Our recent travels took us to New Mexico where we visited the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe. This is the oldest government building in the United States having been built about 1610. One item that we were hoping to see was the Segasser Hide Paintings, which have one of the earliest depictions of the North American continent. These important documents, which were on display last year, have been withdrawn so that a permanent room to display them could be refinished.
Several rooms in the "Palace" have a display on the contribution of Germans to New Mexico's history after it became a part of the United States in 1848. It was a popular destination for many German Jews, who often went first into trade and then became lawyers, judges, and ranchers.
About one hundred German Jews have been identified who were early arrivals. Surprisingly (hardly to us), many of these people were related in Germany and after their arrival in New Mexico they often married other of the German Jewish immigrants. Their occupations in Germany were marginal and of the lowest sort. In New Mexico, they blossomed into being leading citizens. Some of their motivations were religious, some were political, but it appears that the major influence was the prospect of a better living.
All of this should sound familiar to Germanna descendants for the same reasons held true for their ancestors. Some Germanna immigrants who owned next to nothing in Germany became owners of thousands of acres in Virginia. Though their faith differed, there was an element of religious reasons for coming, but it generally paled in significance to the economic question. Questions of freedom and/or oppression had a role to play.
In Siegen the warring Princes, one Catholic and one Protestant, had shut down the economic life of the region in 1713 by their squabbling. In the Kraichgau, the various princes were trying to exert more control and to extract more taxes. The top ranks of the citizens had little motivation to leave. The lowest rank could not afford to leave. The "middle" group yielded the most emigrants. It made little difference whether one was Protestant or Jewish. There were many similarities in their motivations and in the results.
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I am working on putting out some information on a CD. I am curious whether the owners of the
Germanna Villages Photographic Essay
have had problems in using it. If you have, I would like to hear from you.
(10 Feb 04)
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.