Recently we have been looking at migration patterns in America and from Germany to America. Within Europe there were migration patterns also. The reasons vary slightly.
The Thirty Years War, from 1618 to 1648, was a major cause of relocations during the century before our ancestors came to America, but there were other reasons also. Prior to the start of this war, Austria had a large Lutheran population. The Emperor of Austria (and I hope I am using the correct title) was Catholic and wanted to reclaim Austria for the Catholic faith. His actions were a reason behind the start of the war, but it soon involved all of Europe and turned from a religious war to a political war. During the course of the war, some nations shifted sides. Little was settled by the war, but there were serious impacts in the economic arena.
Parts of Germany, particularly of the citizenry, had suffered serious impacts. Major areas were reduced to one-third of the prewar population due to death from pestilence and starvation. Areas along the Rhine were especially bad. The rulers faced a sharply reduced economic vitality. Farms stood idle and houses were vacant. Without people, tax collections were off. Word went out that farms and homes were available. This led to many people migrating to take advantage of this situation.
With the end of the war, political regions took on the religious hue of their rulers who varied in their tolerance of other religions. Austria became solidly Catholic and other religions were shut down. If you wished to remain Lutheran, the only recourse was to leave the country.
Within Switzerland, another force was at work. Though the Cantons had been little affected by the Thirty Years War, there was an internal war which had been going on for more than a century between the state and the Reformed Church on one hand and the Anabaptists on the other hand. The Anabaptists were persecuted severely and sometimes expelled from the country.
With all of these forces at work, major shifts in the population, on a comparative basis to previous years, took place. Many of our Germanna ancestors were involved; however, looking back now, it is not clear always why any one individual or family moved. Those who came from Austria, such as the Blankenbakers, may have moved for religious reasons. Those who came from Switzerland may have been caught up in the Anabaptist turmoil. Several of our Germanna families have some ancestors from Switzerland, including the Harnsbergers, the Willheits, and the Zimmermans. Or the reason may have been economic.
There are some patterns in the movements. Mostly the new residents came from the east or from Switzerland in the south. From Ansbach, came the Käfer (Kaifer), the Utz, and the Greys (Crees). There is no evidence that there was any connection among these families. The Motz family came from Anspach. Two families came from Mittelfranken, the Blanckenbühler (for the second stage of the migration) and the Bechk family. The Fleshman family, at least Cyriacus Fleshman, came from Saxony.
Since several of the previous families are among my ancestors, maybe that is the reason I have lived such a nomadic life (born in Oklahoma, lived then in Oregon, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, California again, and then Pennsylvania).
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.