Before the Germans would reach the decision to go to America, it would be necessary that they hear about it. How did they acquire their knowledge of the British colonies in America?
Modern day real estate developers could take a lesson from William Penn, who was an early, big-time, promoter. He needed to be able to find people, and to persuade them to move to his colony. Printed pamphlets extolling the climate and life in the New World were disseminated throughout the Rhine Valley. Agents for all of the proprietors entered into negotiations with interested parties. Adventurers, like Franz Lewis Michel and George Ritter, engaged to bring companies of colonists. (As a byproduct of Michel and Ritter's efforts, the First Germanna Colony emerged.)
The Carolinas and Pennsylvania were the most active in recruiting. Ulrich Simmendinger, who came to New York in 1710, wrote a booklet about his experiences. (He had lost his children during the move to New York, and returned to Germany with his wife. He was good enough to include the names of people who were in New York, a small blessing for genealogists.) He assured everyone that his reason for the trip was not the excitement and adventure, but was the paternal necessity of providing for his children. He says nothing of religious persecution as the reason for emigration. He specifically mentioned the golden promises in 1709.
The " golden promises " were contained in a booklet published in England, with the picture of Queen Anne, and the title page in golden letters, a first class printing job. This type of material, along with booklets such as Simmendinger's, shows that the printing press had become a powerful weapon in disseminating ideas, especially commercial ones.
Strangely enough, the author and the publisher of the Golden Book are unknown. What is important is that the book gave the impression that Queen Anne would help them to cross the channel and the ocean. The language on this subject was explicit, and left no doubt that people were wanted and would be assisted by Queen Anne.
The Golden Book was so popular in 1709, shortly after it came out, that three reprints of the book were made. The inspiration for the Golden Book might have been the overtures by the Carolina proprietors in 1705, who made generous statements and promises about Carolina and how anyone could go.
The printed word was a powerful tool and works were in circulation in Germany during the winter of 1708-1709. Thirteen thousand Germans responded in the spring of the year and converted a trickle into a flood.
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.