Continuing our look at the causes of the early 1700 German immigration, religion has been cited as a reason. But it has been overemphasized by descendants who wanted to give their ancestors a noble purpose in coming to America. In fact, it is almost non-existent as a cause, certainly among our Germanna Colonists.
Still, there were groups, such as the Anabaptists, for whom religion was an important factor. We know some of these people today as Mennonites and Amish. In some cases, on a very significant level, they were forced unwillingly to depart their homeland. Earlier, the role of Christoph von Graffenried in finding a new home for the Berne Anabaptists was mentioned. The city fathers of Berne were exporting Anabaptists; Graffenried held the contract to find them new homes.
Earlier, Anabaptists had been expelled from Switzerland, or had chosen to leave, when land became available after the Thirty Years War. Many of these were living in Baden, Württemberg, The Palatinate, and Alsace. The special restrictions upon them there were onerous. These included, by way of examples, special taxes, no church buildings, and meetings limited to a few people. The Anabaptists were very receptive to William Penn's offer of cheap land, and the free exercise of religion.
Among the Catholic, Lutheran, and Reformed Germans, religion was not a significant cause of emigration. In fact, the Catholics were not welcomed by the English. While the existing treaties among the countries said the religion of the ruler would be the religion of the country, there was a varied degree of toleration of other religions, and in only a few cases was it intolerable.
Of about 100 Germans who passed through London in 1708, none of them cited religion as a cause for immigration. They were outspoken about the ravages of the French armies in the Neckar region in 1707. Of about 1500 German families tallied in 1709, they were about equally divided among Catholic, Reformed, and Lutheran. Many of these came from The Palatinate, which had a Catholic ruler. If religion were the cause of emigration, then it would leave unexplained the large number of Catholics. Many, perhaps a majority, of these Germans, were under a Protestant prince.
A German pastor who visited the families in London in 1709, observed that prayer books and Bibles were not in evidence. A report at the same time from Holland said the Protestants and Catholics agreed with each other very well, with many mixed marriages. In this vein, I believe it was Hank Z. Jones who said he encountered (in the records, not in person) a man was born a Catholic, married in a Reform church, and later was an elder in a Lutheran church. The details of the religion did not seem to matter that much.
Also, the Germans learned quickly that it was "profitable" to tell the English that they were persecuted as Protestants. The English had their prejudices and the Germans took advantage of this.
Except for the Anabaptists, religion was not a major cause of emigration, and probably it was not even a minor cause of emigration.
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.