knittle, lists ~12,000 names in appendices
- The Story of the Palatines, by Sanford H. Cobb
- The Book of Names, by Lou D. MacWethy, lists ~20,000 names from various lists (duplication of names from list to list accounts for the total number)
- Palatines to America German Genealogy Society
- FamilySearch on Palatine Emigration, London Census 1709
- Wikipedia on Palatine Migration 1709
- Stone Arabia Preservation Society
- Mohawk Valley Museums
- Three Rivers – Hudson, Mohawk, Schoharie (Wayback Machine)
- The Documentary History of the State of NY, Vol. 3, E. B. O’Callaghan
- The Palatines of NY State 1708-1722
- New York in the Revolution, Berthold Fernow