Andreas Mielke found a series of letters in Germany which give some of the events leading up the "Decision of Henrich Haeger to Emigrate", see Beyond Germanna , page 899. In 1703, the Latin teacher, Rev. Haeger was appointed as the pastor of Oberfischbach. This seems to have been his first church assignment. Within a short period, his ailments began to trouble him and his son came home from the University in November of 1707, apparently to help his father. The son was limited in what he could do, as he was not ordained, nor even licensed to preach. About a year and a half later, the son decided to emigrate to America, in 1709.
On 7 Jan 1711, Rev. Haeger wrote to the Prince and asked to be relieved from his duties due to the several ailments which afflicted him. Three months later the Prince wrote that he could retire. In retirement he was to have a free residence, the meadow for his cow, and the necessary wood for heating and cooking.
In August of 1711, Johann Justus Albrecht executed a poll deed in which he promised to give money to the ministers of Siegen from the profits of the mines in America ( Beyond Germanna , page 886). This was not a contract, as no commitment or promises were made by the ministers who were to receive the money. With his son in New York, Rev. Haeger wanted to go to America, and toward that end he was asking the son in 1711 for assistance. Whether Albrecht's promises had any influence is not clear, but one might assume that it did (Haeger was not one of the pastors to receive money).
Nothing happened, though, until the spring and summer of 1713. After Rev. Haeger's retirement, the Prince appointed a new pastor, Friedrich Georg Knabenschuh. Our next piece of information about the departure of Rev. Haeger comes from Knabenschuh. He wrote to the Royal Synod on 12 July 1713:
"Herewith I want to have dutifully informed your Princely Consistorium [Royal Synod], that Rev. Pastor Haeger, until now residing here, has moved this early morning from here, according to his word [pretense] to settle in the Land Berg [a neighboring duchy], of which departure he never thought or said a word, but it is presumed by everyone as if [he] intends to travel to his son, and because it was just learned [that] the one time school man [Schuldiener] Hanns Jacob Holtzklau is also willing to travel away [and] as I just talked to him about that [he] gave me as an answer that he was well decided to do so should he get the permission of the Just Government."
The decisions of the Siegen-landers to emigrate is seen to have been made individually. When Rev. Haeger left, Jacob Holtzklau did not even know if he was going or not. Even more strongly, when Rev. Haeger left, he did not know whether Jacob Holtzklau would be leaving.
(03 Apr 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.