John P. Dern recognized that more information about the 1709 emigration could be found in the London Church Books. He published his findings in “ London Churchbooks and the German Emigration of 1709 ”, a small book which was published in 1968 in both German and English. There were three German Lutheran Churches located in London with extant records. One yields nothing, a second makes a passing reference to a limited number of Palatines, but the third provides a goldmine of information concerning names and origins of some of the emigrants passing through London. Dern’s book reproduces this information.
Why were there German Lutheran Churches in London? First, a number of Germans lived in London. The story of one such individual was told in Beyond Germanna in connection with a history of the Germanna Lotspeich family. These Germans wanted a church in their native language. Then, Queen Anne’s husband, Prince George of Denmark, was of German ancestry and a Lutheran. Pastor Tribbeko, one of the compilers of the “ London Lists ”, served as Prince George's personal chaplain. Nothing remains of the pages of the Royal Chapel Church Book for the year 1709, even though the chapel was still active in 1709. (Prince George died in 1708, but the chapel remained in use for many more years).
From the Hamburg, or German Lutheran, Church in Great Trinity Lane an older and larger Church Book remains. There are a few references that could pertain to the 1709 Germans. The third Church Book from the Savoy German Lutheran Church in the Strand provides a different picture. There is a significant amount of information concerning many of the visiting Palatines. Parents’ names are given systematically and often the point of origin in Germany is given. The book covers the period 1694 to 1771. The entries are made in a neat German script, in chronological order, without regard to whether the entry pertained to a baptism, marriage, or death. This book was temporarily lost and an attempt was made to reconstruct its contents, but the original was found and is the source to be used. Entries were averaging about eight or nine per year until 1709, when they increase to 62 in 1709, and 24 in 1710, with an average of 14 per year thereafter, until a small second emigration wave occurred in 1717 (more about this information later).
Dern presented in his book a translation of the entries for 1709 through 1711. A copy of this book has been made available to me by Mary Doyle Johnson, for which I am appreciative.
(08 Jul 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.