GERMAN IMMIGRANTS IN SOME OF THE OTHER AMERICAN COLONIES.
Grant of Maryland to Cecilius Calvert.--Maryland designed as a
Refuge for Catholics.--Puritan aggression.--Religious Freedom
Proclaimed.--German immigration in the Province.--Maryland Germans
in the Revolution.--Germans settle in Virginia.--In the Shenandoah
Valley.--Also in North Carolina.--A Colony of Swiss and Palatines
found New Bern.--Graffenried’s Adventure with Indians.--The Indians
burn Lawson at the Stake.--“King” of the Palatines.--War between the
English and Indians.--German Colony in South Carolina.--Purrysburg
founded by Them.--Large German Settlement on Edisto
River.--Saxe-Gotha.--An Imposter.--Executed for Murder.--Salzburgers
Emigrate to Georgia.--Germans in other States.--Palatines settle in
Ireland.
New York received a large German immigration at an early day. The
influences which operated to send many Palatines to Pennsylvania, were
exerted in favor of New York to a very great extent. The British
government was anxious to colonize that province, and when the great
flood of emigration from the Palatinate began to set in, much of it was
diverted to New York, through the influence of the English. The latter
in numerous instances furnished the means to transport such as desired
to emigrate. In that way New York received many thousands of German
immigrants, most of whom came from the Rhine provinces, and settled
along the Hudson river, and in the Mohawk valley. A German colony
also settled in Schoharie county. The first German immigrants went to
New York in 1710, and others came afterwards. The Schoharie colony
became disintegrated a few years after its settlement, on account of
difficulties with the local authorities, when many of them left New
York under the lead of John Conrad Weiser and his son Conrad, and
settled in Pennsylvania.
After the Weisers had led their colony to Pennsylvania, the emigration
to the province of New York came very nearly to an end. The Schoharie
colonists who came to Pennsylvania, wrote to their relatives and
countrymen in the Palatinate, that they had at last found an asylum
where they could rest in peace, and be secure in their rights, and
advised all who contemplated emigrating to America to avoid New York,
and come to Pennsylvania. Many who started from their homes in the
Palatinate after that, with the intention of going to Pennsylvania,
were diverted from their plans, and forced on ships bound for New York;
but they were no sooner landed than “they hastened to Pennsylvania in
sight of all the inhabitants of New York.”
The names of many towns in New York attest their German origin, such as
Newburg, Rhinebeck, New Pfalz, Palatine Bridge, Herkimer (Hercheimer),
named for General Herkimer, a distinguished soldier of the State of New
York, and numerous other names.
NEW JERSEY.
New Jersey being situated between New York and Pennsylvania,
necessarily profited by the immigration in the adjacent States,
although there does not seem to have been that concerted effort to
attract German emigrants to it, as there was made on behalf of the New
York and Pennsylvania colonies, yet the State was continually receiving
numerous accessions of German settlers. German Valley in what is now
Morris county, was settled by them in consequence of an untoward event.
A shipload of German emigrants sailed from a European port bound for
New York, but adverse winds drove the ship out of its course, and when
it finally reached American waters, found it most convenient to enter
the port of Philadelphia, whence its passengers disembarked, and sought
to make their way to New York overland, across the State of New Jersey.
Their course led them into a beautiful valley, where they halted and
made a permanent settlement, whence came the name, German Valley.
MARYLAND.
In 1632 the province of Maryland was granted to Cecilius Calvert by
Charles I. Calvert was a Roman Catholic, and it was designed by him, to
make his province a refuge for his co-religionists, without making it
a distinct Catholic colony. In 1663, 200 Catholic colonists arrived in
Maryland and made a permanent settlement. Soon thereafter a number of
Puritans came and settled among them, who soon created strife by trying
to enforce their peculiar tenets and practices upon their Catholic
neighbors, which resulted in making things very uncomfortable for the
intolerant Puritans, so much so, that they moved out of Maryland into
Virginia.
