In the last note, war was mentioned as a contributing factor to the causes of emigration, but, perhaps more in an indirect way than in a direct way. Today I discuss another unusual factor in the early 1700's which was to have an influence on the early Germanna colonists.
The several decade period in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries has been called a little ice age. Temperatures were below the average for many years in a row. The lowest temperatures were reached late in the year of 1708, and continued in the ensuing winter season. The cold weather was in force by the beginning of October, and by November 1 it was said that firewood would not burn in the open air. In January the alcoholic beverages were freezing. Birds on the wing fell dead; saliva congealed before it hit the ground. The rivers were all ice bound. But most surprising, the oceans froze along the coast to the extent that a heavy wagon could travel on the ice. The cold was not just intense, it lasted for several months.
Consequences of this cold were many. The grape vines were killed. The trees in the orchards were also killed. The recovery from these adverse affects took years. During the recovery, economic times were hard because incomes were sharply reduced. There was no wine to sell, there was no fruit to sell. Even such industries as iron smelting in the Nassau-Siegen area were hit because they needed trees to make charcoal to run the furnaces and forges. Growing enough trees was always a problem. So even industry felt the multi-year depression which resulted from the cold snap. Briefly, it was hard to make a living in the years following the winter of 1708/1709.
This is one of the reasons that emigration in the spring and summer of 1709 reached epidemic proportions. There were other reasons for the 1709 emigration fever, but certainly the weather played a role.
Though our Germanna colonists did not leave in 1709, this cold wave had a strong influence on them. The depression-like years of the economy were a factor. There was another factor, perhaps almost as important.
Up to this point, few Germans had been leaving Germany, and one reason was that the path had not laid out. No one was familiar with what was required. How much money would it take? How long would it take? What were the dangers? What would the reception be in America? This all changed in 1709, when lots of Germans did get to America. It could be done apparently. One just had to take the first steps.
If one draws a fifteen mile circle around the town of Siegen, over 200 people have been identified who left in 1709, and did make it to America. Some of these names occur in the family histories of the First Germanna Colonists. So when Johann Justus Albrecht arrived in Siegen about 1710, the citizens were aware that others were making the trip, and probably even knew some of the people who had left. Knowing a few people who had left, and facing a bleak economic outlook, a semi-receptive audience was found by Albrecht.
The Second Colony, who came a few years after the First Colony, would have been subject to many of the same reasons. They too knew people who had left, and the economic times were still bad. So, the cold weather had a role, and people left, not because they were trying to find a warmer climate, but because of secondary effects engendered by the "little ice age".
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.