Up to the start of the year 1709, we have seen that the numbers of German emigrants could be measured in, at the most, a hundred per year. And this overstates the case, as many years there were no emigrants. The emigration started in 1683 with less that a hundred people and additions, probably in the tens per year, were made over the years. These people founded and lived in Germantown in Philadelphia. Then in 1708, another large group, under Kocherthal, made their way to New York. When I say large, it is only comparative. It amounted to fewer than a hundred people, but in comparison to the averages of the previous years it was large.
Then in 1709 something unusual happened. Before the year was over some 13,000 Germans had left their homes for the New World. Something radical happened in this year. What was it?
One of the most frequently mentioned causes for the emigration was war; however, this does not hold up under examination, because war had been a way of life for a century. It leaves unanswered the question of why the Germans had not emigrated earlier. Also, the Germans came from the Palatinate, the districts of Darmstadt and Hanau, Franconia, various of the church states, Hesse-Darmstadt, Zweibrücken, Nassau, Alsace, Baden, and Württemberg. Not all of these regions were experiencing war in 1709. We know that many of our Second Colony villages were suffering from war, yet they sent relatively few people in 1709. (During the War of the Spanish Succession, Marshal Villars crossed the Rhine unexpectedly in May of 1707 and terrorized southwestern Germany.)
Religion is often cited as a reason, but it is hard to justify as a valid excuse. The theory is that individuals were prosecuted because of their religious beliefs. Protestants emigrated from Catholic regions, but so did Catholics from the Catholic regions. Protestants came from Protestant (Evangelische) regions as did Catholics. The people who came in 1709 seemed to place no great emphasis on religion, in that they brought few Bibles, hymnals, or other devotional works.
There was an unusual feature at the start of 1709, or the end of 1708. For ten years or so, Europe had been in a little ice age with unusually cold weather. This became very severe in the winter of 1708-1709. By November 1, firewood would not burn in the open. In January, the wine froze. Birds died on the wing. Western Europe was frozen solid, including the sea along the coast. Many fruit trees were killed, vineyards were destroyed, and winter crops died. Certainly there were people in the spring of 1709 who felt that everything had been destroyed and this would be a good time to start over in another environment. It would take more than this to convince 13,000 people to leave Germany. Who knew what it was like where they were going?
(21 Jun 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.