Religious freedom was proclaimed in Maryland by the authorities, after
which Quakers, German Lutherans, and other sects emigrated thither and
made permanent settlements. Considerable numbers of German emigrants
sailed direct from foreign ports to Maryland; many went there from
New York where they had become dissatisfied with English rule, while
Pennsylvania furnished a good many, and a few came from New England.
The Germans occupied certain parts of Maryland in the early days, to
the exclusion almost of people of every other nationality. About the
middle of the previous century, the larger part of the population
of Frederick county, was either German or of German parentage. Like
their kin in Pennsylvania those Germans continued the almost exclusive
use of their native dialect for a long period after their settlement
in Frederick county, and until a comparatively recent period, all
religious services were conducted by them in the German language. At
the outbreak of the Revolution, Maryland sent a German regiment of
infantry in the field, and also a German company of artillery, besides
numerous Germans enlisted in other organizations.
VIRGINIA.
Virginia began to receive Germans from the Palatinate, and from other
parts of Germany as early as 1743. In that year a vessel arrived at
Hampton Roads, which had sailed from a Holland port with 200 passengers
on board, 100 of whom died on the voyage. Many Swiss were among the
early settlers in Virginia. Germans from Pennsylvania also settled in
Virginia during different periods, chiefly in the Shenandoah valley.
NORTH CAROLINA.
In 1719 at a time when the German Palatines were rushing to America,
a large number of them were in London, awaiting assistance to enable
them to take passage to some one of the American colonies. There was
in London at that time a Swiss gentleman by the name of Christoph
Graffenried. He met there one Louis Michel also a Swiss, who had spent
some time in America, and was familiar with the country’s needs, and
also its possibilities for colonists. The two conceived the idea of
founding a colony of Swiss and Germans in America, and for that purpose
secured a tract of land in North Carolina, between the Neuse and Cape
Fear rivers, with the understanding that after they had paid for 5000
acres, they should obtain title to 100,000.
Soon thereafter two vessels with 650 Palatines and Swiss on board, were
dispatched to North Carolina, where they arrived in December 1710; and
they founded Newbern.
The following year the Tuscarora Indians began to make war against the
English, and whites generally. Before the settlers had any intelligence
of the designs of the Indians, Graffenried who came to North Carolina
with the Swiss and Palatine colonists, started off on one occasion,
with a land surveyor named Lawson, and a negro servant, to ascend
the river Neuse in a boat to explore the country. They did not dream
of any unfriendliness on the part of the Indians, so in the evening
they tied their boat up near an Indian village, intending to spend
the night with their savage neighbors. They found the Indians in a
morose mood, manifesting none of their usual good will. Graffenried’s
suspicions that their manner boded trouble, was increased, when he saw
a large quantity of arms and ammunition provided by the Indians. He
started away from the village with his companions, with the intention
of ascending higher up the stream, but after they had reached their
boat and were about entering it, they were surrounded by about 60 armed
Indians, who took them back to the village, and brought them before the
chief, who ordered that they should be kept under strict guard until
the next day, when they were brought before a council to consider the
question, as to what disposition should be made of them. The following
evening, they were taken before the council, the deliberations of which
lasted until the following morning, when an Indian made his appearance,
with whom Lawson had some time previous a difficulty, and from whom
the Indian did not get very good treatment. The Indian informed the
council, that the whites had conspired in secret to destroy them; this
so angered the savages, that they immediately condemned Graffenried and
his two companions to death. The next day they were taken to the place
of execution, where they were bound hand and foot, and left to lie on
the ground. The Indians kindled a big fire, erected a cross which they
decorated with flowers. In the painful position in which Graffenried
and his companions had been placed, they remained all day and the
following night. With sunrise the next morning, a multitude of Indians
assembled, to witness the final act of the tragedy. An armed guard
stood over the condemned during all that time. The principal Indians
sat about them in a circle of two rows; behind them were about 300
Indians engaged in dancing, and yelling like so many devils possessed.
Two executioners were detailed to carry out the decree of the council,
who were painted so as to make as hideous an appearance as possible.
