Recent notes have mentioned factors that influenced Germans to emigrate with an emphasis on the "ice breaker", or the "after you" attitude. There was a bit of the "it's never been done". In 1709, all of these thoughts went out the window and thousands of German decided to try for a new life in America. For the present, I skip over the reasons the 1709ers may have had. I wish to emphasize now the importance that the departure of the people in 1709 had on those who remained.
I did a study once on the 1709 migration involved the Nassau-Siegen people. Though some people describe the 1709 migration as involving only Palatines from the Palatinate, the area from which they came was much broader than this. There were people also from the area that we know as Baden-Württemberg and from Nassau-Siegen. Thus, both the people in the First and Second Germanna Colonies had experienced the departure of neighbors and/or relatives and friends in 1709.
A significant number of people from around Siegen left Germany in 1709. Thanks to Hank Jones and his work in researching the origins of the Germans who landed in New York in 1710, we have a tremendous research tool. Using the index in his books " The Palatine Families of New York 1710 ", one can search for the mention of Siegen. I found that the New York people included about two hundred people who had come from an area of about fifteen miles around Siegen.
The number who left was probably considerably higher than this, as only a fraction of the people who left Germany reached New York. Of the names known to have reached New York, there are Bähr, Giesler, Häger, Heyl, Hoffman, Jung, Ohrendorff, Schramm, Weller, and Zeller. Within the histories of these people in Germany, these family names are also to be found, Cuntz, Fischbach, and Holtzklau. It seems that this number of people from a small area of about fifteen miles radius around Siegen would have provoked a lot of discussion. One year after these 1709ers left, Johann Justus Albrecht appeared to hire miners for America. Surely there was influence from the 1709ers on the next group which became known later as the First Germanna Colony.
We know of one specific influence. The Rev. Häger, with his wife and two daughters, was hoping to join his son, who had left in 1709. But the general influence of the earlier migrations has not been emphasized enough. Also, the departure of so many people in 1709 shows that conditions in Germany were not good. There were many dissatisfied people. After some had left, those that had remained found it easier to go in the following years, especially after information started flowing back to Germany.
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.