The area from which much of the Second Colony came was the Kraichgau. In this area, there were dozens of separate, essentially independent, rulers. Those who were independent of the Palatine Elector were in a precarious position. The principalities were so small that a standing army was out of the question. Instead, every peasant was subject to a call to duty in the time of danger. The tiny principalities (some were only a few square miles in extent) were between the larger and much more powerful neighbors such as the Palatinate, Baden, and Württemberg. To find friends, the rulers sought allies from afar. They also banded together into a League of Knights. The heavy burdens imposed by the rulers led to much friction between the peasants and the knights, while the knights were caught between the larger princes and their own subjects.
Before 1620, the Kraichgau was over populated, but, during the Thirty Years' War (1618-1648, and they had to stop the war in 1648 because the thirty years were up*) and the wars of the late seventeenth century, the armies of the larger powers nearly obliterated the villages in the Kraichgau. Many of the peasants simply left for other regions. Even the pastors usually left, and, if they did, they often left the church books behind, which were then destroyed by the invading armies. Or, if the pastors did take them, the books became lost, or the congregation was scattered. This is why the church records are so spotty in the late seventeenth century in this region.
By 1648, Adelshofen had lost half of its population, and then it was repeatedly plundered again in the late 1600's. The population of Kleingartach dropped to 33 from 120 during the Thirty Years' War. Massenbachhausen lost its entire population, and was resettled by outsiders, in some cases from a great distance. In 1674, the French took Sinsheim, and fifteen years later they burned it to the ground. Even the larger cities did not escape. Heidelberg was left with only one standing building after the French occupied the city. Regardless of one's political affiliation or side, in the wars, or one's religion, the opponents crossed back and forth over the land and both took a heavy toll on the infrastructure and population. Disease and hunger and temporary living conditions were also the enemies of the people. Two of the villages mentioned in the last note, Sinsheim and Zuzenhausen, were destroyed by fire.
After the nobility in the Kraichgau regained their authority, the peasants faced a new danger. In most cases the peasants and nobility had contracts or agreements, some of which went back more than one hundred years. The nobility felt they to rebuild their homes, churches, and villages. This took extra money, but their tax base was sharply reduced because of the smaller population. To build the tax revenue, the knights attempted to increase or to lay new levies.
(* My attempt at a little joke.)
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.