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A Palatinate Perspective and Analogy of the Emigration Route from Our Homeland

I. Introduction

In the early days of the settlement of the English colonies, Some of the major destinations of the English and European Protestants were Pennsylvania, New York and Virginia. The Germans especially were developing colonies in these areas, and those colonies have their counterparts even today. Washington County, Maryland was essentially discovered by German colonists traveling between Pennsylvania and Virginia. Washington County has rich farm land, and streams to power mills for grinding flour. It is no
surprise that the German farmers were attracted to this area. To understand the people who settled here and became the "Maryland Dutch", we have to go back to their origins in the old country, and become familiar with the forces which drove them out of their original homes. In 1776 Washington County was formed from Frederick County, Maryland. For a brief over-view of
Early Frederick County history, see: Frederick County.

II. The Source of the Migration

A. The Palatinate

The Palatinate was situated west of the Rhine and north of the French (Alsatian) border. Before 1800, it used to include large areas east of the Rhine, including Mannheim and Heidelberg. Those of us today trying to find the Palatinate of the 1700s on maps, and drying to understand what was meant by the terms German, Deutch, and Palatine or Palatinate on colonial records, usually end up confused and frustrated. There is a reason for that. The historic Pfalz always did have rather vague boundaries and once consisted of 44 different countries.
http://www.genealogy.com/gene/reg/BAD-WUE/BW.html contains links to maps of both Baden and Wuerttemberg in the late 18th century. The Baden map includes the Palatine territories east of the Rhine. In the northern and western parts of the Palatinate the terrain is mostly gently rolling hills, and it is valuable farming land. To the east there is the Rhine valley (very fertile land), and to the south you have the large Palatine Forest, with only small agricultural spots around the villages. The Palatinate is now called Pfalz. The present state of Rheinland-Pfalz consists of the Palatinate, parts of the former Prussian Rhine province (Rhineland), plus
some smaller territories including Hohenzollern. The slope of the Palatine Forest (Pfaelzer Wald) is one of the biggest wine-producing areas in Germany. There is a new bilingual book which has recently been reviewed in the Palatine Immigrant which goes into great detail on the Palatine migration and conditions that led up to it. I haven't seen this book yet, but it is recommended by the editor of the Palatine Immigrant, Dr. John Terence Golden, 2609 Summit St., Columbus OH 43202-2432, who was kind enough to review this page for me.

B. Elsass

Elsass, was another area from which came a large number of people who were involved in the migration with the Palatines. Elsass was in essence, the upper Rhine River Valley and a good part of the Vosges Mountains in what is now France. The Vosges mountains were the western border and on the South was the Swiss Alps. The Rhine was the eastern border. This land has been
claimed and fought over by both France and Germany for centuries.

III. The Times

A. Liberal Thought

1. Scientific Humanism

Europe and Great Britain in the 1500's were going through a number of changes. Worldly knowledge was growing, and a philosophy of Scientific Humanism was developing and spreading. Scientific Humanism taught that the workings of the universe were controlled by natural processes and laws which could be understood and even controlled by man. This philosophy also taught that the human body worked very much like a machine, and that the processes of the body could also be understood and controlled by man. The
Catholic Church felt that it was being challenged in some of its basic beliefs by the Humanists. At the same time, the Catholic Church itself was becoming more worldly and more corrupt, and the Protestant movement was growing in strength. I know there were many devout Catholics, and many good church leaders during this time, but politicians and others in power abused their connections with the churches to further their own goals, and many church leaders allowed this abuse of power, not to mention the issues addressed by the Articles which Martin Luther posted on the door of the famous cathedral.

2. Fashion

As at any other time when liberal thoughts and beliefs are in vogue, the spirit of the times even affected the mode of dress. Hemlines were edging up, and tunics were getting shorter. No, not on the women……..on the men! By the time of King Henry VIII, men required cod pieces to keep from showing off some very private pieces of anatomy. Pants had not yet been invented.
The legs were covered with hose that reached up to the groin area and then were tied around the waist, to keep them up. The space between the hose and the ties was called the breaches. (pronounced, "breeks") If a man wearing the fashion in the late 1600's & the early 1700's bent over, he would often "show the breaches and all that was in them", in spite of the fact that he was wearing a cod piece in the front.

3. Catholic Retaliation

Since the Catholic Church felt its authority being chipped away, it started fighting back. In many areas open warfare was waged against the Protestants. Scientific leaders and the leaders of the Protestant groups were declared heretics, and many were executed. Armies laid siege to Protestant communities, and many were killed. Others were imprisoned, tortured and executed.