In this extremity, a thought occurred to Graffenried. He turned to the
principal chief, and asked what right they had to condemn an innocent
man, and whether they were willing to hazard the execution of a king;
pretending that he was the king of the Palatines. This ruse served its
purpose, for a second council was held; Graffenried’s fetters were
unloosened, but Lawson and the negro servant both suffered death at the
stake.
Graffenried was kept in confinement for five weeks longer, when he was
released, upon his entering into a compact with the Indians, that in
the event of war between them and the English, that he would remain
neutral as “king” of the Palatines, and would discontinue measuring and
appropriating their lands.
In the war which followed, the Swiss and Palatine settlers, who
were both known under the name of Palatines, remained neutral, and
Newbern was saved from harm. The details of the foregoing account of
Graffenried’s adventure is based on a letter written by him to the
governor of the province, soon after its occurrence.
After the war between the Tuscaroras and the Indians, many other
Palatines settled in North Carolina; the names of whose descendants
abound numerously in that state at the present day.
SOUTH CAROLINA.
It is not known when the Germans first came to South Carolina, but
it is known that in 1734 a number of emigrants from Salzburg arrived
at Charleston and settled in the province, and about the same time
170 Swiss emigrants also arrived at Charleston under the lead of
Johann Peter Purry, and founded Purrysburg on the Savannah river; the
following year 200 additional Swiss arrived, and later a colony of
Swiss and Palatines made settlement in the neighborhood of Orangeburg,
which was founded about the same time. Their settlement was on the
Edisto river, and the whole region on both sides of the stream in
that neighborhood was originally settled by Germans, chiefly from the
Palatinate, and Switzerland. Other Germans from parts in Germany
further north settled in South Carolina. They founded a colony further
inland from Orangeburg, and called it Saxe-Gotha. This became an
important central point, from which the German settlement spread, which
continued to gain large accessions until the Revolution.
In 1763 there came two ship loads of German emigrants from London to
Charleston. They were poor, and the Colonial Legislature voted them 500
pounds, 200 muskets and ammunition, and settled them in the Saxe-Gotha
district. The Germans monopolized this district, and continued to speak
the German language long after it had ceased to be spoken elsewhere in
South Carolina. A traveller who visited this district as late as 1850
wrote, that German was no longer spoken by the descendants of the early
German settlers, but that the people retained their German Bibles,
hymn-books, and observed many of the customs, festivals and holidays of
their German ancestors.
* * * * *
There is said to have been a remote district in South Carolina in the
first half of the last century, which had been settled by Germans,
which had scarcely any communication with the outside world; where
the people were without churches, or schools, who had fallen into such
dense ignorance, that they were not far removed from a savage state.
A Swiss came among them named Weber, who represented himself to be
Jesus Christ; his wife the Virgin Mary, and another who came with him,
as the Holy Ghost. This imposter hired a man to represent the devil,
and he went about making converts of many simple souls who believed in
him. He ordered that Satan be bound in chains and placed in a great
cavern which existed in that neighborhood, which was accordingly done.
He finally decreed that Satan should be put out of the world. The
poor devil was placed in a featherbed, and covered with pillows and
bed clothes, after which some of Weber’s followers smothered Satan to
death. When the affair reached the knowledge of the authorities at
Charleston, Weber was arrested, tried for murder; convicted and duly
hanged. His wife, children, and ignorant dupes were pardoned by the
Governor.
GEORGIA.
Very few Palatines, if any, went to Georgia direct from Germany in the
early days, although considerable numbers went there from some of the
other colonies.
In 1739 a fierce religious persecution began in the archbishopric of
Salzburg. This persecution continued for many years, during which time
more than 30,000 Protestant Germans left the archbishopric, and settled
elsewhere. Some went to Prussia, some to Holland, and others went to
England, who soon thereafter left for Georgia, where they settled
permanently, and became a nucleus around which several thousand of the
persecuted Salzburgers afterwards gathered.
TENNESSEE AND KENTUCKY.
Whatever German immigration went to the territory now embraced in
the foregoing named states in the early days went to North Carolina
and Virginia; Tennessee being taken from the first named state, and
Kentucky from the latter. After the Revolution, and Tennessee and
Kentucky were admitted as states, each received large accessions
of German population. Many went to those states from Pennsylvania,
Maryland and Virginia.
GERMAN PALATINES IN IRELAND.
About the years 1709-10, when many thousands of Palatines abandoned
their native land, to seek homes elsewhere, the exodus assumed the
nature, of what would in these days be termed a “craze.” Thousands left
their homes in the Palatinate, without any well-defined idea where they
would eventually land. The first consideration with them was to get
away from their oppressors; the question with regard to their future
was deemed of minor importance. Under such circumstances 5,000 Germans
from the Palatinate found their way to England in the months of May and
June, 1709, which number was increased by October to 13,000, comprising
husbandmen, tradesmen, artisans, schoolteachers, and clergymen.
Those emigrants all came to London, and when the first lot arrived,
they took the Londoners by surprise, for they came without any notice
of their coming, and the first intimation which the citizens of
London had concerning them was when they found about 5,000 Palatine
men, women, and children under tents in the suburbs of their city.
They seemed to be without any definite plans for the future, beyond
the fact that they had been told in their own country, that settlers
were wanted for the British colonies in America, and in pursuance of
those representations they came to London, expecting that the British
government would provide for them. England did take care of them;
sheltering them about the city in empty dwellings, warehouses, barns,
and wherever vacant places could be found. Good Queen Anne ordered
tents to be pitched on Blackheath for their accommodation. A large
majority of those people were sent to the British colonies in America.
Upon the petition of the Lord Lieutenant Governor of Ireland 3,800 of
them were sent to Ireland and settled in the county Limerick, in the
province of Munster, where many of their descendants are living at
this day, the most prosperous and well-to-do farmers and tradesmen in
Ireland.
The late Professor Rupp in his book of “The Names of 30,000 German
Immigrants,” makes reference to the settlement of those German
Palatines in Ireland, and states “that it is said” that some of them
still speak a German dialect. The author visited the descendants of
those people a few years ago, but found no trace of any German dialect;
it has died out long ago; only the German names remain, some of which
have become so changed in their spelling, as to make their German
origin scarcely recognizable. Many of those people have intermarried
with the Irish population, so that the present generation is more
Irish than German. Those people are still spoken of as Palatines.
The migration of so many Palatines in the course of a few months
and their sudden appearance in England, furnishes one of the most
interesting episodes in the whole history of the German emigration
from the Palatinate. Their reception, treatment and their disposition
by the English Government, redounds much to its credit, generosity,
and humanity, most of which was owing to the kindly disposition toward
those people of Queen Anne.
While there was no settled purpose in the mind of the English
authorities at first regarding the ultimate disposition of those
people, the first impulse however was that they had to be provided
for. The Palatines themselves were without any fixed purpose, but
were inspired with the hope of eventually reaching America. Some
of the young men among them enlisted in the British army; others
scattered throughout rural England, while a considerable number of them
sought service in London, and in some of the other cities and towns
of England. The great majority however were disposed of in the way
hereinbefore stated.
As proof of the magnanimity of the English people in their treatment
of their unfortunate guests, Parliament, at the suggestion of the
noble-minded Queen voted £24,000 for those who elected to go to
Ireland, for transportation and subsistence. Those that were sent to
the American colonies also had their transportation paid by the British
government.
Among the foregoing mentioned Palatines, there were about 1,500 German
Catholics, which is evidence going to show, that it was not alone
religious persecution as has been often contended, that drove those
people from their homes in the Palatinate, but that Protestant and
Catholic alike left the devastated land of their birth, to improve
their material, rather than their spiritual welfare.
Those in authority in England at that time were not as tolerant of
other people’s religious views as people are in these days, and the
government refused to send those of the Catholic faith to the American
colonies, in consequence of which many of them renounced their religion
rather than return to their desolate and ravished homes in the
Palatinate, where such as were tenacious of their faith were sent under
passports of the British government.