4. The Anabaptist Reaction

In the light of all this change, turmoil and strife, it is not surprising that a group sprang up which wanted to chuck the whole mess. The Anabaptists got their name from their opposition to infant baptism. They stated that a person should be baptized only after he had learned the gospel and made a personal decision to follow the teachings of Christ. However, they went on from there. They wore their tunics long, to cover themselves modestly as in a former time. Their dress was only decorated with the craft of their own hands. They refused to take oaths, opposed capital punishment, rejected military service and gave no allegiance to any king or pope. The authorities saw them as subversives, and decided that the Anabaptists should be exterminated. Diaries of some of our ancestors who were involved in the Palatine migration give accounts of people being burned at the stake, fried on flat rocks, chained together and thrown into lakes to drown, and many other forms of torture and execution. One account gives record of a woman whose tongue was screwed to the bottom of her mouth to stop her from preaching.

Dr. John Terence Golden points out that the Anabaptists were one the more radical groups which came into being during this time period. And actually, most of the Palatines were Lutheran or Reformed, and there were even some Catholics living in the Palatinate. Also one of the things which did produce a lot of extra strife for this people is the fact that not all of the Anabaptists were peaceful. There was a militant branch of the group which caused a lot of havoc in the cities and towns around the Palatine Provinces. Unfortunately, the strife which came upon this territory and this group of people did not discriminate as to which were the trouble
makers and which were the innocent. All the Protestants were lumped in together by those who would persecute them, and the troubles of the land itself did not make any distinctions, but were applied to all equally.

B. Mercantilism

1. General Principles

At this same time, a philosophy of trade was developing among the sea-faring nations. This philosophy was called mercantilism, and it was based upon colonialism. In essence, this philosophy was based upon the idea that a country could increase its wealth by having colonies. The colonies under this plan could be absolutely controlled by the parent country, but they would be occupied by people who were not citizens of the parent country. Therefore the colony would be self-sustaining at no cost to the parent country, but the colony would produce goods for sale at a premium price only to the parent country. The colony could also be taxed without
representation and without being provided reciprocating services. Luxury items which the colony could not produce for itself could only be bought from the parent country, which absolutely controlled the prices of such goods.

2. English Colonies

England set up several such colonies, at least one of which (Australia) was actually a penal colony. Several of these colonies were set up in America, and in 1681, the English Quaker, William Penn, was granted the charter for the Province of Pennsylvania. Within the next year, William Penn founded the city of Philadelphia, and in 1683, he made a peace treaty with the Delaware Indians. William Penn then advertised that there was a place of refuge for the persecuted Protestants of the world.

C. The Final Settings to the Stage

1. The 30 Years War

In 1685 the Edict of Nantes, a document granting equality under the law to Protestants as well as Catholics, was revoked. With the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the authorities, and particularly the French, really put the pressure on the Anabaptists and the Huguenots, who were the French version of the troublesome Protestants. The objective of the 30 Years War was the balance of power between the Catholics and the Protestants in all of Germany. However, the war was fought very hard in the Palatinate because the Palatine Elector was one of the most powerful of the Protestant rulers.

After the 30 Years war, most of the population were killed. There were almost no survivors in the Palatinate. Many people immigrated into the Palatinate at this time, especially Protestants, as the Elector promised them religious freedom.

2. Catholic Rule in the Palatinate

The Palatine Emigration started when a Catholic Elector took over the rule, and persecution of the Protestants was started once again. Thus the stage was completely set for the Great Palatine Migration. The ones who didn't leave on their own were forced out by war and religious persecution. Apparently, even many of the Protestants in the jails were released and forced to emigrate. Almost all of those that left were stripped of their valuables, and many had nothing but the clothing on their backs as they started down the Rhine River to the Netherlands.

3. The Weather

Even those who were not forced to emigrate, were affected. In 1709 the winter was so severe, that the Rhine froze over and people were starving in the Palatinate. This was when Queen Anne advertised in the Palatinate that England would accept all German Protestants for immigration. Catholics who tried to enter England were given 5 guilders and sent back to Hannover. This was also when the tent city refugee camp outside of London was set up.

IV. The Emigration Route

A. The Palatinate to The Netherlands

The first part of the emigration route was down the Rhein river to the Netherlands. Few would have been able to make the trip without help. An underground railroad was established, and Protestant families along the Rhein gave sanctuary to the refugees as they made their way to the new world.